AA: A Very Selfish Program

"This is a selfish program."

When I was forced to attend those awful meetings (not by law enforcement, mind you, but by overzealous familial threatening), I would offer hear this statement.

"This is a selfish program."

Yet the AA book declares that "self" is our biggest problem:

"My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all." (AA, pg 13-14)

Later on, the AA Book declares:

"Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help." (AA, pg 62)

So, how can we work a selfish program if self is the very problem which we have to be rid of?

Once again, the cult-like contradictions are fully exposed.

AA is a selfish program, and yet all our attention to ourselves provides us nothing but frustration and despair.

Consider what Paul shared in Romans 7:

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7: 18)

Man does not need "God's help" to get better.

He needs God's very life, which we receive in His Son.

Forget AA, the selfish program which brings every one of its members into greater bondage. Receive Christ and Him Crucified, and trust that with the Son you can and will receive all things with Him!