Hi Everyone!
Thank you for a beautiful meeting this morning!
To assist our next meeting, I thought I would post what we read today until the end of the chapter, with the questions from http://bigbookstudygroup.com/ included in 1 document.
I hope that this will make it easier for everyone!
162: 3Thus we grow. And so can you, though you be but one man with this book in your hand. We believe and hope it contains all you will need to begin.
So, how then did AA grow?
How will your fellowship community grow?
What is it that you have in your hand, that leads these first AA members to believe you can grow the fellowship?
What do they believe about it?
Do you believe that?
How will you know if you do not try to apply it?
When was the last time you explained to a suffering alcoholic the three-fold disease described in this book?
When was the last time you described the actions to take in order to recover from the “seemingly hopeless state of mind and body” (page xiii, Forward to the First Edition, 3rd Edition) that is alcoholism?
When was the last time you told a suffering alcoholic the he or she can carry a message of hope to another if they work the Steps?
163:1 We know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself: “I’m jittery and alone. I couldn’t do that.” But you can. You forget that you have just now tapped a source of power much greater than yourself. To duplicate, with such backing, what we have accomplished is only a matter of willingness, patience and labor.
They claim that they know what you are thinking…right now! Are they correct?
Do you think that you cannot do this?
According to the book, what are you forgetting?
What three things do you need to duplicate the results of this chapter in your own community?
163:2 We know of an A.A. member who was living in a large community. He had lived there but a few weeks when he found that the place probably contained more alcoholics per square mile than any city in the country. This was only a few days ago at this writing. (1939) The authorities were much concerned. He got in touch with a prominent psychiatrist who had undertaken certain responsibilities for the mental health of the community. The doctor proved to be able and exceedingly anxious to adopt any workable method of handling the situation. So he inquired, what did our friend have on the ball?
163:3 Our friend proceeded to tell him. And with such good effect that the doctor agreed to a test among his patients and certain other alcoholics from a clinic which he attends. Arrangements were also made with the chief psychiatrist of a large public hospital to select still others from the stream of misery which flows through that institution.
- What happened to the AA (Hank P.) member living in a larger city? What were the results?
Can you go to a doctor, psychiatrist, counselor, pastor, rabbi, priest, or institution and see if you can help anyone they know with the disease of alcoholism?
163:4 So our fellow worker will soon have friends galore. Some of them may sink and perhaps never get up, but if our experience is a criterion, more than half of those approached will become fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. When a few men in this city have found them So our fellow worker will soon have friends galore. Some of them may sink and perhaps never get up, but if our experience is a criterion, more than half of those approached will become fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. When a few men in this city have found themselves, and have discovered the joy of helping others to face life again, there will be no stopping until everyone in that town has had his opportunity to recover—if he can and will.
- This man in AA (Hank P.) will soon have what?
What percentage of those approached by this man will become “fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous”?
Why do you think their numbers are so high?
What message do you think they were delivering to potential new people around AA versus the message that is delivered today in AA?
What two things has to happen for everyone in that town to have an opportunity to recover, if he/she can or will?
164:1 Still you may say: “But I will not have the benefit of contact with you who write this book.” We cannot be sure. God will determine that, so you must remember that your real reliance is always upon Him. He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave.*
- What must you remember? What will God show you?
By the way, can you have contact with “those who have written this book”? (Yes, try www.bigbokstudygroup.com for history, stories, other links, and many many of these first members experiences. There are many helpful books and CD’s as well. www.gstl.org . For the record, we have no affililation with Gopher State Library.)
164:2 Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.
- What is the book to be?
What did Bill W. Dr. Bob and the other “100 drunks” realize?
Who were they relying on to disclose more to them?
Who are you relying on to disclose more to you?
What should we ask God every morning?
What conditions need to be present in order to get answers?
What can you not transmit?
Therefore, what can you transmit?
If your relationship with God is right, what will transpire?
For who?
What is, in your own words, a “right relationship” with God?
How can you find out more of what this might mean?
List 10 people who can help with this question. Now, go ask them for help in developing a “right relationship” with God.
164:3 Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny.
May God bless you and keep you—until then.
- Define the word, “Abandon”.
Whom should you admit your faults to?
How does one “clear away the wreckage of the past”?
How should you give?
What does “freely give” mean to you?
Do you do that?
How can you get better at that?
Bill said earlier that only God could determine whether we will meet or not, now he closes with the statement that “We will be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, …”, what do you think he means by that?
What is the “Fellowship of the Spirit”?
Why would Bill capitalize the word fellowship here and not anywhere else in the Big Book?
Define the word, “Trudge”.
What is the difference between the “Road OF Happy Destiny” and the “Road TO Happy Destiny” in this sentence?
What does this mean about our present circumstances?
Bill closes with a blessing sent to each one of us, who have read this book. We close our study with the same! “May God bless you and keep you – until then!”
Thus we grow Chapter 11 with questions
With blessings for recovery and peace,
Shira
Emotional Sobriety And Food 