dickb
07-04-2009, 10:29 PM
9
Frank Amos’ Published Summary of the Original Program
in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
[Chapter 9 from The Dick B. Christian Recovery Manual by Dick B. and Ken B.
© 2009 Anonymous. All rights reserved]
The Alcoholics Anonymous Original “Program” as it was reported to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., by his agent Frank Amos, quoted in Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers:
• An alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that he must never drink anything with alcohol in it.
• He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope.
• Not only must he want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse to work with him.
• He must have devotions every morning—a “quiet time” of prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding
• He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions.
• It is important, but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and form both a social and a religious comradeship.
• Important, but not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly.
Points to Remember
• We firmly believe that today the seven simple points of the Original "Program,"—summarized by Frank Amos and set forth above—should be part and parcel of what Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship members see, learn, and apply.
• This means sharing these points alongside of: (a) the support to be found in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous; (b) the program of recovery spelled out in its Big Book; and (c) the suggested Twelve Steps contained in the Big Book.
• The result of combining these two approaches should not be conflict, criticism, or rejection. It should simply offer to Christians and would-be Christians the opportunity to see the roots of their own Society, and then perhaps see and recognize their importance.
• We believe Christians and would-be Christians will recognize two things concerning their alcoholism: (a) they cannot solve their alcoholism on their own; and (b) that neither the Twelve Steps nor the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous alone or together have anything that even approaches the power and love of God, and the truth of the Bible.
• We believe there is strong evidence to suggest that key words relating to God in the earliest form of the "Twelve Steps"—i.e., as Bill W. originally wrote the Steps—were changed. Here is Bill Wilson's own statement that impacts on a number of the changes we will set forth and discuss below:
Just before the manuscript [of the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous] was finished an event of great significance for our future took place. At the time it looked like just another battle over the book. The scene was Henry's [i.e., Henry ("Hank") Parkhurst's] office in Newark, where most of the writing had been done. Present were Fitz [i.e., John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo], Henry, our grand little secretary Ruth [Hock, AA's first secretary and a non-alcoholic], and myself. We were still arguing about the Twelve Steps. All this time I had refused to budge on these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in which, you will remember, I had consistently used the word "God," and in one place the expression "on our knees" was used. Praying to God on one's knees was still a big affront to Henry. He argued, he begged, he threatened. He quoted Jimmy [B.—i.e., Jim Burwell] to back him up. He was positive we would scare off alcoholics by the thousands when they read those Twelve Steps. Little by little both Fitz and Ruth came to see merit in his contentions. Though at first I would have none of it, we finally began to talk about the possibility of compromise. Who first suggested the actual compromise words I do not know, but they are words well known throughout the length and breadth of A.A. today: In Step Two we decided to describe God as a "Power greater than ourselves." In Steps Three and Eleven we inserted the words "God as we understood Him." From Step Seven we deleted the expression "on our knees." . . . Such were the final concessions to those of little or no faith; this was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics. They had widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.
God was certainly there in our Steps, but He was now expressed in terms that anybody—anybody at all—could accept and try. [Emphasis in original]
As a result, readers of later versions of the Twelve Steps were unable to see the simplicity and clarity of the earliest language as to "the God of the Scriptures." For example:
o In the case of Step Two, the earliest version of this Step probably read:
Came to believe that God could restore us to sanity.
Step Two, in both the so-called "Original Manuscript" (also known as the "multilith" manuscript and produced before the First Edition was published in the spring of 1939) and the current Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (2001), reads:
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
o In the case of Step Three, the earliest version of this Step probably read:
Made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.
Step Three in the so-called "Original Manuscript" reads:
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care and direction of God as we understood Him.
Step Three in the current Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous reads:
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. [emphasis in original]
o In the case of Step Eleven, Ernest Kurtz' reconstruction of the earliest form of this Step reads:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Step Eleven in the so-called "Original Manuscript" reads:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Step Eleven in the current Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous reads:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. [emphasis in original]
o In the so-called "word-of-mouth program" (which preceded the writing of the 12 Steps), the predecessor of Step 4 reads:
We made a moral inventory of our defects or sins.
However, Kurtz' reconstruction of the earliest version of this Step, the so-called "Original Manuscript," and the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous all read:
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Importantly, the word "sins" was omitted from the versions of Step 4 quoted above. Anne Smith, in discussing the idea of looking at and confessing one’s sins, wrote in her personal journal, as reported on pages 36-40 of Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939: “Positive reasons why we should share . . . There is no adequate presentation of Christ without sharing our own sins. . . . Never share anybody else’s sin. Sharing in relation to the Gospel: 1. Matthew 3:6 sins confessed. 2. Mark 1:5 sins confessed. . . . 4. James 5:16 share “My Life.” Not confess ye one another’s sins. . . . I start by rebelling against sharing, so talk it over with one other person. Sins appear different under four eyes. . . . You may be guided to share your deepest sin, and this will clear the way for him to share his.” Quite clearly, therefore, the original ideas—even at the time the Steps were first being written—called for an inventory and sharing of “sins.” The idea of “sin” was removed.
o Many believe that Bill W.'s presentation of the Eleventh Step had its origins in "Quiet Time." Here we can look to the writings of A.A. "co-founder" Samuel Moor Shoemaker, Jr. Bill had said that the ideas for "prayer and meditation" came from the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker:
The spiritual substance of our remaining ten Steps [i.e., Steps Two through Eleven] came straight from Dr. Bob's and my own earlier association with the Oxford Groups, as they were then led in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker.
And Shoemaker wrote extensively on the "spiritual" ideas underlying the 12 Steps. For example, Shoemaker had said, in effect: "Open the door on a spiritual search with your whole life thrown into it"; and "God is always there, ready to receive our feeblest approaches, our most selfish and childish prayers, and our always entirely unworthy selves, and ready to get down to business with us." He also wrote: "What we have to deal with is the God that really is, not with our human concepts of Him. It is much better for anyone to pray to the God that is, He with no name, we with no words, than to pray to your own creation of God, with words prettier than a poem, but fictitious." As to Step Eleven, Shoemaker quoted a verse from Acts: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" And repeated his idea that, "Prayer does not seek to change God's will, but to find it." 18 years after A.A. was founded, Shoemaker wrote an article in his parish publication titled "The Twelve Steps of AA: What They Can Mean to the Rest of Us." In it, he wrote as to Step Eleven that prayer and study of the Bible and the attendance on Christian worship are three classical ways of keeping in touch with God. Time was, Sam said, when prayer was unreal to him and the Bible dull; "But then came the experience of finding Christ with power, and then both things began to be real. We must set apart time each day for this, first thing in the morning. . . . Then renew it every time you can remember by brief prayers to God through the day." In other words, when Sam Shoemaker was teaching or writing about the idea of prayer that Bill incorporated in the Eleventh Step as "prayer and meditation," Shoemaker was writing about "Quiet Time." This was a "Quiet Time" in which the person who prayed simply placed himself in the position of asking God what to do. Shoemaker frequently quoted from 1 Sam 3:9: " Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth." And also from Acts 9:6: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" "Quiet Time," as defined by Dr. Bob's wife Anne and by Rev. Sam Shoemaker and by Dr. Bob's own practices, simply involved: (1) praying; (2) reading the Bible; and (3) asking God what to do. In Step Eleven, however, Bill modified these ideas by talking about prayer and "meditation." Bill added the idea that one was to seek "through prayer and meditation to improve our contact with God." Yet, it is one thing to ask God what to do; it is quite another merely to seek "through prayer and meditation to improve our contact with God." As Bill finally modified the "Quiet Time" concept, Bill framed the language of Step Eleven in the Fourth Edition of the Big Book to say, "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
o Concerning "the personal stories," the so-called "Original Manuscript" reads as follows:
Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language, and from his own point of view the way he found or rediscovered God.
The wording of that sentence was significantly altered in the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God.
Originally, consistent with the imperative of finding God, AAs were to tell how they “found or rediscovered” God. Taking Bill Dotson’s case as an example, Bill Dotson already believed in God and had a relationship with Him while he was drinking himself to death. It was not necessary for him to find God. It was only necessary to turn to God for help and believe that he would receive that help.
• We believe these and many other differences between the Step ideas as altered, and the basic biblical ideas from which they came, need to be understood and brought into the light of God’s Word by the Christian.
• Speaking, therefore, of applying the ideas and the Original "Program" to the A.A. of today, we believe that you can look at today’s Twelve Steps, admit that you are licked, turn to God for guidance and healing, eliminate sinful conduct, grow in your understanding of God and your reliance upon Him, and help others to do the same. In other words, you can see those ideas in the Twelve Steps and in the original program and apply them in the program today without compromising the basic truths of the Bible.
• And we believe that counselors, pastors, Christian recovery workers, therapists, treatment programs, prisons, homeless shelters, and agencies need to expand and shape their Twelve Step recovery suggestions beyond their own domain and expertise. They need to tell their departing or despairing patients “the rest of the story.” They need to arm them with the whole armor of God—recognizing that there is an Adversary waiting to tempt, mislead, steal and kill those who are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
A Personal Testimony and Comment
When I (Dick B.) was sent to prison, I took with me a Bible and a Big Book. My sponsor observed that I was “armed, but not dangerous.” In prison, I held A.A. meetings, Bible study meetings, Big Book studies, and Step studies. I left prison with the same Bible and
Big Book. Later, on two different occasions, I picked up at the prison gate men who had decided during my work with them to turn from their sinful behavior and walk in the Spirit. They joined me in A.A. and in the fellowship of the Spirit. I believe, therefore, that I successfully applied “old-school A.A.” ideas today and adapted them to what I would describe as “Big Book A.A.”
:85:
Frank Amos’ Published Summary of the Original Program
in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers
[Chapter 9 from The Dick B. Christian Recovery Manual by Dick B. and Ken B.
© 2009 Anonymous. All rights reserved]
The Alcoholics Anonymous Original “Program” as it was reported to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., by his agent Frank Amos, quoted in Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers:
• An alcoholic must realize that he is an alcoholic, incurable from a medical viewpoint, and that he must never drink anything with alcohol in it.
• He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope.
• Not only must he want to stop drinking permanently, he must remove from his life other sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism. Unless he will do this absolutely, Smith and his associates refuse to work with him.
• He must have devotions every morning—a “quiet time” of prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding
• He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out. This throws up a protective barrier and strengthens his own willpower and convictions.
• It is important, but not vital, that he meet frequently with other reformed alcoholics and form both a social and a religious comradeship.
• Important, but not vital, that he attend some religious service at least once weekly.
Points to Remember
• We firmly believe that today the seven simple points of the Original "Program,"—summarized by Frank Amos and set forth above—should be part and parcel of what Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship members see, learn, and apply.
• This means sharing these points alongside of: (a) the support to be found in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous; (b) the program of recovery spelled out in its Big Book; and (c) the suggested Twelve Steps contained in the Big Book.
• The result of combining these two approaches should not be conflict, criticism, or rejection. It should simply offer to Christians and would-be Christians the opportunity to see the roots of their own Society, and then perhaps see and recognize their importance.
• We believe Christians and would-be Christians will recognize two things concerning their alcoholism: (a) they cannot solve their alcoholism on their own; and (b) that neither the Twelve Steps nor the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous alone or together have anything that even approaches the power and love of God, and the truth of the Bible.
• We believe there is strong evidence to suggest that key words relating to God in the earliest form of the "Twelve Steps"—i.e., as Bill W. originally wrote the Steps—were changed. Here is Bill Wilson's own statement that impacts on a number of the changes we will set forth and discuss below:
Just before the manuscript [of the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous] was finished an event of great significance for our future took place. At the time it looked like just another battle over the book. The scene was Henry's [i.e., Henry ("Hank") Parkhurst's] office in Newark, where most of the writing had been done. Present were Fitz [i.e., John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo], Henry, our grand little secretary Ruth [Hock, AA's first secretary and a non-alcoholic], and myself. We were still arguing about the Twelve Steps. All this time I had refused to budge on these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in which, you will remember, I had consistently used the word "God," and in one place the expression "on our knees" was used. Praying to God on one's knees was still a big affront to Henry. He argued, he begged, he threatened. He quoted Jimmy [B.—i.e., Jim Burwell] to back him up. He was positive we would scare off alcoholics by the thousands when they read those Twelve Steps. Little by little both Fitz and Ruth came to see merit in his contentions. Though at first I would have none of it, we finally began to talk about the possibility of compromise. Who first suggested the actual compromise words I do not know, but they are words well known throughout the length and breadth of A.A. today: In Step Two we decided to describe God as a "Power greater than ourselves." In Steps Three and Eleven we inserted the words "God as we understood Him." From Step Seven we deleted the expression "on our knees." . . . Such were the final concessions to those of little or no faith; this was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics. They had widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.
God was certainly there in our Steps, but He was now expressed in terms that anybody—anybody at all—could accept and try. [Emphasis in original]
As a result, readers of later versions of the Twelve Steps were unable to see the simplicity and clarity of the earliest language as to "the God of the Scriptures." For example:
o In the case of Step Two, the earliest version of this Step probably read:
Came to believe that God could restore us to sanity.
Step Two, in both the so-called "Original Manuscript" (also known as the "multilith" manuscript and produced before the First Edition was published in the spring of 1939) and the current Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (2001), reads:
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
o In the case of Step Three, the earliest version of this Step probably read:
Made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.
Step Three in the so-called "Original Manuscript" reads:
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care and direction of God as we understood Him.
Step Three in the current Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous reads:
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. [emphasis in original]
o In the case of Step Eleven, Ernest Kurtz' reconstruction of the earliest form of this Step reads:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Step Eleven in the so-called "Original Manuscript" reads:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Step Eleven in the current Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous reads:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. [emphasis in original]
o In the so-called "word-of-mouth program" (which preceded the writing of the 12 Steps), the predecessor of Step 4 reads:
We made a moral inventory of our defects or sins.
However, Kurtz' reconstruction of the earliest version of this Step, the so-called "Original Manuscript," and the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous all read:
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Importantly, the word "sins" was omitted from the versions of Step 4 quoted above. Anne Smith, in discussing the idea of looking at and confessing one’s sins, wrote in her personal journal, as reported on pages 36-40 of Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939: “Positive reasons why we should share . . . There is no adequate presentation of Christ without sharing our own sins. . . . Never share anybody else’s sin. Sharing in relation to the Gospel: 1. Matthew 3:6 sins confessed. 2. Mark 1:5 sins confessed. . . . 4. James 5:16 share “My Life.” Not confess ye one another’s sins. . . . I start by rebelling against sharing, so talk it over with one other person. Sins appear different under four eyes. . . . You may be guided to share your deepest sin, and this will clear the way for him to share his.” Quite clearly, therefore, the original ideas—even at the time the Steps were first being written—called for an inventory and sharing of “sins.” The idea of “sin” was removed.
o Many believe that Bill W.'s presentation of the Eleventh Step had its origins in "Quiet Time." Here we can look to the writings of A.A. "co-founder" Samuel Moor Shoemaker, Jr. Bill had said that the ideas for "prayer and meditation" came from the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker:
The spiritual substance of our remaining ten Steps [i.e., Steps Two through Eleven] came straight from Dr. Bob's and my own earlier association with the Oxford Groups, as they were then led in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker.
And Shoemaker wrote extensively on the "spiritual" ideas underlying the 12 Steps. For example, Shoemaker had said, in effect: "Open the door on a spiritual search with your whole life thrown into it"; and "God is always there, ready to receive our feeblest approaches, our most selfish and childish prayers, and our always entirely unworthy selves, and ready to get down to business with us." He also wrote: "What we have to deal with is the God that really is, not with our human concepts of Him. It is much better for anyone to pray to the God that is, He with no name, we with no words, than to pray to your own creation of God, with words prettier than a poem, but fictitious." As to Step Eleven, Shoemaker quoted a verse from Acts: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" And repeated his idea that, "Prayer does not seek to change God's will, but to find it." 18 years after A.A. was founded, Shoemaker wrote an article in his parish publication titled "The Twelve Steps of AA: What They Can Mean to the Rest of Us." In it, he wrote as to Step Eleven that prayer and study of the Bible and the attendance on Christian worship are three classical ways of keeping in touch with God. Time was, Sam said, when prayer was unreal to him and the Bible dull; "But then came the experience of finding Christ with power, and then both things began to be real. We must set apart time each day for this, first thing in the morning. . . . Then renew it every time you can remember by brief prayers to God through the day." In other words, when Sam Shoemaker was teaching or writing about the idea of prayer that Bill incorporated in the Eleventh Step as "prayer and meditation," Shoemaker was writing about "Quiet Time." This was a "Quiet Time" in which the person who prayed simply placed himself in the position of asking God what to do. Shoemaker frequently quoted from 1 Sam 3:9: " Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth." And also from Acts 9:6: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" "Quiet Time," as defined by Dr. Bob's wife Anne and by Rev. Sam Shoemaker and by Dr. Bob's own practices, simply involved: (1) praying; (2) reading the Bible; and (3) asking God what to do. In Step Eleven, however, Bill modified these ideas by talking about prayer and "meditation." Bill added the idea that one was to seek "through prayer and meditation to improve our contact with God." Yet, it is one thing to ask God what to do; it is quite another merely to seek "through prayer and meditation to improve our contact with God." As Bill finally modified the "Quiet Time" concept, Bill framed the language of Step Eleven in the Fourth Edition of the Big Book to say, "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
o Concerning "the personal stories," the so-called "Original Manuscript" reads as follows:
Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language, and from his own point of view the way he found or rediscovered God.
The wording of that sentence was significantly altered in the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God.
Originally, consistent with the imperative of finding God, AAs were to tell how they “found or rediscovered” God. Taking Bill Dotson’s case as an example, Bill Dotson already believed in God and had a relationship with Him while he was drinking himself to death. It was not necessary for him to find God. It was only necessary to turn to God for help and believe that he would receive that help.
• We believe these and many other differences between the Step ideas as altered, and the basic biblical ideas from which they came, need to be understood and brought into the light of God’s Word by the Christian.
• Speaking, therefore, of applying the ideas and the Original "Program" to the A.A. of today, we believe that you can look at today’s Twelve Steps, admit that you are licked, turn to God for guidance and healing, eliminate sinful conduct, grow in your understanding of God and your reliance upon Him, and help others to do the same. In other words, you can see those ideas in the Twelve Steps and in the original program and apply them in the program today without compromising the basic truths of the Bible.
• And we believe that counselors, pastors, Christian recovery workers, therapists, treatment programs, prisons, homeless shelters, and agencies need to expand and shape their Twelve Step recovery suggestions beyond their own domain and expertise. They need to tell their departing or despairing patients “the rest of the story.” They need to arm them with the whole armor of God—recognizing that there is an Adversary waiting to tempt, mislead, steal and kill those who are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
A Personal Testimony and Comment
When I (Dick B.) was sent to prison, I took with me a Bible and a Big Book. My sponsor observed that I was “armed, but not dangerous.” In prison, I held A.A. meetings, Bible study meetings, Big Book studies, and Step studies. I left prison with the same Bible and
Big Book. Later, on two different occasions, I picked up at the prison gate men who had decided during my work with them to turn from their sinful behavior and walk in the Spirit. They joined me in A.A. and in the fellowship of the Spirit. I believe, therefore, that I successfully applied “old-school A.A.” ideas today and adapted them to what I would describe as “Big Book A.A.”
:85: