Recording For April 26, 2012

​Week 17
Started page 10 of Bill’s Story middle of 2nd paragraph: ‘…of some church folk and their doings…’ until end of final paragraph page 11 ‘…He shouted great tidings.’
Page 53: ‘God is everything and God is nothing.’
​
After the recording ended Stephanie wanted this to be shared with the group:
This process is to help us to keep practicing turning to God. This week’s questions are deliberately hard so that we will get to practice turning to God. And through steps one, twoand three we will have that experience behind us when we do the even harder questions in the fourth step. It is also why we need a group and our buddies to help us go through these questions and to go to God.


The big Book gives us a promise: more will be revealed. That’s why Stephanie is so opposed to telling people what they should believe. She will share her experience, strength, and hope (ESH). Share with them what she knows and then let them go and find it out for themselves. She does not want us to take as gospel what she says. She wants us to investigate it (ignorance is prejudice prior to investigation). She does not want us to own her ESH but to own our own. She is here as our sponsor to help all of us open up any prejudice and see it in a different light. (Similarly Ebby helped Bill to open up and have a new way of thinking, but Bill had to be willing to investigate this thinking for himself).


We are spiritual beings having a human experience. If I am a spiritual being then everything I do as a human being is a gift from God.


Soul work
look up: atheist, agnostic, contempt, tidings, goodwill.


1. Do you have a resentment against organized religion? And if so why and how did it come about?


2a. Does that affect your concept of a Higher Power?
2b. Does that effect your trusting and relying on a Higher Power?


3. Think about your prejudices and where they came from. Do they well up from the past? Do you have negative experiences? As a child did you ask God for help and turn way in resentment when your prayers were not answered? When Stephanie talks about a Higher Power do those same prejudices well up from your past and make you swallow hard?


4. Do you become irritated when you hear talk of a God personal to you, is a God of love, has superhuman strength and willing to give you directions? Does your mind snap shut against such a theory of a personal HP?


5. Do you have any power in you to overcome your addiction?