Should Christians Attend Alcoholics Anonymous?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | Can Alcoholics Anonymous break my addiction?

00:00:08.000 | It's a question from a listener named Tanya.

00:00:10.360 | Dear Pastor John, I am five years sober from alcohol

00:00:12.620 | because I went to AA and was miraculously delivered

00:00:16.000 | from the desire to drink.

00:00:17.800 | I was and am a born again believer.

00:00:20.880 | I listen to and read much of your content.

00:00:23.220 | However, I'm now hearing that it is wrong

00:00:25.860 | for a Christian to attend AA.

00:00:28.160 | I only wanna do the right thing

00:00:29.860 | before the Lord.

00:00:30.960 | I have entered a deeper relationship with God through AA

00:00:34.600 | and am always at liberty to declare

00:00:36.740 | that my higher power is Jesus Christ.

00:00:40.120 | I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

00:00:42.560 | Pastor John, what potential role can social programs play

00:00:46.040 | in really helping to bring genuine change

00:00:49.040 | to the Christian life?

00:00:51.180 | The roots of Alcoholics Anonymous

00:00:55.100 | are in the Christian tradition.

00:00:58.080 | The founders, Bill Wilson and Bob Smith,

00:01:00.920 | were members of a Christian revival organization

00:01:03.300 | called the Oxford Group.

00:01:04.720 | So even though the movement, the AA movement now,

00:01:09.380 | is non-sectarian, it's not surprising, therefore,

00:01:13.660 | that the 12 steps are all, so to speak,

00:01:18.120 | like the Christian shell where the nut of Christ

00:01:22.640 | has been removed.

00:01:23.740 | With this much outward similarity

00:01:27.880 | to the way Christians overcome sin,

00:01:29.940 | it's not surprising to me that the 12 steps have

00:01:34.680 | and can be amazingly helpful for those moving out

00:01:39.680 | of addiction to alcohol.

00:01:42.520 | And my guess is that most of our listeners

00:01:46.900 | will never have read all of the 12 steps.

00:01:50.040 | Some, for sure, have.

00:01:52.160 | So I want to read them, all of them.

00:01:54.200 | It'll only take a minute.

00:01:55.360 | They're very short.

00:01:56.580 | I want to read them and then say something to Tanya

00:01:59.600 | about her situation.

00:02:02.080 | Number one, we admit we are powerless over alcohol

00:02:07.080 | and that our lives are unmanageable.

00:02:09.580 | Two, we come to be aware of a power greater than ourselves

00:02:14.580 | and only it can restore us to sanity.

00:02:18.960 | Three, we make a decision to turn our will and lives

00:02:23.960 | over to the care of God as we understand Him.

00:02:27.920 | Four, we take a personal inventory of strengths

00:02:33.580 | and weaknesses of character.

00:02:35.200 | Five, we admit to God and to ourselves

00:02:39.720 | and to another human being the exact nature of our wrong.

00:02:44.360 | Six, we become willing to look at our negative qualities

00:02:49.360 | and admit our defects of character.

00:02:52.920 | Seven, we humbly ask God as we understand Him

00:02:57.460 | to remove our shortcomings.

00:02:59.940 | Eight, we make a list of people we have harmed

00:03:03.640 | and are willing to apologize and right our wrongs.

00:03:07.640 | Nine, we set about making amends for those wrongs.

00:03:12.360 | 10, we continue to take personal inventory

00:03:16.040 | and when we are wrong, to promptly admit it.

00:03:20.560 | 11, we reach out to God and accept

00:03:24.920 | that He has a plan for our life.

00:03:28.360 | 12, assuming we have experienced a spiritual awakening

00:03:32.600 | that comes as a result of completing the 11 steps,

00:03:36.240 | we carry the message of AA to other addicts

00:03:40.100 | and practice the principles of AA in our daily affairs.

00:03:45.100 | Those are the 12 steps.

00:03:46.480 | So my first response to Tanya's situation

00:03:49.940 | is to give thanks to God that He has used AA

00:03:54.940 | in her deliverance from bondage to alcohol.

00:03:58.880 | I'm thankful that has happened.

00:04:01.340 | This does not surprise me and it does not worry me.

00:04:07.600 | I praise God for it.

00:04:09.320 | What would worry me is if Tanya

00:04:13.920 | did not see the serious shortcomings of the 12 steps

00:04:18.920 | and seek to make those up, make up for them,

00:04:24.460 | in her ongoing warfare with sin

00:04:27.800 | in some kind of good, solid, healthy church

00:04:32.380 | and in her own study of Scripture.

00:04:36.680 | I would not require Tanya to keep away from these meetings.

00:04:41.680 | That wouldn't be my first approach.

00:04:46.520 | I wouldn't say, "You can't go there anymore."

00:04:48.800 | I would encourage her to go deep with Scripture,

00:04:53.760 | probably with the help of a good, older woman

00:04:57.120 | who knows her Scripture well and a good, solid church,

00:04:59.920 | to see the full picture of how God provides

00:05:05.240 | for our warfare with sin, including alcoholism.

00:05:09.760 | And then, if I were her, I would seek to fight the battle

00:05:14.760 | alongside fellow Christians who share the same vision

00:05:19.120 | of biblical sanctification.

00:05:21.200 | And I hope she has a good church

00:05:24.560 | where she could find that kind of camaraderie

00:05:28.480 | in warfare against sin.

00:05:30.240 | And they don't all have to be alcoholics.

00:05:32.720 | All of us have besetting sins.

00:05:34.960 | And we have the same kinds of strategies in the Bible.

00:05:39.960 | The most serious omission,

00:05:42.080 | so here's what she should recognize and be concerned about.

00:05:45.920 | The most serious omission of AA

00:05:49.480 | is not that the higher power is unnamed.

00:05:54.280 | Tanya says that she sees Jesus as her higher power.

00:05:58.840 | Well, that's good.

00:06:00.640 | But the most glaring omission is the entire transaction

00:06:05.640 | between God and man in Christ Jesus at the cross.

00:06:10.800 | The cross is missing.

00:06:13.080 | The atonement for sin is missing.

00:06:16.440 | And that is because the greatest problem

00:06:19.440 | of humankind is missing, namely, not alcoholism,

00:06:24.160 | not the hurt we have done others, but sin against God.

00:06:29.640 | And the outrage it is in dishonoring God.

00:06:32.920 | The greatest problem that has to be solved

00:06:35.760 | in every human life, everywhere on this planet,

00:06:39.000 | no matter what tribe, language, culture it is,

00:06:43.600 | the greatest problem that has to be solved in every life

00:06:47.400 | is the just and holy wrath of God against us

00:06:50.760 | because of our dishonoring God in our sins against Him.

00:06:55.600 | Without this, a grasp of this vertical alienation

00:07:00.240 | between us and God and the price paid on the cross

00:07:04.840 | to overcome that alienation, without this,

00:07:09.000 | even adding the name God or Jesus to the higher power

00:07:14.000 | will become a religious technique

00:07:16.640 | rather than an act of redemption or ransom

00:07:21.240 | by means of the death of Jesus, paying for our sins

00:07:24.760 | and providing our perfect righteousness

00:07:27.600 | and acceptance with God.

00:07:29.760 | The essence of the Christian warfare with sin,

00:07:33.260 | which is missing from Alcoholics Anonymous,

00:07:36.760 | the essence of the Christian warfare with sin

00:07:40.840 | is that we fight sin as justified sinners.

00:07:45.840 | That is, we fight as blood-bought, forgiven children of God

00:07:52.920 | based on the work of Christ alone.

00:07:55.080 | We come to see the death and resurrection of Jesus

00:07:59.200 | as our only hope of acceptance with God.

00:08:03.520 | That's a fundamental problem,

00:08:04.640 | acceptance with God, peace with God.

00:08:06.840 | And then, because we are accepted and forgiven,

00:08:11.640 | because of Christ alone,

00:08:13.720 | we can make progress in fighting actual sin.

00:08:17.880 | So my prayer is that Tanya and all others

00:08:22.120 | who have found help in AA would give thanks to God

00:08:27.120 | for his great grace in using AA to help them.

00:08:31.960 | And then, my prayer is that they would go deep

00:08:36.960 | into the distinctive, precious, powerful way

00:08:41.720 | that the Bible glorifies Christ and his cross

00:08:47.460 | in how we fight sin as blood-bought, justified,

00:08:52.460 | forgiven children of God.

00:08:55.340 | Paul says in Titus 2:14 that Christ gave himself for us

00:09:00.340 | to redeem us from all lawlessness

00:09:04.220 | and to purify for himself a people for his own possession

00:09:09.220 | who are zealous for good works.

00:09:11.100 | In other words, Jesus shed his blood to deliver alcoholics

00:09:17.100 | and the rest of us from whatever bondage holds us fast.

00:09:22.100 | That's the meaning of the blood of Christ,

00:09:24.900 | to deliver us from those.

00:09:26.860 | So our great aim should be to glorify Christ and his cross

00:09:31.860 | by defeating our sins with the power

00:09:37.580 | of that blood and righteousness.

00:09:42.500 | - Amen and amen.

00:09:43.820 | As the old hymn says, and as you like to remind us a lot,

00:09:46.660 | Pastor John, he breaks the power of canceled sin.

00:09:51.380 | A justification is so important here.

00:09:53.420 | Thank you, Pastor John, for that reminder.

00:09:55.420 | And great question, Tanya.

00:09:57.060 | Thank you for sending it in.

00:09:58.860 | And if you have not subscribed to Ask Pastor John,

00:10:01.060 | consider doing so in your favorite podcast app

00:10:03.120 | in YouTube or in Spotify.

00:10:05.280 | For our episode archive or to submit a great question

00:10:08.500 | like this one, go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:10:14.380 | I am not sure what's up next,

00:10:15.820 | but we will be back on Wednesday.

00:10:17.740 | Thank you for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast

00:10:20.220 | with longtime pastor and author, John Piper.

00:10:22.980 | We'll see you next time.

00:10:24.180 | (upbeat music)

00:10:26.760 | (upbeat music)

00:10:29.340 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Should Christians Attend Alcoholics Anonymous?

Chapters