should i talk about my death of faith and hatred of God at meeting level?
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
To answer your original question - no.
That's an offline, one on one kind of topic and discussion. I couldn't possibly share that level of "grievance" in an appropriate or TIMELY manner in a meeting. And it's not an ESH matter, really.
That's an offline, one on one kind of topic and discussion. I couldn't possibly share that level of "grievance" in an appropriate or TIMELY manner in a meeting. And it's not an ESH matter, really.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Posts: 15,253
How are folks new in recovery, unsure,
questions bottled up inside, who need
answers, if they don't ask?
Our minds and bodies have all been
screwed up due to all those dangerous
substances, toxic, poisonous drugs,
alcohol we've put in them that we cant
think, act, rationalize what is right or
wrong.
We don't know how to get healthier,
helpful information if we don't ask.
Guiding with care, tolerance, compassion
to others in recovery. Newcomers, elders,
teens, all walks of life.
questions bottled up inside, who need
answers, if they don't ask?
Our minds and bodies have all been
screwed up due to all those dangerous
substances, toxic, poisonous drugs,
alcohol we've put in them that we cant
think, act, rationalize what is right or
wrong.
We don't know how to get healthier,
helpful information if we don't ask.
Guiding with care, tolerance, compassion
to others in recovery. Newcomers, elders,
teens, all walks of life.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
Originally Posted by january161992 
borderline sorry i shared
my best thinking got me drunk and never solved anything.
when I took my problems to my sponsor I got solutions( still do)
and sometimes he doesn't have a solution and says," welp, I think you should bring this up as a topic at a meeting. bring it up at a few different meetings where there are different members. get different views."
when I was new to recovery and AA, I brought up a LOT of topics.
today, however, it wouldn't be very healthy to share hatred at meetings, especially when love and tolerance is our code.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mgm, AL
Posts: 1,000
Who's God is This, Anyway?
Sounds like you have someone else's perception of God and have surrendered to that.
If God is love, and we are told that is true in His Word and His Son's birth, life, and death for us, then perhaps you have hold of the wrong end of the stick?
I had a great deal of contempt prior to investigation myself, and it kept me in eternal ignorance and fear, too. I had my parents' Punisher as my Higher Power.
Then I heard a speaker CD from a guy who had gotten shot up in a war, lost his wife and daughter to this disease, etc., talk about Step Three: Try REALLY Using Step Three. T.R.U.S.T.
He said, "What would God have to be for you to let Him love you?"
In Dr. Paul O's story on acceptance it points out, correctly, that to the extent we reject God's will for others and for ourselves is the extent we stay sick because we call Him a liar--even though we may believe He exists. What kind of a diseased mind would do that?
My experience is that every person, place, thing, and event that I surrender to God as I understand Him turns out better than when I try to operate them on my own. And I try to do the next right thing and leave the result with Him rather than tell Him my expected outcomes.
Ask yourself what you really are asking for when you pray. Those selfish self serving prayers for my will not His gave me exactly what I asked for: my power in all situations, not God's.
If God is love, and we are told that is true in His Word and His Son's birth, life, and death for us, then perhaps you have hold of the wrong end of the stick?
I had a great deal of contempt prior to investigation myself, and it kept me in eternal ignorance and fear, too. I had my parents' Punisher as my Higher Power.
Then I heard a speaker CD from a guy who had gotten shot up in a war, lost his wife and daughter to this disease, etc., talk about Step Three: Try REALLY Using Step Three. T.R.U.S.T.
He said, "What would God have to be for you to let Him love you?"
In Dr. Paul O's story on acceptance it points out, correctly, that to the extent we reject God's will for others and for ourselves is the extent we stay sick because we call Him a liar--even though we may believe He exists. What kind of a diseased mind would do that?
My experience is that every person, place, thing, and event that I surrender to God as I understand Him turns out better than when I try to operate them on my own. And I try to do the next right thing and leave the result with Him rather than tell Him my expected outcomes.
Ask yourself what you really are asking for when you pray. Those selfish self serving prayers for my will not His gave me exactly what I asked for: my power in all situations, not God's.
AA Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,984
Originally Posted by tomsteve
never feel sorry for sharing something that's bothering you.
my best thinking got me drunk and never solved anything.
when I took my problems to my sponsor I got solutions( still do)
and sometimes he doesn't have a solution and says," welp, I think you should bring this up as a topic at a meeting. bring it up at a few different meetings where there are different members. get different views."
when I was new to recovery and AA, I brought up a LOT of topics.
today, however, it wouldn't be very healthy to share hatred at meetings, especially when love and tolerance is our code.
my best thinking got me drunk and never solved anything.
when I took my problems to my sponsor I got solutions( still do)
and sometimes he doesn't have a solution and says," welp, I think you should bring this up as a topic at a meeting. bring it up at a few different meetings where there are different members. get different views."
when I was new to recovery and AA, I brought up a LOT of topics.
today, however, it wouldn't be very healthy to share hatred at meetings, especially when love and tolerance is our code.
AA Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,984
its a crisis of trust not belief and even though i know He loves me it doesnt matter
my lack of trust is incorrect, wrong and delusional ...
and very real
so im taking a break from God for a while
thanks for your king words
my lack of trust is incorrect, wrong and delusional ...
and very real
so im taking a break from God for a while
thanks for your king words
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,615
Trust is so close to control isn't it? I can't do something and let go of the outcome because I don't trust god to let it turn out the way I think it should. In other words I act, and then try and control the outcome and am often disappointed. Maybe I am disappointed in my ainability to control things, maybe people let me down, or maybe god just wrecks my whole plan.
Like the actor who wants to direct, if everybody would only do what I want them to, the show would be great.....big book coming through there.
When I realised I was in the effort business, not the results business, life got a lot easier.
Like the actor who wants to direct, if everybody would only do what I want them to, the show would be great.....big book coming through there.
When I realised I was in the effort business, not the results business, life got a lot easier.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: De
Posts: 1,333
Im not a fan of any type of religion. I found most people in AA are not big fans of hearing that. I believe in good orderly direction and have stuck around long enough to no longer care what others think of my beliefs, thanks to the 12 steps.
AA Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,984
Originally Posted by Eauchiche
If your, for lack of a better term, faithlessness is rooted in a hopelessness from trials in life, then I believe that is a different issue.
AA Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,984
Originally Posted by Gottalife
Trust is so close to control isn't it?
no amount of steps/ principles/ service/ prayer/ therapy have helped
theres only hate and phuck the world in my heart!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: East Coast USA
Posts: 1,073
Originally Posted by Ken33xx
should i talk about my death of faith and hatred of God at meeting level?
Well, my guess is much would depend on how you shared. Some members might well be upset if you appear to challenge the very thing they believe keeps them sober.
I'd recommend sharing at an agnostic AA meeting.
Well, my guess is much would depend on how you shared. Some members might well be upset if you appear to challenge the very thing they believe keeps them sober.
I'd recommend sharing at an agnostic AA meeting.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
The way I understand just about every message in the AA program, the primary goal for each individual is to be helpful to others. Getting out of centering on and focusing on self and focusing on others.
In taking the actions of the first 11 steps, I began to wake up to a spiritual way of life and an actual connection to a Power a lot bigger and badder than me. When I go to a meeting, I don't go to get something for me. My mission is to try and look for someone(s) who are in need and provide, in an attractive manner, portions of my experience to help guide and/or motivate them to press on through difficulties.
While I will share what's going on with me in the here-and-now, I try to be mindful that meetings aren't held so Mike can go dump his $hit on everyone and demand they clean it up. Though I surely can dump all I want....I don't see that being consistent with that mission of being of service to others. What am I expecting, the "meeting" to be my HP, to fix my problems for me, to clean up my life for me, to replace the temporary and fleeting relief I used to get in booze with kind words and hugs - more things that vanish within minutes of leaving the meeting?
Share what you will but my history shows me that when I go to a meeting looking to GET, I may or may not get what I want and even when I do "get" what I want, that feeling of relief doesn't usually last long. On the other hand, when I go to a meeting to give, I get a totally different result. When I reeeeally listen to and focus on others.....and maybe stay late to talk to that guy or girl who's having some troubles, I tend to experience some serenity that can last days.......even weeks. All the while I foregoing MY issues at the moment because I've taken the 3rd step and in doing so I made a decision to turn that stuff over to God's care and protection. Once I make that decision, I'll take my issues to God but then trust that they'll be handled. When I trust that, what's there to worry about anymore? Nothing. So back to focusing on other and how I can help meet their needs.
Back to the orig. post - share what you want. If you're looking for results for yourself, we have the 12 steps in the AA program for that. I never found much relief in going to a meeting to dump, only caring if I feel better afterwards. If you're able to share your stuff in a way that's helpful to others, with the aim of helping others being primary, then I think you're on the right path.
Since that original post WAS 2 1/2 years ago and you've posted recently January....... why not share with us what you did and how things worked out?
In taking the actions of the first 11 steps, I began to wake up to a spiritual way of life and an actual connection to a Power a lot bigger and badder than me. When I go to a meeting, I don't go to get something for me. My mission is to try and look for someone(s) who are in need and provide, in an attractive manner, portions of my experience to help guide and/or motivate them to press on through difficulties.
While I will share what's going on with me in the here-and-now, I try to be mindful that meetings aren't held so Mike can go dump his $hit on everyone and demand they clean it up. Though I surely can dump all I want....I don't see that being consistent with that mission of being of service to others. What am I expecting, the "meeting" to be my HP, to fix my problems for me, to clean up my life for me, to replace the temporary and fleeting relief I used to get in booze with kind words and hugs - more things that vanish within minutes of leaving the meeting?
Share what you will but my history shows me that when I go to a meeting looking to GET, I may or may not get what I want and even when I do "get" what I want, that feeling of relief doesn't usually last long. On the other hand, when I go to a meeting to give, I get a totally different result. When I reeeeally listen to and focus on others.....and maybe stay late to talk to that guy or girl who's having some troubles, I tend to experience some serenity that can last days.......even weeks. All the while I foregoing MY issues at the moment because I've taken the 3rd step and in doing so I made a decision to turn that stuff over to God's care and protection. Once I make that decision, I'll take my issues to God but then trust that they'll be handled. When I trust that, what's there to worry about anymore? Nothing. So back to focusing on other and how I can help meet their needs.
Back to the orig. post - share what you want. If you're looking for results for yourself, we have the 12 steps in the AA program for that. I never found much relief in going to a meeting to dump, only caring if I feel better afterwards. If you're able to share your stuff in a way that's helpful to others, with the aim of helping others being primary, then I think you're on the right path.
Since that original post WAS 2 1/2 years ago and you've posted recently January....... why not share with us what you did and how things worked out?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 182
Originally Posted by january161992
borderline sorry i shared
But I think if your feelings influence your sobriety and recovery then if you are comfortable talking about it it might help you find answers in the group and if nothing else get it out in the open for you. Your feelings are real and should not be denied. You might be very surprised by the support available at AA.
I hope I've helped
Action
AA Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,984
Originally Posted by DayTrader
I never found much relief in going to a meeting to dump, only caring if I feel better afterwards.
yes ive selfishly dumped a few times over the years
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