The Guide for
Beginners’ Recovery from Alcoholism and Addiction Today
By Applying Old School Akron
A.A. in Today’s Recovery Scene
Dick B.
© 2015 Anonymous. All rights reserved
Summary of the Stages
of Healing Techniques, Beginning with the Apostles, and How They Lived Their
Lives--Praying, Witnessing, converting others, healing, fellowshipping in homes and temple, and breaking bread together
How Recovery “Christian
techniques” Began to be employed in the manner of First Century Christian
Fellowships
The Turning by
Christian groups in the 1850’s to Ministering to the “Unworthy”
The Christian Entities
That Led the Way
Christian Revivals in
the Upbringing of A.A.’s Co-founders
[The Great Revival of
1876 in St. Johnsbury]
Congregationalism in Vermont
and in the Families of A.A.’s Co-founders
Participation of
Grandparents and Parents
Church, Sunday School, Sermons,
Reading of Scripture, Hymns, Prayer Meetings, Young Men’s Christian
Association, Christian Endeavor Societies
The Congregational
Domination of Academies Attended by Dr. Bob, Bill W., and Ebby Thacher; and the
Christian Practices Required of Students
The Spiral Downward (glass
in hand) by Dr. Bob and by Bill W. as They Departed for College
______
The Early Formative
Days for Alcoholics and Addicts
How the First Three AAs Got Sober
A.A. Number One. Bill W. became born
again at Calvary Chapel in New York. Then Bill was cured of his alcoholism at
Towns Hospital when Bill cried out to God for help, there experienced a blazing
indescribably white light in his hospital room, and concluded, “Bill, you are a
free man. This is the God of the Scriptures.” Bill never again doubted the
existence of God, and never drank again.
On a rug on the floor of the home of
T. Henry Williams, Dr. Bob (the alcoholic) had joined a small group of friends
in prayer for his deliverance from alcoholism. A miraculous phone call soon emerged
from the prayers. Bill W., a stranger, phoned Henrietta Seiberling seeking a
drunk to work with. She introduced two men (Bill W. and Dr. Bob) at her home; and,
after a six hour talk, the two men were bound to the principle of serving
others. But Dr. Bob had yet to be cured. Before long, after a bender, Dr. Bob
undertook scheduled surgery. Bill and Bob’s family were concerned that Bob was
too shaky to operate. But Bob proceeded. He told Bill he had placed the surgery
and his life in God’s hands. The operation was a success. Dr. Bob was cured
then and there of his drinking problem and said so. It was June 10, 1935; and
Bob never drank again.
Bill W. and Dr. Bob visited attorney Bill D. in Akron City
Hospital, persuaded him to admit to his seemingly hopeless alcoholism. Bill D.
got on his knees and gave his life to God. He also promised to help others get
well. And he walked out of the hospital a free man. He never drank again. And
Bill W. announced that the date was July 4. 1935—the founding of Akron Group
Number One.
All three men had renounced liquor
for good. They believed in God and were students of the Bible. They were Christians.
And in their darkest hours, they sought God’s help for their ascent from the
abyss.
_____________________________________
The First Program of
Recovery
The pioneers soon developed a
recovery program consisting of seven points; investigated by Rockefeller agent
Frank Amos and reported on page 131 of DR.
Bob and the Good Oldtimers. The summarized seven points are accompanied in
our book, Stick with the Winners and
details the 16 principles and
practices the pioneers used to implement the seven point program
published in A.A. literature; and Dick B. and his son Ken B. have set forth their
summary of those principles and practices. In Stick with the Winners! How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings Using Conference-Approved
Literature: A Dick B. Guide for Christian Leaders and Workers in the Recovery
Arena. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., (2012). Dick and
his son Ken have set forth on pages 27-38, with documentation those 16
principles and practices
______________________
The Next Major Program
Development Was the Remarkable Cleveland Program Offshoot and Its Top Success
There are five reliable summaries of the
Cleveland application of old school A.A.
(1) They are Our A.A. Legacy to the
Faith Community For Those Who Want to Believe, By Three Clarence Snyder
Sponsee-Old-timers and Their Wives: Compiled and Edited by Dick B. (Winter
Park, FL: Came to Believe Publications, 2005.) The three author-couples were
sponsored by Clarence, sponsored many others, put on retreats organized by
Clarence, and were at his side for many years until his death. And, after
Clarence died, they later devoted almost a year to interviews, phone calls,
correspondence, and manuscript work with Dick B. It is widely used by AAs, at
the retreats, and by hundreds who use it as a guide to A.A. and how to take its
steps.
(2) Dick B. spoke at many retreats with Grace Snyder. He and his son Ken B.
interviewed Grace extensively, and reviewed such books, papers, and records
owned by Clarence as Grace made available when Dick and Ken spent a week at the
Grace Snyder home in Florida. And her biography
is That Amazing Grace: The Role of
Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous published by Paradise Research
Publications, Inc. (Kihei, HI Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1996. It
was authored by Dick B.
(3) The next significant Snyder book
was written by Mitchell K. and titled How
It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics
Anonymous in Cleveland (1991). Mitchell had been sponsored by Clarence,
gained possession of most of Clarence’s papers, and told the story of Clarence
and Cleveland quite well.
There were some principal points that
Grace and Mitchell made clear to me. They incorporated these in their writings about
the Cleveland fellowship founded by Clarence in 1939. And these are the important parts of A.A. history
Clarence brought with him to Cleveland: (Big Book, Twelve Steps, “most of the
old program” including the Four Absolutes and the Bible). The “old program” which
included belief in God, surrender to Him through Jesus Christ, study of the
Bible, visiting newcomers, particularly in the hospital; and participating in a
great deal of fellowship—including sports, choir, braking bread, dances, and
group prayer.
In
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A
Brief History of A.A. pp. 21-22, Bill
W. described what Cleveland had done with “most of the old school A.A.”
program,” and wrote:
We old-timers in New York and Akron had regarded this fantastic
phenomenon with deep misgivings. Had it not taken us four whole years, littered
with countless failures, to produce even a hundred good recoveries? Yet here in
Cleveland we now say about twenty members, not very experienced themselves,
suddenly confronted by hundreds of newcomers as a result of the Plain Dealer articles. How could they
possibly manage? We did not know. But a year later we did know for by then Cleveland had about thirty groups and
several hundred members. . . . Yes, Cleveland’s results were of the best.
_____________________________________
Bill W.’s new book and
“New Version of the Program” the Twelve Steps
No sooner
did the presentation of the Akron Christian Fellowship practices and
accomplishment take place, than Bill W. wanted a book, hospitals, and
missionaries. But his proposal failed with the Akron group. He did gain
approval of the book by a slim vote; but he began writing untethered as to its
contents. Dr. Bob had merely commented: “Keep it simple!” And Bill’s product
came up with the “new version”—the one that enabled the original or “First”
manuscript draft to be written and circulated. But the AAs felt a story or case
history was needed—evidence in the form of living proof, written testimonials
of the membership.
But there
was dissension. For example, Fitz M., the Episcopal minister’s son and the second man to recover at Towns Hospital
constantly traveled to reinforce the position that the book ought to be
Christian in the doctrinal sense of the word and should say so. Fitz favored
using Biblical terms and expressions to make this clear. But the atheists and
agnostics, were still to make a tremendously important contribution, said Bill.
The protesters, led by Bill W.’s friend Henry, were for deleting the word “God”
from the book entirely. Henry had come to believe in some sort of “universal
power.” He wanted a psychological book
There was
still argument about the Twelve Steps. Bill wrote: “All this time I had refused
to budge on these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in
which I had consistently used the word “God.’ But praying on one’s knees was
still a big affront to Henry. He argued, he begged, he threatened. . . He was
positive we would scare off alcoholics by the thousands when they read those
Twelve Steps. A detour was fashioned. Bill pointed out that the steps could be
made suggestive only.
And the
totally compromised draft of the First Edition manuscript was chopped up by a
committee of four—Wilson, Hank Parkhurst, Fitz, and the secretary, Ruth Hock.
And then an endless number of parties took a crack at it. The Multilith was the
name given for the text of the, working manuscript. And it contained “accepted”
changes, “rejected” changes, the marginalia, and the “proof sheet” changes.
Later editors insisted that it was badly mangled. But a bidder at auction paid
almost a million dollars for the manuscript. Then it was published for sale as The Book That Started It All: The Original
Working Manuscript of “Alcoholics Anonymous” (Center City, MN, Hazelden, 2010).
And, though
there are suspect additions, and many hand-written opinions and suggestions,
one can look at the Hazelden publication and see the manuscript that contained
the First Edition of the Big Book, published by Works Publishing Company in New
York
There was a
huge compromise in Bill’s 12 Step version. And regardless how you regarded the
great compromise, it proposed language such as describing God as a “Power
greater than ourselves and inserting the words “God as we understood Him”
So the real “new version” of the
program and its steps were compromised in tenor and purpose. In Bill’s
language, “God was certainly there is our Steps, but He was now expressed in
terms that anybody—anybody at all—could accept and try, , , , “Such were the
final concessions to those of little or no faith. . . so all who suffer might
pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.”
_________________________________________
The Present Program as
Embodied in the Several Published Manuscripts That Has Left God in the Dust
Was He a
“power?” Could He merely be described as a “Power greater than ourselves?” Was
He a light bulb or Big Dipper as some frequently said? Could you –with the
stroke of a pen--change God into someone or something anyone or anything could
expect to heal him?
Jim H., probably the A.A. with the most
sobriety when he died, once said to me: “Dick. If you take God out of A.A., you
have nothing.”
Should a
newcomer hear that he should pray to nothing for help? That he need believe in
nothing for rescue? That A.A. is just about not-god-ness? That he can select a
rock, a chair, a door knob, a table, or some undefined “higher power” for
healing?
We think the
newcomer needs to hear the whole story and not just about rocks and tables,
higher powers, light bulbs, or “nothing at all” and expect to be cured of
alcoholism with such an approach. Or should he hear the rest of the story and
believe affirm what his basic text claims: that the Creator of the heavens and
the earth could have, would be able to wield, can, and does have more power
than any product of man’s mind, book, or hands?
You decide.
