A man was in the hospital for the fourth time in one year for his drinking problem. He was visited by a friend who had had a similar drinking problem, but was now sober through "religion." When his friend left, he became depressed. He wanted his friend's sobriety, but balked at the religion. But convinced that he faced death or madness due to drinking, he cried out: "If there be a God, let him show himself!" Then, he reported:

Suddenly the room lit up with a great white light. It seemed to me, in the mind's eye, that I was on a mountain and that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. And then it burst upon me that I was a free man … All about me and through me there was a wonderful feeling of Presence, and I thought to myself, So this is the God of the preachers!¹

After this experience, he never doubted the existence of God. He never drank again, either. This man was Bill W., a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He told his experience to his friend, who gave him a copy of William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience. Because of the insights that he gained from this book, Bill W. later described James as a "founder" of A.A. Thus we see that William James, not Scripture, was an integrating factor in the emergence of A.A.

As a fledgling group, A.A. hit on the idea of writing a book to lay out their principles. A major struggle emerged over the references to God. "Conservative" members wanted the book to be Christian, using biblical terms and expressions. But "liberal" members wanted nothing to do with that. They were for spirituality, not religion. In the end, they compromised. God was referred to as a "Power greater than ourselves" in Step Two. In Steps Three and Eleven they inserted the words "God as we understood Him." Bill W. describes this as "the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics."² Clearly A.A. is deliberately not Christian. They decided that a Christian focus would alienate too many alcoholics from their recovery program.

Because A.A. is intentionally non-doctrinal, it is pluralistic and humanistic rather than biblical. We should weep that the "seed" sown by God in Bill W.'s life was snatched away and replaced with the pragmatism of William James. What would have happened if his friend had given him a Bible?

Francis Schaeffer states that people won't become Christians just because they hear the proper answers. If the world does not see down-to-earth practical love, it will not believe in Christ.³ He notes that this must be accompanied by sound doctrine and accomplished by the Holy Spirit. He comments:

Our churches have so often been only preaching points, with very little emphasis on community … Spirituality begins to have real meaning in our moment-by-moment lives as we begin to exhibit simultaneously the holiness of God and the love of God.⁴

A.A.'s success can be explained in part because it has borrowed from Christian principles in developing community among its members. It's a common occurrence in A.A. and N.A. (Narcotics Anonymous) to see people offer their homes to other addicts and alcoholics to live in. They support one another 24 hours a day – especially those with the urge to "pick up" alcohol or drugs. Newcomers receive special support. The first woman in A.A. to maintain sobriety returned to her mental hospital ward after an A.A. meeting. There she sought out another alcoholic and uttered the famous program saying, "We're not alone anymore."

Addicts and alcoholics generally don't find within churches the community they need to maintain sobriety, especially in the early stages of recovery. The challenge facing the church is to exhibit this level of healing community.

Until then, here are some suggestions. Establish relationships with doctrinally solid Christians within A.A. Identify those who are willing to contact people (called "twelfth stepping" in the program) who may come to you with an alcohol or drug problem. Recognize that no one is going to get biblical counseling via A.A. People struggling with addiction, even Christians, are bankrupt spiritually at this point and need biblical counseling. So keep regular contact with the addict. Go to some open meetings yourself to see what A.A. is like. Learn the program's concepts of spirituality in order to understand how to help the person build a biblical framework for his recovery.

Our Lord was anointed by the Spirit to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to the prisoners, and to release the oppressed (Luke 4: 18, 19). This is also the task that the church is called to perform with addicts and alcoholics. May we answer that call.