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“The steps are not about getting drunk people sober; they are about getting self-centered people surrendered.”
— Richard Rohr
We’re going to explore how to use the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for sanctification work in any Christian (or spiritual) context. Before that, there are stigmas and uncertainties about AA worth touching on.
Recently, a pastor friend of mine and I were discussing our journeys up to the present moment and how we got here. Both he and I have had substance abuse in our past. His journey didn’t take him through AA, so he asked a couple of questions.
One of his first questions was about the statement, “I am an alcoholic.” His resistance is that AA seems to force a broken identity onto a person. We’ll come back to this because I agree with him.
Before sharing my responses, there are four kinds of people who might read this I’d like to keep in mind:
- Possible struggling alcoholics.
- Modern Christians who are unfamiliar with AA (and this mystic Christianity that found me).
- AAers unfamiliar with Christianity.
- People who are unfamiliar with some of the three (AA, Christianity, and mystical Christianity).
To be upfront, I’m not a full-fledged AA “convert.” Instead of shotgunning the AA Kool-Aid, I wafted it, studied it, and did it myself until Jesus kicked the ass out of that old egoic defect.
My Way is Christ. I am in the AA fellowship and consider myself to be part of the community. For over four blessed years, the Missoula Group and High Noon Group in Missoula have been my spiritual solace and community, even if I was a hermit for most of it. These 12 Steps are what began breaking and reforming me.
“We found that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery.”
— Bill W. (founder of AA)
A Couple of AA Stigmas
Much of the outside stigma about AA is understandable. I’m still kind of outside of the “tribe” of AA, and have been doing work on being a better part of fellowship and family. One of the reasons I don’t always share in meetings is that there are things I don’t agree with…and I don’t want to mess with what anyone has going on.
Like most stigma, the discomfort and alienness disappear once we familiarize ourselves with it. Here are a couple:
1 – “It’s a Cult.”
Umm… yup, it is. I’m far from the only one who can make this observation from both outside and within the group circles. But “Cults” are a lot more common in society and media than we care to admit. Some of the AA “cult” vibes come from redirected religious fervor to finally have found some means of self-control and freedom, and having a community that “gets it.” It also comes in some of the religious vibes that have crept into AA over the decades. Despite this, they know it works and authentically have an evangelical drive to help struggling alcoholics.
The thing is, if you’re an addict, your sorry soul is so whipped by your addiction, you have a literal “demon” controlling your ego and driving your subconscious. You’re already in a cult of your own and a god of your own making, while drinking your own poison. If you’re unsure about the “God” part in AA, the most important part AA teaches you is that you are not It (and that you have to work it out yourself).
If this stigma is your’s and this is your objection, shut up and give it a try. Trust me.
2 – “Once an Alcoholic” and “I Am an Alcoholic”
In part, the “I am an alcoholic” statement is a confession of sin, like “I’m a sinner,” and a community ritual that acknowledges understanding and belonging, and it’s a step in breaking ego. We have to be able to confess we have a problem. However, I do get my pastor friend’s objections.
This mindset of AA can be found in their “scriptures” (i.e., The Big Book). And it’s something I wholeheartedly disagree with. It can be found in the Doctor’s Opinion, which diagnosed alcoholism as an “allergy,” and other parts that reinforce the idea of alcoholism as a lifelong “disease.” These concepts (allergy and disease) should be approached as metaphorical models, rather than religious dogma or perfectly understood definitions. We’ve learned a lot since Bill W. first had his “revelation.”
The “allergy” metaphor is out-of-date, but I get it. The “disease” metaphor still holds, but has limits. Regardless, for struggling alcoholics, they’re useful metaphors to hold on to until there is some sanity. The alternative is more of the same alcoholism.
My objection to them, in short, is that this mindset is dualistic, predeterminative, and no longer supported by a lot more than recovered doctors. The Big Book could use some updating (*cough* maybe like Evangelicalism). Change is possible.
This aspect is reminiscent of some Christian doctrines that practically teach we’re always awful sinners and effectively reinforce an anti-spiritual transformation to maintain doctrinal and positional equilibrium. No one likes tipping the boat to prove who can actually have the faith to walk on water.
No, you are not destined to always “be an alcoholic.” However, for those struggling alcoholics, the last thing you ever need for the first seven years of sobriety is the idea that you’re doing recovery for the sake of drinking again. It’s a freaking substance—and only one. It’s not worth it. Your story matters more than a drink.
“Sobriety isn’t a limitation. Sobriety isn’t even a ‘have to.’ It’s a superpower.”
— Brené Brown
Progress, transformation, and freedom are possible. When you undergo enough change to have your perspectives, feelings, and psyche change around chemical dependence and circumstantial happiness, and can have some self-control and emotional maturity, you will think differently about the matter.
Until then, the research suggests it’s at least five to seven years before it’s safe to consider. This doesn’t include MAT (Medically Assisted Treatment) or other forms of therapy and counseling, and those are done with professionals.
What AA Taught Me
AA taught me what this side of forgiveness is about, what honesty and willingness mean, what righteousness looks like in young sobriety, and ultimately set me on a path to not only have a different definition of things like faith and salvation, but actually to undergo them: experientially, neurologically, personally, spiritually. IRL.
It was a lot for my 38-year-old, addictive, manic, egoic left hemisphere to have to not only let go of but wrestle and get through the consequences of it all. And when it all began, not just working but proving true on every page of Scripture and in science, my freaking brain, heart, and everything blew up and collapsed.
I digress. The point is, reader, no matter where you are, consider this path you’re about to be introduced to.
“And now, with God’s help, I shall become myself.”
— Søren Kierkegaard
The 12-Step “Magic Trick”
Any person can understand this simple, almost magical, “trick.”
The “magic trick” helps explain how the 12 Steps work and align with Christian repentance (metanoia1) and sanctification (becoming whole, or individuation).
All you need to do is replace the word “alcohol” with one of two words: “Ego” or “Sin.” Either one works.
Then, follow the steps until #12. It’ll probably take more than a day or two.
- We admitted we were powerless over
alcohol[SIN or EGO (or anything you struggle with in the Romans 7:15–20 sort of way)]—that our lives had become unmanageable. - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to
alcoholics[sinners] and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
A person works through these steps. These are about progress, not perfection. And they’re definitely not about understanding from a distance but rather doing them until they become a way of life. A mentor, or what AA calls “sponsors,” helps. Do them, and they’ll help on the path of spiritual transformation, and of salvation and discipleship.
And in today’s time, it’s medicine the world could use.
“To come to the knowledge you have not, you must go by a way in which you know not.”
— St. John of the Cross
Footnote:
- Metanoia is the NT Greek term translated as “repentance,” but the word carries a depth that English Bibles miss. It literally means a change of mind—not merely of thought, but of consciousness, perception, and being. It’s not about moral checklists or religious performance; it’s about the transformation of how one sees, understands, and lives reality. True repentance is less about remorse and more about awakening, an interior turning toward truth that reorients the whole person. ↩︎
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