Headlines: After 75 Years of AA, It's Time to Admit We Have a Problem - newser.com
"For much of the past 50 years or so, voicing any serious skepticism
toward Alcoholics Anonymous or any other 12-step program was
sacrilege—the equivalent, in polite company, of questioning the virtue
of American mothers or the patriotism of our troops. If your problem was
drink, AA was the answer; if drugs, Narcotics Anonymous. And if those
programs didn’t work, it was your fault: You weren’t “working the
steps.” The only alternative, as the 12-step slogan has it, was “jails,
institutions, or death.” By 2000, 90 percent of American addiction
treatment programs employed the 12-step approach."
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I understand addiction. And I understand - at least to some extent - addicts. Because I am one! Addicts and addictions provide comedians with an endless supply of material for their trade. Robin Williams once joked that "reality is a crutch for those who can't handle drugs!" And what would musicians do if they did not have addicts to write songs about? (see: It's a Sin!).
But for the addict - and their friends and family - addictions are no laughing matter. Here is one of the best descriptions I've ever found of addiction: "Imagine holding your breath for 2 minutes. Now imagine something much worse!"
That doesn't mean I sign off on everything AA or any other 12 step group teaches. As a Christian, I have to reject the idea that you can have any higher power, other than our Lord Jesus Christ. And while I am all in favor of medical treatments and medications to help with addictions, I don't accept the idea that "It is a disease." In fact, if I ever get around to reading Martin and Deidre Bobgan's book, 12 Steps to Destruction, I'm sure I will discover several other faults about AA and 12 Step Recovery groups.
But 12 Step groups - at least good ones - have one thing that even many churches can't offer an addict and that is this: fellow addicts who care about each other and are willing to go out of their way to help one another stay sober.
I remember a meeting I had with an elder from a church I wanted to join. He criticized me for refusing to say no to my employer when they imposed 'mandatory overtime' on Sunday. Then he said that he had "strictly kept the Sabbath [Sunday] for the past 37 years." But I'll never forget one of his last words to me [I did not join that church!]: "I'm not someone you can call at two o'clock in the morning!"
A good 12 Step or recovery group is made up of people who are not only willing to pick up the phone at two o'clock in the morning, but are willing to get out of bed, come and pick you up, take you out for coffee, listen, and then help you get home safely. In my opinion, it is this than makes AA and recovery groups work.
Strongly recommended reading:
Why Christians Make Miserable Addicts
But I Don't Want to Be an Alcoholic
Ladies, Who Needs a Drink?
Miss Heroin
