Hey, Andy. no problem. I like to believe that I am who I claim to be. Have many faults but I will not tolerate blaming another when the matter should be squarely placed at the offenders feet. Blaming others will keep you a in denial until you can claim them and own them. Denial is the crux of many sick actions, especially denial of one's alcoholism or drug problem, or over eating or any number of "isms" that people suffer from.
Ive'e lived it for 30 years of my life. Read the Big Book of AA from front to back many times. Studied James and Scott Peck, been to state sponsored workshops and I believe that I qualify for a counseling degree in alcohol and drug abuse but have never taken the state tests. Didn't see any reason for it as my major qualifications are that I am required to have is "former drunk" and longer sobriety than whomever I might be counseling. I have also been ordained as a minister in a non-denominational affiliation with a Church that I use strictly for counseling the Christian alcoholic. I do explain about Christ to the agnostic and atheist also.
Yes I am qualified to marry you and bury you but abstain from that area since I don't feel led by Christ to do that.
Many do not understand that just being on the water wagon does not qualify you as a "sober" person if you refuse to work on the mental and emotional illness that made you an alcoholic in the first place. You see, the fix to the problem is not staying dry x number of days. It is learning to live a sober way of living for the rest of your life.
I have found that alcoholism truly is a disease. It first meets all of the requirements of the medical profession in defining a disease model. Once an AA knows that he or she has a disease that always ends in death unless it is arrested by complete abstinence does not give them a crutch or a reason to evade their responsibilities. Once they accept the fact that they have an incurable disease that can only be arrested by abstinence then they have every reason to work hard to stay alcohol free for the rest of there life. Alcoholism is a cunning foe and they know that. That is why that the AA has to work on the "ism" for the rest of there life. To begin to recover one day at a time until they feel comfortable in there own skin.
But it is a fact that you can never stop growing spiritually. You can not rest on your laurels. Alcohol is also a subtle and baffling foe, attacking when you let up on a program of spiritual action.
We can not defeat alcoholism. We can only arrest it......
Oh by the way, I have not found any program-gamblers anonymous, overeaters, drug addict, church sponsored that does not in some way use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as the backbone of their program.
This AA program was spiritually given by God to two alcoholics in 1935 who formed a loosely knit group of drunks that believed in one drunk helping another was the only way to keep one another sober. They developed the Twelve Steps. The Big Book and the Twelve Traditions.
Several years ago the AA program had grown to 10-20 million members the world over. It has been proven time and again as the most effective way(Bar none) to help a person overcome alcoholism and live a happy life.
Good day to you and God keep you,
James
Christian Harbor Recovery
christian-harbor.net
mailto:James@christian-harbor.com |
