Finding God W/O the Church

By Roy C C

This book has a very simple purpose. That purpose is to allow you to experience a God of your own understanding. A God that has a unique relationship with you. It only asks you to do a couple of new things. Have a little bit of willingness to think thoughts you have never thought before and to imagine some things you have never imagined before. This will lead you to a place you have never been before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524675226

Roy C C

The author has been a sober and active member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 40 years. He has seen literally thousands of people who have been introduced to this Power. These people have learned to walk free and to be functional members of society in our world because of this power.

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© 2017 Roy C C. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/08/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-7523-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-7522-6 (e)

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Contents

Entrée: God Did What!?

Chapter 1:   The Origin of an Idea: God as We Understand Him

Chapter 2:   What Happened to Me

Chapter 3:   What is God?

Chapter 4:   Looking for God

Chapter 5:   The God I Don’t Want

Chapter 6:   The God I Do Want

Intermission: Gratitude

Chapter 7:   Quiet Time

Chapter 8:   Spirituality for the Not so Holy

Intermission: Use It or Lose It

Chapter 9:   Where Do I Go From Here?

Entrée:

God Did What!?

Growing up in a small church in the South, I ‘Gave my life to Jesus’ when I was 6 years old. Of course I did not know anything about what I was doing. I couldn’t have. What I learned was, this required a life of pain and misery. Life was about obeying God, and that meant walking the ‘Straight and Narrow Path ‘. Every time I took a step off that ‘Straight and Narrow Path,’ even a little one, I was punished. I had a lot of trouble staying on that path. Because I had so much trouble, I lived in constant fear of being punished; physically, mentally and emotionally.

Even though the rules were never very clear, the punishment was. It was supposed to motivate me to keep me on the ‘Path.’

God’s job was to keep track of everything I did ‘wrong’, and make sure that I was punished for it. This kept me headed in the right direction.

Does any of this sound even remotely familiar?

There are many churches and many faiths and many, many differences of opinion on how God works. It came as a real surprise to me to discover that everyone did not believe the way I was taught; i.e. the ‘Right’ way.

It took a long time and a lot of help for me discover there really was some kind of a Power that truly cared about me. I learned there was a path I could walk (with all of my shortcomings and failures) that was acceptable to Him.

There is also a path that has been created especially for you to walk, that is acceptable to Him.

If you are reading this, you are already on it.

The Origin of an Idea: God as We Understand Him

In 1939, there was a book published called Alcoholics Anonymous. Amongst the many things written in that book was something referred to as The 12 Steps. Included in those 12 steps was a phrase that described an idea that was truly unique. The phrase was ‘God as we understood Him’. I believe it may be possible this was the first time that phrase was ever used in our world.

The program of Alcoholics Anonymous has been instrumental in helping several million alcoholics and drug addicts to get clean and sober.

Yes, I am an active member of AA and have been sober for 40 years. Aside from experiencing this power for myself, I have watched it work in the lives of thousands of others. There is a line in our book that says, ‘The main purpose of this book is to help you find a power greater than yourself that will help you solve your problem.’

This absolutely does not mean it is necessary to be an alcoholic or drug addict in order for this to work. The very idea staggers the imagination!

Since 1939, there have been hundreds of different organizations that have adopted the AA program to deal with their particular problem. And it works! Over and over and over, it works!

Whatever we may think about God, good, bad or otherwise, most everyone agrees there is only one of Him. So the same God the world has talked about for thousands of years, must be the same God helping all of these people with their problems.

I will say again, as it is extremely important to understand, this writing is not about getting sober. If you need to get sober, go to AA. This is not about dealing with addiction of any kind. AA says, clearly there is a power out there. We now know this power is available to anyone.

When I had been sober three years, I decided to get married. My bride was in Al-Anon and I was in AA. We felt this was a solid foundation for the relationship. We wanted a family. We wanted to raise our family in a community of families, and AA did not offer that. The only place that scenario could be found was in church. We were invited to an Episcopal Church, where we were married. We started raising our family. AA continued to provide the foundation of my spiritual life.

I went to church for the sake of my family. But, I still had a lot of trouble with this whole God deal in the church. I would go to church and hear them talking about the Power of God. They said to love Jesus with all of your heart, be Saved by the Blood of the Lamb etc. etc. I just didn’t get it.

Then I would go to an AA meeting and sit down with a group of 25 people, and every single one of them was literally a ‘Take up your bed and walk’ miracle. Nobody ever talked about Jesus, or mentioned being saved by anything other than