The Roots of 12-Step Programs
A.A. Cofounder Bill Wilson belonged to “the Oxford Group.” Many of the teachings of the Oxford Group were used as the foundation for Alcoholics Anonymous.
The Oxford Group manual Soul Surgery lists "The Principles Of Personal Evangelism" ("the Five C's") as:
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization developed by a Lutheran minister named Frank Buchman.
One well-known quote by Buchman: “thank heaven for a man like Adolph Hitler.”
And a well-known quote by Hitler: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
Anyone who is involved in AA- or any of the 'anonymous' groups that came from it- should be aware of its beginnings, and how relevant they continue to be in the programs today.
A generation before mine had the saying “Take it from the source”- meaning before you believe or believe in something or someone, look at their character. This is wise advice when it comes to those who claim to be “Friends of Bill W.”
In addition to Bill Wilson's ties to Frank Buchman and the Oxford group, he was a persistent womanizer/adulterer who had a fondness for the occult and LSD.
In comparison, A.A. Cofounder and Bill W's friend known as “Dr. Bob” was not exactly an individual of character and compassion, either. His son and adopted daughter described him as a horrible, cruel father, sick and sadistic, who not only beat his children regularly but in ways to cause as much pain as possible.
Dr. Bob did not like the fact that his high school aged daughter was in love with a boy her own age because the boy was just an average kid, so he forced his 17-year-old daughter to become involved with an AA member who was almost twice her age. The girl became stuck in a marriage with a philanderer.
Dr. Bob's story does not end there. Two of his grandchildren later committed suicide; one of these tragedies was actually a murder-suicide, as the granddaughter killed her own daughter, too.
What Bill W and Dr. Bob were really like says a lot about the AA statements instructing individuals to 'keep their own house clean' and 'clean one's own side of the street' before presuming to tell others what to do or how to live. And it is a hypocritical pattern one sees on a regular basis in AA and other 12-Step groups today.
(http://orange-papers.org/)
)
A.A. Cofounder Bill Wilson belonged to “the Oxford Group.” Many of the teachings of the Oxford Group were used as the foundation for Alcoholics Anonymous.
The Oxford Group manual Soul Surgery lists "The Principles Of Personal Evangelism" ("the Five C's") as:
- Confidence — Get the trust and confidence of the targeted victim.
- Confession — Confess something to the victim, and get him to confess something about himself in return.
- Conviction — Turn the victim's confession back upon him and amplify and exaggerate it and make him convict himself of all kinds of sins.
- Conversion — Offer religious conversion as the only way out of the guilt.
- Conservation — Send the new convert out to get other victims by using these same practices on them.
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization developed by a Lutheran minister named Frank Buchman.
One well-known quote by Buchman: “thank heaven for a man like Adolph Hitler.”
And a well-known quote by Hitler: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
Anyone who is involved in AA- or any of the 'anonymous' groups that came from it- should be aware of its beginnings, and how relevant they continue to be in the programs today.
A generation before mine had the saying “Take it from the source”- meaning before you believe or believe in something or someone, look at their character. This is wise advice when it comes to those who claim to be “Friends of Bill W.”
In addition to Bill Wilson's ties to Frank Buchman and the Oxford group, he was a persistent womanizer/adulterer who had a fondness for the occult and LSD.
In comparison, A.A. Cofounder and Bill W's friend known as “Dr. Bob” was not exactly an individual of character and compassion, either. His son and adopted daughter described him as a horrible, cruel father, sick and sadistic, who not only beat his children regularly but in ways to cause as much pain as possible.
Dr. Bob did not like the fact that his high school aged daughter was in love with a boy her own age because the boy was just an average kid, so he forced his 17-year-old daughter to become involved with an AA member who was almost twice her age. The girl became stuck in a marriage with a philanderer.
Dr. Bob's story does not end there. Two of his grandchildren later committed suicide; one of these tragedies was actually a murder-suicide, as the granddaughter killed her own daughter, too.
What Bill W and Dr. Bob were really like says a lot about the AA statements instructing individuals to 'keep their own house clean' and 'clean one's own side of the street' before presuming to tell others what to do or how to live. And it is a hypocritical pattern one sees on a regular basis in AA and other 12-Step groups today.
(http://orange-papers.org/)
)