The Twelve Biggest Lies of A.A.
by A. Orange
How this file works is, click on any lie where you want to see
the evidence, and the link will take you right to it.
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"RARELY have we seen a person fail, who has thoroughly followed our path..."
The Twelve Steps are an
effective treatment
program for alcoholism, one that rarely fails, because
faith healing is really good medicine,
and
God performs miracles on demand
for us Twelve-Steppers every day. And when people don't quit drinking, it's their
own fault.
In spite of all of its strange features, A.A. is still the best
and
most effective
recovery program available, and the kindest thing you can do for an
alcoholic is to force him into Alcoholics Anonymous.
It is probable that more contemporary alcoholics have found sobriety through
the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous than through all other agencies combined.
Alcoholics Anonymous, an interpretation, by
Milton A. Maxwell, Ph.D., contained in Chapter 33 of
Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns, David J. Pittman and Charles R. Snyder,
editors, page 577.
Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step spinoffs have proved to be highly effective treatment.
`Million Little Pieces' writer Frey has stirred debate in 12-step programs,
By Michael Granberry,
The Dallas Morning News,
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/13820047.htm
(Note that the author of the article, Michael Granberry, not James Frey, was praising A.A.)
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WILL GIVE YOU BACK PRIDE IN YOURSELF AND WAKE YOU WELL. (sic.)
http://gaiawriter.blogspot.com/2006/02/metta.html
(Oh sure, by making you list and confess all of your sins and shortcomings and defects
and wrongs over and over and over again, in Steps 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.)
- If you are having a problem with drinking too much alcohol,
then you have a
disease which only
a spiritual experience
will conquer.
(The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William Wilson, page 44.)
You are powerless over alcohol. You can't quit.
Your life is unmanageable.
There you are, facing ruin again, and still you can't stop.
The more you struggle, the worse you get.
Even if you quit drinking, we can prophesy that you will suffer from
strange mental
blank spots where will power and self-knowledge will be useless,
and you will start drinking again without even knowing what
you are doing. Your defense must come from a Higher Power.
(The Big Book, 3rd & 4th Editions, William G. Wilson, pages 59, 41-42, and 43.)
- Alcoholism is an incurable, progressive disease, often caused by an
inherited gene, and
a disease is respectable, not a moral stigma.
(The Big Book, 3rd Edition, Marty Mann, Page 227.)
No, wait!
We changed our minds.
Alcoholism is a moral failing, one that is caused by:
- sins,
- moral shortcomings,
- wrongs,
- defects of character,
- self,
- selfishness,
- self-seeking,
- self-centeredness,
- more selfishness,
- self-will run riot,
- instincts running wild,
- instincts gone astray,
- The Seven Deadly Sins,
- natural desires warping us,
- resentments,
- desires that far exceed their intended purpose,
- a willful and irresponsible ego,
- how far we depart from the degree of perfection that God wishes for us,
- nagging wives,
- nagging wives again, "throwing her husband into a fit of anger",
- defective relations,
- failure to practice religious precepts properly,
- failure to practice Step Five properly,
- holding something back in Step Five,
- faith that isn't accompanied by
"self-sacrifice and
unselfish, constructive action",
- serious character flaws,
- personal secrets that we have not confessed, and
- another unconfessed personal secret...
— All of which must be
confessed to God and your sponsor.
- We Alcoholics Anonymous members are so wonderful that
we have saved millions of
other alcoholics. We have
a special ability to help alcoholics,
and
can fix cases
that baffle even the most learned and
distinguished of doctors and priests and ministers and psychiatrists:
Here was a book that said that I could do something that all
these doctors and priests and ministers and psychiatrists that I'd
been going to for years couldn't do!
The Big Book, 3rd Edition, page 473.
The relative success of the AA program seems to be due to the fact that
an alcoholic who no longer drinks has an exceptional faculty for
"reaching" and helping an uncontrolled drinker.
So Moved, The Washington Post, no author,
06-09-2002, page B03.
God in His wisdom has selected a group of men to be the purveyors of His
goodness. In selecting them through whom to bring about this phenomenon
He went not to the proud, the mighty, the famous or the brilliant. He
went to the humble, to the sick, to the unfortunate — he went to the
drunkard, the so-called weakling of the world. Well might He have said to us:
Into your weak and feeble hands I have entrusted a Power beyond estimate.
To you has been given that which has been denied the most learned of
your fellows. Not to scientists or statesmen, not to wives or mothers,
not even to my priests and ministers have I given this gift of healing
other alcoholics, which I entrust to you.
Judge John T., speaking at the 4th Anniversary of the Chicago Group October 5, 1943.
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Since this book was first published, AA has released hundreds [thousands]
of alcoholics from asylums and hospitals of every kind. The majority have never returned.
The power of God goes deep!
The A.A. Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous,
William G. Wilson, "To Wives", page 114.
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We, of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, know one hundred men
[thousands of men and women]
who were once just as hopeless as Bill.
All have recovered. They have solved the drink problem.
The A.A. "Big Book" — Alcoholics Anonymous,
William G. Wilson, first edition multilith page 8 and the 1st edition hardback on page 27.
-
We A.A. members are all fortunate people who are
constitutionally capable
of being honest with ourselves.
We are naturally capable of grasping and developing a manner of
living which demands rigorous honesty.
(The Big Book, 3rd & 4th Editions, William G. Wilson, Page 58.)
We spend our lives selflessly seeking and doing the Will of God.
We know what the Will of God is better than anyone else.
We were Chosen By God
for our special mission.
Not only that, we are very humble, too.
-
The A.A. program is
wonderful new technology.
It is not at all like
the many temperance unions and religious quit-drinking societies that came before it.
As one earlier member of the Board of Trustees of Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services, Inc., wrote,
... the A.A. group is to be understood as an unusually intimate primary group
which sponsors, in a potent learning situation, a new way of life — a new
subculture.
Alcoholics Anonymous: An Interpretation, Milton A. Maxwell, Ph.D., writing in
Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns, David J. Pittman and Charles R. Snyder,
editors, page 582.
-
The A.A. program is perfect. The only reason that
it doesn't work
for 99% of the people who try it is because they are all disgusting
sinners who won't give up their sinful ways and surrender to God or
the Alcoholics Anonymous group.
They are all unfortunate people who are constitutionally incapable
of being honest with themselves. They are naturally incapable
of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous
honesty. They seem to have been born that way.
(The Big Book, 3rd & 4th Editions, William G. Wilson, Page 58.)
- A.A. and the Twelve Steps are
the only way to
survive alcoholism.
Nobody can successfully quit an alcohol or
drug habit without a "support group" and attending hundreds
of meetings for many years, preferably for the rest of his or her life.
Nobody can do it alone.
And anyone who successfully quits drinking alcohol on his own,
without going to A.A. meetings and doing the Twelve Steps,
will suffer from a mysterious disease which will turn him into
a "dry drunk."
You are such a stupid loser
that there is no way that you can quit drinking by yourself, or keep yourself sober.
But a bunch of other similar stupid losers who are also incapable of
quitting drinking or keeping themselves sober will keep you sober.
The answer to all crises in life is, "Get to a meeting, quick!"
And everyone who is recovering from an alcohol or drug problem is
of course doing it with the Twelve Steps, in Alcoholics Anonymous
or Narcotics Anonymous, because there is no other possible way.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous is not a cult.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous isn't religious, it's spiritual.
It isn't a religion. You don't have to believe in God.
You can believe anything you want to believe,
and you will still get
miracles on demand.
A.A. is not an irrational
cult religion,
it's only "a spiritual fellowship".
Ignore the fact that, after indoctrinating many beginners, A.A. founder Bill Wilson wrote,
"From great numbers of such experiences, we could predict
that the doubter ... would presently love God and call Him by
name."
(Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,
William G. Wilson, page 109.)
Also, just ignore Bill Wilson's declaration that:
At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order.
But this is not an end in itself.
Our real purpose
is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God...
The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson,
Chapter 6, Into Action, page 77.
Never mind all of
the state Supreme Court Justices
and Federal District Court Judges who have ruled that Alcoholics
Anonymous is a religion, or engages in religious activities.
We'll just ignore them too.
Also ignore Bill Wilson's speech to the American Psychiatric Association:
Of course we speak little of conversion
nowadays because so many people really dread being God-bitten. But
conversion, as broadly described by James, does seem to be our basic
process; all other devices are but the foundation.
Bill Wilson's statements to the American Psychiatric Association 105th Annual
Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, May 1949
- Bill Wilson was a
paragon of sanity,
a
living saint,
and a genius who worked selflessly to help other alcoholics, while
taking nothing for himself.
When Bill Wilson wrote something that was
totally insane,
he wasn't really insane,
it was just an expression, and
you don't understand
what the words really mean anyway.
And Bill Wilson was living proof of the fact that you could drink two or three
bottles of Prohibition's infamous
"bathtub gin" every
single day for many years and still not suffer any
brain damage at all.
- You can believe in
any God
you want, or none at all, in A.A. You can have
any Higher Power or God you want,
including a Golden Calf or a bedpan or a motorcycle, and praying to such a Higher Power will
restore you to sanity and take away your desire to drink. That isn't
irrational or crazy;
it works, it really does.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous is completely compatible with Christianity; it's just
the perenial philosophy.
- You must be
an agnostic
or an atheist if you object to faith healing,
superstitious nonsense, and voodoo medicine as your
alcoholism recovery program.
- It's okay to
lie to newcomers, and
deceive them about the true
nature of A.A., if it will keep them coming back.
Also, we shouldn't openly tell the whole truth about the religious nature of A.A.;
it might confuse the newcomers.
"To some people we need not, and probably should not emphasize
the spiritual feature on our first approach. We might prejudice them."
The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William Wilson, pages 76-77.
"There is no use arousing any prejudice he may have against
certain theological terms and
conceptions about which he may
already be confused. Don't raise such issues, no matter what
your own convictions are."
The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William Wilson, page 93.
You have to dole out the truth about A.A. to beginners by
"teaspoons, rather
than by buckets"
because
"they simply do not want to get 'too good too soon'."
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age, William Wilson, page 75.
- If you're not ready to quit drinking completely,
there's nothing you can do about a drinking problem.
Nobody can just cut back and drink in moderation.
- Nobody can quit drinking until they
hit bottom and are ready
to surrender to the A.A. program. People who refuse to surrender to their
sponsor and the group and do what they are told
should go back out and
do some more research on the subject.
- Surrendering and being a slave of A.A. makes you free.
Dependency on A.A. makes
you independent.
Dependency on A.A. is wonderful and produces
no baleful results.
Confessing powerlessness makes you powerful.
Apologizing for your behavior your whole life, and confessing
everything and feeling guilty and humble about everything
will give you self-respect.
- You need this.
You need us to shove our religion (that we won't call a religion)
and its strange beliefs and practices on you, because
you will die if we don't.
Right now,
your thinking is so messed up
that you think you don't need this program, but you will thank us later.
- In A.A.,
nobody has any power over anyone else.
In A.A., everybody is equal (but some people are more equal than others).
Also, the A.A. leaders are but trusted servants. They do not rule, and would never engage in
lawsuits to punish A.A. members
who do legal things that the leaders don't like.
-
A.A. is not organized.
-
A.A. is a program of attraction, not promotion.
-
The Twelve Steps are all about quitting drinking.
- Never mind the fact that the Twelve Steps never tell you to quit
drinking, or to help anyone else to quit drinking either.
- Never mind the fact that the Twelve Steps don't contain any of
these words or phrases:
- "quit drinking,"
- "abstain from drinking,"
- "drink less,"
- "recovery,"
- "abstinence,"
- "sobriety,"
- "health,"
- "happiness,"
- "prosperity,"
- "compassion",
- or "love."
- Never mind the fact that 6 of the 12 steps refer to God, and surrendering to God,
confessing to God, begging God for miracles, praying to God,
and seeking and doing God's will, and getting power from God.
The Twelve Steps are still all about quitting drinking, not religion.
- For that matter, also never mind the fact that 7 of the 12 steps —
Steps Four through Ten — are designed to make you feel guilty:
They are all about you listing and confessing all of your sins,
character defects, moral shortcomings, the exact nature of your
wrongs, and everyone you ever harmed or offended.
The Twelve Steps are still all about quitting drinking, they say;
the Steps are not the mind-bending
guilt-induction routines of a
cult religion.
- And never mind the fact that Bill Wilson's Twelve Steps, and
Frank Buchman's procedures from which Bill derived those steps,
strongly resemble the
Red Chinese program
of brainwashing,
with all of its guilt-inducing "self-criticism" sessions.
- You really are stupid and evil.
You are far too stupid to be able to quit drinking by yourself.
Your thinking is all messed up, and
you can't trust your own mind.
Your character is full of defects.
Your thinking is alcoholic.
You are selfish and self-centered and manipulative and unspiritual and you just
want to be happy and feel good. Your true innermost nature is that
you are inherently sinful and disgusting.
- Treating people badly is how you make them be good.
Tough love programs really work
to save the lives of alcoholics and
drug addicts.
- Everything good that A.A. members do is Alcoholics Anonymous,
but the bad things that A.A. members do is not really A.A...
If a sponsor does some despicable thing that is not council-approved
to a sponsee, then that doesn't count.
-
The wives of the alcoholics wrote the Big Book
chapter "To Wives".
When Bill Wilson wrote on the first page of the To Wives chapter:
As wives of Alcoholics Anonymous, we would like you to
feel that we understand as perhaps few can.
We want to analyze mistakes we have made.
The A.A. Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson,
chapter 8, To Wives, page 104.
— that wasn't deceiving the readers. And when Bill began the next chapter
with the words:
Our women folk have suggested certain attitudes a wife may take with the
husband who is recovering. Perhaps they created the impression that he
is to be wrapped in cotton wool and placed on a pedestal.
The A.A. Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson,
Chapter 9, The Family Afterward, page 122.
— that wasn't a lie either.
And when page 51 of Big Book Unplugged; A Young Person's Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous,
a condensation of the Big Book that targets teenagers, tells us that:
Chapter 8 is written by wives, but you don't need to be a wife to benefit from
the authors' advice.
Hey!
That's the gospel truth, too.
You can bet your children's lives on it.
-
Bill Wilson was a stock broker.
He said so in the beginning of the Big Book:
The spark that was to flare into the first A.A. group was struck at Akron, Ohio, in June 1935,
during a talk between a New York stockbroker and an Akron physician.
The A.A. "Big Book" Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, page XV
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Bill Wilson never cheated on his wife. He said so in the Big Book:
There were many unhappy scenes in our sumptuous apartment. There had been no
real infidelity, for loyalty to my wife, helped at times by extreme
drunkenness, kept me out of those scrapes.
Big Book, 3rd & 4th Edition, Bill's Story,
page 3.
- Alcoholics Anonymous was
fantastically successful
in the beginning. They had a great success rate in sobering up
alcoholics.
A.A. has only gone a bit downhill just recently.
-
No reasonable person would criticize A.A., because A.A.
is a wonderful organization that has saved millions.
-
"Nobody is ever too dumb to get the program, but some people are too intelligent."
"Some people just don't get
the A.A. program. They are just far too intelligent to be helped."
What? That isn't twelve? Oh well, close enough. It's still more
accurate than saying,
"It isn't religious, it's
spiritual."
* "It works — it really does." — The Big Book, page 88.
2. Conceptions:
that is bad English, "conceptions" are women getting pregnant;
"concepts" are the ideas in your head.
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Last updated 4 July 2014.
The most recent version of this file can be found at
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-aalies.html
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