lizw

I've heard this questioned answered like this.
Do you have a copy of the Yellow Pages?
(The Yellow Pages is a phone directory that lists contact details for every business in your area.)
And if you do and say your oven got broke, you'd call an electrician to fix it, right? Well unless you were an electrician and could fix it yourself, so in this situation a electrician is 'a power greater than yourself'.

So I don't think one has to say yep or no, there is a god or a higher power, one just does what you've already done by even just asking this question - they don't try to fix themselves with themselves. They look for outside help or consider outside help, where ever that may be SR, AA or another place because they know, that no man is an island.

:ghug2

Tommyh

GettinSober
I don`t think you are as atheist as you think.What controls ya?Sounds like booze to me.If so,booze is your God.
If booze don`t control you,you don`t need any help getting sober..Whatever controls you is your God...

Zencat

Hi GettinSober

My sobriety depends on my actions. I have a treatment program that dose not in include God and it works for me. I go to groups at the health clinic for f2f treatment and do online support. Again no God in my program. Just recently my treatment became a whole lot easier when I focused on changing my behavior with the help of conselors, group members, SMART Recovery tools and the work sheets I get in my groups. I think I'll tackle the meaning of God and how that relates to me when I have achieved some long term sobriety. As it is now, I'm only willing will to work on one enormous undertaking at a time: getting well.

VeritasAequitas

Gettin',
Just an observation from a former atheist/agnostic - you say you don't believe in God, yet you use the Bible (Old Testament) as "fact" when debating someone's opinion of God. (God is good for example).

Forgive me for saying so, but that's a bit of a double standard.

I hope you find your answer.

LosingmyMisery

I think as long as we are striving toward good and generating positive energy, that is a good thing. To me, positive energy can be perceived as a HP.

Harley3801

.

Hi Gettin' . . . Welcome.

No God or HP for me either when I got to AA. Someone told me I could use her tree (HUH?). That didn't work for me.

People kept telling me I HAD to find a God or an HP or I'd get drunk. I wanted to smack 'em & wondered how they would feel if I told them they'd get drunk if they didn't stop believing in God or an HP.

A very wise man told me not to let God stand in the way of my being sober. Keep it really simple & use the group .. .. the group was greater than I was and they were staying sober together.

So even tho I didn't believe in God and had no desire to, I stayed in AA and I stayed sober. It worked for me.

Slowbriety

These threads are always fun. The hang up of "God" is widespread and from what I have seen takes/keeps people away from AA. Its been my experience that I had to pray to something as far away from the christian religion as possible then slowly but surely I eased into an understanding of who my "God" is and as He keeps me sober I in turn build a relationship with Him and get to know Him better. I grew up in the church, went to a christian high school, which I hated, so getting to AA I had no concept or what little concept I had was, as was stated before. An angry vengeful God. The reality of it is, "God" wether I choose to use the Christian God or use whatever image I may come up with in my head, no matter what I may choose as a "God" dosent matter. Its not who he or She might be, What attributes He or She may posses. What matters, for me, is that I am willing to ask something bigger than me to save my ass from the hell I had put myself in. I have been asking my higher power almost everyday to keep me clean, sober, and now, smoke free, for almost 4 years and my life is 1000 X times better than before when "I dont beleive in God." Not knocking anyone and what they may or may not believe in, just speaking from my own experience which really, only matters to me. However, if this can help others, so be it.

GettinSober

Someone here replied that their HP was their dog (but I take your point)

Quite right. I didn't say I wanted to find a HP I was just interested in how people who are athiests manage the odd bad night and I was saying it must be nice to believe in something outside of yourself (however ludicrous I find it) because it must just make things seem easier. I too rely on myself to stay sober bugsworth by working on myself.

It doesn't control me - I control it. Unlike many on here I don't believe drinking is a disease - it's a terrible habit. And I don't believe I'm powerless. And for me it was pure, unadulterated BOREDOM that caused me to drink. If I don't drink I'm in control = so I just don't drink. I wish I could hand control over to my pack of cards, teacup, dog or the flying spaghetti monster but I don't believe in them as a higher power - and I don't believe in a God. I'm not going to 'find' God (reading between the lines like some on here) in order to help stop me drinking. That's about as disingenious when it comes to faith as it gets.

I'm afraid that's just drivel. If someone posts 'God is good' or God is love' then they are making the assertion that God exists and I am saying that if he does then here is a contrary viewpoint based on the literature of the Old Testament. No double standards in my polemic there.

Lastly - thanks for all the replies. Certainly religion and the existence of a God is a hot topic on any forum. I really hoped to open a conversation with other athiests (not agnostics as I find their position as I grow older a little bit too wishy washy). Unfortunately I didn't get the dialogue I was hoping for. Maybe you're all (well 99% of you) a bit too religious for me!

Good luck in your sobriety - I'm sure all of us in our own way work at it on a day by day basis.

SlvrMag

That would be me!

RufusACanal

Can you separate a Greater Power away from man made religion to a purely spiritual basis as in nature or the great unknown?

miss communicat

When I first got sober, I was atheistic. So, I developed a connection with my inner/ higher self, which I identified as my conscience. I do not call this God. I do see it as the part of my consciousness that accesses wisdom, my truth, and which guides me rightly in choices.

Secondly, I cultivated attentiveness. I paid closer attention to life, and to each decision and choice, and ran it past my conscience.

Eventually I found spirituality that is alive for me today, but the early steps I took were the foundation of sobriety. I did not have a faith in God at that time.

bugsworth

GettinSober, I wish great success for you!

I to have difficulty believing I have a disease, a spiritual one at that. It matters very little what I call it, it matters how I handle it.

I do believe in God, the one of the Bible, but I do not believe my addiction to alcohol is Gods responsibility so I make it mine. Talk about keeping things simple! Cuts right to the chase, eliminates any confusion and puts the responsibility right where it belongs.

I think God would be pleased...less work for him! lol

Bamboozle

That made me laugh. Call me a wishy washy agnostic, then.

I think it’s okay to talk about personal beliefs in conjunction with substance abuse problems, but if it goes beyond that, there is a tendency for people to get defensive and upset. As a result, no meaningful conversations take place (and the rules of SR usually get violated). I could talk for hours about my thoughts on life and the universe...I have a really good imagination. I keep the wonder and amazement I have to myself.

You could look for forums on other sites that have the level of discussion that you crave. Best of luck to you.

nandm

A great place for this would be our secular forums.

VeritasAequitas

It's not drivel, just a point you can't comprehend. You both have to assume God exists for your statement to hold any weight...because if you don't then you are using something that doesn't already exist (based on your belief) against someone that believes it exists.

It either exists or it does not - existence is not a matter of convenience.

Let me simplify it for you,

If you don't believe you have a crowbar, how can your crowbar hurt me depite the fact that I believe you to be holding a crowbar?

GettinSober

Thanks Nandm - I'll have a peek.

GettinSober

I'm not going to go back and forth with you. If one was to follow your train of thought then this forum would be a sorry place with people posting one sentence replies such as

'I don't believe in that / it / him / us / her - you're lying - you're wrong - so I won't reply'. I would love to spend a few hours in your company!

PS - religious by any chance?

VeritasAequitas

And I you, it would be an honor/honour.

Yes, I am now a religious man, but it was not an easy journey - having a very logical mind makes it very difficult to accept faith and I still struggle.

I don't necessarily agree with the laws of each religion but I agree with what they try to do in this world; I have a hard time committing to one religion.

stone

When I said, god is good, I was using the word as a reference like I said, maybe I should have said, to me the word god = good.

Really I was answering the question 'how does an atheist attempt to work the steps' I suppose, lol. Sorry, I didn't really answer your question GS.

I suppose I am an atheist with spiritual leanings, I get a lot out of Buddhism for example.

paulmh

Hey GS, nice to see you!

It's hard to know even where to begin with one of your threads - maybe I'll just leave it as.....

it's "disingenuous". I know, because I checked in the dictionary. My spelling higher power. Always reminding me that I'm not too smart to avoid misspelling words. Or misapprehending the universe!