Regardless of whatever Bill W. may have claimed, AA is not about God, but about ourselves.
The whole program invites people to believe in their own conception of God (ultimately, to believe in themselves or their past experiences).
The program then puts all the impetus on individuals to maintain their connection and contact with God, as though He is so easily offended or abused, and can move away.
The Eleventh Step clearly states that through prayer and meditation men and women tried to improve their contact with God.
Yet if this "god" that people believe in, is ultimately a matter of their own conception, then what exactly are they getting in touch with in the first place?
I do not want to believe in some deity who emerges from my own head, the same way that Athena was brought into the world out of the head of Zeus.
God created us, defined us, conceived of us, not the other way around.
Why is this revelation especially important?
Because He is also in the business of restoring our souls -- will, mind, and emotions:
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." (Psalm 23: 1-3)
The Lord is our Shepherd. The sheep do not lead the Shepherd. The Shepherd leads the sheep.
Not only that, but the Shepherd is well aware of where we are going, even when we cannot begin to understand His plans for us.
Furthermore, He is leading us, he is causing us to rest, and He is restoring our soul.
It is not our job to fix, repair, or compensate for our souls. That is His job!
God wants our souls to prosper:
"2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
How do we prosper? In fact, the verse above speaks of prosperity as a passive act. We do not prosper our souls, but rather our souls are prospered, that is, the prosperity is brought to us.
The Psalmist prayed for this blessing long ago:
"Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity." (Psalm 118: 25)
Today, this prosperity, this salvation has come to us in Christ Jesus and all that He has done for us at the Cross:
" 3For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 3-4)
How do we prosper in our souls? When we walk in the truth, and throughout the Bible the truth is all about the Gospel of Grace:
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 32)
and
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1: 6)
and then
"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (Galatians 2: 14)
And thus:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2: 8)
We do not restore our own souls. The Lord does that. We are not responsible to fix our feelings and thoughts in order to be accepted before God, and to know that He is caring for us.
He is our Shepherd, and thus we trust, know, and believe that we will not lack. Then we see how he causes us to be feed and rested, and then the restoration of our souls comes under way.
This restoration process begins and ends with His perfect work at the Cross.
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