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jcl134 (August 26, 2008 at 6:42 pm)
father martin is a wonderful man im goin on year sober thx to his rehab and teachings.
falsie123 (July 10, 2008 at 6:20 pm)
I guess that I didn't understand your initial comments. I took it as you speaking negatively about the program being "an organization of learned helplessness" as opposed to a positive spiritual movement that has saved many lives. Also that we simply need to make better decisions rather than find a spiritual solution. Either way, thank you for sharing your experience, strength and hope. I wish you all the best in your sobriety and your life.
prschuster (July 10, 2008 at 6:04 pm)
When I stopped drinking, I was just as much an alcoholic as the next person. I lost my job and my apartment due to drinking and landed in detox. Those who admitted me to rehab lost no time diagnosing me as such. I am only sharing my experiences strengths & hopes as one alcoholic to another.
prschuster (July 10, 2008 at 6:00 pm)
I've been through 2 rehabs, hundreds of AA meetings, and I have read the Big Book. What he says about being defensless over the first drink is directly from the Big Book. The slogan about being closer to your next relapse is a very familiar one that I have heard countless times. He is not merely giving his own opinion. He is repeating what he has heard and read. I am sharing my own experiences. I'm not repeating what I've heard others say.
falsie123 (July 10, 2008 at 4:49 pm)
As far as Father Martin is concerned; First, we have no spokespeople or governors. Everything Father Martin says is his opinion, based on his experience, strength, and hope. Second, if you would like a better explanation, buy a copy of The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Read the first 164 pages.Without first having cancer and/or understanding the specifics of the disease, I cannot comment or criticize how patients should undergo treatment or describe their disease. I'd let it go . . .
falsie123 (July 10, 2008 at 4:43 pm)
prschuster, Thanks for your comments. I'm guessing you're not an alcoholic. If you were, you might have a different take on it. Don't you think that if we simply needed to acquire more healthy habits, we would do so after the first blackout, arrest, or other alcohol-related problem. True alcoholics lose their ability to make decisions about their life. The problem isn't alcohol. The problem is, look out, one of having a spiritual malady. The only way I knew to handle that was to drink.
prschuster (July 8, 2008 at 2:31 pm)
So Father Martin says that the "further away an alcoholic is from his last drink, the closer he is to his next drink...". This is one of the most inexcusable phrases to have ever come out of the recovery movement. Telling someone that they no longer have the ability or intestinal fortitude to make moral decisions about their behavior is an excellent way to give alcoholics a perfect excuse to drink themselves to death. This makes AA an organization of learned helplessness - NOT a support group.
prschuster (July 8, 2008 at 2:25 pm)
The phrase: "Alcoholics drink because they are alcoholics" is a tautology, not an explanation for alcoholism. Alcoholism is a compulsive habit unwittingly acquired out of choice by making bad decisions in life. Everyone is prone to making bad decisions and everyone can learn to turn their lives around by acquiring more healthy habits.
benfromdetroit (July 3, 2008 at 10:01 am)
how true
12stepp (July 1, 2008 at 6:25 pm)
Thanks Joe, your recordings helped me alot during my 19 years of sobriety.Listening to you has helped me teach others how to teach the steps when they become teachable. |
