"That's a good start. But after 30 years, I would expect that he would have developed a deeper understanding of God. That's what the 11th step is all about. It sounds as though his spirituality ended at step 2."I know people with as much sobriety as Ebert who still have a problem with the whole God concept. They have as good a sobriety as anyone I have ever met in the program.
But as I tell newcomers, when you work it the way it's written, it gets even better than you could have imagined."Amen to that!!!!!! It has been my personal experience and I wouldn't trade my sobriety for anyone else's. God works in a myriad of ways in peoples' lives. I'll take my own experience "warts and all."
YOu cannot judge another person's program. I personally don't see how you do it without a firm belief in God, but my experience is that some do it quite well. Growth in a spiritual life does not automatically translate to a stronger belief in God...again in my experience with others I know.
You are quite right.
One of the dangers of this type of anonymity break is that it does lead to confusion about what the program is and what it isn't. We hear of someone and we think we know them, or we think that if we disagree with them it's because of their program. But we don't really know much of anything beyond our own experience.
I am far more intrigued by the recovery/conservative line of discussion. Knowing what I now know about addiction, I can't imagine that anyone in recovery cannot recognize the similarities between the Democratic Party and drug dealers.
They make promises of easing their pain, all the while making the pain last longer. They create a dependency that only they can fill. And if you try another method, they turn on you like your a leper.