What were Bill W's religious views?
Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,087
I don't think he had any strict religious views, as that's not what the point of the Big Book is about. The Big Book is meant for mass appeal, so restricting it to a certain denomination of a certain religion probably wouldn't go over very well.
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
Bill w's higher power was a God of his understanding- one that could help him solve the drink problem.
Dr bob was a Christian, but he studied and read works from many different religions.
I believe both of them were open to learning- spiritual progress.
Any certain reason ya want to know?
Dr bob was a Christian, but he studied and read works from many different religions.
I believe both of them were open to learning- spiritual progress.
Any certain reason ya want to know?
~sb
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 15,967
I've read about him and the history of AA, Bill didn't like religion and had had negative experiences with it. He did attend the Oxford Group, mostly for his wife, just as he went to church for his wife..... He was a voracious reader and was knowledgeable on many topics, religion being one of them.....
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
The answers you receive here should be supplemented by your own research if you want an answer to your question. His Wikipedia page, a good place to start, might lead you to information from Tom Powers, Francis Hartigan and Susan Cheever, writers who lived with and new him, and who chronicled his life and the origins of AA.
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,229
A friend and I from AA were talking about it. As time goes on my own conception of my higher power changes and i was curious what Bill W thought.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 772
Im not trying to make ot complex. I want things to be simple. I am just having a hard time having fsith thst GOD is having things happen in my life because its all part of his plan thats all. Love keeps me sober though.
Trudgin
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 6,348
Hi SoberLife90 -
I took a peek at the threads you've started over a period of time and there is a consistent theme of seeking and searching. This is not unusual for many - I know I was and still am the same way in many regards.
Bill talks about his spiritual awakening while in the hospital. He had a defining moment - a road to Damascus / Paul experience. Most of us never have anything like that but find through consistent prayer (even agnostically) we find a direction of our own understanding.
The Big Book also states .........that God could and would if he were sought.
It is in the seeking many of find a sense of spirituality and peace - not in the finding.
For me trying to define spirituality is like me trying to describe a color - blue, for example - to someone. The color blue as I see it. It is impossible. I have no experience and will never know how your ocular system displays the color blue to you and vice versa.
You can never truly know what my sense of spirituality is or vice versa.
I commend you on the seeking..........
That's the key!!!
I took a peek at the threads you've started over a period of time and there is a consistent theme of seeking and searching. This is not unusual for many - I know I was and still am the same way in many regards.
Bill talks about his spiritual awakening while in the hospital. He had a defining moment - a road to Damascus / Paul experience. Most of us never have anything like that but find through consistent prayer (even agnostically) we find a direction of our own understanding.
The Big Book also states .........that God could and would if he were sought.
It is in the seeking many of find a sense of spirituality and peace - not in the finding.
For me trying to define spirituality is like me trying to describe a color - blue, for example - to someone. The color blue as I see it. It is impossible. I have no experience and will never know how your ocular system displays the color blue to you and vice versa.
You can never truly know what my sense of spirituality is or vice versa.
I commend you on the seeking..........
That's the key!!!
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 772
I'm trying! I need to accept that I may never find the answers I am looking for whether there is a true creator or not...I guess all the matters is what I believe and being in touch eith the universe.
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