Is The Big Book True? The Big Book Exposed. The Fifth Step Of AA Is A Lie.
- chphurst
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
I have stated in other works that the group, Alcoholics Anonymous, is largely based on religious deception. It doesn’t resemble a support group; it mimics a cult. The guiding literature for the cult members is The Big Book. This is the bible of AA that sits on the shelf in the rooms. It is encouraged to be read by every newly sober who walks through the doors for the first time. Its principles are the commandments of sobriety, established by Bill Wilson after his religious awakening given from his own indoctrination with the zealots from the Oxford Group. They state in these pages that not only will one find the foundation to build his house of sobriety, but the only mortar that will hold the base together is mixed from their infallible words.
The problem is the words are a lie.
In a previous article, I noted the first of these lies from The Big Book. That only a spiritual intervention can pull one from the deep abyss of alcoholism. Man is incapable of redeeming himself, only God can intervene and if you don’t throw yourself completely into that wishing well, then you are destined to never recover from the addictive state. Of course, the words from their bible also state that you will never recover anyway, but only be given daily reprieves by God from alcoholism. Their words, not mine.
But there is another deception from the construct of lies coming from The Big Book on recovery from alcoholism. It concerns Step Five of the infamous twelve, which Bill took directly from the Oxford Group’s core beliefs. The idea that we have to admit to God, ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
When it comes to the attempt of opening the door of a closet, looking for bones, one generally would find that it is sealed shut for a reason. We are a terrific species many times and also an incredibly sinful one. Occasionally people will forget to lock the door to that closet and are publicly ousted from the goodwill of the community, but mostly people will go to their graves without the door ever being opened. Humans relish when another is caught with his hand in the cookie jar. And at the same time, they quietly think: Thank God it wasn’t me. Imagine if a neighborhood’s closets were all emptied as the graveyard of skeletons poured out on the street. Everyone would have to move. Whether they were an alcoholic or not.
But it is true that alcoholics are far more susceptible to engage in bad behavior than Average Joe or Jane. Of course they are, a drug is affecting judgment. Sip enough of that drug and the judgment gets on a bus and leaves town completely. The stories are all the same in the rooms. I stole money. I cheated on my spouse. I did this, I did that.
I was no exception, although luckily, I never did anything catastrophic. I didn’t hurt anyone outside of yelling at a few people who probably didn’t deserve it. I was never married so never had to worry about infidelity. I dated toxic women and had chaotic friends like all those in the rooms. But I didn’t slug a cop and never ended up in jail. I never got a DUI, although to this day I can’t comprehend how I didn’t in all those years of driving under the influence.
Now, I don’t have an issue with involving a higher power in recovery from alcoholism. Pray for strength by all means. How much He will answer, I have no idea. I do have a problem with throwing it all on the Magic Elf to solve your life. If I were that Elf, I would simply say: I’m running a universe here, take care of yourself. That’s why I gave you a brain, genius. And as far as the Fifth Step, sure, pray for forgiveness if that is where your road of faith leads you. But you don’t have to get another human being involved in the matter.
Wilson got this tenet, as said, directly from his indoctrination into the fanatical Christian cult of the Oxford Group. The confessional component is one of their Five C’s. It literally is a carbon copy of it. So as before in previous chapters of The Big Book, it is easily explained that Wilson was not involved in creating a recovery or support group. He was creating a religious group that focused on abstaining from alcohol. And that’s why The Big Book and AA in general are nothing but a deception that is responsible for robbing millions of people of true recovery from alcoholism.
I have been accused of never having read the bible of the rooms. Yes, I have, cover to cover. My question to my critics is: have you? Responding to their rebuttals to my works reminds me greatly of when a fundamentalist Christian argues with me about the legitimacy of his Bible. He will adamantly defend that the Bible is not full of contradictions. But he has never actually read it. He has read points and passages that cater to his worldview and ignores the ones that don’t.
The Big Book clearly states that it is imperative to not just make amends but make this confessional to someone else as well. They state that only this opening of the closet door will keep you sober. Again, their words from Chapter 6, not mine. The entire chapter, like the previous few chapters, propagates this divine intervention that is necessary to remain free from alcohol for the rest of your life. In which after you have admitted the nature of your wrongs, you amend for them and ask God to remove your deficits. This is why I not only say that Alcoholics Anonymous was founded on the base of Christianity, but the entire program revolves around this faith. Because they aren’t subtly and constantly referring to Islam.
Their imperative of the confessional could completely blow up in the face of the former alcoholic, even if it is years later. As I stated earlier, we all do things that are despicable. But we wouldn’t want a single soul to know about some of those things. Some sins are best taken to the grave. What if the person that you are sharing this moral inventory with becomes an enemy down the road. He now has access to your darkest past and could possibly use this information against you.
There are layers to a person. Acquaintances know a person to a degree. Friends know a little more. Good friends have knowledge of deeper layers. The spouse is getting close to the core. But then there is that core that only the person himself knows. It is where Good and Evil wage war. You don’t bring that to the surface for the world to witness.
But also, the tenet isn’t true. Who made it a law, etched in stone, that you had to make this confessional to stay sober for life? Bill Wilson did. The man who was on psychedelic drugs under the influence of religious fanaticism when he came to his “awakening.” The idea that it is mandatory to complete this confessional for sobriety is absurd. It is another method of kicking the newly sober in the teeth and demanding submission to the tenets of their cult. It doesn’t make you free with God, as Chapter 6 states. It humiliates the person who is already feeling bad about himself while giving someone else information he has no right to have.
Taking a deep dive into one’s soul is a necessary “step,” so to speak, for one to gain complete and total cure from alcoholism. You have to not only reflect on your past wrongs but go far back into your past to find the real origin of your addiction. This is a solo journey, not to be accompanied with someone sitting in a room. One may even need a counselor to solve what was usually a turbulent upbringing that planted the seed of alcoholism, which would sprout years later. For myself, I just read a lot of books. But by doing this, you will finally drive the sword into that demon that followed you from early youth.
After four months of sobriety, I disappeared into the mountains for a few months. I largely came out only to resupply my backpack. During that time is where I faced the demon. This is an extremely painful process when one has to face the real truth about himself that was being concealed with Johnny B.’s illusionary potion. I knew I was a relatively tough individual. I had proved it countless times. I was physically tough. I could take cold, hunger and could push myself further than most. But I had to face the unforgiving mental mirror and realize that I was not emotionally strong at all and hadn’t been all the back to high school, where riptides carried a fourteen-year-old boy away. Mentally, I was still frozen in that fourteen-year-old. The physical prowess was a warrior I created to protect him. He suffered a lot of battle scars. And like the old passage states, I had to let the warrior die so the fourteen-year-old would be released and begin to live.
When I came out of the mountains back to the world, I was a different person. A major progression to my reinvention had taken place emotionally. I had looked at all deficits in myself and began to correct them. It didn’t happen overnight. The journey was largely finished after three years of sobriety when I completed the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,600 mile trek from Mexico to Canada. That’s where I defeated the demon that had walked with me and found my God. And I haven’t touched alcohol for over seventeen years.
You don’t have to go into the mountains or hike across the country to remove your deficits and ask forgiveness for any of your past wrongs. And you are under no obligation to open this closet door to anyone else. That journey is in your own very personal soul.
And the cult members of AA have no right to it.
To journey on a tale of epic transformation on a 2,660 mile trail check out: THE SHEPHERD AND THE RUNNINGWOLF: A PATH TO FORGIVENESS ON THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL
John Barleycorn: taken from Jack London's memoir of his alcoholism. John Barleycorn: First published, 1913
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