can an A work the program if they don't believe?

Old 09-04-2007, 04:02 PM
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can an A work the program if they don't believe?

can an A work the program if they don't believe in God and don't know what their higher power is. He believes in humans being made by molucules and when you die..you're dead. How to I help him see or search for his higher power, can he still work the program with the higher power because he is having alot of trouble with step 2 and 3.
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Old 09-04-2007, 04:23 PM
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I had to find my higher power to embrace the program of AA and the 12 Steps. How? My first sponsor had me write a list of all the things I thought God was until this point in my life, and what I wanted the God of my understanding to be like. That's the higher power who's will I seek to follow today. Just my experience, but the spiritual experience of practicing the 12 Steps wouldn't be possible without a God of my understanding.
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Old 09-04-2007, 05:26 PM
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I personally do not have this problem but I have heard others say that "any" HP will do (esp. at first) as long as you know it is NOT YOU!

I do not think this is unusual. Often people will use the program as teir HP initially.

Good luck!
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Old 09-04-2007, 06:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Pick-a-name View Post
Often people will use the program as teir HP initially.
That makes sense. Its a matter of admitting that one cannot beat the addiction alone and need support from somewhere. For some it could indeed be that the support is from the group itself or from therapy.
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Old 09-04-2007, 07:47 PM
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As I posted to you in your other thread those who have a problem with the GOD concept have had success in using

Good Orderly Direction when they hear the word GOD

and others use the group as their HP

as in

Group Of Drunks

However, you really cannot

see or search for his higher power,
This is something he needs to do on his own in his own time.

Have you tried Alanon? It can be a big help for you.

Please keep posting and let us know how YOU are doing, we do care.

Love and hugs,
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Old 09-04-2007, 08:50 PM
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Hey there RedBear,

Yes, anybody who is willing to live sober can get sober following the 12 steps. No, they don't have to believe in anybody else's Higher Power. That's why the words "of our understanding" were put in the Big Book. So each one of us can decide for ourselves what that higher power is, or is not.

The point is that as alcoholics we spent our entire life trying to stop drinking, stop hurting, stop suffering, stop hurting other people, and we always failed. The concept of a higher power is there in order for _me_, as an alcoholic, to recognize that I am _not_ able to beat the chemical addiction by myself. I cannot overpower a chemical. Not alone. But if I find someone else who does have that power then I have a chance.

Whom that someone else happens to be is irrelevant. As long as I understand that the higher power is _not me_, then I have a chance at living a life that is happy, joyous and free.

I have several very deep and special friends in AA who are scientists. Piles of Ph.D.s to their name. Certified geniuses. They don't have any kind of spiritual-religious type of higher power. They found one of their own understanding and have been sober for decades.

As to your other question, Redbear, how you can best help him. The best way is to be an example of how the 12 steps can work in somebody's life. If _you_ work _your_ program to the best of your ability, if you find your own higher power and your own sponsor and go to your own meetings then your life will change for the better. Having that kind of example in his own life, in his own partner, is the most powerful way to help him find his own way.

Mike
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