Review Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
Until you realize, admit you are lost, there is very little chance you will take the right directions. Up to this point in our lives we were not “an alcoholic”; we were unaware of what the problem was.
Therefore, we had no way of recognizing what the solution might be.
We were in the dark. Now we have something to work with. Now we have a new distinction. We have recognized what the problem is…
“Lack of power is our dilemma.”
Read Chapter Four – We Agnostics… pg. 44
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. God works in mysterious ways. This is an important distinction.
They don’t say we need to find or understand God.
They simply say we need to seek a God of our own understanding.
Going through a complete set of steps is one way to seek God.
If you are certain God, or gods exist, then you are considered a believer.
If you are uncertain whether God, or other gods exist, then you are probably an agnostic. An agnostic is defined as someone who doesn’t claim to know for certain any god or gods exist, no matter what the description.
If you are certain gods of any description do not, or even cannot exist, then you are defined as being an atheist.
“If your doubt is serving your uselessness, then you might question your doubt.” ~ Jordon Peterson
What is belief?
Belief is defined as a state or habit of mind in which confidence or trust is placed in a person or thing.
By Webster’s definition, therefore, belief is simply accepting what one knows in the matter.
A demonstration of belief; having seen a tightrope walker take someone in a wheelbarrow across a tightrope strung between two tall stands, you believe that he can do it again.
“What is Faith?” Faith is an action word: Belief + Action = Faith
A demonstration of faith would be getting in the wheelbarrow!
We have at various times placed our belief in all sorts of things: alcohol, drugs, power, property, other people, sex, money, negative thought patterns etc. All of these things have had control over us. Our attachment to them is generated out of our Spiritual Malady.
What is needed here is to change the object of our belief.
As we have tried and failed many times to exhibit our control, our force of will, our own power over our alcoholism, it should become obvious that no human power could have relieved us of our alcoholism.
Unfortunately, the obvious is not always clear to us.
Sandy B describes Chapter Four in three words: “Change your mind!”
To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis is not always an easy alternative to face. What is our choice to be?
Read Chapter Five – How It Works to second paragraph on pg. 63, “as we understood Him…”
We “made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
A decision is an action word and happens in an instant.
If you snap your fingers; that’s a decision, and that’s how long it takes to make it.
When you get to the Step Three prayer, have all who are present get on their knees, and recite it together. pg. 63
“God, I offer myself to thee…”
“An effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once…”
“We think having faith means being convinced God exists in the same way we are convinced a chair exists. People who cannot be completely convinced of God’s existence think faith is impossible for them. Not so. People who doubt can have great faith because faith is something you do, not something you think. In fact, the greater your doubt the more heroic your faith.” ~ Gordon Atkinson
The end of Session 3
Step Two and Step Three
IMPORTANT: Read the beginning of Session 4a before starting the Session with your sponsee. This is just and example! These headers and columns are assigned as homework after you have explained and completed the instructions for Session 3.
The left-hand page is assigned as homework at the end of Session 4a.
