Who is this god?
In the 12 step programs which began with AA and now include SA, OA, SAA, NA, MA and others refer to a power greater that ourselves and the God of our understanding. While it is true that sometimes in an AA meeting one might get the impression that the use of the prayers known by Christians as The Lords’ Prayer one needs to accept the Christian concept of God in order to work a 12-step recovery program, most individuals in a 12-step program would suggest that it is important to respect that there are as many paths to a power greater that oneself just as there are paths to addictive behavior.
In step 4 of the 12-step program one does a searching and fearless moral inventory which one then shares with another human being – usually someone in the program. One then asks to have the defects of character removed and eventually one makes amends to those one has harmed (except when to do so would cause harm to someone). The goal obviously is not punishment but to open the door to a healthy relationship with oneself and with others. Being human one has to frequently work each step. Yet one is never shamed - only held accountable.
The moral inventory, sharing, removal of character defects and making amends is done after steps 2 and 3 in which one has come to believe in a power greater than oneself which can restore one to sanity. There is no requirement before steps 2 and 3 except to have a desire to stop using/stop feeding one’s addictive behavior.
Contract the 12 step approach with the approach of many whose framework is a version of the Christian religion who assert that one must first repent and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior before God forgives one. In fact, the famous United States evangelist, Billy Graham said that an active act of repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior was necessary before God would forgive one and open the door to heaven.
Recently I watch a movie entitled “Come Sunday” which is a true story based on the excommunication of Bishop Carlton Pearson from the same branch of Christianity which Oral Roberts represented. Oral Roberts was the very conservative minister who rejected his own son because he was gay and who later rejected his black adopted son, Carlton Pearson, because Carlton came to believe that the God whom Jesus claimed as father would and could not send starving people in Africa to hell just because they had not accepted Christ as their personal savior. In fact, in the movie, Carlton declared to his mega- church congregation that the God which he and others had preached was a monster if indeed this God would punish people for all eternity for not even having access to the narrow concept and language of the God who could only be accessed through a stated acknowledgement of Jesus as a personal savior.
After he was excommunicated from this segment of the Christian Church he eventually became a minister for the Unitarian Church where he continues to serve as pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was particularly drawn to this movie because I have long believed that the god which is posited by many religious people is a monster. I was also a member of a very conservative Southern Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The God I was taught was one to be constantly feared because HE (always a he) was a very jealous, self-centered, punishing God who was not accepting of one’s humanness. Humans in this belief system are basically bad and sinful and only go to heaven if they are as self-centered, arrogant, judgmental, and punishing as the God they have posited. In this system, one knows that one is constantly falling short and in danger of eternal damnation but one can always confess and get back on track for a brief time by using the right words to the right god.
God is always an invention of humans. The god of our understanding is an attempt to explain the miracles of our ability to takes care of each other; the miracles of our acceptance of our role is his amazing universe(s) which requires every plant, animal, and even mineral to be balanced. Nothing happens in this universe which does not affect the entire universe. Is it this system which we call God? Is it the system which incorporates our ability to love and take care of each other we call God? It is our collective fear of ourselves and each other that we call God – a fear which causes us to lash out and kill each other.
The 12-step program challenges us to ask if the God of our understanding can restore one to sanity. A punishing, judgmental, eternally damming God cannot restore one to sanity.
Carlton and many others challenge us to ask how we came to accept the God of our understanding? Did we accept out of fear or out of love? What sort of God/higher being/power greater than ourselves makes sense?
Who is this that we call god/GOD?
Written August 17, 2018
In the 12 step programs which began with AA and now include SA, OA, SAA, NA, MA and others refer to a power greater that ourselves and the God of our understanding. While it is true that sometimes in an AA meeting one might get the impression that the use of the prayers known by Christians as The Lords’ Prayer one needs to accept the Christian concept of God in order to work a 12-step recovery program, most individuals in a 12-step program would suggest that it is important to respect that there are as many paths to a power greater that oneself just as there are paths to addictive behavior.
In step 4 of the 12-step program one does a searching and fearless moral inventory which one then shares with another human being – usually someone in the program. One then asks to have the defects of character removed and eventually one makes amends to those one has harmed (except when to do so would cause harm to someone). The goal obviously is not punishment but to open the door to a healthy relationship with oneself and with others. Being human one has to frequently work each step. Yet one is never shamed - only held accountable.
The moral inventory, sharing, removal of character defects and making amends is done after steps 2 and 3 in which one has come to believe in a power greater than oneself which can restore one to sanity. There is no requirement before steps 2 and 3 except to have a desire to stop using/stop feeding one’s addictive behavior.
Contract the 12 step approach with the approach of many whose framework is a version of the Christian religion who assert that one must first repent and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior before God forgives one. In fact, the famous United States evangelist, Billy Graham said that an active act of repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior was necessary before God would forgive one and open the door to heaven.
Recently I watch a movie entitled “Come Sunday” which is a true story based on the excommunication of Bishop Carlton Pearson from the same branch of Christianity which Oral Roberts represented. Oral Roberts was the very conservative minister who rejected his own son because he was gay and who later rejected his black adopted son, Carlton Pearson, because Carlton came to believe that the God whom Jesus claimed as father would and could not send starving people in Africa to hell just because they had not accepted Christ as their personal savior. In fact, in the movie, Carlton declared to his mega- church congregation that the God which he and others had preached was a monster if indeed this God would punish people for all eternity for not even having access to the narrow concept and language of the God who could only be accessed through a stated acknowledgement of Jesus as a personal savior.
After he was excommunicated from this segment of the Christian Church he eventually became a minister for the Unitarian Church where he continues to serve as pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was particularly drawn to this movie because I have long believed that the god which is posited by many religious people is a monster. I was also a member of a very conservative Southern Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The God I was taught was one to be constantly feared because HE (always a he) was a very jealous, self-centered, punishing God who was not accepting of one’s humanness. Humans in this belief system are basically bad and sinful and only go to heaven if they are as self-centered, arrogant, judgmental, and punishing as the God they have posited. In this system, one knows that one is constantly falling short and in danger of eternal damnation but one can always confess and get back on track for a brief time by using the right words to the right god.
God is always an invention of humans. The god of our understanding is an attempt to explain the miracles of our ability to takes care of each other; the miracles of our acceptance of our role is his amazing universe(s) which requires every plant, animal, and even mineral to be balanced. Nothing happens in this universe which does not affect the entire universe. Is it this system which we call God? Is it the system which incorporates our ability to love and take care of each other we call God? It is our collective fear of ourselves and each other that we call God – a fear which causes us to lash out and kill each other.
The 12-step program challenges us to ask if the God of our understanding can restore one to sanity. A punishing, judgmental, eternally damming God cannot restore one to sanity.
Carlton and many others challenge us to ask how we came to accept the God of our understanding? Did we accept out of fear or out of love? What sort of God/higher being/power greater than ourselves makes sense?
Who is this that we call god/GOD?
Written August 17, 2018
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