One of the things that I have pondered since working my 12-Step recovery program in Families Anonymous is how to reconcile the theology of the 12 Steps with my Christian faith. Though I am a Catholic Christian I have also been heavily influenced by Eastern Orthodox thought and spirituality, by my involvement in the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, and the Christian ecumenical movement. I see many Christians struggle with the spirituality of the 12-Steps initially because it is not Christocentric, Trinitarian, church, or bible-based and for many of us, a "spiritual" program that does not have that kind of foundation raises suspicions. References to a Higher Power" can be awkward because in 12-Step theology a Higher Power does not have to be God in the sense that most religious people are accustomed to. A Higher Power in 12-Step thinking could be the group itself, a vague notion of a greater Good, a Life-Force, the Universe or whatever helps the individual to move beyond his or her own limitations and powerlessness. "The God of our understanding" which is the way we customarily refer to our Higher Power is not defined because many who come to our groups for help do not have a well-defined religious faith and yet, are searching and frequently desperate for help.
12-Step theology does not try to answer all of the questions that Christian theology - or any other theology - attempts to answer because it is focused more on helping us to get in touch with our basic need for the help of a power "greater than ourselves." This is what philosophers of religion would call "natural theology" and within the context of the 12-Step spiritual tradition it has a very practical emphasis on the "how" question. In other words, HOW do I stay sane and find some sense of peace and serenity in the midst of dealing with the baffling and destructive family disease of addiction. In my experience, the 12-Steps are extremely practical and do not really attempt to deal with some of the other questions that religious faith tackles and that, I believe, is okay. 12-Step spirituality does not have all of the answers about who God is, or who we are, or the nature of the universe, or where evil comes from and yet it is extremely helpful for dealing with one little piece of our human struggle i.e., our tendency toward being attached or addicted to certain behaviors, or things, or people, or even ideas.
To the extent that it can help us to understand ourselves and others a little better it is a powerful, self-help program and can give us insight into how we can live in a healthier way or to conduct our other affairs. It can do this without answering all of the bigger questions in the same way that other disciplines can help us to understand other aspects of our existence without answering all of the big questions. As a Christian, I believe that the ultimate purpose of my life is divinization, an all-encompassing participation in the life of God without ceasing to be fully human, see this reference for an explanation of this concept http://www.antiochian.org/node/16916. The fact that 12-Step spirituality does not attempt to explain something like this does not matter, nor would I want it to.
12-Step spirituality teaches me to value myself as a person, to believe that I can have serenity in spite of all kinds of unresolved problems, to detach from the destructive behaviors of others, to take personal inventory and to confess my shortcomings, to learn to be honest and open with others, to learn how to pray, and to be kind and generous even when people around me are not. All of these 12-Step principles are an extremely good foundation for the revealed or illuminated understanding that comes with my Christian faith. They are not opposed to one another but support each other. What I have found in practice is that living by the 12-Steps and the Four Absolutes of AA - Absolute Honesty, Absolute Love, Absolute Purity, and Absolute Unselfishness has helped me to be a better Christian because they have helped me to see, to understand, and to love myself and others better.
Welcome to Hope for Our Families Website
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Hope for our Families is a small community and family improvement initiative founded by Peter and Rebecca Thomason. Through it we hope to share some of the things we have learned - usually through trial and error - about keeping our sanity while raising a large family (ten children, 18 grandchildren so far) ! We have lived and worked in the Ypsilanti, Michigan area for over three decades while being involved in numerous community-building activities.
Please visit our other blogsites by clicking here or on our favorite links for more specific information and pictures. The Thomason Family Farm (an urban micro eco-farm) can be seen at http://thomasonfamilyfarm.blogspot.com/
More information about Rebecca's Lionhead rabbits can be seen at http://sunnybrookfarmrabbitry.blogspot.com/
Peter's writing on other topics can be seen at http://notmyplans.blogspot.com
HOPE FOR OUR FAMILIES initially began in the winter of 2005 as a benefit concert to raise money for the 12-step program, The Family Foundation School, that one of our daughters was attending at the time. It then developed into a way to help raise community awareness about substance abuse, especially among adolescents, and recovery programs.
The concert was enormously successful on many levels thanks to the contributions and talents of many friends. We raised over $6,000 for The Family School and designated another 10% of the proceeds to help Daybreak, a program for adolescents jointly operated by Dawn Farm and the Washtenaw County Probate Court. Many of those who attended told us how refreshing it was to hear open discussion of our struggles and to see that it was possible for a family to work together to overcome a disease that has destroyed so many.
As we thought and talked during the weeks following the concert, we came to realize that there are many things that have helped us to become healthier as individuals and as a family over the last thirty years. Through this site we would like to share them with you.
Please feel free to share those things you have found to be helpful in your family life; we would love to hear from you!
With blessings for a great 2010 and HOPE FOR OUR FAMILIES,
Peter and Rebecca Thomason
P.S. If you leave a post or a comment, please tell us how you found our site.
Hope for our Families is a small community and family improvement initiative founded by Peter and Rebecca Thomason. Through it we hope to share some of the things we have learned - usually through trial and error - about keeping our sanity while raising a large family (ten children, 18 grandchildren so far) ! We have lived and worked in the Ypsilanti, Michigan area for over three decades while being involved in numerous community-building activities.
Please visit our other blogsites by clicking here or on our favorite links for more specific information and pictures. The Thomason Family Farm (an urban micro eco-farm) can be seen at http://thomasonfamilyfarm.blogspot.com/
More information about Rebecca's Lionhead rabbits can be seen at http://sunnybrookfarmrabbitry.blogspot.com/
Peter's writing on other topics can be seen at http://notmyplans.blogspot.com
HOPE FOR OUR FAMILIES initially began in the winter of 2005 as a benefit concert to raise money for the 12-step program, The Family Foundation School, that one of our daughters was attending at the time. It then developed into a way to help raise community awareness about substance abuse, especially among adolescents, and recovery programs.
The concert was enormously successful on many levels thanks to the contributions and talents of many friends. We raised over $6,000 for The Family School and designated another 10% of the proceeds to help Daybreak, a program for adolescents jointly operated by Dawn Farm and the Washtenaw County Probate Court. Many of those who attended told us how refreshing it was to hear open discussion of our struggles and to see that it was possible for a family to work together to overcome a disease that has destroyed so many.
As we thought and talked during the weeks following the concert, we came to realize that there are many things that have helped us to become healthier as individuals and as a family over the last thirty years. Through this site we would like to share them with you.
Please feel free to share those things you have found to be helpful in your family life; we would love to hear from you!
With blessings for a great 2010 and HOPE FOR OUR FAMILIES,
Peter and Rebecca Thomason
P.S. If you leave a post or a comment, please tell us how you found our site.
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ReplyDeletethis is an article on the Biblical Roots of A A ..
God Bless YOU
Pat the handyman
I wonder if you've seen the book 'steps of transformation' by fr. Meletios Webber...
ReplyDeleteIn the Original A.A. Christian Fellowship program founded in Akron in 1935, all AAs were required to profess a belief in God and to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. They felt that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount contained the underlying spiritual philosophy of A.A. And they believed that the Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 were absolutely essential to their program. There was no "12 Step" philosophy or understanding of some illusory 'higher power' that could be a light bulb, a tree, or Santa Claus. For a very simple reason: There were no Steps, no Traditions, no Big Book, no drunkalogs, and no meetings of the type that exist today. See When Early AAs Were Cured and Why (www.dickb.com/titles.shtml). When Bill Wilson formulated the Steps four years later, he compromised the language originally used, tossed out approximately 400 pages of mostly Christian and Bible material, deleted "God" from the Second Step, and adopted "as we understood Him" in Steps 3 and 11. He specifically stated that this was to accomodate atheists and agnostics. But Dr. Bob's own story did not compromise and concluded with "Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!" The Bible, Christianity, God, and Jesus Christ are as much a part of the recovery arena today as the nonsense gods like "Something," "Somebody," and "not-god." God Bless, Dick B.
ReplyDelete