lizw

To me, rightly or wrongly, it is person who (at meetings) tells newcomers to buy a book (or arranges one for them) then says come round my house next week and bring your book, rather than someone who (at meetings) offers newcomers their phone number and a name of a good counsellor.

Most BB thumpers I know, relate their own expereince as it relates to the BB.

The other great thing about BB thumpers is they are never too busy for AA service work IMO. They are the type of person you can ring at 1am and say can you go 12 step this drunk who just rang the phone line? And they'll take responsibilty for the call.

jimhere

Maybe I am, by some people's definition. I've been called worse. Like a AA Nazi. To be called that by another member of the same fellowship that we both claim to love and to have it used in connotation with a way of living that is in total contradiction to what the word nazi stands for offends me.

What I have noticed is that when I share my experience with what I have done, the ones who haven't done the work always think that I am telling them what they should do. People who do what's in the book aren't always welcome amongst those who don't do the work in the book.

Peter

To me the "Big Book Thumper" is the guy who abides by The Book and tends to go around contradicting what other peoples interpretation of the literature is.

It can be a little unsettling especially to the newcomer to come up against the convictions of a Thumper but i believe they play an important role in the livlihood of a fellowship.

I have never been called a BB Thumper but I have been tagged with the AA Nazi label before , mainly because of my own beliefs and interpretations of The Traditions and my outspokenness in upholding them.

navysteve

Additional thoughts on thumping:

It has been repeatedly proven to me that, every time I've tried to show someone the "error of their ways" in AA, I've lost any chance of being helpful at a later date.
" Experience shows that such an attitude is not helpful to anyone (my experience shows me that this statement also applies to showing intolerance towards mainstream AA) . Every new alcoholic looks for this spirit among us and is immensely relieved when he finds we are not witch burners (my experience shows me that this statement might just as well read...; middle-of-road, half-measure people look for this spirit of intolerance amongst us recovered AAs') . ."

."



All BB quotes are from first edition

Tommyh

hi Ago
good topic,I want to share my experience mainly because I used to be one.You just may be interested in experience vs opinion.

whats a big book thumper to me?

Well Ago,I used to quote the big book chapter and verse, I hid well doing that,after all,I wasn`t human,I was above that,I floated above the (non BB thumping)crowd on my brainpower,BB skills, and knowledge alone.If you quoted or said something that didn`t jive with the book in a meeting,I would figure you wasn`t on the program or other things.I found my thinking was to grow less flexible,and my happiness shrunk.My circle of life shrank.I became disillusioned with AA meetings because they wasn`t AA.I did the same old inventories for years and saw the same old stuff and MISSED THE SAME OLD STUFF FOR YEARS.My growth was stunted.
I found I had fallen in to a sect within AA.There are many sects within AA today.

I had not noticed the rest of AA,traditions,concepts and another important part,the PREAMBLE.I was living in a small confined place you may say.God had presented many chances and ways for me to grow and experience Him more,but I missed out for years.

Finally one day my second sponsor had a small chat with me,and God bless him.He just told me of how a big tree that is not flexible breaks during the storms and how a flexible tree survives because it is flexible.It bends and does not break.Tommy,he said,your thinking is very rigid.Thats all he said,but he got me to thinking.
I prayed about this Ago.Soon a couple of really happy AA guys entered my life.We are still friends today.I have learned there is a lot more to AA,and recovery than the first 164 pages,or the Big Book.
The Big Book is only the beginning as far as I am concerned.I studied the basic principles of home groups,traditions,and concepts and have applied a lot of that to my personal life and family life and it worked.My mind expanded and my spiritual life grew.My family got better.I was sold on all of AA by then.
One day Ago,I was reading the AA Preamble and I realized I had fallen into sect thinking before by thumping the Book and neglecting the rest.
Here is a small quote from it that got my attention.
as you know

A.A. is not allied with any sect

I knew then where thumping,and my narrow mindedness got me.I am in AA,I am a part of AA yet I was allied with a sect within AA and leaving out the great parts that follow.Of course we should take the new men thru the big book right away..but after that...there is other stuff

Today,I leave the sects behind.I want all of AA Because it is God`s will for me.It is where I can truly grow in effectiveness and understanding and be of maximum service to God and others.It is where I can stand united with AA and follow the program honestly,when I am not falling short.
I really do not like to hear people quoting the Big Book always,sometimes,ok,or quoting some joker who goes around trying to teach God(the Big Book) to people,I want to hear how everyone translates it into their daily life and solves problems,gains Divine guidance and grows spiritually.Thats what lights my fire...
(by the way,I love all of AA `s books and literature)
Ago,I tried to tell you my story,I figured it was the best way to describe what I consider a Big Book Thumper,and where it got this thumper,after all,we are called to share our ESH.
sorry it is so long

have a good day Ago and thanks for the great topic !

AW2486

I guess I'm a BB thumper then

navysteve

I think we took the same short bus to our awakening

Ago

That was my experience as well Bballdad and Steve

It was the Joe and Charlie seminars that "sent me around the bend"

it was awful

I ran around the rooms for three years doing my best "Chicken Little" imitation yelling "you're all doing it wrong!!!!!"

The book says something along the lines of "for some of us, this was a tedious process"

I consider that little bit of knowledge fairly hard won, There were things my sponsor explained to me early on that took me anywhere from 10 to 15 years to understand.

Simple things, like:

Live and Let Live

Easy does it


aaaah well, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly....

I'll take tedious and slow for 500 Alex

Today is really good, I'm back in miracles being daily occurrences land at the moment, I wonder what part of my ego is going to rear it's ugly head next preparing me for AFGO (another F'ing Growth Opportunity) because sure as the Earth revolves around the sun, the lessons continue for all of us.

Tazman53

Well by some definitions I am a BB thumper, I pray of the good type, I try to share my ES&H most of the time when I do quote it, sometimes I give an opinion on a quote. I avoid using the BB as a weapon and try and use it as more of reference to my experience & hope.

The program of AA is contained in the first 164 pages.

A lot of times I quote the BB to clarify where my experience came from on something or to clarify what is program and what is based on experience.

Now let me thump a little here! LOL

The BB being suggestive only is something that I need to keep in mind.

I need to remind myself that I only know a little.

I need to remember that the BB says flat out that more will be revealed, both to me and to others.

I need to be aware that I can not give away something I do not have!

I need to remember that I can expect nothing if I do not keep my relationship with God right.


What I bolded above says that part of the program of AA is being open minded enough to make use of other helpful books besides just the BB in my recovery and to support others who use other literature as well....... in other words I need to practice a little tolerance when some one says "I have found book "X" to be very helpful in my program.", I need to be aware that what I view as a crock of caca may be a very vital tool in some one elses recovery.

Okay my hand is hurting a bit from the thumping, but I feel better! LOL

gerry1411

A big book thumper at some of the meetings in my area can also be used in a negative sense towards anyone whom even mentions it or the steps therein. As much as I identified with post 25 (a great post) as it reflected a failling on my part until very recently, neither should the message be diluted in order to please the ears of those who chose not to want the only method of recovery of AA. This dilema is probably as old as AA and shall always be this way.

Great thread, great forum, thanks Gerry.

RufusACanal

I'm A BB Thumper, I'm a BB Thumper, just Thumping a long, Yeah, Yeah Yeah...

Come on everybody, sing along with me!

Fulldresser4

Rufus...LOL...into my mind's eye comes a picture of Rufus reminiscent of the "true" Thumper of the Bambi movie, holding the Big Book and thump, thump, thumping away..

lizw

So is there a difference between a BB thumper and a AA and/or step nazi?

Ago

For me there is

If you look at my "definition" of Big Book Thumper it's not someone, to me, who quotes the Big Book all the time, but someone who basically has discovered "The Answer" for both themselves and everyone around them, never mind the evidence of their own life or relationship with others, and hasn't "integrated" the principles into their own life, just recites them by rote, and is therefore unable to "remain teachable" which, to me, for me, is one of the most dangerous states of mind to be in.

I find my version of "Big Book Thumpers" to be tedious in the extreme to me because, to me, they are frequently wrong, and have an inability to see another point of view or be "teachable" because they know it all already.

I find "Step Nazi's" to be equally tedious but quite frankly it's because they are frequently right.

Once again, this is "our own view" of "BB Thumper's", frequently quoting the book and having it integrated in your life and "practicing these principals in all our affairs" is, to me.....just someone who is "recovered" and has a daily reprieve.

Once again, taz, Rufus, emimily, Steve, Carol, so many many others here quote the BB all the time and the term "thumper" never comes to mind, I also note that each and every one of these individuals has, at one time or another either admitted they were wrong, learned something etc. they are "teachable" and relate each BB story with an illustration from their own life.

Buddha said people with strong opinions just run around and bother other people, He also said, my teachings are like a raft, there is no need to carry the raft on your head after you cross the stream.

This, to me, doesn't mean you "abandon the teachings", but that you "integrate them" into your life so the raft becomes part of who you are, so to me, BB Thumpers are people running around with rafts on their head bothering other people, because you know, if you are so busy running everyone else's life, and telling everyone else how to do everything, you never have to look at your own life, the amusing thing is they never do this with evidence from their own life, but from something they read or heard somewhere else, such as me with the "Joe and Charley" Big Book Seminars, which in and of themselves are incredible things, but in the hands of an idiot such as myself, they were harmful to me, because then I "knew" all the answers.

CarolD

Mentor

Tazman53

Funny how we each seem to have our own idea of what a BB thumper is, my sponsor is, but in a good way, as Ago said, we all have different opinions of what a BB thumper is.

For me there are several different types:

1. Those that share their ES&H as they reference/quote the BB, these are the ones I like, because not only are they sharing thier personal ES&H, they are also sharing where they got it from thereby hopefully encouraging others to pick up the BB and study, not read, but study the BB. My sponsor showed me in the BB where it states it is a text book.... not a novel.

2. Then there is a second type, who seems to hide behind the BB, they seem to have the BB memorized, but not fully understood, almost every one of thier shares is quotes from the BB without hardly a single mentio of their own personal ES&H. I don't dislike these folks either, they share what they have, the BB.

3. Then there is the 3rd type, this is the kind of person who uses the BB as a weapon of sorts, calling out other people on something they shared that did not align exactly with the the BB, or when some one paraphrases what the BB says they say something like "Well if you really knew the BB you would know it actually says "XY&Z"!". Then of course there are the BB thumpers of this type who will let all know that "If it is not in the BB it is not AA!". All of these folks seem to forget to memorize the parts of the BB about love and tolerance and that it also states that more will be revealed and that it is not all in the BB.

Yes, the Program of AA is contained within the first 164 pages of the BB, but we all need to also acknowledge that the fellowship of AA is a part of AA recovery and that includes folks ES&H which is not in black & white in the BB.

Wow not a single direct quote that time....... paraphrased a bit, but not badly!!! LOL

RufusACanal

Hmmm, Step Nazi. I despise this term and however it took root in AA culture is beyond my understanding. I guess my tolerance does not extent to this word or its usage.

I am angry this morning; guts churning, head full of crap, have zero humility and I feel fear. Indignant self-righteousness clouds my thinking and I am caught up in the moment. I allowed a situation at work during a management meeting to blow me over and all of the old thinking has returned. Drinking is not a resort nor option and I have no escape from the feelings at this time, which is cool beyond belief, because I must find a better way to deal with these situations. I am not masochistic, but I am responsible and I must learn to function without blame and recrimination.

doorknob

I used that term in a rap verse I wrote after being all but thrown out of an AA meeting. Mr Mathers would have been proud...

I can relate to that. I had an experience yesterday (posted in Alcoholism) that I allowed to send me on a downward spiral and still feel pretty messed up. I can't decide if I feel like breaking someones elses legs or my own. Probably both...

paulmh

Big Book thumper, step nazi - we know what we're talking about. We're talking about people who have very little sobriety, no matter how long they've been dry. And like Ago, I learn a lot from them, but often not what they think they're teaching. I have one in my life, forty years sober and angry as hell. I love him dearly.

In spite of the fact that some people would like AA to be a bit of a monoculture - there's The Way and the Highway - it's actually a pretty broad church and all the better for it. It's easy to love people we like. I look at the fact that I love some people who I DON'T like and I know that my direction of travel is ok.

doorknob

I knew it all along!!!!