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The bible for recovery

Candi
Candi

My mom recently gave me a copy of "the life recovery bible" and although I'm not religious I was intrigued and thought that maybe there would be some nice learnings aligned with the 12 steps within the book.


Page 1 they say "without God there is no recovery" and I had such a defeated feeling reading this. 


That was one thing I really liked about AA and the big book was that my higher power was as I see it and not so structured and defined as God.


To tell someone that if they don't have God they cannot recover is terrible and limiting and deterring to those that dont believe.  Reading things like this pushes me further away from God and religion.  


I don't know if I can try to enjoy this book because I'm so pissed off about the attitude of exclusion when I thought we should be opening up recovery to everyone.  


billwfriend
billwfriend
AA called it the Higher Power or God of your own Understanding....why not substitute that to the God thing this book professes? no reason you have to believe in the God you think they want you to believe it just believe in what is understood to be helping you and allow them to call it God if you choose not to.....from an old AA member who can understand the repulsion you might be feeling....
billwfriend
billwfriend
another way some people look at the word God...Good Orderly Direction....it does not need to be religious God at all toss that God to the curb and use your own concept of what that word allows you to understand....that helps you recover.....
Shiney
Shiney
Was just about to write the same as Bill - just substitute the word for whatever works for you, don't overthink it !
Community Leaderbobinmaine
bobinmaine
I needed a Power greater then myself because my self identified as this problem called addiction. "My self needs a drink right now so we will tell the body to go to the store and buy us a bottle" The addiction controled every part of me and is what got me into this problem so it definitely wasn't going to get me out of this problem! If that makes sense.

There was this guy in my AA home group that called the coffee pot his Higher Power. That was the God of his understanding, apparently.

It's whatever works for you.

~~~Peace~~~
Candi
Candi
Thanks everyone and you are all right. I need to just take what I want from the book and leave the rest and I can change the word God to whatever I want to suit my own beliefs, just as I did with AA and the 12 steps.

At the end of the day, it is a Bible so I guess I can't bash them too much for trying to push God on everyone LOL.

Thanks again.
finallyawakenow
finallyawakenow
Hi Candi, nice to hear from you. I don’t have beliefs because I try not to get wrapped up in stories. I am at peace with what I know and don’t feel the need to add stuff.
I don’t use the word god or higher power. That thought process puts me out of what’s important to me. No separation. I am aware of conscience and that is where I find freedom and real health.
I tried for a little while to make up my own interpretations of my take on what higher power means to me and I realized that it’s just a silly exercise. I KNOW what it is and words get in the way of just being in that knowledge.
I think it’s important to look into the idea of seeking. Is it necessary to look outside of what we inherently know as true? For me the answer is obvious.
Candi
Candi
Finallyawakenow I agree and I am also comfortable with my beliefs or lack of them.... I think too often we try so hard to define everything and put structure to everything rather than just letting ourselves be.

I was interested in getting a new book with life lessons and thought the bible might be a good place for this type of thing but so many of the words in here are spent telling us that we must believe and do everything the way this book says or we are hopeless .... over and over and over. Not sure this is a good fit for me but I can try and then give it to someone who wants it.

If I can easily turn it into something meaningful for me, great, if I can't or it's too much work, oh well.
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