RedKing79 wrote:
From reading the arguments against AA I can tell that not onlt have they not attempted the steps, they've probably been to only one meeting.
http://www.topix.com/forum/health/alcoholism/... See post #2.
RedKing79 wrote:
AA is about relieving oneself of ego through unity and service work (eg. homeless shelters, rescue missions, sponsorship). That is the "higher power" that AA talks about.
AA is a rehash of a 1930's pro-nazi cult religion called The Oxford Group, and it's about submitting to the cult and recruiting more members.
RedKing79 wrote:
If one chooses to call that higher power God that is just fine. It can be a f#$%ing door knob./QUOTE]
Worshipping a doorknob is batsh*t insane, as is worshiping a motorcycle, a tree or G.O.D.(Group of Drunks). Regardless, that's just one of Bill Wilson's bait-and-switch tactics. They lure people in by seeming open-minded, but ultimately do pressure new members to conform.
"I must quickly assure you that A.A.'s tread innumerable paths in their quest for faith. You can, if you wish, make A.A. itself your 'higher power.' Here's a very large group of people who have solved their alcohol problem. In this respect they are certainly a power greater than you, who have not even come close to a solution. Surely you can have faith in them. Even this minimum of faith will be enough. You will find many members who have crossed the threshold just this way. All of them will tell you that, once across, their faith broadened and deepened. Relieved of the alcohol obsession, their lives unaccountably transformed, they came to believe in a Higher Power, and most of them began to talk of God."
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William G. Wilson, pages 27-28.
[QUOTE who="RedKing79"]As long as one realizes that they're not God and that something else besides them controls the universe around them.
I have known many people with alcohol problems over many years, and never once have I met anyone that drank alcohol because they thought they were God. That's just more of Bill Wilson's lunacy.
RedKing79 wrote:
You're right in saying that AA is for the intellectually challenged or the gullible. It's for ANYBODY who works it. Myself, I'm 8 years sober and in that time I got my B.S in petroleum engineering and my M.S in mechanical engineering. So I guess AA is for analytical minds as well.
The ideal AA prospect is in a down and out state and particularly vulnerable, often due to fear of losing a spouse, job, home, etc. Most people see it for what it is and turn around and walk out, but you never hear about them. With such an analytical mind, and an engineering degree, have you applied any scientific principles to your claims that it works? What are the actual success rates?
The Harvard Medical School reported that eventually, slightly over half of the alcoholics do quit drinking, and of those successful quitters, 80% did it alone, on their own.
When A.A. was tested in stringent medical tests, A.A. was actually shown to cause:
a much higher rate of binge drinking,
a higher rate of re-arrests,
higher costs of hospitalization, and
a zero-percent improvement in the sobriety rate accompanied by a much higher death rate.
RedKing79 wrote:
All your posts are bull s#$%.
You haven't provided any facts whatsoever, and it sounds like you "have a resentment".
Aries
