What A.A. Still Has to Offer from Dr. Bob

[dickb]

What A.A. Can Still Offer
from
Dr. Bob—“the Prince of All Twelfth Steppers”
Dick B.
© 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved

[Note: None can deny that many people in A.A. today have not had a drink and do not drink. Thus, if the statistics show that there is a 5% success rate among the 2 million members of A.A., you can say that there are 100,000 people who have neither had a drink or wanted a drink. These facts leave two questions: (1) Is that all the 100,000 people wish for their lives—“I didn’t have a drink today?” (2) Are we offering the estimated 18 million other alcoholics in America the same dismal “recovery?” Let’s see what A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob suggested for those who wanted a cure, not just dry abstinence; for those who wanted a godly life, not just one of attending meetings; and for those who wanted a relationship with God that promised eternal life, an abundant life, and health with prosperity.]

• Dr. Bob asked: “Do you believe in God, young fella?” You either did or you didn’t.

[Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, p. 144]

• “If someone asked him a question about the program, his usual response was: ‘What does it say in the Good Book?’”

[Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, p. 144]

• Describing the program, 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.”

[The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical sketches. Their last major talks, 1972, 1975, p. 13]

• On the last page of his personal story, Dr. Bob said: “If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. . . . Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”

[Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, p. 181]

Today society is changing the solution and often says: “You need treatment.” But early AAs said clearly: “You need to find God” (4th ed., 59). They described the “miracle of healing” (4th ed., 57). And then “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” (4th ed., 29). Bill Wilson summed up what God will do when he related to Henrietta Dotson, the wife of A.A. Number Three: “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” (4th ed., 191). That’s what A.A. still can offer--a relationship with God! For those who want to be blessed with a Heavenly Father.

Please note: Early A.A. had a documented, 75% to 93% success rate among seemingly-hopeless, medically-incurable, real alcoholics who went to any lengths in trusting God and helping others.