From JILLIAN F.
Thursday, January 13, 2011 2:09 PM
Subject: Watered-down AA of today
"Just so you know, of the first 100 "recovered" members of AA, the ones who got together & wrote the big book. over 50% of them ultimately relapsed; many of them died drunk after repeated attempts to get & stay sober, only to return to the bottle after a period of sobriety. So, today's AA is actually a very accurate picture of the AA in 1939. Most drunks die drunk. Very few get & stay sober. Your site is inaccurate, full of sweeping generalizations, & makes ridiculous criticisms of AA today (as compared to the early days). The success rate in AA today, while impossible to track & document, is probably just like it was in the beginning. You might want to do a little more research & reading, before you continue to make incorrect & self-righteous statements on your site that have absolutely no evidence to back them up. The Big Book was written by a bunch of drunks with less than 5 years of sobriety. I don't know about the meetings YOU go to, but the drunks I know with less than 5 years of sobriety almost ALWAYS claim they have "recovered" & will never drink again...I know, because I was one of them. I relapsed at 10 years of sobriety, having worked the steps annually for my first 7 years of sobriety in a "Big-Book Thumping" God Squad meeting. Then I dropped out of AA, believing that if I was "recovered", as the Big Book says, why would I need AA? I got to find out, & barely made it back to tell about it.
By the way, I'm an alcoholic, & a huge advocate of AA and the 12-step program, & struggle with my erroneous belief that AA is the only way to get & stay sober. I know it isn't; but I also know that it works, for those who are willing to surrender & give up the fantasy they still have some control over booze. But for a "real alcoholic" to surrender is an almost impossible event which can only happen (in my opinion) with the help & clarity from a power greater than ourselves. Most alcoholics don't ever get sober for good & all; it's the nature of the illness."
Exerpts from I Love AA editor's reply:
Jillian,
Your comments, while both interesting and revealing, are inaccurate in your assessment of my site. Had you done your homework you would see that I’m correct about early AA. It was so successful they wrote a book about it, and then threw away the very thing that created their success (Jesus/Bible) in favor of the book they wrote.
Thanks for sharing your angry, inaccurate emotional vomit with me, Jillian. I hope you feel better now that you’ve sent it, and now that you know I’ve read it.
Now I suggest you take a look at what Bill and Bob and the other more than 100 original members of AA did to get sober, and try doing that, too. Practicing principles is what they testified that they did. Your email appears completely devoid of any semblance of principles being practiced. Perhaps that’s why you’ve sent off such an angry, bitter email to attack my site when you don’t even know me and clearly haven’t done your homework regarding early AA. (Reading AA General Service info, btw, isn’t accurate. They watered AA history down a long time ago, so that no one would be offended by the word “Jesus” or AA’s reliance upon the Bible.)
...Despite your obvious unwillingness to thoroughly follow Bill and Bob’s advice found in the 12 Steps, I continue to share this message of hope with the people I counsel every day, planting the same seed that was planted in me that “You never have to relapse again”. And despite your disagreement with that statement, some of them believe me and commit their lives to living principled lives and helping others, personal inventory and quickly-made amends. This is what I tell all of them along the way, in order to get them motivated: “We’re either all in, or we won’t be in at all.” I also point out that real alcoholics only have two choices: (1) drink or (2) throw themselves ALL IN to this program. There is no other identified way to successful sobriety. That’s why the courts send people to AA. If there were a way that didn’t involve God, the courts would point people there. Guaranteed. You say it’s not the only way? But it’s the most successful way. For many of us, it’s the only way that has ever worked.
...It’s virtually impossible to relapse for someone who is being sponsored, who is actively sponsoring others and continuing to take personal inventory, admitting it quickly when we’re wrong, seeking God through regular prayer and meditation (the Book Bill and Bob got that nugget from says “Pray always” - I’ve found it fascinating to go read what they were reading before they wrote the Big Book), and Sponsoring others. That’s what they meant when they said “carry the message to others”, Jillian. “…the message…” is the 12 Steps and the only way to carry it to others is to Sponsor them. They weren’t talking about carrying a message of hope at meetings. They meant what they wrote: “…carry THIS message…”, which is the 12 Steps.
BTW, here is a little “evidence” for you: http://www.dickb.com. It only works if you work it, btw. And while I see that you’ve aligned yourself with those who relapsed in the past, I align myself with those who have remained successful. Perhaps that’s why your POV and mine are so different. I suggest you “stick with the winners” and see how that works for you. People who are thoroughly following this path who hang out with the winners don’t relapse…ever.
Also, if I decide to post your comments on my site, along with my response, I’ll be sure to keep you anonymous (Jillian F.).
Thank you for sharing, Jillian, and have a wonderful day.
God’s way works,
Don C.
BILL W., from "As Bill Sees It" (1940)
Bill W., from a letter in 1940"
"At first, the remedy for my personal difficulties seemed so obvious that I could not imagine any alcoholic turning the proposition down were it properly presented to him. Believing so firmly that Christ can do anything, I had the unconscious conceit to suppose that He would do everything through me-right then and in the manner I chose. After six long months, I had to admit that not a soul had surely laid hold of the Master-not excepting myself.
"This brought me to the good healthy realization that there were plenty of situations left in the world over which I had no personal power-that if I was so ready to admit that to be the case with alcohol, so I must make the same admission with respect to much else. I would have to be still and know that He, not I, was God."
LETTER, 1940
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