Twelve Steps to Destruction: Co Dependency Recovery Heresy

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book about the Alcoholics Anonymous Program
Review: Hats off to the Bobgans! This is an excellent book about the spiritual perils of the 12 step program as compared to Biblical Christianity. A must read for Christians involved in the program or contemplating joining AA.

Rating:
Summary: Critique of Pure Nonsense
Review: I grew up in a home with two alcoholic parents. I lived through many painful and life shaping events. As a young adult I was hurting and searching for a way out of the pain and despair. I was led to a church that expressed the types of beliefs Martin Bobgan expresses in the book "12-Steps to Destruction: Co Dependency Recovery Heresy." I went to two services a week, attended Bible studies, prayed and read my Bible daily, and pestered my pastor for counseling for my disturbed soul and tortured mind. But instead of the solace and healing I was promised, I grew worse.

But by the grace of God I was led to a 12 Step Group. It saved my life, it saved my sanity. It proved that old adage that "Religion is for those who want to avoid Hell, but Spirituality is for those who are in Hell and want to get out." I could have spent years in Church and Bible studies and I would never have faced the issues and emotions that were necessary for my healing. The pastors could not facilitate the healing process because they are not trained for it, that is not the focus of Churches...in my opinion. Churches and beliefs systems as espoused in, "Twelve Steps to Destruction: Co Dependency Recovery Heresy," seem more concerned about conformity to doctrine and winning souls to avoid unceasing punishment for finite transgressions. They try to be all things to all people because they see the world as fallen, and in the hands of the devil, and they see themselves as saved. In this rigid fear based dualistic ideology, where it is now "us against them," it is an anathema to look towards our secular society for help. Therefore I was directed to Biblical passages that seemed to indoctrinate, but, ultimately, they had absolutely nothing of relevancy to offer that could assist with the problems I had.

St. Anselm (1033-1109), a theologian and philosopher of the Middle Ages, presented in his ontological argument that because God is infinite he cannot be grasped by the mind of man. Therefore any God so conceived by the mind of man is not God but merely a manifestation of his or her projections. So I think the book is the author's concept of God and his own projections. I think God Transcends all human concepts and religions. In my opinion Martin Bobgan's god is small and punitive, reflecting a pedagogy that originated from an ancient culture which is sorely out of date. To again site St. Anselm he says, "God teach my heart where and how it may find you." Who is anyone, like the authors of 12 Steps To Destruction, to say where and where-not they can find God? Also, the 12 Steps teach surrender, looking within, letting go, healing defects of character, making amends to those we have harmed, and helping others who also suffer. How could any religious philosophy be opposed to that? But that is only my projection.

Rating:
Summary: Historically inaccurate
Review: It is one thing to analyze and criticize the "any god" idolatry that is destroying the effectiveness of today's 12 Step groups and the treatment industry itself. It is quite another to ignore or fail to report on the historical facts. Though the Bobgans don't think so, early A.A. was demonstrably a Christian fellowship in Akron. A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob Smith was a born again Christian. Akron A.A.'s program was Bible-based and stems largely from the Christian Endeavor influence in Dr. Bob's youth. The New York picture--dismal because of Bill Wilson's atheism, lack of familiarity with the Bible, and focus on funds--nonetheless took much of its Big Book text and 12 Step language from Rev. Sam Shoemaker. The Episcopal rector and AA mentor was rightly called a Bible Christian and co-founder of A.A. In their zeal to shoot down the 12 Step groups of today, the authors fail to base their criticism on the actual facts of early A.A. history.