We can begin this brief Appendix with some humor. The following joke (of unknown AA origin) is a great place to start.
A virtuous man died after a long life. He arrived at the entrance to heaven, and was warmly greeted by St. Peter. He was outfitted with a harp and angel’s wings. Another angel approached him, “Welcome to heaven! I’m here to show you around if you like.”
“That would be great!” he answered. “This place is magnificent.”
The pair began walking along a beautiful path. As they approached a fabulous church building, the new man noticed a happy ice cream social in progress on the building’s green lawn. “Those are the Baptists. They are very happy here.” mentioned the angel guide.
Next came a huge cathedral, magnificent with statues and columns. The new man heard the gleeful sounds of a great Bingo game coming from the basement of the place. The angel guide spoke again, “Those are the Catholics. They are having a great time here.”
But as the pair turned a corner, the new angel saw a terrible looking place. From the washed out signs on the walls, it appeared to once have been an auto shop or something. The angel guide leaned over close, placing his finger on his lips. “Be quiet right here.” he whispered as they kept walking.
The new angel stared at this place. There were a few small dirty windows high up under the eaves. Cigarette smoke was billowing out. He asked his guide in a low voice, “What’s this all about?”
The angel guide smiled, then whispered, “We have to be quiet because those are the AA’s. They still think they are the only ones here.”
It seems that every AA, once he feels the reassuring promise of Step Two, begins to suspect that there are no other spiritual folks anywhere with the same fire and excitement. This development may make him even less interested in the Biblical references noted in Appendix A. Such an attitude could spell trouble. He might miss some of the great benefits of the Big Book because of his own intolerance for considering all these passages with religious origins.
A Quick Note About the World’s Largest Religions
Two modern religious traditions, actually quite similar in many ways, are aggressively converting more and more of the planet’s people to their respective faiths. One aspect common to both is the idea that these conversions -- even under practically any circumstances -- assist the converters in their efforts to enter heaven. It is no surprise that Islam and Christianity have been in conflict for centuries.
For the purpose here, we can consider only a few important features which these great religious traditions share. The conversion idea is one. Unhappily, it manifests itself in AA sponsorship all too often. When sponsorship guidance on spiritual matters is twisted into an opportunity for conversion, no one benefits. This occasionally gets so bad that a sponsor would prefer a new man become a devout something or other even when it threatens or destroys his chance for sobriety. Sooner or later, such a sponsor may have the same problem!
Straying away from AA Traditions in this manner is a clear case of self-will run riot. Preaching that the acceptance of Christian mythological ideas or the pursuit of Christian virtue is somehow the road to recovery is immense selfishness, regardless of the final results. This probably includes the use of the Seven Deadly Sins as a guide to sober living. As sponsors, our job is always the same. It is never so complicated that we get innocently confused about our Primary Purpose.
Moving ahead, both of these aggressive religions share a few similar ideas within their basic theological tenets. When these show up in the Christian religion, we have nothing to say about them. However, when they begin to bleed into our AA Program, we, as sponsors, need to be thoughtful and effective.
Both religions characterize their respective God as an “entity beyond human understanding or comprehension.”
Both religions consider “doubting” some aspect of their paradoxical descriptions of such a puzzling God to be “a crisis of faith.”
Both religions maintain an essential image of God as a “supernatural man.”
None of this has any particular bearing on the spiritual aspects of the AA Program. The intention of our Step Two can be very successfully accomplished without any part of these three ideas. Who needs the torment of an “incomprehensible Higher Power, seeming to be some sort of paradoxical superman inevitably placing this recovering alcoholic in a constant crisis of faith?” Can we possibly think that this is the inescapable price we must pay for the spiritual help we seek at Step Two?
No. We can do a lot better than this. The new member of AA in your sponsorship deserves more. A great deal more.
AA originated in the United States, an essentially Christian country. What if it had originated in the Middle East somewhere? Islam would have undoubtedly slipped into the Big Book the same way that Christianity slipped into the Big Book here. Then, if you were an alcoholic American reaching for this miraculous program of recovery, you would be encountering all sorts of Muslim ideas and references to the Koran. You would want your sponsor to get this job done anyway, wouldn’t you? That is the kind of sponsor we want to be.
Humility or Thuggery?
Very often when approaching Step Two, the new man gets suspicious for just the reasons cited above. He may keep hearing the “of your understanding” message, but he has probably also heard all kinds of other things. “AA is a cult. AA is just another way to pound the Christian religion into you. Sure, you may quit drinking, but the price is very high. They will cram religion down your throat.”
Then, perhaps he has heard his fellow members in meetings describe how hard it is to make any spiritual progress. These sorts of things have given us an undeserved bad smell in many professional communities, let alone with the alcoholics who exclude themselves from our program for such reasons.
Sometimes well-intentioned (but spiritually inept) sponsors, encountering a reluctant or questioning new member at Step Two, have decided that “What he really needs is a good dose of humility!” “If he’s not ready to get spiritual, he’s not ready to get sober!” “Come back when you’re done!” Anyone with the ambition of being a sponsor who finds himself in this frame of mind needs to take a break and work on his own program! His ideals have been defeated by his own sober version of the old alcoholic run-around.
Of course, a sponsor can humiliate a desperate alcoholic by demanding spiritual concessions that have nothing to do with the AA program, but what good is this kind of humility? “Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes?” “You don’t have to think about anything -- just do what it says in the book!”
The sincere changes which are the aim of Step Two are not hard at all! They are also not humiliating. Step Two is not an arm-wrestling match! If you are a sponsor with an appetite for something like that, you may have missed the most important part of the job altogether. This new man is here asking for your help.
Your Higher Power probably expects you to do your spiritual best to get this done!