An Answer
A short answer is no if you stick with the AA program. But, your knowing in whom or what you’ve trusted matters.
AA suggests reliance on a power greater than ourselves, because we have come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could we restore us to sanity. However, when AA states we align ourselves with no religion, we mean it. But, AA also believes what early members said: in finding God, they found themselves. (The AA Big Book, 4th ed., page158)
Therefore, the program “ . . . is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us . . . The answers will come if your own house is in order . . .” (page 164)
Who is your God?
How does your higher power speak to you? How does the power upon whom you rely for sobriety, serenity, and sanity help you order your house?
Who or what directs your day?
An Observation
If that power is how we imagine God to be; or hope God to be; or fear God to be, then the God of our understanding may be limited by our understanding of who God is. Sometimes resisting the premise that God is beyond whom or what we think, imagine, or believe might be evidence of not letting go of old ideas.
Our old ideas about God may be in as much need of a reality check as the hope we may safely drink again. (pages 33)
The program suggests useful tools to stop drinking. The tools work best when connected to a source of power greater than ours.
“Remember that we deal with alcohol – cunning, baffling powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power – that One is God. May you find Him now!” (AA Big Book, Chapter 5: How It Works)
Some of us resisted, or stopped, looking for Him, preferring our own definitions of God. If the key to recovery is acceptance, (page 407), and change is what that key unlocks, then willingness to seek God is a gift worth pursuing. (Spiritual Experience, pages 567-568)
A Suggestion
Of all the gods who compete for our trust, may I offer the One who knows first hand what it is to say No to a drink? (Matthew 27:34) My God has been tempted in the way I have been tempted, and knows how to comfort and help.
“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.”― C.S. Lewis
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