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Big Book Study - Post #13

Good Morning and welcome back!

Today we are at *Chapter 4 - We Agnostics, Page 44*.

We should start by defining some terms. *"Agnostic"* is comprised of two
parts: "A" which is the Greek prefix for "Without" and "gnostic" which is
"Knowledge." With this in mind our definition of "Agnostic" is: *Without
Knowledge of God.*

Although used interchangeably, "agnostic" and "atheist" mean two very
different things. To be *"Atheist"* is to *claim that there is no God*, as
opposed to being without knowledge of God (agnostic).

How many times have we seen lists of questions that will allow you to
diagnose your own alcoholism? Ten, twenty, fifty question each? Starting at
paragraph 1 on page 44, we find that there are two questions:

Question 1: "If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit
entirely, or

Question 2: "if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you
take, you are probably alcoholic."

Reading through to the top of page 45 several powerful statements are made:

"Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they
failed utterly."

What does that mean? What does that tell us about willpower? About human
resources (fellowship) alone? About our ability to win in hand to hand
combat with the alcoholic obsession?

At the top of paragraph 1: "Lack of power, that was our
dilemma(powerlessness). We
had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a POWER GREATER
THAN OURSELVES. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?"

Now we come to the purpose of the Big Book and the desired result of the AA
program:

"Well, that's exactly what this book is about. Its main object [and the
object of the AA Program] is to enable you to find a Power greater than
yourself WHICH WILL SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM."

Let's turn back for a second to the foreword to the first edition. The
second sentence says the following:

"TO SHOW OTHER ALCOHOLICS PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED IS THE MAIN
PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK." (This sentence was written in ALL CAPS in the first
edition of the book).

To recover from alcoholism, we need to find a Power greater than ourselves
which will solve our problem. This book has all of the directions necessary
to bring about permanent recovery from alcoholism, which is our common
problem. The answers are within the text and throughout the coming weeks we
will continue to delve into the solution.

One of the things I was thinking about regarding this chapter is the name
"We Agnostics", not "The Agnostics." I mean, it's almost if they assumed
that everyone was an agnostic. Anyone care to explore why they named this
chapter the way they did?

With our next post we will continue on Page 46. Have a great day!

With love,
Karen H.