An Intense Look at Old School Akron A.A.
Group Number One—A Christian Fellowship—Its Roots, Specific Sources, and Persuasive
Recovery Techniques
By Dick B.
2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
Common Observations as to Akron A.A’s Resemblances to
First Century Christianity Practices
Do you realize how many different observers commented
on the resemblance of the early Akron A.A. Group Number One fellowship to First
Century Christianity in action? Certainly enough to warrant exploration of the
language and sources that prompted the Comments and Observations:
(1)
The Akronites themselves: (a) A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob
called the Akron A.A. group “a Christian fellowship.”[1] (b) Bob E., a well-known
Akron A.A. pioneer, wrote to Nell Wing (A.A.’s first archivist) confirming that
Dr. Bob told his business friends that the alcoholic squad people were “a
Christian Fellowship.”[2] (c) Bob E. wrote the same
information to Bill W.’s wife Lois on an Akron “Four Absolutes” pamphlet, of
which Dick B. obtained a copy during an Akron Founders Day Conference.
(2)
The Frank Amos Report to
Rockefeller: When he came to Akron to see what the
Akron
A.A. Christian Fellowship was, and how well it was succeeding, Rockefeller
agent Frank Amos soon wrote: (a) “Dr. Howard S. . . . aged about 35 . . . had
been an alcoholic had been cured by Smith and his friends’ activities and the
Christian technique prescribed.”[3] (b) “Of the 110 members
then in the program, 70 were in the Akron-Cleveland area . . . , that ‘in many
respects, their meetings have taken on the form of the meetings described in
the Gospels of the early Christians during the first century.”[4]
(3)
Akron Group Leader Henrietta
Seiberling’s Views: According to letters to, or interviews by, Dick B., the two
daughters of Henrietta B. Seiberling wrote about their mother’s emphasis on
First Century Christianity in her life and in her teachings to early Akron AAs.
Bill W. pointed out that Henrietta had introduced Bill
to Dr. Bob; that during the summer of 1935, she counseled many an alcoholic
family, was eagerly sought out for great spiritual insight and what help she
could give, and that she and Anne [Smith] had infused a much-needed
spirituality into both Bob and Bill.[5] Henrietta’s older daughter Mary confirmed
this.[6] Henrietta’s younger
daughter Dorothy told Dick B. in an interview in her New York home: “I think
mother had dedicated herself to living a different kind of life—the 1st
century Christianity principles. . . . They (Henrietta, Dr. Bob, and Bill W.)
were bound together to share experiences and to help each other in the journey
of living a God directed life. . . . As to First Century Christianity—trying to
follow the teachings of Christ without an overload of dogma, doctrine, or
church traditions.[7]
(4)
Anne Ripley Smith, Dr. Bob’s
Wife, emphasized the importance of the Bible and of the Book of Acts: Dr. Bob’s wife can best be
described by what she said and did, rather than by the words of those who knew
her. And the authoritative text pertaining to Anne Ripley Smith is Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939: A.A.’s
Principles of Success, 3rd ed.
We
think it fair to say that Anne Smith (often called “the Mother of A.A.”) lived by the basic principles and
practices of First Century Christianity. In brief, she wrote as to some of them:
(a) Conversion is the turning to God, the decision, the surrender [p. 46]; (b) A
maximum experience of Jesus Christ leads to a radical change in personal life,
bringing about a selfless relationship to people about one [p. 46]; (c) God is
willing to take my past spiritual experience and weld it in a new spiritual
experience. God has spoken. The moment I hear and obey His voice and come to the place of
complete surrender on every area of my life, is the moment of rebirth, reunion with Christ and a start
on great revival campaign. . . . (d) Surrender involves the explosive
experience of a Holy Ghost conversion, the expulsive power of a new affection
[p. 46]; (e) Witness to some friend who has come to you, practice daily
surrender, daily Quiet Time, blocks to Guidance, let all your reading be
guided, unite with a fellowship of kindred souls [p. 52]; (f) Prayer--a way to
find God’s will not to change it. . . . Not about our needs but taking matters to
God and having communion with Him (Your Heavenly Father knows ye have needs of
all these things.[8])
[pp. 56-57]; (g) Giving Christianity away is the best way to keep it. We can’t
give away what we haven’t got [p. 69]; (h) Winning others [p. 71]; (i) Bible
study and reading. As to these, Anne wrote:
Let all your reading be
guided. . . . Of course the Bible ought to be the main Source Book of all. No
day ought to pass without reading it. . . . Begin reading the Bible with the
Book of Acts and follow up with the Gospels and then the Epistles of Paul. . .
. The Psalms ought to be read and the Prophets. [pp. 82, 60]
(5)
Many others noted the
resemblance of Akron A.A. ideas and practices to verses in the Gospels and Book
of Acts: There
are many others who noted the resemblance to First Century Christianity as
reported in the Book of Acts:
(a)
Dr. Bob said: “When we started in on Bill D., we had no
Twelve Steps either, we had
no Traditions. But we were convinced that the answer
to our problems was in the Good Book. . . . We used to have daily meetings at a
friend’s house. . . . It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and
studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve
Steps. I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. . . . We already had the basic ideas,
though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of
our study of the Good Book. . . . “[9]
Telling of Dr. Bob’s view of Christianity and early
Akron A.A., Bill W. said about Dr. Bob’s remarks in a particular situation: “He
reminded us that most of us were practicing Christians. Then he asked, ‘What
would the Master have thought?’”[10]
(b)
A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, “PASS IT ON,” tells of Bill W.’s
moving in with
the Smiths in the summer of 1935 and says: “Bill now joined Bob and Anne in the
Oxford Group practice of having morning guidance sessions together, with Anne
reading from the Bible: ‘Reading from her chair in the corner, she would softly
conclude, ‘Faith without works is dead’”[11] And--as Dr. Bob described
this stress on the Bible—the early Akron AAs were “convinced that the answer to
our problem was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts we found
absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew Chapters 5-7], the
13th chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James.”[12]”PASS IT ON” said of these Bible segments: “The Book of James was
considered so important, in fact, that some early members even suggested ‘The
James Club’ as a name for the Fellowship.”[13]
(c) Several of the Rockefeller people involved with
the February 1938 report concerning early A.A. that Frank Amos prepared for
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., commented on the similarities between early A.A. and
First-Century Christianity:
As to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., himself: “Rockefeller
was impressed [by Frank Amos’ report of February 1938 which Willard Richardson
had approved and passed along to Mr. Rockefeller].” Richardson was in charge of
Rockefeller charities. And, according to Richardson, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
saw the parallel with early Christianity; and, along with this, he spotted a
combination of medicine and religion that appealed to all his charitable
inclinations.[14]
Albert Scott, chairman of the board of trustees of New
York’s Riverside Church, chaired a meeting in Rockefeller’s private board room.
After reviewing the Amos report and hearing each alcoholic tell his own
personal story, Scott exclaimed: “Why this is first-century Christianity!” And
he added: “What can we do to help?”[15]
(d) John D. Rockefeller, Jr., arranged a dinner for
Bill W. and other AAs on February 8, 1940, at The Union Club on Park Avenue
and 69th Street in New York
City. John D. had planned to attend, but he was too ill to do so. So, he sent
his son, Nelson Rockefeller, to host the dinner.[16] As Bill’s wife Lois,
records in her memoirs: “When Nelson finally got up to talk, there was a great
deal of expectancy. He told how impressed his father was with this unique
movement, which resembled early Christianity.”[17]
(e) There were two individuals who had a strong
influence on early Alcoholics Anonymous and made much of First Century
Christianity—The first was Dr. Frank N.D. Buchman, founder of “A First Century
Christian Fellowship,” later known as the Oxford Group. The second was Rev.
Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., a chief America lieutenant in “A First Century
Christian Fellowship,” who also oversaw Calvary Episcopal Church in New York
(as well as its eight-story Calvary House building and its Calvary Mission).
Both often referred to the Oxford Group by its original name, “A First Century
Christian Fellowship.”
The Oxford Group certainly was a major proponent of First
Century Christianity. Its original name, adopted in the autumn of 1922, was “A
First Century Christian Fellowship.” It was also known, for a time, as the “Groups.”
It began to adopt the name “the Oxford Group” after a newspaper in South Africa
had applied that label to a group of students from Oxford University who were
members of “A First Century Christian Fellowship” and were traveling by train
in South Africa in September 1928. In 1938—after Bill W. had ceased his
participation in the group--its name was changed to Moral Re-Armament. The name
“A First Century Christian Fellowship” was still in regular use during the time
Bill W. participated in it (December 1934 to August 1937) and during much of
the time Dr. Bob participated in it (1933 to at least 1939).[18] And Dick B. found much
evidence for the popularity of the name “A First Century Christian Fellowship”
among the libraries and effects of various Oxford Group leaders, activists, and
employees in the period beginning in 1923 to the founding of A.A. in 1935. Dick B. personally met and had
discussions with many of the Oxford Group leaders of that period.
And A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature
referred to the name—“A First Century Christian Fellowship.”[19]
Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., and his circle ware the
other “First Century Christianity” nomenclature proponents. Thus, in the
Episcopal Church Archives in Austin, Texas, my son Ken B. and I (Dick B.) found
a lengthy article by Shoemaker—“A First Century Christian Fellowship: A Defense
of So-Called Buchmanism by one of its leaders,” Reprinted from The Churchman [later renamed Churchman], circa, 1928.[20]
(6)
Others using the First
Century Christianity language: Still others, whose comments are relevant here included the First
Century Christian principles and practices we mentioned in our discussion of
what Henrietta Seiberling had said on the subject:
(a)
The first is Clarence H. Snyder, who got sober in February, 1938
and was sponsored
by Dr. Bob. Clarence stayed sober for the rest of his
long years. In Ohio, Clarence had to sit down and meet with Roman Catholic
alcoholics and the hierarchy of their Church to explain to them that alcoholics
were not intentionally violating the Church’s teaching by reason of their
reading aloud from the King James Version
of the Bible, “witnessing,” and confessing their faults one to another.[21] He said that the “alcoholic
squad” was working with these drunkards; and, through this life-changing
program, this “First Century Christian Fellowship” was turning them into “good
Catholics.”
But that Roman Catholic Church did not buy his line.[22]
Clarence also remembered being taken into T. Henry
Williams’ bedroom for a “full surrender.” The men (likened to the “elders” in
James 5:14) all got down on their knees in an attitude of prayer. They all
placed their hands on Clarence, and then proceeded to pray. These people
introduced Clarence to Jesus as his Lord and Savior. They explained to Clarence
that this was First Century Christianity. Then they prayed for a healing and
removal of Clarence’s sins, especially his alcoholism.[23]
(b)
Two other Akronites told Dick B. eye witness stories similar
to that of Clarence’s.
One Akron A.A. pioneer was Larry Bauer. Larry both
phoned and wrote Dick B. that, for his “full surrender,” he had been taken
upstairs and “they made me a born again man.” The second Akron pioneer was Ed
Andy of Lorain, Ohio. In a telephone conversation several years ago, and before
the date of his death, Ed Andy told Dick B. of his surrender and said “They
wouldn’t let you in unless you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.”
(7)
The powerful Vermont Congregational
viewpoint: Of
particular interest is a book by T.D. Seymour Bassett, The Gods of the Hills: Piety and Society in Nineteenth Century Vermont.[24] Our readers must bear in
mind what many AAs and A.A. writers do not know--that both Bill W. and Dr. Bob
had extensive training in and by, and connections with, Congregational Churches
in Vermont.[25]
And this all occurred in the period of their lives that extended from birth
until completion of their respective training at Vermont academies.
The
families of both men belonged to and were prominent in Vermont Congregational
Churches. Both cofounders, as young men, went to a Congregational Sunday school.
Bill W. went first to the East Dorset Congregational Church in East Dorset,
Vermont. Then, when he became a student at Burr and Burton Seminary, Bill W.
very likely attended at least some of the services at Manchester Congregational
Church every Sunday which Burr and Burton Seminary required all of its students
to attend. Dr. Bob attended the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury
and its Sunday school. All his family attended, and his mother and father were both
involved in church administration. Bob then attended the Congregationalist St.
Johnsbury Academy and there was required to go to a Congregational church
service each week and to Daily Chapelt. Similarly, Bill was required at Burr
and Burton to attend Daily Chapel where there were sermons, hymns, prayers, and
reading of Scripture. The strict Daily chapel attendance was required of, and
observed by both cofounders during their four years of high school education at
the academies.
And,
in his book, The Gods of the Hills, Bassett
wrote at page 213:
The
Congregational Way was primitive Christianity revived, after centuries of departures
from the congregational principles of St. Stephen and the Jerusalem elders.”
(8)
Two books on Christian
healing carried the First Century resemblance still
further. Each book was owned by Dr. Bob, studied by him, and circulated to
members of the Akron A.A. Group Number One Christian Fellowship:[26]
(a)
The first book is that of Ethel Willitts, Healing in Jesus’ Name: Fifteen Sermons and
Addresses on Salvation and
Healing, 2d
ed. Ethel Willitts was an evangelist who spent several months in Akron after
A.A. was founded and before the Big Book was written. At pages 94 and 95 of Healing in Jesus’ Name, she points to 1
Corinthians 12:27, 28. She reminds that God provided for teachers, miracles,
and gifts of healing. She adds:
We are now living in the dispensation of the Holy
Spirit, when the Holy Spirit, the miracle worker, should be working in our
churches even more so than in the early times. . . . In the early church times,
God established teachers who taught salvation and healing and went about
healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases. They were, like
Paul, declaring the whole counsel of the Lord.
(b)
The second book contains James Moore Hickson’s reports on
thousands of Christian
healings. In Heal the Sick, Hickson points out at
page 3: “The Early Church accepted the commission and obeyed the command, and
the healing of the sick formed a natural part of her ministry. The healing
ministry continued for some centuries. . . . ”
The Relevant Practices of First Century Christians Reported in
the Gospels and the Book of Acts That Were Commonplace in the Akron A.A. Group
Number One “Christian Fellowship”
1.
Receiving power and
witnessing: [Jesus]
“showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen
of them forty days. . . . [and said] For
John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence. . . . But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in
all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”[27]
2.
Fellowship with God, His Son
Jesus Christ, and other believers: Many have concluded that the author of 1 John was one
of the apostles. And that author wrote: “That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have
fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his
Son Jesus Christ.”[28]
3.
Receiving the gift of the
Holy Ghost: The
Book of Acts reported as to those present in Jerusalem for the day of
Pentecost: “Men and Brethren, what
shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost.” [29]
4.
Those who gladly received
the word were baptized, and the same day three thousand were added to their
number.[30]
5.
Continuing stedfastly in the
apostle’s doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and in prayers.[31]
6.
Power after the Holy Ghost
was come upon them.[32] And with great power gave
the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.[33]
7.
Appearing to the Apostles
after his resurrection, Jesus told them: (a) Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature.[34]
(b) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. . . .[35] (c) And these signs shall
follow them that believe: In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues. . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover.[36] (d) And they went forth
and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word
with signs following. Amen.[37]
8.
The first healing: At the Temple Gate called
Beautiful, Peter and John healed the man lame from birth.[38] Peter commanded him, “In
the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.”[39] Asked by what power or by
what name the impotent man was made whole, Peter said: “by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth . . . even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
. . . Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”[40]
9.
By the hands of the apostles
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people (and they were all with one accord
in Solomon’s porch. . . . And believers were the more added to the Lord,
multitudes both of men and women.)[41]
10.
A multitude were
healed—every one: “There came also a multitude out of the cities round about
Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits
and they were healed every one.”[42]
11.
And all that believed were
together, and had all things in common. . . . And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God, and having favor with
the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.[43]
12.
And daily in the temple, and
in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.[44]
13.
These daily meetings of the
Apostles followed the path of Jesus who said: “I was with you in the temple
teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.[45]
The Relevant, Documented Practices of Both the Akron A.A. “Christian
Fellowship” as Well as Many Other Early AAs Should Here Be Reviewed, Pondered,
and Compared With the Practices of First Century Christianity (as Seen in the
Book of Acts, Especially)
1.
Qualifying the newcomer as an alcoholic wanting to quit for
good and who will do anything that will help him abstain.[46] The A.A. Big Book states,
as to relief from alcoholism, “God could and would if He were sought.” Compare
the verse from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount—often explained by Dr. Bob as
meaning first things first. Hence Bob quoted Matthew 6:33: “And seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you.” Compare also the language of Hebrews 11:6—frequently referred to by
Oxford Group people and by Rev. Samuel Shoemaker: “But without faith, it is
impossible to please him [God]” for he that cometh to God must believe that he
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
2.
Hospitalization was a “must” and was a way to assure safe detox
and to prevent seizures or DT’s.[47]
3.
The newcomer was then required to make a decision to quit drinking
forever.[48]
4.
Belief in God was required.[49]
5.
Coming to God through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior was required.[50]
6.
Asking God in the name of Jesus Christ to take alcohol out of
your life and to test their lives in order to live by Christian principles such
as the Four Absolute standards of Jesus.[51]
7.
Fellowshipping with like-minded believers occurred daily[52] As Dr. Bob described it,
“We used to have daily meetings at a friend’s house.” (The Co-Founders, 13)
8.
Learning from the Bible what God promises, expects, and renewing
their mind to it.[53]
9.
Prayer – both individual and group.[54]
10.
Quiet Time – the Bible, prayer, Guidance, devotionals.[55]
11.
Study time—individual or group—the Bible (the Book of James, Jesus’s
Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 were considered “absolutely
essential” to the program.)[56]
12.
Study time—eyes on the page by individual or group—Joe and
Charlie Big Book tapes.[57]
13.
Sponsor time—taking newcomers through the 12 Steps—with
guidebook—evidenced by the Our A.A. Legacy
to the Faith Community authored by three Clarence H. Snyder sponsees and
their wives..[58]
14.
Communicating daily.[59]
15.
Breaking bread together daily.[60]
16.
Visiting other believers daily in meetings or in homes or
groups.[61]
17.
Study time—Christian devotionals—The Runner’s Bible—1 Corinthians—Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—James.[62]
18.
Church services, group Bible studies, religious services.[63]
19.
Speaker meetings that focus on the solution, not war stories,
or recitals of misery and failures. Instead, talking about what God has done
for them, talking about the Big Book and Steps, talking about the Bible, talking
about A.A.’s historical roots, and talking about living sober.[64]
20.
Looking for someone to help and sponsor.[65]
21.
Helping others get straightened out the same way—welcome and
courteously help them at meetings or elsewhere, provide rides, sit with
newcomers who timidly come to meetings, pray with and for them, go to wholesome
activities together—sports, dances, barbeques, movies, TV and popcorn, comedy
shows, music, amusement parks, plays, athletic games, other games, chip
meetings, birthday parties, roundups, conferences, area meetings—Unity,
Gratitude Nights, etc. [66]
22.
Become a qualified speaker—covering God, Jesus Christ, Bible,
Big Book, Steps, and what you did to maintain sobriety and move toward a
useful, abundant life.[67]
23.
Become a qualified sponsor—teach the Big Book, the Steps, the
history, the Bible, and prayer.[68]
24.
Participate in your own recovery—and do it within your own meetings, commitments,
service work, setups, cleanups, greeting, coffee-making, or literature person.[69]
25.
Stick with the winners and stay away from temptation,
slippery places, slippery people.[70]
26.
Attend to health matters, dental matters, injuries, and
illnesses; family matters, custody matters; criminal, civil and domestic
issues; as well as missed court dates and lack of response to court orders, and
tickets.[71]
27.
Get a job. Or pursue vocational training, educational
programs, and housing needs. Also, possibly, volunteering for charitable,
church, non-profit, organizational work while looking for the other solutions;
or, at the same time as working at a job, school, or finding a housing
solution.[72]
28.
Take pride in appearance.[73]
Starting a
Productive Recovery Journey Today--Applying and Combining “Old-School” Akron
A.A. Biblical Techniques or Programs, with Today’s Successful
12-Step approaches; And Bending Every Effort to Harmonize the Two, Using A.A.
General-Service Conference-approved Literature as a Topical Tool.
Whether they fully understand their own words or
descriptions, those who speak today of early Akron A.A. in terms of its
likeness to First Century Christianity need to learn more, discern more, reframe
more, and tolerate more if they are to focus on their own recovery and useful
lives as well as reaching out to help those who still suffer and truly want God’s
help.
The importance of the principles and practices of the early
Apostles (to the extent accepted and applied successfully by the Akron A.A.
pioneers) is simply the fruit of aligning one’s life with what the Bible
discloses to be God’s will for man. For the Big Book frequently and both
directly and indirectly speaks of doing God’s will and “Thy will be done.” And, however perfect or imperfect they were
individually, the early Christians were close in person or time to the Exemplar,
being doers of God’s Word, and not hearers only, deceiving their own selves.[74]
Briefly, then, let’s review what the Apostles were
attempting to do and the results they were able to achieve when they walked in
fellowship with God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible.
Asked, “Master which is the great commandment in the
law?” Jesus said . . . “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”[75]
And this commandment have we from him, That he who
loveth God love his brother also. . . . For this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.[76]
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest
me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from
thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. . . . Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth.[77]
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on
me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he
do; because I go unto my father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.[78]
Said Jesus: “I was daily with you in the temple teaching,
. . .”[79]
Some of the Apostles were actually present to hear
Jesus’s words. And those First Century Christians followed the foregoing
principles cited above, applying them in learning the Word, prayer, fellowship,
comradeship, worship, witnessing, healing, and conversion.
(1) They that gladly received his word were baptized:
and the same day there were added unto them three thousand souls (Acts 2:41).
(2) They continued daily with one accord in the
temple, and breaking bread from house to house, and ate their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart (Acts 2:46).
(3) They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42).
(4) And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43).
(5) And all that believed were together, and had all
things common (Acts 2:44).
(6) Peter and John went up together into the temple.
Peter approached a man lame from his mother’s birth who asked an alms. Peter
said: “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones regained
strength. And he leaping up stood; and walked, and entered with them into the temple.
Walking and leaping and praising God. (Acts 3:1-3, 6-8)
(7) And his name through faith in his name hath made this
man strong. . . . the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect
soundness in the presence of you all.
(Acts 3:16)
(8) Asked by what power or by what name have ye done
this, Peter said, Be it known unto you all,, and to all the people of Israel
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole. . . . Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. . . . And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was
upon them all” (Acts 4:7, 10, 12, 33)
(9)
And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the
people (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. . . . And
believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes of men and women. (Acts
5:12, 14)
And We Believe the Documentation of What the Early Akron A.A.
Group Number One Christian Fellowship Did is Fully Supported by, and Shown to
Be Appropriate and Available Primarily by A.A. General Service Conference-approved
Literature
In the homes of early A.A. Christian Akronites, they
studied the Bible, had prayers, read literature, used Quiet Time devotionals,
visited newcomers in the hospital, led the newcomers to profess belief in God
and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, fellowshipped together daily, broke
bread together, and hung out with like-minded believers, asked God to take
alcohol out of their lives and to help them live by cardinal Christian
principles. And it worked! Those who were real alcoholics, who were determined
to stay away from liquor for good, who were willing to do whatever it took, and
who followed the seven-point program summarized on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers had a
remarkable percentage of success—both in Akron and in Cleveland. And they
publically and frequently gave testimony that they had been cured.[80]
The Value of
the Old School Akron A.A. Program Is That It Came From and Was Embraced by and Successfully
Applied in Earlier, Pre-A.A. Substantial and Successful Christian Recovery
Work, And Then Tested as to the Efficacy of Those Christian Roots for Four
Years (1935-1939), and Thereafter—Even as the efficacy of God’s Help in
Recovery Is Still Being Tested and Successful Today!
Here is a timeline
of the solid roots of early Akron A.A.’s Christian Fellowship
1.
The teachings of Jesus and the records of the Apostles as
sketched above.
2.
The Christian organizations and people of the 1900’s who served
and healed, and turned from fighting liquor and saloons to helping the”
unworthy” derelicts, criminals, prostitutes, alcoholics, and addicts.[81]
They
employed various and differing techniques, but the fundamental and needed
Christian ingredients were similar: (a) Belief in God. (b) Conversion to God
through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (c) Standing on the truth
and teachings of Scripture. (d) Prayer meetings. (e) Scripture reading.
(f) Quiet Time. (g) Sermons. (h) Hymns (i)
Revivals. (j) Rehabilitating Lives. (k) Changing lives. (l) Attaining remission
of sins. (m) Being healed of all manner of sicknesses and diseases. (n) Being
redeemed from the power of darkness, and (k) Assuring Everlasting life. And
these practices are just as welcome to, and compatible with, the needs of
thousands of dedicated 12-Step people today.
3.
The people and entities that constituted the Christian roots
and sources of A.A. were: (a) The Young Men’s Christian Association. (b) Gospel
Rescue Missions. (c) Evangelists like Dwight Moody, Ira Sankey, H.M. Moore,
Allen Folger, F.B. Meyer, and Henry Drummond. (d) The Salvation Army (e)
Congregationalism. (f) The Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor; and
belatedly and to a degree (g) A First Century Christian Fellowship—often spoken
of as the Oxford Group.
4.
The Christian Upbringing of Dr. Bob and Bill W. in Vermont
can be seen in the original A.A. recovery formula:
(a)
As to Dr. Bob: The Great Awakening of 1875 in St. Johnsbury where an entire
village was transformed, Dr. Bob and his family trained him and themselves in
salvation and the Word of God. North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury
provided—with its documented confession, creed, baptism, sermons, hymns, prayers,
reading of Scripture; Sunday school; YMCA connections; St. Johnsbury Academy—with
its required daily chapel offering sermons, prayers, hymns, reading of
Scripture; required weekly church attendance, required Bible study, and the
ever-present school YMCA activities.
(b)
As to Bill W.: The conversion and cure of Grandpa Willie Wilson alcoholism, Bill
W. and his family trained Bill in Christian precepts, East Dorset
Congregational Church (the Wilson family owned Pew 15, and the Griffith family
were regular attenders) provided—with its documented confession, creed, baptism,
sermon, hymns, reading of Scripture, Temperance meetings, revivals, conversion
meetings; Sunday school; Bible reading with grandfather Griffith and friend
Mark Whalon. Burr and Burton Seminary (which Bill attended for four years)
provided—with its required four year Bible study course--Bill W.’s presidency
of the seminary YMCA, his girlfriend’s presidency of the seminary YWCA, daily chapel—with sermons, prayers, hymns,
reading of Scripture; required attendance at Manchester Congregational Church—Ebby
Thacher’s attendance at the seminary with Bill W. for a time and Ebby’s
boarding with the Manchester Congregational Church pastor, Rev. Sidney K. Perkins;
And then Bill W. and Ebby’s attendance at Norwich Military Academy – with similar
but less stringent religious requirements.
5.
How the First Three AAs got sober before there were any Big
Books, Steps, Traditions, War Stories, or Meetings such as those today. The
first three AA were each believers in God, Christians, and Bible students. Each
hit bottom, decided to quit for good, turned life over to God for help and
direction, and served others[82]:
(a) As
to Bill W. —The very start of Bill’s recovery success involved Dr. Silkworth’s
advice to Bill W. and his wife at the lowest possible bottom about cure by the Great
Physician Jesus Christ; Ebby’s new birth at Calvary Mission and his testimony
to Bill; Bill’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at Calvary
Mission; Bill’s writing his brother-in-law that he “found religion;” and then
writing in his autobiography that “For sure I’d been born again. Yet--again
drunk and despairing--Bill remembered possible help from Great Physician,
checked into Towns Hospital; decided to call on the Great Physician; cried out
to God for help; had a vital religious experience in his hospital room with blazing
indescribably white light; the sense of being on a mountain top, feeling a
breeze of the spirit,[83] and thinking: “Bill, you
are a free man. This is the God of the Scriptures.”[84] Bill lost all of his doubts
about God. He never drank again. He feverishly set about trying to help other
drunks with a Bible under his arm, telling them they must give their live to
God,[85] and that the “Lord” had
“cured” him of his alcoholism.[86]
(b)
Dr. Bob—Next in the recovery line of miracles, Dr. Bob attended Henrietta
Seiberling’s special meeting in Akron, admitted he was a secret drinker,
dropped to his knees with the others present, and prayed for deliverance. Bob’s
prayers were answered when stranger Bill W. called Henrietta Seiberling asking
for a drunk to help, Henrietta believed those prayers were answered, arranged a
meeting between Bob and Bill where Bob perceived the importance of service, Bob
had one last drinking binge, and decided to “go through with the program,” and
never drank again. Both men decided to help other drunks.[87]
(c)
Bill D. was the first successful AA—A.A. Number Three—with
whom Bill W. and
Dr. Bob worked and then succeeded. Bill D.—an Akron attorney--had
been a church deacon and Sunday school superintendent. Bill D. was desperately drunk
in Akron City Hospital, then heard Bill and Bob witness to him, then turned to
God for help. And then Bill D. was cured; and walked from the hospital a free
man. Bill D. went on to serve and help many newcomers. He was discharged from
the hospital on July 4, 1935; and Bill Wilson called that date, the date of the
founding of A.A.’s first group—Akron Group Number One.
(d)
The technique of these
first three AAs—believers in God, Christians, and students of
the Bible—was this: They had hit their bottom. They
quit for good. Each sought God’s
help. Each was cured and said so. And
(e) Each Began intense work helping others.
6.
The early Akron A.A. Group Number One Christian Fellowship
program was founded on several, simple, basic ingredients: (a) Their basic
ideas from the Bible.[88] (b) Becoming a Christian was
required. (c) Hospitalization was required. (d) Most of the program’s principles
and practices were based on the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor
program: Conversion meetings, Bible studies, prayer meetings, topical
discussion of biblical subjects. Quiet Hour. Reading and discussing Christian
literature, and Socializing.[89]
7.
Four years later (in 1939), Bill introduced his “new version
of the program” with Twelve Steps in the Big Book.[90] He claimed its ideas were
taken from three totally different sources: (a) Dr. William D. Silkworth—who
defined alcoholism (and who, we now know, told Bill that the Great Physician,
Jesus Christ, could cure Bill of Bill’s alcoholism; (b) Professor William
James—who validated for Bill vital religious experiences curing alcoholics; and
(c) Rev. Sam Shoemaker—who gave Bill the remainder of the Steps from Oxford
Group principles.[91]
Using Dick B and Ken B. Books and Conference-approved books
to Launch Christian Fellowship Meetings for Christians and those AAs who want
God’s help
[Utilize the Big Book;
DR. BOB of Alcoholics Anonymous, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous;
Experience, Strength and Hope; Stick with
the Winners!; and Pioneer Stories in
Alcoholics Anonymous;]
[1]
A.A. General Service Conference-approved
book, DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, 118.
[2]
Dick B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics
Anonymous, Newton ed., 187, n. 11; and 198, n.50. The letter was dated
March 14, 1975, and a copy was made available to Dick B. during his
investigation at Stepping Stones in September, 1991.
[3]
DR. BOB, 129.
[4]
DR. BOB, 135-36.
[5]
The Akron Genesis, 79-80.
[6]
Daughter Mary Seiberling Huhn wrote Dick B., “But it wasn’t until the advent of
the Oxford Group to Akron and her subsequent involvement with the smaller group
and then A.A. that mother became intensely interested in the teachings and
story of Jesus. . . . She clung to the inspiring version of First Century
Christianity as it paralleled Christ’s own methods.” Dick B., The Akron Genesis, 90-94.
[7]
The Akron Genesis, 101-02
[8]
Anne thus paraphrases Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
6:32: “for your heavenly Father
knoweth ye have need of all these things”
[9]
A.A. General Service Conference-approved pamphlet P-53, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their
Last Major Talks, 13-14
[10]
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 39.
[11]
“PASS IT ON,” 147.
[12]
The Co-Founders of A.A., 13
[13]
Page 147.
[14]
Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (NY: Harper
& Row, 1975), 275; Dick B. and Ken B., Stick
with the Winners!, 41-42.
[15]
See the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book,
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 148.
[16]
Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the
Winners! How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings Using
Conference-Approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide for Christian Leaders and
Workers in the Recovery Arena, 42.
[17]
Lois Remembers (New York: Al-Anon
Family Group Headquarters, Inc.), 187, 128-29.
[18]
Dick B., The Oxford Group &
Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Works, 2d ed., 1-2, 28, 31,
73, 83-85, 94, 121, 140, 220, 286, 370.
[19]
DR. BOB, 53-54; “Pass It On,”
[20]
See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism:
God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed., 12, 68, 141. 166,. 233, 236, 263, 318-320, 375-77, 388, 414, 444,
484, 506, 512, 556-57,
[21]
See James 5:16 which was said to be the origin of the “confessing” and later of
the idea of A.A.’s Fifth Step. See “PASS
IT ON,” 129.
[22]
Mitchell K., How It Worked: The Story of
Clarence H. Snyder and The Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland,
Ohio, 84.
[23]
Mitchell K. How It Worked, 70.
[24](Montpelier,
VT: Vermont Historical Society, 2000), 213.
[25]
See the latest published book by Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, The Green Mountain Men of Vermont for many of
the newly discovered Vermont details about the Cofounders. And also see the two
earlier books: Dick B., The Conversion of
Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A.; and Dick B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His
Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont.
[27]
Acts 1:3, 5, 8.
[28]
1 John 1:3.
[29]
Acts 2:37-38: “. . . . Men and Brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
[30]
Acts 2:41: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same
day there were added unto them about three thousands souls.”
[31]
Acts 2:42.
[32]
Acts 1:8.
[33]
Acts 4:33.
[34]
Mark 16:15.
[35]
Mark 16:16.
[36]
Mark 16:17-18.
[37]
Mark 16:20.
[38]
Acts 3:1.
[39]
Acts 3:6.
[40]
Acts 4:7, 10, 12.
[41]
Acts 5:12, 14
[42]
Acts 5: 16.
[43]
Acts 2:44, 46, 47.
[44]
Acts 4:42.
[45]
Mark 14:49.
[46]
“In the early program, an alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic,
incurable from a medical standpoint, and that he must never drink anything with
alcohol in it.” DR. BOB, 131.”When I
asked Dr. Bob how he evolved his thinking on alcoholism, he replied, ‘If you’re
allergic to strawberries, you don’t eat them, do you? Well, an alky is the same
way. He’s allergic to alcohol. His body just won’t handle it. . . they’re
actually drinking poison, because their systems just won’t tolerate it. . .
Once you get sensitized to anything, there is no way you’re going to handle it
from then on.” DR. BOB, 113-14. “He screened most of the patients
himself in the early days, either before or after they were admitted. After
making the rounds in the morning, he would sometimes say. . . Sister, that
monkey up there doesn’t want the program. . . . Sister, he just isn’t ready.” DR. BOB, 105. Dr. Bob would ask a wife:
“Does your husband want to stop drinking, or is he merely uncomfortable. Has he
come to the end of the road?” Then Dr. Bob would tell the man himself, “If you
are perfectly sure you want to quit drinking for good, if you are serious about
it, if you don’t merely wish to get well so you can take up drinking at some
future date, you can be relieved. DR. Bob,
109.
[47]
“We intend to stress the hospitalization of all cases possible. . . . After he
is defogged, we feel him out, then give him the book and lots of conversation.”
DR. BOB, 168. “Hospitalization was
another must in the early days.” DR. BOB.
102-03.
[48]
“There are two kinds of people to watch in A.A.—those who make it and those who
don’t. . . . Another thing Dr. Bob put quite simply. “The first one will get
you.” According to John R. he kept repeating that. DR. BOB, 226-27.
[49]
DR. BOB, 144.
[50]
“These people introduced Clarence to Jesus as his Lord and Savior. They
explained to Clarence that this was First Century Christianity.” Mitchell K., How It Worked, 70; “Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.” John 14:6. See also John
3:14-18, Acts 4:10-12, 33, Romans 10:8-13.
[51]
In the “full surrender, “they prayed for a healing and removal of Clarence’ sins,
especially his alcoholism. Upon Clarence’s discharge from the hospital, Dr. Bob
had prayed something like this: “Jesus! This is Clarence Snyder. He’s a drunk.
Clarence! This is Jesus. Ask Him to come into your life. Ask Him to remove your
drinking problem, and pray that He manage your life because you are unable to
manage it yourself.” Mitchell K., How It
Worked, 58.
[52]
DR. BOB, 148.
[53]
When I was researching the books that Dr. Bob had in his library, I found The Runner’s Bible: Spiritual Guidance for People on the Run. Dr.
Bob’s son told me this was a favorite of his father’s. And other books showed
Bob distributed the book to others. It is filled with the promises of God and
the verses that contain them. These
include “Be of Good Cheer, Thy Sins Be Forgiven Thee,” “I Will Help Thee: With
God nothing is impossible,” “Behold, I will Heal Thee,” “For Thine Is The
Power,” “The Lord Shall Guide Thee Continually,” Thou Shalt Walk In Thy Way
Safely,” “Peace Be Unto You,” “Happy Shalt Thou Be,” and others. See Romans
12:1-2 for the importance of renewing your mind to what the word says.
[54]
“Prayer, of course, was an important part of Dr. Bob’s faith. . . . He prayed
not only for his own understanding, but for different groups of people who r e quested him to pray for
them.” DR. BOB, 314-15. Members held
“a regular old-fashioned prayer meeting.” DR.
BOB, 101. “We had much prayer together in those days.” DR. BOB, 111.
[55]
“Morning devotion and ‘quiet time’ . . . were musts. DR. BOB, 136. “The leader would open with a prayer, then read
Scripture. . . . After the meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer, all the men
beat it to the kitchen for coffee,” DR,
BOB, 139, 141. “Morning quiet time continued to be an important part
of the recovery program in 1938-39, as
did the spiritual reading from which the early members derived a good deal of
their inspiration”. . . said Duke P. . . “When I started, they stressed morning
quiet time, daily reading, and daily contact. . . . The Bible was stressed as
reading material, of course.” DR. BOB, 150-51/
[56]
In his last major speech, Dr. Bob said: “In early A.A. days. . . . When we
started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, . . . no Traditions. But we were
convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us
older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the
Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James. The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 13.
[57]
The world-wide importance and effective study of the Big Book as the basic text
of A.A. certainly reached its peak with the seminars Joe McQ. and Charlie P. of
Arkansas conducted on a line by line study basis. And Dick B. was fortunate to
be able to attend several of these annual events in Sacramento, California, to
bring a large number of sponsees with him to attend as well, and to become
friends with both Joe and Charlie and receive their support.
[58]
In 2005, Three Clarence Snyder Sponsee Old-timers and their Wives completed and
published Our Legacy to the Faith Community:
A Twelve-Step Guide for Those Who Want to Believe. Compiled and edited by
Dick B. (Winter Park, FL: Came to Believe Publications, in which these authors
endeavored faithfully to show how Clarence Snyder used the Big Book with his
sponsees and showed them how to take the Twelve Steps in an afternoon.
[59]
“Daily contact was emphasized. Ernie G., the second A.A. partial success of
Bill and Dr. Bob, would drive around making business calls, then stop in at an
AA place for a cup of coffee, maybe make another call, and then stop into
another AA place and have another. Then, maybe someone would invite a group in
for the evening. A lot of them had breakfast together every morning. We had an
intense loyalty to each other. We would meet each other on payday to make sure
nothing happened.” DR. BOB, 148. Dr.
Bob said: “We used to have daily meetings at a friend’s house. The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 13.
“Contacts by phone or face-to-face were needed.” DR. BOB, 146.
[60]
“I could see Clarence was getting nervous. So I’d say, ‘Well, let’s go down and
see Henrietta and Bill D—And we’d just pick up and go down to see them. They
might be sitting down to dinner or whatever it was, but they would welcome us
in. . . . We felt the same privilege with Bob and Anne.. . . . Sometimes, they were having bread and
milk for dinner. Well there was always some more bread and milk for us. . . .
We always planned something for Saturday night,’ said T. Henry, ‘a party here
or somewhere else, with plenty of food and lots of coffee. That was the night
people needed it. Annabelle and Wally G---had lots of get togethers. . . and so
did Mother G.—And of course, as we got a little more money, we’d have parties
at our house. We had covered-dish suppers and picnics. . . .for a long time, we
just had coffee and tea and crackers. . . . Ernie’s mother used to throw a
party every two weeks. . . . She’d make the doughnuts, and though everybody was
broke, we all bought something. It was nothing unusual to see 25 or 30 people
over there drinking coffee and eating doughnuts. DR. BOB, 146-47/
[61]
“They handed out little address books with everybody’s name in it. Very few
people, of course, had phones then. . . . But the ones who had phone numbers,
there they were. And when they said, ‘Drop in on us—anything,’ they meant it. .
. . [T]he telephone played an important role in A.A. from the very beginning .
. . . They’d say, ‘Put a nickel in that telephone and call before you take a
drink. If they don’t answer, call somebody else. . . . Wade. . . He’d pick up
the phone and say, ‘How are you? . . . All right. How’s your pigeon [sponsee]?
And that was the end of the conversation.’” DR.
BOB, 145-46.
[62]
“When I started, they stressed morning quiet time, daily reading and daily
contact. They also told me I had to do something about my alcoholism every day.
. . . The Bible was stressed as reading matter of course. . . . There was that
little nickel book The Upper Room. .
. . They figured we could afford a nickel for spiritual reading. They impressed
on us that we had to read that absolutely every morning. . . Though there was a
good deal of reading material around at this time, there was definitely a need
for literature directed specifically to the alcoholic.” DR. BOB, 151. Bill Wilson remembered. . . They would start out in
the morning reading from The Upper Room
and say the prayers. . . . I think there may have been times when we attributed
it to their morning meditation. . . . I sort of always felt that something was
lost from A.A. when we stopped emphasizing the morning meditation.” DR. BOB, 178.
[63]
“Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
ed., 28. “If we belong to a religious
denomination which requires a definite morning devotion, we attend to that
also. . . . There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be
obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious
people are right. Make use of what they offer.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 87. “He must have devotions
every morning—a ‘quiet time’ of prayer
and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature.” DR. BOB, 131.
[64]
“As the Akron group began gathering at King School in 1940, a definite style
evolved. . . . When the time came, the speaker would go upfront, wait for
quiet, and introduce himself. He opened with a prayer of his own choosing, then
gave a five-minute ‘lead.’ Usually it would be on a specific subject—a passage
from The Upper Room or a verse from
the Bible. Then he asked other members to make short comments. DR. BOB. 220.
[65]
Dr. Bob said of himself and Bill W.: “We had both been associated with the
Oxford Group, Bill in New York, for five months, and I in Akron, for two and a
half years. Bill had acquired their idea of service. I had not. The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 11.
“With the last drink under his belt and the idea of service in his heart, Dr.
Bob was eager to join Bill in finding another drunk to “fix,” as they put it in
those days. DR, BOB, 76. Dr. Bob
said: “I spend a great deal of time passing on what I learned to others who
want and need it badly.” Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 180. “In late June, Dr. Bob put in a call to
Akron City Hospital. He explained to the nurse in the receiving ward that a man
from New York had just found a cure for alcoholism. . . . Dr. Bob explained
that he had tried it, and that it involved working with other alcoholics.” “Pass It On,” 152-53.
[66]
In explaining the original Akron A.A. program, as published in DR. BOB on page 131, Frank Amos wrote:
“He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.
states: “Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant
thought of others and how we may help meet their needs,” 20; “Carry this message
to other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our Twelfth suggestion: ‘Carry this message
to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can.,’” 89.
[67]
In the last line of his personal story, Dr. Bob said: “Your Heavenly Father
will never let you down!” Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed., 181. In the Bill D. personal story, Bill W.
said to Bill D.’s wife: “Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me,
curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and
telling people.” And Bill D. wrote: “That sentence, ‘The Lord has been so
wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep
telling people about it,’ has been a sort of golden text for the A.A. program
and for me.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
ed., 191. The third edition of Alcoholics
Anonymous, at pages 216-17, contained the following personal story of a
Cleveland AA which states: One evening I had gone out after dinner to take on a
couple of double-headers and stayed a little later than usual, and when I came
home Clarence [Cleveland A.A. founder Clarence H. Snyder] was sitting on the
davenport with Bill W. I do not recollect the specific conversation that went
on but I believe I did challenge Bill [Bill W.] to tell me something about A.A.
and I do recall one other thing: I wanted to know what it was that worked so
many wonders, and hanging over the mantel was a picture of Gethsemane [There
are many famous paintings of Jesus’s praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and
this was a picture of that scene] and
Bill [Bill W.] pointed to it and said, ‘There it is.” As to Dr. Bob and the
Bible, DR. BOB states the following
on page 144: “(Dr. Bob was always positive about his faith, Clarence said
[Clarence H. Snyder]. If someone asked him a question about the program, his
usual response was: ‘What does it say in the Good Book?: Suppose he was asked,
‘What’s all this ‘First Things First?” Dr. Bob would be ready with the appropriate
quotation: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
these things shall be added unto you.’”). As to the first Cleveland meeting:
“There is no record of what happened at the first meeting except for a
Grapevine account years later noting that it was led by Dr. Bob who ‘put his
foot on the rung of a dining room chair, identified himself as an alcoholic,
and began reading the Sermon on the Mount” [Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7]. DR. BOB, “ “The widow of an old-timer remembered Bob
standing up at the meeting with ‘the Good Book under his arm’ and recalled that he used to say the answers were
there if you looked for them, because people back in the Old Testament were
just like the people of this century and had the same problems. . . . Dr. Bob
donated that Bible to the King School Group.” DR. BOB, 227-28. “An early Chicago member wrote that “Dr. Bob was
the first group leader I heard refer simply and without ostentation to God. He
cited the Sermon on the Mount as containing the underlying spiritual philosophy
of A.A.” DR. BOB, 228.
[68]
The best example of both the teaching and the sponsor’s responsibility can be
found in Clarence’s Sponsorship Pamphlet, written in 1940. See Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community, 78-82.
[69]
There are many recorded instances in A.A. writings that show that AAs are “not
a glum lot.” Many can be found in the Personal Stories in each of the four Alcoholics Anonymous editions. In
Chapter 11 of the 4th edition, is Chapter 11, “A Vision For You.”
There, Bill W. sets forth the life that he sees for the successfully recovered A.A.
member, 151-64. Other literature (such as Living
Sober, How It Worked, That Amazing Grace, and But for the Grace of God)
adequately describe the lives that recovered alcoholics
lived – baseball, dances, bowling, choir, plays, and the following from Dick
B., That Amazing Grace: The Role of
Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous, 78-79: A vital part of
the highly successful Cleveland recovery
program was the development of full
social lives for the newly recovered men and their families. As Clarence put it
to Grace (his wife) “They had to replace their drinking life with something of
substance with their wives and family included.” The Cleveland AAs had seven
bowling leagues. They had softball teams. Clevelanders had house parties along
Oxford Group party lines. And they frequently held picnics. Food was brought to
newcomer meetings. Stale donuts were obtained from the Salvation Army, and the women would make a stock pot of soup and
feed the newcomers. Fellowship meetings were attended by the wives and children
of the alcoholics. The wives would prepare coffee and food. And Clarence
established spiritual retreats for alcoholics and their families. See Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community..
[70]
At page 281 of DR. BOB, there is the
story of Alex who was tempted by the lure of drink and the thought of a bar,
but then would take a taxicab over to Bob’s. And Dr. Bob would say: “Stay away
from that place. They got nothing in there that you can’t get somewhere else,
whether it’s food, cigarettes, or a Coke.” Dr. Bob advocated that members stay
in dry places whenever possible. “You don’t ask the Lord not to lead you into
temptation, then turn around and walk right into it.”
[71]
Based on my own experience over a period of 27 years in A.A., sponsoring over
100 men, I frequently see a newcomer with painful or broken tooth and jaw
conditions. Also with wants, warrants, failures to appear, and upcoming court
dates overlooked.. I also see family battles, child custody issues, and divorce
litigation. And I insist that these matters be addressed by appropriate
professionals, whether they be dentists, criminal attorneys, or domestic
relations attorneys. All of these problems—left uncared for or shelved—can soon
put the newcomer in a slippery place he’s been to before and give him the
incentive to flee rather than fight, and drink rather than respond to such
needs appropriately.
[72]
Again, my personal experience as a sponsor has shown that the homeless,
jobless, beleaguered, seemingly worthless, guilt-ridden, ashamed newcomer is in
a slippery place that taunts him with a drinking solution rather than
challenging him to overcome and climb out of the pit of despair, whether
self-imposed or involuntary uncontrolled, and leading to seemingly purposeless,
endless, worthless, and depressed attitudes of failure and despair and drink.
[73]
Again, from personal experience, whether one is an attorney or employing one, a
professional, a job-seeker, a salesperson, or a public figure, I know the
importance of wearing decent clothing, personal cleanliness, and self-esteem.
Lacking these and other traits, one can easily slip into despondence and
thinking of himself or herself as a “loser.” And then to a drink solution.
Appearance makes a difference—whether to the alcoholic
or the other person, or both.
[74]
See James 1:21-25.
[75]
Matthew 22: 36-40.
[76]
1 John 4:21, 5:3.
[77]
John 17:8, 17.
[78]
John 14: 12-13
[79]
Mark 14:49
[80]
Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the
Winners, 25-47.
[81]
Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the
Winners, 47-49.
[82]
This information is covered in detail in Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: The Green Mountain Men
of Vermont; Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous; The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide, 3rd ed; Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W; Real Twelve Step Fellowship History.
[83]
Dick B. and Ken B., Stick with the
Winners, 61-65.
[84]
See A.A. General Service Conference-approved book The Language of the Heart, 281-86, 296-300.
[85]
William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson
Story: When Love Is Not Enough, 170.
[87]
Dick B. and Ken B., The Green Mountain
Men of Vermont.
[88]
See The Co-Founders, 13-14.
[90]
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162.
[91]
The Language of the Heart, 296-300.
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