As Another Bill Sees It: God and Recovery

A passage in the book, “As Bill Sees it”, is attributed to him stating

“When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.”

God talk often scares away a person suffering from alcohol dependence. God talk also can contribute to the notion that AA is a cult.

I don’t believe AA is a cult, but I do believe, that at many meetings, there is an excessive amount of God talk.

I also believe Bill W was definitely onto something in his quote. The line “when we put ourselves in God’s hands” can describe the concept of getting out of ourselves, being less self-centered. We, the alcoholic, are often the person most out of control in a situation, yet we are always trying to take control. The alcoholic, the most out of control person, is trying to take control. This can be a recipe for disaster.

A person in early recovery that is willing to let others, or listen to others, is closer to sustaining sobriety than the person who is still holding onto the reins of control.

BTW: I am very comfortable hearing the God talk or leaving it alone, as I can choose to integrate it into my recovery as I see fit, or let it go in one ear and the other. Remember, as was stated in my earlier post, there are no rules in AA.

Executive Home Detox utilizes the client’s strengths to assist in their recovery. If the client can benefit from the use of an organized religion, or the use of spirituality, we attempt to integrate that strength into the early recovery program. If the client prefers to utilize strengths other than organized religion or early recovery then we accommodate the client in that respect as well.