Comments on: God as We Understood Him : Too Christian or Not Christian Enough?

By: cynthia berry

cynthia berry — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:35:56 +0000

I reflected on the example of the person who knows God, yet reeked with the smell of alcohol. I remember a person who was an elder of my former congregation. As a result of loosing a son to a tragic accident, he drank so much his skin began to appear pickled. No on within the congregation, including the pastor would address his addiction. He never came to terms with the loss, never confessed his addiction, never surrendered his addiction over to God and never made amends to his wife, etc, leaving no hope for recovery. I often wonder if maybe he was outside the context of a church environment, AA for example, released from the pressure of leadership and placed in a therapy situation, maybe he would have experienced a breakthrough. I think it is fair to say that God is not limited to church or Christain environments. He can work very powerful within environments that are not necessarily Christian, but I do think it is a plus to have Christian partcipate, but not necessarily exclusively.

By: Almena

Almena — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:06:55 +0000

This does look promising. I’ll keep conimg back for more.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:12:47 +0000

Dale, you say, “No matter what our theological convictions, early in recovery we need to face the fact that our current beliefs, practices and convictions have not led to sobriety.”
Aren’t those current beliefs, practices and convictions the very thing that allow the alcoholic to engage in his/her addictive behavior? And if those beliefs are wrong then they need to be corrected. The apostle, Paul, gives the natural progression of those who follow the god of their own understanding in the first chapter of Romans. Ultimately God gives them up to a depraved mind. That’s the result of following the god of our own understanding and if we continue to believe in that false god we will never be redeemed. We are our own worst enemy as long as we have a skewed idea of the nature of God as found in Jesus Christ.
I was an alcoholic for 20 years because I had given my life over to the god of my own understanding. I was redeemed and cured when I understood the true God as revealed in Jesus Christ. I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in nearly 21 years and I have absolutely no desire for it. Without a firm belief through a committed relationship with Jesus Christ there is no hope for recovery.

By: graham aa member

graham aa member — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:58:29 +0000

This article has cleared up and has put in order my thoughts that have been troubling me over the last year or so. I am a recovered alcoholic who, by the grace of God in Jesus, has never had the courage to admit that although I needed a ‘God of my understanding’ at the beginning, in a matter of a fact I didn’t. i was taken through the programme by Big Book Christians, who affirmed nothing other than getting well and helping others was my primary purpose. My Christian beliefs strengthened when I realised where, say, ‘faith without works’ originates from (the book of St James), and terms like ‘where two of us meet we have a meeting’ Jesus said where we meet in his name He will be there. the twelve steps is riddled with biblical terms and I am so grateful that I have not had to endure the crazy ‘chair leg’, ‘light bulb’ or ‘washing machine’ higher powers that I so often hear, and the continued insanity that goes with them. It is clear that ‘the kindegarten steps’ worked well for this Recovered alcoholic who now loves my future wife as I do my church, and who reads devotionals every day, life is God

By: joann williams

joann williams — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:57:42 +0000

somewhere ‘inside’ (mind, heart, soul), I hear and feel the sound of hands clapping, and an inaudible voice saying ‘yes’, ‘yes’, ‘yes’ to every word. I have been sober 37 years, why am I just seeing this book? (God saves the best for last???)..thanks………..