Christianity and Alcoholics Anonymous: Competing or Compatible?: A.A. Weighed and Measured Through the Scales of Scripture

By Ernie Tolin

Defense of the Gospel
None could deny that A.A. has taught hundreds of thousands of alcoholics to live in continuous sobriety. But a bigger question is, By what meansand with what consequencesdoes A.A. accomplish this minor miracle? Could we, for example, lay A.A. literature side by side with Scripture and conclude the two are in steady harmony? Or could it actually be possible that they contradict one another? And if that were the case, would we be wise to point to our continued sobriety as proof we have also been reconciled with God?
By contrasting what Scripture has to say on the subject of addiction, this book will uncover A.A.s teachings at great depth. Simultaneously it will help you to precisely diagnose the deception of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Followers of Christ, A.A. members, and their families can ill afford to miss dozens of eye-opening revelations as David Simmons delivers his compassionate message of hope.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy
Colossians 2:8

In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449765569

Ernie Tolin

David L. Simmons was once hopelessly addicted to alcohol and drugs. Aggressively hating God, his life mirrored a runaway freight train. Through A.A. he sobered up. Yet it was years later that the chains of addiction and sin were truly broken—by amazing grace!

Book preview

CHRISTIANITY & ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS:

Competing or Compatible

A.A. Weighed and Measured

Through the Scales of Scripture

David L. Simmons

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Copyright © 2012 David L. Simmons

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Editor: Charlie Frederico. www.bbckalispell.org

All quotations designated (BB) in the endnotes are taken from the Alcoholics Anonymous book, Copyright © 1939,1955, 1976, 2001 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 4th Edition, New and Revised 2001.

All quotations designated (12x12) in the endnotes are taken from the Twelve Steps Twelve Traditions Copyright © 1952, 1953, 1981 by The A.A. Grapevine, Inc. and Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing (now known as Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.)

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the NASB NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE © Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, by THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION

A Corporation Not for Profit

LA HABRA, CA

All Rights Reserved

http://www.lockman.org

Scripture designated (KJV) taken from The Way of the Master Evidence Bible ISBN 0-88270-906-2

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-6557-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6558-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6556-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012916203

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/7/2012

CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

Preface

A Letter to My AA Friends

Chapter 1 Who Am I?

Chapter 2 A Brief History of AA: What They Have and Have Not Told You

Chapter 3 Evidence for the Bible

Chapter 4 AA’s Doctrine of Deception

Chapter 5 Sin Laced with AA’s Doctrine

Chapter 6 What the Bible Says about Intoxication

Chapter 7 AA’s Attempt at Gaining Eternal Life

Chapter 8 How It Works

Chapter 9 Christian or AA Member: You Can’t Endorse Both!

Chapter 10 The Biblical Gospel: There Is Hope!

Chapter 11 Are You a Christian?

Chapter 12 Conclusion

Afterword

The Final Bottom

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Typical AA Meeting

Recommended Reading

Notes

Eli my Dove

How beautiful you are, my darling,

How beautiful you are!

Your eyes are like doves.

How beautiful and how delightful you are,

My love, with all your charms!

I am my beloved’s and my

Beloved is mine.

I love you Eli.

Dedicated to every member of

Alcoholics Anonymous

Gal. 1:10

The clear implication is that a genuine love for the truth is built into saving faith.

It is therefore one of the distinguishing qualities of every true believer.

In Jesus’ words, they have known the truth, and the truth has set them free.(John 8:32).¹

...when a vitally important biblical truth is under assault;

when the souls of people are at stake… One of the worst things a believer can do

is show a kind of feigned academic respect or artificial cordiality to the

purveyors of serious, soul-destroying error (Psalm 129:4-8;1 Corinthians 16:22).²

Truth doesn’t defeat error by waging a public relations campaign.

The struggle between truth and error is spiritual warfare, and truth has no way

to defeat falsehood except by exposing and refuting lies and false teaching. That

calls for candor and clarity, boldness and precision—and sometimes

more severity than congeniality.³

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

This book is sent out with genuine acknowledgment of family, friends, and Christian ministries.

I wish to thank my parents for the never-ending sacrifices they made while raising me. I seem to appreciate those sacrifices more and more as the years go by. My childhood was filled with many wonderful memories with you two, for which I am grateful. I love you, Mom and Dad.

Next, I want to thank my sister, Donna, and my brother, Bob, for loving me and being there for me. I love you (from your little brother).

I would also like to thank some of my special friends who spent a decade with me in Alcoholics Anonymous: Jeff, James, John, Ray, Kevin, Chris, Donna, John, Wilma, Mel, Edna, Rick, Tommy, David, Steve, Mike, Rusty, Bob, Steve, John, Nannette, Vince, and JC.

During my years in AA, I have had the privilege of forming many wonderful relationships that have meant a great deal to me. Some of these friends, even after reading this book, would still drop everything and come be with me if I needed them. You know who you are. I want to thank everyone who has sat in CH Aftercare and who showed me patience and love in those early days. Thank you to the many of you who showed the same qualities at the Saturday morning Living by the Print meeting at Alanon. As for the hundreds who have passed through Bob’s Place (the recovery house I co-owned with my sponsor), I pray you received more than just a safe place to lay your head at night.

I would also like to thank a few Christian ministries that have proven invaluable to me: WOTM, WOTMSBE, LW, Wretched Radio, LWF, CBC, Mark Cahill, and the men in my previous Sunday school class at Hopewell, who showed me nothing but love and hospitality.

I also want to thank Pastor David Harrell, Jim Haun, the Lewis family, Garry Fulton, the Frederico family, Joey Bassham, Tom Ross, Miki Lekic, the Hutchison family, Pamela Ufen, Kerry Russ, Charles Alley, all of my CBC family and Jeremy Salmon for their encouragement and support.

And last, but most importantly, I want to give honor and praise to the precious Savior. I praise God for His amazing grace, for saving me, and for making me a new creation in Jesus Christ. May this book be used as a tool to bring many to Christ. To You alone be honor and glory for Your name’s sake.

Preface

In chapter 1, you will read about my ten years of active involvement with the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program. I understand AA’s position and that its members may easily feel offended while reading this book. I hope you will see my sincere intentions. Nevertheless, some AA members will be hurt or annoyed.

While I was in AA, when someone spoke harshly of the program, I jumped to its defense. It appeared as if the person was attacking the very program that saved my life. If they damaged the program to the point of extinction, I would be finished! I could not stand by while the opponent disassembled the life-saving answers AA seemed to offer! My parting shot to those opponents was a well-known phrase in AA: Religion is for those afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those who have already been there. I think I repeated this phrase because it sounded good and because I felt as though active addiction made my life a hell on earth. It made sense to me that if my hellish life was so horrible, then there must be only heaven after death. The proposition to live in hell on earth, die, and then be subjected to an even worse hell after death simply made no sense to me. I blamed God and everyone around me for my hell on earth, even though all the consequences appeared to result from my own behavior.

I no longer see things that way. The purpose of this book is to compare the teachings of Alcoholics Anonymous with the inspired, infallible, sufficient record of Scripture. The result will be to determine if they are in competition or if they are compatible.

There is no question that AA has taught hundreds of thousands of alcoholics to live in continuous sobriety. But by what means does AA accomplish this? Can we lay out our AA literature and Scripture side by side on a table and conclude that they are in perfect harmony? Or would we conclude that they in fact contradict one another? If they do contradict one another, should that concern us, or is our continued sobriety proof that we are reconciled with God? Is AA a lifelong journey?

During my ten years of recovery time, I often pondered such questions as these, as I’m sure some of you have. These are but a few of the questions that I will answer in this book. Asking these questions will benefit a variety of people: those who have tried AA repeatedly and experienced relapse after relapse, those considering AA for the very first time, and those in the midst of addiction who don’t know where to turn. The book will be of special interest to currently dedicated AA members who also strive to follow Christ.

As you read this book, my prayer is that God will open your mind and heart so that truth will penetrate your soul to a depth it has never reached before.

The fact is that we all fall under the ultimate fact: all of us will die someday. As unpleasant as that may sound, it is reality. Therefore, we should seriously ponder the previous questions while we have the opportunity.

Before you continue reading the following chapters, I would like you to answer one question in order to reveal the attitude of your heart toward this book: if the teaching of Alcoholics Anonymous is contrary to the Bible—the revealed will of God—would you want to know it?

A Letter to My AA Friends

Dear friends of AA, I pray this letter finds you and your families well. I will never forget all that I have shared with you: the years of laughter, sadness, and heartbreak as well as the hours of sharing and caring. I must confess that the information within this book has been quite burdensome over the last couple of years, and I debated whether to share it or keep it to myself, to live and let live. However, I remember someone once saying, Your best friend is the one who tells you the most truth. How true this statement is! Every day in AA, sponsees call their sponsors and tell them their problems, and the sponsors respond, What part did you play? The sponsors seek out truth, hopefully in love, and share it with the sponsees, even if the truth stings a little. I hope to do the