Horn95

I won’t write a long missive about my relapse. It happened. I had been signed up for an IOP rehab program but then Hurricane Harvey hit and flooding destroyed the facility I was going to go to.

Bottom line. I need to do something different. I was thinking AA. The only problem is I have serious faith issues. I vacillate between Agnostic, believer to Athiest. Any thoughts on AA for someone like me?

least

I would say, give it a try with an open mind and take whatever help you can get. What have you got to lose?

Done4today

Yes go to AA. It talks about a higher power or god of your understanding. Don't let the term god hinder your happiness. There are fanatics and fundamentalist in all parts of life. It's a good sobriety program that works.

My sponsor told me:

AA works if you believe in God,
AA works if you don't believe in God,
But AA won't work if you believe you're God.

nez

I fall into the agnostic camp, and closer to the atheist side rather than the believer side. AA is a broad highway with plenty of room for all. As long as I work at it, AA works for me. Has for multiple years now. Initially I had a hard time and a few difficult years with relapse after relapse. It was because I looked at all the ways it wouldn't work for me. When I looked at the ways it would work for me, recovery started.

SimplyFree

Faith is between you and God. He is big enough to hold your doubts. Go to AA, it will help hold your sobriety.

Fly N Buy

Bill W, founder was an agnostic. Jimmy B who was instrumental in AA's steps was an atheist. It's a broad highway.........welcome.

DreamCatcher17

I've heard other in the aa walls who believe just as you, they replace the word God with whatever they want. Dirt, Buddha, etc... Whatever works for you!

D122y

Horn,

"Group Of Drunks" is GOD to some folks at my AA groups.

Teamwork to stay clean.

Thanks.

ScottFromWI

"Someone like you" sounds a lot like me...someone who needed to get serious about getting Sober. My advice would be to keep an open mind and make sobriety your number one priority. Your questions of faith can be answered at a later time....don't use it as a reason to dismiss something that might help.

Dee74

You can't fault the advice here Horn.

D

August252015

^^^ Yes, this. Excellent response, nez.

Gabe1980

Thank you for this thread. I didn't think it would be for me either, but after reading the BB the last couple of days, I don't see how it could not be for me. When you realise you can't make it alone the what's the harm in trying! It seems that believing in something is all that matters. For me, I'm handing it over to the universe. Best of luck on your travels....😊

FreeOwl

I'll tell you what I tell everyone with this challenge. I had the same challenge, and I was able to benefit greatly from AA - not my only tool in recovery but definitely one I wouldn't be sober without.

Go to a lake, the sea, an open field.... anywhere you can get yourself a good view of the sunrise. Get there a few minutes before sunrise and, with ALL THE POWER AT YOUR COMMAND - WILL THE SUN NOT TO RISE.

If you are successful in preventing the sun from coming up, then congratulations!! If you are not successful, then you must acknowledge - through your own direct experience - that there is at least SOME power greater than yourself.

You need not believe in "God". They will call it that in AA, because they have to call 'IT' something. Many times you'll hear the word God spoken. Each time, as it arises and if it causes you discomfort, simply think back on your experience of being unable to stop the sun from rising. Teach yourself gradually to simply hear "The Power" whenever you hear the word "God" in an AA meeting.

Do this, and what you'll find is that your resistance to the power and the help and the community that you can find in AA will subside. You will find yourself able to open to the goodness and to embrace AA as an essential tool in your recovery.

You don't have to believe in a Guy in the Sky, a Benevolent Master, A Personified, Robe-wearing deity. You needn't praise Jesus. You don't have to go to church (though some meetings are held in churches).

You must simply "come to believe in a power greater than yourself" and open yourself to a willingness to allow that power to be of help to you.

August252015

Thanks, FreeOwl - I am totally stealing the sunrise bit for my non-AA recovery group - I lead it for restaurant industry folks and it is not AA/NA grounded (largely so we can promote it because this is an industry epidemic) and this topic comes up often as why people "can't do AA."

tomsteve

i think thats quite common. when i 1st entered AA, i just believed in a HP-something out there that could help me. THEN i started questioning what that HP was. something that helped me tremendously was a couple lines from the big book:
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built

am i willing to believe? yes.
then how do i start believing?
thats answered in the 2nd step:
Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
camedefined-to have moved closer or to have arrived.

i came to believe by working the rest of the steps.

p.s.
today i call my HP God.
however, sometimes when talkin to Him i say,"hey,dude." sometimes its just,"yo, you listenin?"

Bunny211

I'm in AA, and have been for nearly 3 years, and I also struggle with my faith. I also vaccillate between agnostic, atheist, and believer. No one has ever told me I can't be a member of AA....

I hear people say ALL THE TIME that they cannot go to AA because of the God thing....I've found meetings where people don't force me into it...and let me go at my own pace.

tomsteve

one more thing:
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Pressmetilihurt

A guy in a Meeting told me once that his God it was reality. What are the facts? You can’t control and enjoy your drinking. Your life is unmanageable. Turn your will and life over to that. Not that swamp of obfuscation in your brain. Meetings is other people sharing their experience, strength and hope. And free coffee if you’re broke. The big book appears to be about developing some humility and learning to be compassionate and kind.