From: richardg@spot.Colorado.EDU (Greg L. Richardson)
Subject: "We are not allied with any sect or denomination" - Really?
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 23:18:12 GMT

Hi Guys - 

Just for the sake of doing it, I've decided to post the 12 steps.  It is 
taken from my .plan, so it includes some of the modifications that I've
made.  Hopefully, this will spark some discussion about Christianity vs.
Higher Power.  For instance, I personally have an issue with saying the
Lord's Prayer at the end of meetings.  Could you imagine the intolerance
that old timer's would show if I were to suggest that we recite a Jewish, 
Muslim, American Indian, Buddhist etc... prayer at the end of a meeting.

I personally find a problem with the fact that AA says that it is not
allied with any sect or denomination and then recites, in unison, a prayer
that was created in a mainstream religion of our time.

I'm not saying I know better, I'm just expressing concern that we, as an
organization that is attempting to show spiritual guidance, have a very serious
contradiction at the core of our existence. 

Here is the first part of Chapter Five from the Big Book of AA as I've taken
it to mean:

 Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.  
 Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give
 themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are 
 constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.  There are such
 unfortunates.  They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way.
 They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living
 which demands rigorous honesty.  Their chances are less than average.  There
 are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but 
 many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

 Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened,
 and what we are like now.  If you have decided you want what we have and are
 willing to go to any length to get it - then you are ready to take certain
 steps. 
    
 At some of these we balked.  We thought we could find an easier, softer way.
 But we could not.  With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to
 be fearless and thorough from the very start.  Some of us have tried to hold
 on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

 Remember that we deal with cocaine and alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful!
 Without help it is too much for us.  But there is One who has all power - that
 One is your Higher Power.  May you find It now!

 Half measures availed us nothing.  We stood at the turning point.  We asked
 Its protection and care with complete abandon.

 Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

       1.  We admitted we were powerless over Cocaine and all other mind-
           altering substances - that our lives had become unmanageable.
       2.  Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore
           us to sanity.
       3.  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of
           our Higher Power.
       4.  Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
       5.  Admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves, and to another human
           being the exact nature of our wrongs.
       6.  Were entirely ready to have our Higher Power remove all these   
           defects of character.
       7.  Humbly asked It to remove our shortcomings.
       8.  Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to
           make amends to them all.
       9.  Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to
           do so would injure them or others.
       10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
           admitted it.
       11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our concious contact
           with our Higher Power, praying only for knowledge of Its will for us
           and the power to carry that out.
       12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we
           tried to carry this message to addicts and alcoholics, and to 
           practice these principles in all our affairs.

 Many of us exclaimed, "What an order!  I can't go through with it."  Do not be
 discouraged.  No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect
 adherence to these principles.  We are not saints.  The point is, that we are
 willing to grow along spiritual lines.  The principles we have set down are 
 guides to progress.  We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual  
 perfection.

 Our description of the alcoholic and addict, the chapter to the agnostic, and
 our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
       (a) That we were alcoholic addicts and could not manage our own lives.
       (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism or
           addiction.
       (c) That our Higher Power could and would if It were sought.


I'd also like to extend a hand of thanks to you, recovering people as a whole.
Without you, I wouldn't have a glimpse of what happiness really is.

BTW, I had 6 months on the 9th!!!     

With Thanks and Love,
Greg 
Newsgroups: alt.recovery