Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Dick B. Papers: The Two Major Sources of A.A. Ideas


A.A.’s Two Major Sources of Ideas

Some Brief Points on the Bible and on A First Century Christian Fellowship

Dick B.

© 2014 Anonymous. All Rights Reserved

For reasons not very clear to me today, those who write and speak on A.A. sources seldom focus on the Bible. And that is wrong. They also frequently focus on, but denigrate, the “Oxford Group” (first known as A First Century Christian Fellowship). That is not wrong; but, if the historical context and disassociation with the Oxford Group are ignored, it is very wrong. So in this brief starting point, let’s look at the two identifiable major sources of A.A. ideas. And where they can be found manifested.

The Bible is the Number One Sourc

The Bible (also called the Good Book by most early AAs) was clearly stated as the major source of A.A. program ideas starting in 1935. The best and most reliable authority that confirms this source is in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature. And the succinct summaries are in The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks and in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 131—where the Akron Christian Fellowship program is summarized in seven points.

In The Co-Founders, Dr. Bob’s remarks in his last major talk are these:

I had refreshed my memory of the Good Book, and I had had excellent training in that as a youngster (pp. 11-12) . . . I felt that I should continue to increase my familiarity with the Good Book (p. 13)

. . . we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew Chapters 5-7], the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James (p. 13)

It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps. I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them. . . . We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book (p. 14)

 

The “Oxford Group” Was a Detoured Source

In succession, the names for the group founded by Dr. Frank Buchman about 1922 were: (1) A First Century Christian Fellowship. (2) the Oxford Group—about 1928. (3) Moral Re-Armament—about 1938; and Initiatives of Change—long after AAs had left the Oxford Group.

This A First Century Christian Fellowship source of A.A. ideas can be summarized in three groups:

(1)   The twenty-eight Oxford Group ideas that constituted their original life-changing art. See Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Works! (pp. 249-297)

 

(2)   The more than 187 parallels between Oxford Group and Big Book Language, which we will detail in the next article. And see Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous (pp. 340-364)

 

(3)   The period which Dr. Bob described as follows:

 

Now the interesting part of all this is not the sordid details, but the situation that we two fellows were in. We had both been associated with the Oxford Group, Bill in New York, for five months, and I in Akron, for two and a half years. Bill had acquired their idea of service. I had not, but I had done an immense amount of reading they had recommended. See The Co-Founders (p. 11).

 

In Akron A.A., the meetings at T. Henry Williams’s house on Wednesday were regarded as a “clandestine lodge of the Oxford Group.” We believe it was for two reasons: (1) The once-a-week gatherings were not at all like Oxford Group meetings being held world-wide. (2) Many of the Akron AAs did not like them; and sometimes held meetings in separate rooms—one for the Oxford Group people, and one for the drunks and their families.

 

This period ended in 1939 when the Akron people left the Oxford Group meetings.

 

(4)   The association between A.A. and the Group in New York was quite different: (a) Bill Wilson had received some indoctrination in Oxford Group ideas from Oxford Groupers Rowland Hazard, F. Shepard Cornell, Cebra Graves, and Ebby Thacher (b) Both Bill and his wife attended Oxford Group meetings very frequently from the date of Bill’s discharge from Towns Hospital in 1934 until—as Lois Wilson described it—“they kind of kicked us out.” And that was in August of 1937 (c) After he received authorization from Akronites to write a book, Bill worked with Rev. Sam Shoemaker on the manuscripts and later asked Sam to write the Twelve Steps, but Shoemaker declined. Nonetheless, Shoemaker—who distanced himself totally from the Oxford Group in 1941—continued as a friend, adviser, speaker, and “co-founder” of A.A. through his friendship with Wilson. See Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed.

In short, the Bible influence on A.A. ideas was frequently acknowledged by Dr. Bob, Bill W., Anne Smith, and Henrietta Seiberling. And the practices of early Akron A.A. Group Number One were Bible to the core. On the other hand, the Oxford Group influence was very much confined to the Oxford Group language and Shoemaker language that Bill used in the “new version of the program the Twelve Steps”—which were not published until 1939. That situation itself also changed when Bill and the “committee of four” gave in to atheists and agnostics and opened the “Broad Highway” of membership for all—regardless of their belief or lack thereof.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Dick B.'s Papers:Bible Hunters – A Smithsonian Documentary – Many Gaps



Bible Hunters – A Smithsonian Documentary – Many Gaps

Dick B.

© 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved

This evening, while browsing TV channels, I stumbled upon a documentary that engaged my attention for two hours. The Smithsonian Library presented the film called “Bible Hunters.” And I was intent on hearing the documentary. For the Bible has played a large part in my life, with my son Ken. We have traveled many thousands of miles; visited many museums and libraries, universities and seminaries, churches and monasteries; and collected a host of Bible versions. In a trip to the Holy Land in 1979 and to Europe in 1986, and frequently since, I viewed a wide array of biblical manuscripts in the British Museum in London, in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin; the John S. Rylands Library in Manchester, England; the St. Catherina Monastery in the mid-east; the ancient biblical manuscript center at Claremont University in California, as well as manuscripts in Tel Aviv and one Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Selma, Alabama. This has been coupled with extensive reading, lessons, conferences, and Bible fellowships.

I thought the Smithsonian program was well presented. But, like so many of the current A.A. plays, videos, movies, and books, it told only part of the story. Many aspects of the Bible manuscript trail, travel, and account were subjective in that the narrator was not a Christian; the film deftly left out a whole segment on early manuscripts and attacked the Bible as “the Word of God, and many versions and translations that abound today. Regrettably, it was clearly aimed at making Bible readers doubtful, unsettled, and concerned about reliability. And that’s about where many believers who cherish A.A. find themselves in today’s secularization of their Society.

It was a pleasure seeing this rendering of such an important subject omitting so much that it would foster religious controversy instead of inviting biblical research, information, and learning. The parallel with the “rest of the story” about A.A. history is remarkable. And, on the eve of our starting the filming of our videos and guidebook on “Bill W., Dr. Bob, and the Cure of Alcoholism: The Rest of the Story,” the program on “Bible Hunters” offers the same challenge that our program on the “rest of the A.A. story” will be doing shortly. It won’t be telling what has already been told. It will be highlighting what has never been told or accurately reported.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Dick B. Papers: The 12 Steps basic ideas came from the Bible

In his last major talk, Dr. Bob made several points clear (See The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks, pages 12-14

1. Dr. Bob: I didn't write the 12 Steps
2. Dr. Bob: I had nothing to do with the writing of the Steps
3. The writing of the Steps did not begin until 1938
4. Dr. Bob: Convinced that the studies, teachings, and efforts that had been going on in the Smith home with Wilson and others must have influenced the Steps.
5. These studies teachings and efforts had been in progress since the founding of A.A. in 1935
5 . Dr. Bob: We already had the basic ideas. We got them from the efforts from 1935-1938
6.  Dr. Bob: We got them as a result of our study of the Good Book [Bible]

www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Dick B.'s Papers: The Proof of Early A.A.'s Relationship with Christianity

 Rocky M. recently asked for my thoughts about handling a man who had been a solid AA and a solid Christian, who had turned against AA, and who was slated to argue on radio with Rocky and "defend" Christianity and A.A.

Here were my suggestions as to how to deal with such a person in a "debate."

"I received a message about your appearing on a radio program to defend Christianity and A.A. You asked for my thoughts. My views are these: (1) A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. (2) Contempt prior to investigation is an everlasting bar to factual knowledge. (3) The history of A.A.'s Christian origins and early program is overwhelming: (a) Its ideas came largely from the Bible as used by YMCA, Salvation Army, Gospel Rescue Missions, Congregationalism, evangelists like Dwight Moody, and Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. Ask  your tormenter if he knows that or has ever researched  the facts. (b) Dr. Bob and Bill were solid students of the Bible in East Dorset Vermont, Manchester Vermont, and St. Johnsbury Vermont. Ask your tormenter if know about Bill's 4 year Bible study course, his presidency of the YMCA in high school, and his daily attendance at chapel. (c) Dr. Bob and Bill and their families regularly attended Congregational Churches in East Dorset, Manchester, and St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Ask your tormenter if he knows anything at all about the Smith--Wilson--Griffith participation in those churches. (4) Early AAs called themselves a "Christian fellowship." Ask your tormenter if he knows where  that fact is reported in A.A. Conference-approved literature. . (5) The first three AAs all believed in God, were Christians, and had been Bible students or teachers in church. Ask your tormenter where the first three AAs told of their reliance on the "Lord" and on their "Heavenly Father." See also www.dickb.com

Monday, April 14, 2014

Dick B.'s Papers - A Letter from an AA believer (an old-timer) who appreciates what he has


Hi Dick and Ken,

Just wanted to thank you for the articles you sent to me yesterday and today.

They each represent a clear articulation of the essence of our program of recovery - e.g. the cure for alcoholism based on a working relationship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Today's missive points out how or why so many academics find it necessary to throw rocks at AA and indirectly at God. Ebby Thatcher's point blank declaration that "God had done for him what he could not do for himself' was the spiritual spark that ultimately ignited Bill and our whole movement.

I'll take our Lord and Savior any time over all of this nonsense that keeps pouring out at an ever growing rate.

Our success rate in our Akronite groups up here continues to run at over 90% in spite of the early resistance we often experience from newcomers to the groups - I call that fear the "God - Fear". But time, persistence, and a loving attitude based on biblical principals seem to be a power that cannot fail over the long run.

Our two new British Columbia groups are doing fine as well.

 

Your BIC,

M

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Dick B. Papers: 2005 Radio Talks by Dick B. on Alcoholics Anonymous History No. 3


History of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2005 Radio Series

Dick B.

© 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Number Three

http://www.recoverybroadcasting.com/dickb/archives.html   Dick B. A.A., Recovery, and History Series

 

To hear the talks by Dick B. on the radio shows:

 

Alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Cures – Early Akron AAs were cured and said so.

A.A. Meditation Series – Quiet Time was a “must” in the Akron Christian Fellowship

Prayer and meditation, along with Bible study, were also “musts” in the Akron AA Christian Fellowship

 

For detailed study:

 

Cured!: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts  www.dickb.com/cured.shtml

The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, 7th ed. www.dickb.com/titles.shtml

Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Meditation, Morning Watch, and A.A. www.dickb.com/goodmorn.shtml

 

Dick B. Papers: Archived Dick B. Radio Talks 2005 on History of A.A. N. 1


History of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2005 Radio Series

Dick B.

© 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Number One

http://www.recoverybroadcasting.com/dickb/archives.html  Dick B. A.A., Recovery, and History Series

Hear the Bible and Alcoholics Anonymous

Hear Studying A.A. History

Hear A.A. Successes

Hear The James Club, 4th ed.

 

Saturday, April 12, 2014

AA - Dick B. Papers - The Bible and Christianity and A.A.


 

Bible and Christian Roots of A.A.

Dick B.

© 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved

Outline of Important Bible and Christian Roots of Early A.A. Do you know them?

 

Early Akron Alcoholics Anonymous called itself a “Christian Fellowship.”

Observers frequently said that early A.A. was “First Century Christianity” at work.

Bill W. specifically said that Dr. Bob had reminded a group of AAs, including Bill, that most of them were practicing Christians. And then Dr. Bob asked them what the “Master” would do

A.A. Cofounder Dr. Bob had a deep and meaningful Christian upbringing as a youngster in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

A.A. Cofounder Bill W. also had a deep and meaningful Christian upbringing as a youngster in East Dorset, Rutland, Manchester, and Northfield, Vermont.

There were a number of Christian organizations and people who were helping drunks long before A.A. was founded. Some said they were offering “soup, soap, and salvation.” And these impacted on the lives of the Cofounders  in their days in Vermont. They also impacted on the ideas adopted by A.A.

These organizations and people included Young Men’s Christian Association, Gospel Rescue Missions, Salvation Army, Evangelists (Moody, Sankey, Meyer, Moore, Drummond, and Folger—to mention some),  Congregationalism, and Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor.

Bill W. said that the ideas in his new version of the program (and specifically the First Step came from Dr. William D. Silkworth, who was a devoted Christian, a member of Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Church in New York, and was the one who first told Bill that Jesus Christ, the Great Physician could cure Bill of his alcoholism).

A.A.’s connection with the Oxford Group at the beginning was mentioned by both Bill W. and Dr. Bob. And the Oxford Group was at first called “A First Century Christian Fellowship.”

Dr. Bob’s wife recommended to early AAs that they read books on the life of Jesus Christ and that they read the Bible every single day. She said it was the main “Source Book.”

The daily devotionals that early Akron AAs used in their prayer, Bible study, and meditation sessions were uniformly Christian. Examples were The Runner’s  Bible, Upper Room, My Utmost for His Highest, Abundant Living, Victorious Living, Daily Strength for Daily Needs

All AAs in the Akron Number One Group who were hospitalized read the Bible and prayed with Dr. Bob during their stay. They then professed their belief in God and made a decision for Christ.

All early Akron AAs were required to make a “regular surrender” in which they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and asked God to take alcohol out of their lives.

The books that Dr. Bob read and circulated among early AAs were primarily Christian and numbered in the dozens. Examples of Christian books on healing were James Moore Hickson, Heal the Sick, and Ethel Willits, Healing in Jesus Name. The books were circulated among the pioneers by Dr. Bob.

Bill Wilson’s friend Ebby Thacher was lodged at Calvary Mission  in New York; accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior; got sober; visited Bill at his home; and convinced Bill that Ebby had been born again and that he (Bill) might be helped out of his alcoholism at the same place and in the same way

Bill Wilson then went to Calvary Mission himself; accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at Calvary Mission; and wrote in his autobiography, “For sure, I’d been born again.”

Bill went on the Towns Hospital, decided he should call for help from the Great Physician; cried out to God for help; underwent a vital religious experience in which Bill sensed the presence of God in his hospital room; and thought to himself: “Bill, you are a free man. This is the God of the Scriptures.” Bill was cured of his alcoholism, said so on numerous occasions, and never drank again.

The family of Dr. Bob—parents and grandparents—were very active in the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury. Bob’s father was a Deacon and taught Sunday school. Bob’s mother was in charge of church education, sang in the choir, and was church historian. The Smiths attended church with frequency 5 days each week.

The family of Bill W.—parents and grandparents—were very active in the East Dorset Congregational Church in Vermont.  The Wilsons were among the founders and held office in the church. They owned Pew 15. The Griffiths were regular attenders. Bill’s parents were married in the church and lived in its parsonage for a time.

Both Dr. Bob and Bill W. were raised in Congregational churches and Sunday schools in Vermont--all attended by their parents and grandparents. They both attended Academies run by Congregationalists and which required attendance at Daily Chapel with Sermons, Hymns, Prayers, and reading of Scripture. Bill later attended daily chapel at Norwich University where Bill was a cadet.

Bill was president of the Burr and Burton Seminary Young Men’s Christian Association; and Bill took a four year Bible study course at the Seminary. Bill attended services and events at Manchester Congregational Church during Bill’s matriculation at Burr and Burton Seminary.

The early A.A. program in Akron, Ohio was founded primarily on Christian principles and practices laid down by the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor, in which Dr. Bob and his family were active in Vermont.  It also incorporated the requirement that all members become Christians.

The first three AAs had no Steps, no Traditions, no Big Books, no “War Stories,” and no meetings like those held today. They believed the answers to their problems were in the Bible. And they also believed and studied as “absolutely essential” to their program the Book of James, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13. They had daily meetings.

Bill W.’s “new version” of the program embodied in his Big Book and 12 Steps four years later was, according to Bill, based primarily on the teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Rector of the Calvary Episcopal Church in New York, who was called a “Bible Christian,” and whom Bill called a “cofounder of A.A.” Bill worked on the text of the new version with Shoemaker; asked Shoemaker to write the Twelve Steps; but Shoemaker declined, suggesting that Bill should write them.

Dr. Bob’s wife kept a journal from 1933-1939 from which she read each morning to AAs and their families; and in it, she spoke frequently of the Bible, Christian literature, Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. At the morning Quiet Times, Anne led with a prayer, reading from Scripture, a Quiet Time session, and a discussion session.

Both Bill and Bob had extensive involvement with the Young Men’s Christian Association. Bill as President, and Dr. Bob’s father as President.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Dick B. Papers: Is Dick B. still alive?


Is Dick B. Still Alive!

You bet!

About to celebrate 28 years of continuous sobriety. About to celebrate 89 years of age. And about to enjoy the best years of his life—serving God and helping others recover from alcohol and drug addiction with God’s help!

Why this brief message?

The internet has suddenly come alive with the question: “Is Dick B. still alive?” It mentions Dick Van Dyke, Dick Cheney, Dick Butkus, even the mighty, modest Dick B., and assorted other Richards who are still kicking up a storm.

But I just wanted you to know that while others are asking questions, we are still eagerly fielding answers, producing videos, penning articles, publishing books, conducting radio interviews, and answering questions by phone from all over the world.

Yep. Still alive. Still looking forward to your communications.

God Bless,

Dick B., dickb@dickb.com; www.dickb.com; 808 874 4876; PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Dick B.'s Papers: Christians with Faith in A.A.


Faith of Christians in A.A., N.A., and Recovery Today

By Dick B.

© 2014 Anonymous. All rights reserved.

The Doctor’s Opinion: The Great Physician Can Cure You

Dr. William D. Silkworth advised Bill Wilson that Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, could cure Bill of his alcoholism. At the time of Bill Wilson’s third hospitalization in Towns Hospital, Bill had a discussion with his physician, Dr. William D. Silkworth, on the subject of the “Great Physician.” And Silkworth’s biographer Dale Mitchel wrote in Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks:

Silkworth has not been given the appropriate credit for his position on a spiritual conversion, particularly as it may relate to true Christian benefits. Several sources,        including Norman Vincent Peale in his book The Positive Power of Jesus Christ, agree that it was Dr. Silkworth who used the term ‘The Great Physician’ to explain the need in recovery for a relationship with Jesus Christ. . . . In the formation of AA, Wilson initially insisted on references to God and Jesus, as well as the Great Physician. . .  . Silkworth challenged the alcoholic with an ultimatum. Once hopeless, the alcoholic would grasp hold of any chance of sobriety. Silkworth, a medical doctor, challenged the alcoholic with a spiritual conversion and a  relationship with God as part of a program of recovery. His approach with Bill Wilson was no different. . . Wilson did often confirm Silkworth as ‘very much a founder of AA.’ . . . . [Bill wrote:] “I was in black despair. And in the midst of this I remembered about this God business. . . and I rose up in bed and said, “If there be a God, let him show himself now! All of a sudden there was a light. . .a blinding white light that filled the whole room. A tremendous wind seemed to be blowing all around me and right through me. I felt as if I were standing on a high mountain top. . . I felt that I stood in the presence of God.” [In Norman Vincent Peale, The Art of Living] The Silkworth copy of this book inscribed by Peale is available at the Silkworth Collection Archives. . .  . In this book in particular he describes the need for surrender (p.105), he uses the term ‘The Great Physician’ (later used by Bill Wilson) as a methaphor for Jesus Christ (pp. 123 -26, and 151), and the details of an act of making amends, the AA Ninth Step, (pp. 128-31), all of which are cornerstones of spiritual living ripe within the Alcoholics Anonymous program and that of Dr. Silkworth.”[1]

Ebby Thacher’s New Birth

Ebby Thacher visited his old school friend and companion Bill Wilson shortly after this third hospitalization. Ebby told Bill that he (Ebby) had been lodging at Calvary Rescue Mission,[2] had “got religion,”[3] and that “God had done for him what he could not do for himself.”[4] Ebby had there made a decision for Christ.[5] In a manuscript I found at Stepping Stones, titled, “Bill Wilson’s Original Story,” every line was numbered. The numbers ran from 1 to 1180; and here is how Bill there described Ebby’s approach and Bill’s observation that Ebby had been born again at the Mission:

Nevertheless here I was sitting opposite a man who talked about a personal God, who told me how he had found Him, who described to me how I might do the same thing and   who convinced me utterly that something had come into his life which had accomplished a miracle. The man was transformed; there was no denying he had been reborn. (lines 935-42).[6]

Bill Wilson Hands His Life Over to Christ at Calvary Mission – Just as Ebby Thacher Did

Bill Wilson shortly set out for Calvary Mission to receive what his friend Ebby had received.[7] Upon his arrival at Calvary Mission, Bill went to the altar just as Ebby had done.[8] And just as Ebby had done, Bill made a decision for Christ.[9] Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s wife was present. She told me on the telephone from her home in Burnside very explicitly that she was present at the Mission and that Bill there “made a decision for Christ.”[10]

In a recorded talk at Dallas, Texas, Bill Wilson’s wife Lois Wilson described the events that took place at Bill’s conversion:

Well, people got up and went to the altar and gave themselves to Christ. And the leader of the meeting asked if there was anybody that wanted to come up. And Bill started up. . . .  And he went up to the front and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his life to Christ.[11]

Rev. Shoemaker’s Assistant Minister Attests to Bill W.’s Rebirth at the Mission

The Rev. W. Irving Harris was Dr. Shoemaker’s Assistant Minister. Harris and his wife Julia lived in Calvary House where Shoemaker lived, and knew Bill Wilson quite well. Rev. Harris typed a memorandum which his wife Julia gave to me, which said of the Mission Conversion:

. . . it was at a meeting at Calvary Mission that Bill himself was moved to declare that he had decided to launch out as a follower of Jesus Christ.[12]

Bill Wilson Declares “For sure I’d been born again.”

Then, it was Bill Wilson himself who began to describe his own conversion to Christ at the Calvary Mission altar.. First, while drunk, Bill wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Dr. Leonard Strong, using the same description that Ebby had used regarding his own conversion. Bill said, “I’ve got religion.”[13]

Of far greater importance are the remarks that I found twice in Bill’s manuscripts at Stepping Stones and which are now recorded in his own autobiography published by Hazelden. Bill wrote:

For sure I’d been born again.[14]

Lois Wilson Confirms Her Husband’s New  Birth

Even Bill’s wife Lois, having seemingly become resentful of Bill’s victory, wrote: Although my joy and faith in his rebirth continued, I missed our companionship. We were seldom alone now.”[15]

Bill Wilson Seeks Help From the Great Physician at Towns Hospital

The decision at the altar did not, at first, produce sobriety. Bill had not yet had quite enough to drink. After his conversion, he wandered drunk in despair and dark depression to Towns Hospital one more time. He was, he said, still pondering “that mission experience.”[16]

Concluding he could no longer defeat alcoholism on his own and still remembering Dr. Silkworth’s assurance that Jesus Christ the Great Physician could cure him, Bill thought:

Yes, if there was any great physician that could cure the alcohol sickness, I’d better seek him now, at once. I’d better find what my friend [Ebby] had found.[17]

Bill arrived at Towns Hospital for his last visit as a patient. For Bill, “The terrifying darkness had become complete.” Then he thought, “But what of the Great Physician? For a brief moment, I suppose, the last trace of my obstinacy was crushed out as the abyss yawned. I remember saying to myself,

‘I’ll do anything, anything at all. If there be a Great Physician, I’ll call on him.’”[18]

And here are a few of Bill’s comments about what happened when he “made the call,” cried out to God for help, and had his ensuing “white light experience”—an experience that changed his life forever, an experience that dominated the early A.A. thinking about the importance of Jesus Christ, and an experience that may give strength to the faith of Christians in A.A. today:

Then, with neither faith, nor hope, I cried out, ‘If there be a God, let him show himself.’ The effect was instant, electric. Suddenly my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description. I have no words for this. Every joy I had known was pale by comparison. The light, the ecstasy, I was conscious of nothing else. Then, seen in the mind’s eye, there was a mountain. I stood upon its summit where a great wind blew. A wind, not of air, but of spirit. In great, clean strength it blew right through me.[19]

And then the great thought burst upon me: ‘Bill, you are a free man! This is the God of the Scriptures.’ [In his article in The Language of the Heart, Bill rephrased this thought and said: “Bill, you are a free man. This is the God of the Scriptures.] And then I was filled with a consciousness of a presence. A great peace fell over me, and I was with this I don’t know how long. But then the dark side put in an appearance, and it said to me, ‘Perhaps, Bill, you are hallucinating. You better call in the doctor.’ So the doctor came, and haltingly I told him of the experience. Then came great words for Alcoholics Anonymous. The little man had listened, looking at me so benignly with those blue eyes of his, and at length he said to me, ‘Bill you are not crazy. I have read about this sort of thing in books but I have never seen it first hand. . . .’

“So I hung on, and then I knew there was a God and I knew there was grace. And through it all I have continued to feel, and if I may presume to say it, that I do know these things.”[20]

A.A.’s official biography of Bill Wilson summarized the results of Bill’s white light experience:

Bill Wilson had just had his 39th birthday, and he still had half his life ahead of him. He always said that after that experience, he never again doubted the existence of God. He never took another drink.[21]

Not only had he quit drinking for good, but he set about feverishly witnessing to anyone who would listen. Dr. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., to whose church the Calvary Mission belonged, encouraged Bill to spread the message of change and spiritual recovery to others like himself. William G. Borchert reports the events as follows:

Bill took the preacher at his word. With Lois’s full support, he was soon walking through the gutters of the Bowery, into the nut ward at Bellevue Hospital, down the slimy corridors of fleabag hotels, and into the detox unit at Towns with a Bible under his arm.  He was promising sobriety to every drunk he could corner if they, like he, would only turn their lives over to God.[22]

Yet, as Dr. Bob put it, “Time went by, and he [Bill Wilson] had not created a single convert, not one. As we express it, no one had jelled. He worked tirelessly with no thought of saving his own strength or time, but nothing seemed to register.”[23] But the message was carried to Dr. Bob and simmered to its essence by three months of Bible study and discussion by Bill and Bob in the summer of 1935.[24] The simple Original program, founded in Akron on June 10, 1935, developed by the Akron Christian Fellowship, and incorporating the basic ideas taken from the study of the Good Book, achieved astonishing success by November of 1937.

Bill Wilson’s message, incorporating his view of the importance of Jesus Christ, is recorded in two places in A.A.’s subsequent literature.

On page 191 of the latest edition of A.A.’s Big Book, Bill is quoted as saying:

“The Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.”[25]

And, in earlier A.A. years continued to express this basic idea to others still in need of help. One account begins with a visit by Dr. Bob’s sponsee, Clarence H. Snyder, with a Cleveland man:

[Said this Cleveland man:] “One evening I had gone out after dinner to take on a couple of double-headers and stayed a little later than usual, and when I came home Clarence [Snyder] was sitting on the davenport with Bill W. [Bill Wilson]. I do not recollect the specific conversation that went on but I believe I did challenge Bill to tell me something about A.A., and I do recall one another thing: I wanted to know what it was that worked so many wonders, and hanging over the mantel was a picture of Gethsemane and Bill pointed to it and said, “There it is,” which didn’t make much sense to me.”[26]

And this was it. For those in early A.A. who thoroughly followed the path that began with belief in God and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the path was a path to success. And Bill’s message for those who wanted to hear it was that the Lord had cured him. Dr. Bob confirmed Bill’s message with the last line of Bob’s own personal story when he said, “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”[27]

Gloria Deo

 

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 [1] Dale Mitchel, Silkworth The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks: The Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2002), 33-34, 44-52, 63, 65, 78, 96, 100=01, 106-09,  121-22, 151, 159-61, 193-99, 225.

 [2] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957),  58-9; Bill Wilson: Bill W. My First 40 Years: An Autobiography By the CoFounder of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2000),  132.

 [3] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 58.

 [4] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001),

 [5] T. Willard Hunter, “It Started Right There”: Behind the Twelve Steps and the Self-help Movement, Rev. ed. (Claremont, California: Ives Community Office, 2006), 6.

 [6] Dick B., Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots and Successes (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1997). Note: This and other such manuscripts will shortly be published in Dick B.’s latest book with the working title, The Early Manuscripts and Papers I Was Allowed to See and Copy at Stepping Stones Archives.

 [7] Bill W., My First 40 Years 135-37.,

 [8] Bill W., My First 40 Years, 137

 [9] Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 92-94

 [10] Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 94

 [11] This quote was discovered by A.A. historian Richard K., who listened to the Lois Wilson recording, wrote down the “Christ” remark, and provided the information to me. See Dick B.,  When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, 3rd ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 11

 [12] Dick B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A., Pittsburgh ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999), 533.

 [13] Dick B., When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, 12

 

 [14] Bill W. My First 40 Years, 147; See Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 110, reporting the two places (pp. 130 and 103) of the  manuscript titled “Wilson, W. G. Wilson Recollections,” dated September 1, 1954, that I personally inspected and was permitted to copy of Stepping Stones Archives in 1991.

 [15] Lois Remembers, 98.

 [16] Bill W. My First 40 Years, 138.

 [17] Bill W. My First 40 Years, 139.

 [18] Bill W., My First 40 Years, 145

 [19] Bill W., My First 40 Years, 145-46.

 [20] The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings (New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), 284.

 [21] “Pass It On,” 121.

 [22] William G. Borchert, The Lois Wilson Story When Love is Not Enough: A Biography of the Cofounder of Al-Anon   (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2005), 170.

 [23] The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks [Pamphlet P-53] (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1976), 10.

 [24] The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous,  13-14

 [25] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191

 [26] This account was included in the third edition of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976), 216-17. It has now been removed from the subsequent edition. The picture to which Bill W. pointed was a well-known depiction of “a place called Gethsemane” where Jesus had gone to prayer and “saith unto his disciples, sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. . .  . And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

[27] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 181.