This AA Comment Proves Everything. Perfect Example of AA Members Lying.
- 12 minutes ago
- 8 min read
I had a comment from a previous article that will prove my point on the cult-like mentality of Alcoholics Anonymous. I could have gone back and forth to the end of time with this guy, but arguing with a cult member is a lot like arguing with a Christian fundamentalist, which are also members of a religious cult. No matter what evidence you present to them stating the world is not four to six thousand years old, no matter what facts you lay on their table that show there was never a global flood, they will always have a nonsensical rebuttal. And they lie in defense of their cult. It is a mental defense because they can’t come to grips they are actually brainwashed. For have you ever heard a cult member stand up and say: Yes, I am in a cult. They indoctrinate all of us weekly. You are completely right with the facts you laid before me.
Sometimes someone does reach this conclusion. They realize they are in a cult and have been following along like sheep for years or even decades. There are many channels of former fundamentalist cult members who are now attacking their former churches. And there are ex-members of the rooms doing the same thing. Because the response of the rare person who realizes he is in a cult is to leave.
And the people who leave all have the same stories of their experience in the cult. They claim the leaders use coercion and fear tactics to attempt to keep them there. They implement shaming tactics for dissenting opinions. And they lie through their teeth, continuing to claim their tactics are not of a cult. I’m sure Jim Jones said the same thing.
Then they come to my articles and videos as well with their comments that are based on untruths. And they have a right to do this. If you attack a cult, you are going to get visceral rebuttals back. I got one recently. Apparently, I’m completely wrong about the message of The Big Book. I’m wrong about the meetings as well. No one is ostracizing other members who have differences of opinion and have the gall to state them out loud. But this was his first part of the comment regarding my knowledge of the book in question:
I have studied this fellowship for years and have been to hundreds of meetings in many groups, locations and cities as well talked to even more members and newcomers. In the first few chapters, it does not say spiritual intervention is the only thing that can keep ‘you’ sober, it’s the only thing that kept ‘them’ aka the people described in the program as otherwise hopeless alcoholics, sober. Here is where context matters. The book clearly defines the hopeless alcoholic as one for whom no other method has worked. If other methods work for you, that’s wonderful! It says in their book, I believe it’s on page 164, “The steps are meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little.”
He is about to prove my point on the dishonesty of the AA member. He acts like I have never read The Big Book. What he did is exactly what Christian fundamentalists do. He took one sentence and tried to prove his contention. He left out the rest of the paragraph on page 164. Right after the “The steps are meant to be suggestive only” sentence, the book states clearly that “God will constantly disclose more to you and us . . . Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to him and your fellows.”
This is not the only time the work states that only divine intervention will save you from addiction, which they also state is a daily grant from the divine in which you will never claim cure. In chapters four through six, they not only say the only way to manage your addiction is through spiritual intervention. It clearly states that man’s methods cannot help this addiction. This commenter wrote nowhere does the book state that spiritual intervention is the only way when in fact it does multiple times no matter what context you look at those words. They even suggest how atheists should reconsider their beliefs as a whole. The book contends as well that their ultimate hope is every alcoholic is part of the fellowship. These are not my words, they are the words of The Big Book.
And yes,The Big Book states you can use outside sources to help you with your addiction. But their message is you always need the fellowship. This is another deliberate untruth written by the commenter. He acts as if the rooms are just fine if someone dropped them for the modern SMART program. They certainly are not and I will discuss their backlash momentarily.The Big Book is emphatic and repeatedly states that you must find reconciliation with God if you want to stay sober. Their Twelve Steps literally are taken from the fanatical Christians of the Oxford Group. The steps are mandatory for recovery as is the sponsor as are the meetings in the rooms all under the guise of divine intervention. They may not say it in the rooms, but they are practicing fanatical Christianity. And The Big Book is guiding the program as necessary every step of the way. Either the commenter is so brainwashed, as he stated he has been to hundreds of meetings, or he is digging in his heels and just flat out lying to defend his cult.
And the long-time members of the rooms do lie when defending their circle. We just caught this one taking one sentence and then leaving out the following sentences that give it the true context. But he continues about the meetings themselves:
Something else that is repeated in the rooms is, and I’m sorry you didn’t get to hear this: “We do not have a monopoly on the solution to alcoholism.” In fact sponsees are taught to not criticize other people’s conception of a solution or a Higher Power, as alcoholics can be very stubborn people and therefore be driven away by unsolicited advice. Though not everyone in the program agrees, ‘suggestions’ not advice is what many people prefer to advocate for in this program. Let me put it this way: if a man or two says, ‘women shouldn’t be allowed to vote’ or any other discriminatory statement, surely that doesn’t mean men as an entire category hold this belief? The same is true for some unhelpful AA members. Ostracization also goes against their moral principles, reflected by the messages in the last chapter in their Big Book.
This is absolutely not how the meetings are run. Two for two meetings in two different locations they stated AA was the only way. I was lectured adamantly for being eleven months sober and not starting the steps. No one was happy about my eleven months. And before you start knocking that I only went to two meetings, be advised I had family members who were long time AA members and also left and remain sober today. I am well familiar with the rooms.
But let’s look at others who left AA. They all said the same thing. All these people from all over the country seem to have the same tale. The were coerced as the senior members tried to get them back. The sponsors would harass them. Look what they call us years sober recovered without AA. They call us dry drunks. They cannot accept that true reinvention of Self doesn’t happen with an AA meeting, as a matter of fact, the rooms will keep your soul imprisoned. Many interviewees on Kirsten Johnson’s channel, actually, all of them that I have heard so far, say they were lectured, harassed and ostracized after leaving AA. The standard response is there will be a chair waiting for you when you relapse, or you are going to die without AA. A channel titled, Quackaholics, tells the story of his ten years of brainwashing in the program and the constant toxicity of those rooms. These type of post-AA revelations are rampant and widespread across the nation. Again, commenter, you don’t see it because you are brainwashed with the cult—or you are lying. Because I have never heard an active AA member be honest about the true nature of their meetings.
Then the commenter lies about the effectiveness of the methods of the rooms. He speaks about how many lives were saved. That is incorrect. AA fails eighty to ninety-five percent of the time, depending who you read. He then lies by bringing up that old Stanford study that showed AA was the most effective way to battle alcoholism. I can’t believe there are some still bringing that study up as a talking point. That study was extremely flawed. I plan to have an entire article in the future debunking Stanford that basically went in without proper data of proving AA effective when it not only isn’t but isn’t for the vast majority.
And no, I am not saying we have a method that has long term success. We have several new programs of treatment that are only years and a few decades old. There hasn’t been enough time to gather the long term results. But we have good moderate term results, which is far better than the rooms present. As time passes those moderate term may turn into long term success in which Alcoholics Anonymous will be finished as the mainstream program. And they should be with their dismal failure rates.
The one thing we know, however, is that AA fails most. That is a statistical fact of the majority of studies, minus Stanford’s flawed one. I don’t have a paid program but I promise if you get involved in basic fitness, clean diet and meditative activities as well as constantly advance Self, you won’t feel a need to drink, most of that need will be gone by six months and there will only be slight residuals at two years, when I state you can claim cure.
But beware of those advocating for AA. They all have the same defense rebuttals just like Christian fundamentalists have “explanations” for all the genres of science that prove the world is not four to six thousand years old. Both groups lie, plain and simple. Both groups have their own members shaking their heads emphatically when their leaders, whether they are acknowledged or not as so, state their tenets. And both groups have all of the traits of a cult and want to advance their cults. I could have literally predicted what this commenter would rebuttal with as all of their rebuttals are the same when defending Alcoholics Anonymous. Because members of a cult no longer operate on the grounds of healthy reason. And as long as most step into the rooms to overcome their addiction, most will stay in that addicted state forever, whether they stop drinking or not.
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
(Usually free on KDP)
(Usually free on KDP)
For the condensed and orderly version of how I beat the addiction of alcoholism check out: THE SMALL BOOK: HOW I BEAT ALCOHOLISM AND WHY ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS DOESN'T WORK
(Usually free on KDP)
John Barleycorn taken from Jack London's book John Barleycorn. First published 1913
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