Ma> re - Joan R's wonderful message (Thank you for quoting it so I got to 
 Ma> see it, whereas I've been on sabbatical) and "reminding us all that 
 Ma> BillW. and Dr. Bob were just plain mortal men.... that made mistakes"
 Ma> - I used to go to a meeting where an oldtimer who now has forty
 Ma> SOMETHING years sober, God willing - by which I mean God willing he is
 Ma> still  alive - used to say that we didn't have to nod our head yes to 
 Ma> everything that was written in the big book and the 12 and 12, that it
 Ma> wasn't meant to be scripture or it's generic equivalent in other 
 Ma> religions  - it was no form or divine revelation.  He also told me
 Ma> that it was his sponsors who told him this - men who died sober. 
 
 It is a book to give examples of how some people got sober..but nothing is
 carved in stone..what worked for one may not work for another...the most
 important thing is..don't drink..or drug or whatever you wish to put here.
 The BB has some good stuff in it and should be read but not sworn on...
 Ma> This guy used to joke about people editing the Bible - his tradition 
 Ma> and that of most in our locale - and taking out Moses and the ten 
 Ma> commandments to put in Bill and Dr. B and the twelve steps.  
 
 I don't think the Pope would like that...or any other of the spiritual
 leaders...:)
 Ma> And it has come pretty close to that - recently, on the internet, I 
 Ma> heard someone talk about having a CONCORDANCE to the Big Book.  (A 
 Ma> concordance is usually a large book one uses whereby one can find a 
 Ma> specific scriptural text in the Bible if one has one or two of the
 Ma> main words in that text)  
 
 Hmmm...I know what a concordance is, a reference book usually having some
 thing to do with the Bible..I don't think the BB needs anything like that.
 Just someone to read it now and then, and maybe even learn something...:)
 Ma> So I have to agree with Joan R. myself - she has some valid points to 
 Ma> be had there.  Most alcoholics being extremists, I think we - myself 
 Ma> included - can easily, very easily, be carried away if we are not 
 Ma> careful and lose the "joy of living" which the 12 and 12 tells us is 
 Ma> the "theme of AA's twelve steps".  I believe it is also their purpose
 Ma> - to give us that joy.
 I guess one thing should be remembered..each person with time in AA, or 
 any of the other programs, got there by doing it their own certain way..
 and that way may not be the same as the next guys...but they are all very
 valid ways and important to each person that uses them..My husband used
 to say that AA taught him how *not* to drink but the old timers taught him
 how to live...It worked for him...
 Light, Love and Laughter
 Marie - Starwitch
... There is no language of the holy; the sacred lies in the ordinary.
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
--- GEcho 1.00
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