Go Back To The Steps

[MajestyJo]

So many people class it as 'church' when in fact it is religion itself, no matter what church it comes out of.

I had a Jehovah Witness tell me, "Well you haven't read our Bible." I went to a Roman Catholic Church only to find they had a different Bible and somethings were just not mentioned. It is amazing, how so much is taken out of text to say what someone wants to say. We can have selective hearing, tunnel vision, wear rose coloured glasses, see only what we want to see and if we don't like it reject it and blame it on the devil.

How can it be right to go to church, seek penance and forgiveness and go back out and do the exact same thing again as soon as they leave the church, especially when it comes to abuse, not only of alcohol and drugs, but to family and friends. It is our disease, but we are responsible for our actions. Amends isn't saying, "I am sorry, it is about changing and learning how to not do it again, and changing the attitude and not WANTING to do it again.

2 Corinthians 8:21New International Version (NIV)

21 For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.

Most people say it is okay with God, God made them do it, or the Devil made them do it, which is generally total blasphemy.

In AA, they say you need to get honest, especially self honesty. Not only about your alcoholism and your disease (It is an illness, an allergy of the body and an obsessive compulsive disorder of the mind and there is no cure, just a daily reprieve). You need to keep an open mind about your life, just because you have been doing things for 10, 20, 30, or in my case 70 years, doesn't make it right. I am open to new experiences especially of the spiritual kind. I also need to be willing, not only willing to be sober, but willing to change. I don't want to be the old me. She is no more.

I was about 18 months sober and I told my friend that now that I was sober, there was nothing wrong with me and I didn't need to do a 4th and 5th Step. She proceeded to take my inventory for me. She had a list of about 8 items on the paper. I went home and added more and when I took it to my sponsor, and she said, "That is all negative, now balance it out with some positive. They were hard to find with my eyes.

How it works, Chapter 5 in the Big Book.

http://www.aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=359

Have you seen the following post on how to work the Steps on a spiritual level. The Steps need to be worked on the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual levels.

http://www.bluidkiti.com/forums/showthread.php?t=276

In closing, I would like to say that "God" was this BIG being out there, making the world go around, and I wasn't too sure He always had time for me or if He even wanted to if I went by the teaching I heard at church.

He was this Big Being that wasn't always reachable. Maybe my mind was small, and my belief was less than a mustard seed, I don't know, but I always believed that I was never unsaved. When I went to AA, and found the Spiritual aspect of the program, I was able to bring God down to a level that was reachable and approachable. He was no longer Anonymous. He was as He/She/It revealed themselves to me in today.

As you may have perhaps He is Good Orderly Direction and Divine Orderly Good, She is when I need Tender Loving Care and Good Orderly Direction if I get lost, and It which is the Spirit within that I need to get in touch with, and connect to my God, speak to Him, and ask for what I need and listen to that still small voice that says Yeah or Nay. For me it is the Holy Spirit that made me whole. I was very fragmented, and empty shell, a void inside that needed to be filled with spiritual things.

That is why I lost 3 lbs instead of gaining 30 lbs. when I quit smoking and went to NA.