What A.A. Can Still Offer From Dr. Bob – the Prince of All Twelfth Steppers Dick B. © 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved

[Note: None can deny that many people in A.A. today have not had a drink and do not drink. Thus, if the statistics show that there is a 5% success rate among the 2 million members of A.A., you can say that there are 100,000 people who have neither had a drink or wanted a drink. These facts leave two questions: (1) Is that all the 100,000 people wish for their lives—“I didn’t have a drink today?” (2) Are we offering the estimated eighteen million other alcoholics in America the same dismal “recovery?” Let’s see what Co-founder Dr. Bob suggested for those who wanted a cure, not just dry abstinence; for those who wanted a godly life, not just one of attending meetings; and for those who wanted a relationship with God that promised eternal life, an abundant life, and health with prosperity.]

 Dr. Bob asked: “Do you believe in God, young fella?” You either did or you didn’t.

[DR. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, p. 144]

 “If someone asked him a question about the program, his usual response was: “What does it say in the Good Book?”

[Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, p. 144]

 Describing the program, Dr. Bob said: “When we started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions. But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book.”

[the Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical sketches Their last major talks, 1972, 1975, p. 13]

 On the last page of his personal story, Dr. Bob said: “If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. . . . Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”

[Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, p. 181]

Today society is changing the solution and is apt to say, “You need treatment.” But early AAs said clearly: “You need to find God [4th ed., 59]. They described the “miracle of healing” [4th ed., 57]. And then “each individual in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God” [4th ed., 29]. Bill Wilson summed up what God will do when he related to Henrietta Dotson, the wife of A.A. Number Three: “Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people” [4th ed., 191]. That’s what A.A. still can offer – a relationship with God! For those who want to be blessed with a Heavenly Father.

Please note: Early A.A. had a documented 75% to 93% success rate among seemingly hopeless, medically incurable real alcoholics who went to any lengths in trusting God and helping others.