|
Previous Article[Article 4]
Next
Article
Quotable Quotes for A.A. History Buffs
Click Here
Adobe Acrobat PDF Version
(Printable-See Help at bottom of page)
Previous Article-Next
Article
By Dick B.
You've heard it before.
Early A.A. had a seventy-five to ninety-three percent success rate among
medically incurable alcoholics who really tried.
Where did you hear
that? In the Big Book! Third Edition, at pages xx, 11, 307, and DR. BOB and the
Good Oldtimers, p. 261. The documentation is not difficult. The Akron crew
appeared in rosters and pictures. The Cleveland crew appeared in rosters with
names and addresses. These names are known. The record is astonishing. And was
astonishing to the medical community of the day.
You have probably also
read one or more of the many statements by Bill Wilson that nobody invented A.A.
That all its ideas were borrowed As Bill Sees It, p. 57. Now, let's look at some
of the quotes we've all seen in the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and Dr. Bob's
comments. You'll find the quote, the source or sources, and the documentation
with each quote.
The Quotables
First Things First: Big
Book, p. 135. Dr. Bob pointed out many times that this slogan came from the
Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:33 (But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you). See DR. BOB and
the Good Oldtimers, pp. 144, 192. The slogan is also mentioned in the Oxford
Group books, Soul Surgery. 6th ed., p. 25; and Seeking and Finding, p. 17.
One Day at a Time:
Again, Dr. Bob pointed to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:34 (Take therefore
no thought [be not anxious] for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof). See DR.
BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p. 282; The Good Book and The Big Book, p. 87.
Creator: See the twelve
times God Almighty is referred to as the Creator in our Big Book (you look them
up in Poe's Concordance, or just dig out your Third Edition, and go to work).
And see Isaiah 40: 28: Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary? Also, of course, Genesis 1:1!
Faith without works is
dead: According to Bill Wilson, early AAs so liked the Book of James that many
favored calling our society the James Club. See Pass it On, p. 147. (You look
up the references to faith without works is dead in the Big Book. And see
James 2:14, 17_18, 20, 22, 26).
Love thy neighbor as
thyself : Plenty of references to this one in the Good Book, but see
particularly James 2:8: If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. And Big Book, p. 153:
Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive
and rediscover life. You will learn the full meaning of Love thy neighbor as
thyself.
Maker: Oh, Oh, there's
God Almighty, our Creator, again. See Psalm 95:6, O come, let us worship and
bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. And Big Book, p. 57: He
humbly offered himself to his Maker then he knew. And page 63: We were now at
Step Three. Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: God, I offer
myself to Thee. . .
Thy will be done: Bill
and Dr. Bob each said many times that the Sermon on the Mount contains the
underlying philosophy of A.A. You should have no trouble with this source
because you hear it in the Lord's Prayer at the end of most A.A. meetings. And
see Matthew 6:10: Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven. See also Big Book, pp. 67, 88.
God either is, or He
isn't. What was our choice to be? Sound familiar? Well it was familiar to AAs
and their mentors too. See Big Book, p. 53: Either God is everything or else He
is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be? In Confident
Faith (a book owned and circulated by Dr. Bob), Rev. Sam Shoemaker, wrote at p.
187: God is, or He isn't. You leap one way or the other. Sam Shoemaker and
many others writers, whose books were read by AAs took that idea from Hebrews
11:6 (But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him)
I've got religion: The
ranting of an alcoholic crackpot? That's what Bill thought when Ebby used the
expression (Big Book, p. 9). But Sam Shoemaker's disciples used it frequently.
See Children of the Second Birth, pp. 118, 165. But Bill used that same
expression himself in a letter I found at Stepping Stones when I was doing my
research there. It apparently was written by Bill to Dr. Leonard Strong. And the
expression was often used the Oxford Group, to which Ebby and Bill both
belonged.
Pass It On: Ever heard
that one? It's in our Big Book at page 94 and is the title of A.A.'s biography
of Bill Wilson. Frank Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group, wrote: The best way
to keep an experience of Christ is to pass it on. See Buchman's Remaking the
World, p. x.
The Four Absolutes:
Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness, and Love: That's just Oxford Group stuff that
was abandoned in 1937? Nope. The Four Absolutes were on the Masthead of the
Cleveland Central Bulletin in the 1940's for a long time; and Dr. Bob mentioned
them with praise in his last major address in 1948. See Dr. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, pp. 54, 163. Where did they come from? From Dr. Robert E. Speer's The
Principles of Jesus (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1902), pp. 33_36).Think that's
wrong? Here's what Rev. Sam Shoemaker (whom Bill called a co_founder of A.A.)
wrote How to Become a Christian at pp. 56_57: One of the simplest and best
rules for self_examination that I know is to use the Four Standards which Dr.
Robert E. Speer said represented the summary of the Sermon on the Mount-
Absolute
Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, and Absolute Love.
Guarding that erring
member the tongue: In his farewell address to AAs, Dr. Bob said: Let us also
remember to guard that erring member the tongue, and if we must use it, let's
use it with kindness and consideration and tolerance. (See DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, p. 338). Was that just an expression Dr. Bob dreamed up in his
farewell address? No! Anne Smith had mentioned taming the tongue in her journal.
And it came from a major part of Chapter Three in the Book of James. Here are a
few lines from James 3:1_13: Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth
great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue
is a fire, a world of iniquity. . . . Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing
and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be.
God as we understood
Him: Did this much misunderstood expression come from the atheist Jim Burwell?
Jim said so. But Bill Wilson never confirmed that statement and for good reason.
Long before there was an A.A. fellowship, Reverend Sam Shoemaker had written:
So they prayed together, opening their minds to as much of God as he
understood. (See Children of the Second Birth, pp. 47 and 25). Sam taught
Bill's sponsor Ebby Thacher and Bill himself. And it is not surprising that,
long before Jim Burwell got sober, Ebby told Bill to Turn my face to God as I
understand Him and say to Him. . . that I henceforth place my life at His
disposal and direction forever. (See The Good Book and the Big Book, pp.
65_66). Bill followed that direction and said that at Towns Hospital, long
before Jim Burwell got sober, I humbly offered myself to God, as I then
understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under
His care and direction. (See Big Book, First Edition, p. 22; Third edition, p.
13). This simple idea from Sam Shoemaker was set forth in Anne Smith's Journal
and in Oxford Group writings: surrender as much of yourself as you understand to
as much of God as you understand. These people (Shoemaker, Ebby, Bill, and Anne
Smith) were all referring to our Creator as they understood Him. Not a lightbulb,
a radiator, or Gertrude.
Admitted to God, to
ourselves, and to another being the exact nature of our wrongs: Initially, it
came from James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another and pray for one
another that ye may be healed. See Pass it On, p.128. But the phrase itself was
written by Sam Shoemaker and also by Dr. Bob's wife, Anne Smith, in Anne Smith's
Journal. See Anne Smith's Journal. One example is at page 32: I must share to
be honest with God, myself & others.
Father of lights: AAWS,
Inc. spelled it wrong at page 14 of our Third Edition in the Big Book (Father
of Light). But Bill Wilson spelled it right his First Edition of the Big Book,
at page 23, though Bill did like to capitalize references to God. Bill wrote: I
must turn in all things to the Father of Lights who presides over us all. The
name and title come from James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Spirit: Bill wasn't
talking about his psychic experiences or spiritualism adventures. Try John 4:24:
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth.
More Quotables
When I was new in
sobriety and learning the Big Book, we used to play a game where someone would
quote a phrase; and the other person had to locate it in the Big Book. We would
know a lot more about our history and sources and words if we spent less time
looking in the dictionary and instead turning to the real sources of our basic
ideas. Most come from the Bible. Get acquainted with accuracy in talking about
the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and our Slogans. Let go and let God refers to
our Creator, not Santa Claus. And if you would like to see many more, look them
up in The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible; The Oxford
Group & Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Works; and New Light on
Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A. They can be found on Dick B.'s website
on Alcoholics Anonymous History: http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml
|