The James Club
and
The Original A.A. Program’s
Absolute Essentials
Dick B.
ISBN 978-1-937520-09-0
Published by First Edition Design eBook Publishing July 2011
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com
Smashwords Edition
Paradise Research Publications, Inc.
P.O. Box 837
Kihei, HI 96753-0837
(808) 874-4876
Email: dickb@dickb.com
URL: http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml
Copyright 2005 by Anonymous.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
4th Edition
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher.
This Paradise Research Publications Edition is published by arrangement with Good Book Publishing Co., P.O. Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837
The publication of this volume does not imply affiliation with nor approval or endorsement from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author. A.A. is a program of recovery from alcoholism-use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after A. A. , but which address other problems, does not imply otherwise.
Note: All Bible verses quoted in this book, unless otherwise noted, are from the Authorized (or "King James") Version. The letters "KJV" are used when necessary to distinguish it from other versions.
ISBN: 1-885803-99-0 (PRINT)
To Rev. Ken Burns, who gently has propelled me toward continuing Bible study and contributed an immense amount of research material since 1979, and before.
Contents
-Introduction
-Part One: A.A.’s Book of James 1
-Part Two: The Sermon on the Mount in A.A.
-Part Three: A.A.’s Connection with The Greatest Thing in the World
-Appendix 1
-Appendix 2
-Appendix 3
-Appendix 4
-Appendix 5
Introduction
What’s Here
If you would like to know exactly what early A.A. pioneers considered absolutely essential to their original spiritual program of recovery, then this is the book for you. I also believe it is top reading if you want to know the fundamentals that propelled A.A. to its astonishing successes and cures in its first decade of existence.
And such a basic study is long overdue. It appears never to have been done, and certainly not since A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob’s death. Its significance is underlined by what A.A. Co-founder Dr. Bob was still emphasizing at A.A.’s June 9 and 10, 1945 “Big Meeting,” with an estimated attendance of 2,500, at the Cleveland Music Hall and Carter Hotel celebrating A.A.’s 10th anniversary. For, at that anniversary, the following specific remarks were recorded:
A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob commented that over the previous 10 years, he had averaged at least an hour’s reading per day and “always returned to the simple teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and the 13th chapter of First Corinthians in the Bible for his fundamentals” (email from Arthur S. to Dick B., dated November 28, 2004, in which Arthur said the foregoing is an extract from the July, 1945 Grapevine; emphasis added).
Such continuing and repeated remarks by Dr. Bob about James, the Sermon, and Corinthians strongly suggested to me a title which would look directly and in detail at the very Bible verses AAs were reading and studying and show us all just what our pioneers borrowed from, the Book of James, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and 1 Corinthians 13.
The Book of James is first in study priority: The Book of James comes first in our study for many reasons. First of all, it was the undisputed Bible favorite of early AAs. It comes first because they liked its contents so much they wanted to call their society the James Club—rather than Alcoholics Anonymous. It comes first because our Big Book has taken more ideas from the verses of James than from other parts of the Bible. It comes first because you’ll recognize some direct Big Book quotes from James even though Bill Wilson never gave any recognition to their Bible source. James comes first because its phrase “faith without works is dead” became a launching pad for such well-known A.A. language as that in the verse itself, and the adaptations of it found in Bill Wilson’s “Works Publishing Company;” in the Big Book sentence, “It works;” in the Big Book Chapter Five title, “How It works;” and perhaps even in the enthusiastic arm-shaking that ends most A.A. meetings—with a robust circle of members who recite the Lord’s Prayer and follow it with the shout: “Keep coming back. It works.” There is an additional reason for our James emphasis: James is probably the easiest of the three essential parts of the Good Book to read and understand. Despite all these important attributes, James is the book which had no specific accompanying commentary that the pioneers used—commentaries like the many on the Sermon on the Mount and Henry Drummond’s The Greatest Thing in the World on 1 Corinthians 13.
The Sermon on the Mount: Next in order comes Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. You’ll find it in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. It’s probably the best known part of the Bible today. It’s probably been the subject of more popular religious writings than most parts of the Bible. Bill and Bob both said it contained the “underlying philosophy” of A.A. And, though most AAs probably don’t know it, the Lord’s Prayer—which they recite at the end of most of their meetings—is part of the Sermon. Moreover, there are some real fundamental Twelve Step ideas which have their basic origin in some of the verses in the Sermon.
1 Corinthians: Finally, there’s the little chapter in 1 Corinthians. It’s the Thirteenth Chapter. It became the focus of a great deal of Christian literature. It was the subject of Professor Henry Drummond’s best-selling book The Greatest Thing in the World. Its real punch, as far as A.A. was concerned, lies in just two or three of its verses which defined the nine “ingredients” of love, as Henry Drummond articulated them. And the Drummond book was possibly the book most recommended and circulated by Dr. Bob to early AAs and their families. You’ll see lots more when you get into it here.
What’s Elsewhere
I like to beef up our historical material with supplements in the Appendices. And you will find these supplements in the following appendices.
-Appendix 1—The Specifics of our Pioneer Program: I think you’ll want to review exactly what the early A.A. program was like. I’ve told the details many times elsewhere. But Appendix One will give you a brief, specific, and useful description.
-Appendix 2—The Little-known Akron roots in United Christian Endeavor: I think you and lots of others will be surprised to see how much of our simple, early A.A. Christian program came from the principles and practices of the United Christian Endeavor Society in which Dr. Bob was an active participant as a youngster in his North St. Johnsbury Congregational Church. Appendix Two will provide you with the opportunity to compare the Christian Endeavor’s confession of Christ, conversion meetings, prayer meetings, Bible-study meetings, Quiet Hour, fellowship, witness, and emphasis on love and service with the almost completely parallel elements of pioneer A.A.’s Akron Number One—the Christian Fellowship that developed and tested our original A.A. program.
-Appendix 3—The Totally Divergent Two Roots of A.A.: Appendix Three will show you the two completely different origins of A.A.
The first root had its beginnings in Dr. Bob’s participation in St. Johnsbury’s North Congregational Church and its youth organization—Christian Endeavor; and it continued via Bob’s life-long religious memberships and practices. It moved forward through Henrietta Seiberling’s successful efforts to bring prayer and reliance on the Creator to the alcoholism recovery scene. And then it took more organized form in the “old fashioned prayer meetings” of the first forty pioneers—whose meetings exemplified their unity of purpose. It culminated in the work that brought astonishing successes and cures to the pioneer A.A. scene in Akron. It was thoroughly based on basic ideas taken from the Bible.
The second root was of an entirely different character. Unfortunately, most AAs don’t know that. And most think that the Akron and New York activities were very similar because of their common Oxford Group link. They just don’t know how Akron got its beginnings in United Christian Endeavor, while, the New York ideas began with Dr. Jung’s “conversion” prescription to Rowland Hazard in Switzerland. From there, it was fashioned by Rowland’s Oxford Group membership, by Rowland’s sharing with Ebby Thacher, by Thacher’s sharing with Bill Wilson, and by Wilson’s acceptance of Christ at the altar of Calvary Rescue Mission. The weaving thread continued at Towns Hospital in New York via Bill Wilson’s validation of his supposed “conversion experience” on his reading of Professor William James’ book on a variety of religious experiences. Four years after Akron’s simple program had been developed, New York took its basic life-changing ideas from the Oxford Group, the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, and the journal kept by Dr. Bob’s wife. Wilson’s New York ideas were then materially expanded by incorporating the medical views of Dr. William D. Silkworth, the lay therapy ideas of Richard Peabody, the influx of the New Thought Movement writings, and even Wilson’s apparent admiration and utilization of New Age language.
-Appendix
4—An Historical Analysis of the all-important Book of James.
Appendix Four contains a complete study of the origins of the Book of
James itself. It deals with James, the Lord’s brother; the
probable author of the Book of James; the canon difficulties involved in recognizing the book, and its importance as a source of healing ministries, similar to some conducted in early A.A. itself.
-Appendix 5—A Simple Review of the Biblical Records about Yahweh, the one living and true God, our Creator and the distinction A.A. Pioneers drew between Almighty God and the later “nonsense gods of recovery.”
Much of the angry outcries in today’s Twelve Step Fellowships could have been and could be avoided by the dissemination of some solid historical facts about Yahweh, the one living and true God, whom A.A. founders appropriately called their Creator, Maker, Father of Lights, and Heavenly Father. This because it seemed to have taken at least a decade after A.A.’s founding before New Age substitutes began flooding America and A.A. itself. Phrases like “higher power,” “Spirit of the Universe,” and other New Age jargon were able—because of the dearth of history about A.A.’s real roots in the Bible and real sought-after relationship with Him—to inject New Age “spirituality” in the form of compromise and illusory substitutes for the Creator Yahweh, the living God of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Jews alike. This appendix will enable you, if you choose, to know the real God from the idolatrous present-day gods that are called light-bulbs, radiators, chairs, Santa Claus, and all the rest. These idols are confounding clergy, recovering people, and scholars alike.
Now, let’s return to our study of the three parts of the Bible that Dr. Bob mentioned so often and that he and A.A. old-timers considered to be the absolute essentials of early A.A.’s spiritual recovery program.
Part One: - A.A.’s Book of James
The Favorite of Three Parts of the Bible Early AAs Considered Essential
Early, Widespread A.A. Enthusiasm for the Book of James
What the Founders Said:
Bill Wilson had gotten sober in New York at Towns Hospital in late 1934. He went to Akron on a business deal, and met Dr. Bob Smith at Henrietta Seiberling’s Gate House. Shortly thereafter, at Anne Smith’s suggestion, Bill moved in with the Smiths. Though not particularly accurate in its characterization of the daily Bible readings, one official A.A. history says:
Bill now joined Bob and Anne in the Oxford Group practice of having morning guidance sessions together, with Anne reading from the Bible [Note: Oxford Group ‘guidance’ did often involve reading from the Bible, but the Smith-Wilson Bible studies were inappropriately called ‘guidance’ sessions; the studies were directed at the Bible itself, at prayer, at literature, and at such revelation from their Heavenly Father as they chose to seek]
[The A.A. account continues:]. “Reading. . . from her chair in the corner, she would softly conclude, >Faith without works is dead.’ “As Dr. Bob described it, they were ‘convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew, Chapters 5-7], the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James. The Book of James was considered so important, in fact, that some early members even suggested The James Club as a name for the Fellowship’.” (See Pass It On. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984, p. 147; emphasis added).
Published four years earlier, and written by a different author, another A.A. “Conference Approved” history tells the facts somewhat more accurately. Thus DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980), states at p. 71:
“For the next three months [after Bill met Bob in May of 1935], I [Bill] lived with these two wonderful people,” Bill said. “I shall always believe they gave me more than I ever brought them.” Each morning, there was a devotion, he recalled. After a long silence, in which they awaited inspiration and guidance, Anne would read from the Bible. “James was our favorite,” he said. “Reading from her chair in the corner, she would softly conclude, ‘Faith without works is dead.’ This was a favorite quotation of Anne’s, much as the Book of James was a favorite with early A.A.’s so much so that ‘The James Club’ was favored by some as a name for the Fellowship (emphasis added).
In his own history of early A.A., Bill Wilson wrote:
And we could remember Anne as she sat in the corner by the fireplace, reading from the Bible the warning of James, that “faith without works is dead.” (Alcoholics Comes of Age. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1967, p.7).
Historian Ernest Kurtz quoted Wilson as saying, “We much favored the Apostle James” (Ernest Kurtz, Not-God, Expanded ed. (MN: Hazelden, 1991, pp. 40, 320, n.11, emphasis added).
John R. was a well-known, long-lived Akron A.A. old-timer. And John specifically recalled as to these matters that much of the work on the writing of the Big Book “went on the Q.T.” He said the average member wasn’t aware of it. Then, as to the name Alcoholics Anonymous that was proposed for the Big Book, John R. tells us this in DR. BOB, supra, p. 213:
“Take the name A.A., for instance,” said John. “The people here in Akron didn’t like it, and they were saying no. Wally G.—said, ‘Hey, what’s with this A.A. deal? We want to call it Saint James.’ But Doc knew all the time that they were going to call it A.A. . . . They had it that way before we knew it. Then it dawned on Wally that he was arguing against it and they had already named it. Boy, that used to make him sore! But he was a nice guy” (emphasis added).
Historian Bill Pittman wrote of an alleged “Dr. Bob’s Required Reading List”—something that Dr. Bob’s daughter told me did not exist. However, among his five named “required” items, Pittman placed first on his list “The Holy Bible, King James Version. The Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer, The Book of James, The 13th Chapter of First Corinthians” (Bill Pittman, AA The Way It Began. Seattle: Glen Abbey Books, 1988, p. 197; emphasis added).
In his last major address to AAs in 1948, Dr. Bob said:
When we started in on Bill D. [A.A. Number Three], we had no Twelve Steps. ...But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James.... (The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Biographical sketches their last major talks. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975, pp. 9-10; emphasis added).
In a pamphlet published by the Friday Forum Luncheon Club of the Akron A.A. Groups, the pamphlet’s writer selected the following from a “lead” [talk] given by Dr. Bob in Youngstown, Ohio:
Members of Alcoholics Anonymous begin the day with a prayer for strength and a short period of Bible reading. They find the basic messages they need in the Sermon on the Mount, in Corinthians and the Book of James (Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible, 2d ed, Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1997, p 21; emphasis added).
A pamphlet published by “AA of Akron,” and written at the request of Dr. Bob states:
There is the Bible that you haven’t opened for years. Get acquainted with it. Read it with an open mind. You will find things that will amaze you. You will be convinced that certain passages were written with you in mind. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew V, VI, and VII). Read St. Paul’s inspired essay on love (I Corinthians XIII). Read the Book of James. Read the Twenty-third and Ninety-first Psalms. These readings are brief but so important (Dick B., The Good Book and The Big Book, supra, p. 20; emphasis added).
Several others who have researched our history have also confirmed this early James emphasis
See
Nan Robertson, Getting
Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous.
(NY: Fawcett Crest, 1988), p. 47; Bill Pittman. AA:
The Way It Began,
supra,
pp. 182-183, 197; Mitchell K., How
It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder
(Washingtonville, NY: AA Big Book Study Group, 1999), pp. 69,
103-104; Dick B., That
Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics
Anonymous.
(San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications, 1996), pp. 34-37,
71, 73-76; Dick B., The
Good Book and The Big Book,
supra,
See the Foreword by Dr. Bob’s son, Robert R. Smith; Charles Taylor
Knippel. Samuel
M. Shoemaker’s Theological Influence on William G. Wilson’s
Twelve Step Spiritual Program of Recovery.
(St. Louis: Ph. D. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Saint Louis University, 1987); Wally P., But
For the Grace of God...
(WV: The Bishop of Books, 1995), pp. 32, 39, 45, 205, 211-213, 225; Women Pioneers in 12 Step Recovery (MN: Hazelden, 1999), pp. 1-2, 11-16.
As we will discuss shortly, Nora Smith Holm’s The Runner’s Bible: Spiritual Guidance for People on The Run (Colorado: Acropolis Books, Publisher, 1998 Edition) was very popular in pioneer A.A. and used particularly by Dr. Bob .That devotional was filled with references to verses in James that became part and parcel of A.A. language and ideas. See pp.16, 46, 51, 73, 79, 81, 86-87, 95-98, 100-101, 106, 110, 121, 126-127, 139, 152, 181, 184, 186, 221, 230, 245-246. And I found virtually the same plethora of relevant James quotations in the four years of quarterlies published by The Upper Room between 1935 and 1939, and used daily by the pioneers. Bill Wilson’s secretary Nell Wing has also written a good bit on the Bible study and emphasis in early A.A. There is plenty of further confirmation of the enthusiasm for the Bible (which early AAs called “" . . .tual recovery program.hree parts of the Bible that Dr. Bob mentioned so often and stated were considered to be the absolThe Good Book,”) and the Book of James among those pioneer AAs. But the foregoing comments by the founders, and the research work of many should suffice to prove that you and I, if we want to know about A.A., need to know much more about the Book of James.
The Burial of A.A.’s Bible Roots and Particularly Its Book of James Root
If I were to characterize the demise of our complete history, our Bible roots, and the proof of cures in A.A., I would phrase the actual process as follows: First, ignore the Bible, Jesus, and the cures. Then ignore Quiet Time, Anne Smith, Rev. Sam Shoemaker, and the Christian literature they read. Then turn the spotlight in a completely different direction: Just focus on what was allegedly wrong with Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group. Tell AAs that Dr. Bob tried to rely on the Bible, church, prayer, and the Oxford Group, but got drunk. Tell AAs the original A.A. pioneers practically all died drunk. Tell them the key to A.A. effectiveness lies primarily in one drunk’s sharing his experience, strength, and hope with another still-suffering drunk. Tell people A.A. is “spiritual, but not religious.” Tell them “recovery” is not about a “conversion,” but about a “spiritual awakening.” Tell them that even if they have an “awakening,” they will never be cured. Add that they can merely have an “awakening” by taking the 12 Steps. Tell them the “awakening” amounts only to a “personality change.” Tell them that even their “awakening” can only offer a “daily reprieve” from the curse of alcoholism—never a cure or complete release like the pioneers described. And tell them they can believe in any “god” they invent or choose, or in no god, or in “Something,” or in nothing at all. But never ever tell them that almost all the foregoing “real” recovery program ideas were never the program of early A.A. and are about ninety percent baloney.
If you think the foregoing statements are neither accurate nor typical, I can tell you, and document my statement, that every one of these falsehoods, distortions, and pieces of guesswork can be found in the fellowship, the writings, and the ‘histories’ that abound today.
Parenthetically, I can affirm that the first paragraph above does not describe the A.A. I joined, nor the A.A. in which I recovered and was cured; nor does it even faintly resemble the beliefs and practices of the pioneers or the guidelines they found in the Book of James. In fact, all these distortions seem more the product of confused, incomplete, irreligious histories and historians than what you find in our meetings, in our Fellowship, in our Big Book, or in our Twelve Steps. The repeated telling of these purported facts has done much to emasculate A.A. as I know it and knew about it as an energetically active member. Endless supposedly sincere “recovery” talk has spawned endless confused thinking and sharing. Often fleeing from death, insanity, or jail, we sick ones jump on what we hear and then undergo controversy and angry remarks when we finally wake up. There is an old A.A. adage: “Came. Came to. Came to believe.” It used to refer to Yahweh. Today, AAs and others are urged to believe in whatever they want or in nothing at all. The gaps in historical approaches: Now we go briefly to what I see as a totally inadequate and negative historical approach to A.A.
As stated, there is ample evidence that the program was developed in Akron. There is ample evidence that the program was Christian in character. There is ample evidence that, when Dr. Bob decided firmly to quit drinking and place his reliance on our “Heavenly Father” as revealed in the “Good Book,” he got well. And that he immediately became the mentor and major advocate for the basic Bible ideas that produced the effective results in early A.A. There is ample evidence that the Bible was read in meetings, stressed, and used as the basic source for A.A. ideas. There is ample evidence that Akron A.A. was not Oxford Group A.A. certainly not of the variety with which Bill, Lois, Hank Parkhurst, Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Rev. Irving Harris, and the sparse in number Eastern AAs were involved. Where is this evidence among the ever-growing numbers of historical books about A.A. today?
My recent research has disclosed much evidence that most of the successful Akron Biblical ideas emerged from Dr. Bob’s own religious reading, his continuing and substantial church membership, and his participation in Christian Endeavor in his youth. See Dick B., When Early AAs Were Cured. And Why (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2003), pp. 6-13. As to the Oxford Group, the Akron fellowship was, at most, what pioneer Oxford Group activist T. Henry Williams called it: “sort of a clandestine lodge of the Oxford Group” (DR. BOB, supra, p. 121). One pioneer called this unique Christian Fellowship “a regular old-fashioned prayer meeting (DR. BOB, supra, p. 101). Dr. Bob’s son described it as an “old fashioned revival meeting.” Dr. Bob’s daughter told me that her dad called every meeting a “Christian Fellowship.” And that is confirmed by A.A. historical accounts (See DR. BOB, supra, p. 118). No other Oxford Groups [other than the little handful of Oxford Groupers that met with the drunks at the T. Henry Williams home in Akron] were devoted to helping drunks via meetings, a fellowship, teaching, and prayer in the manner employed by Dr. Bob’s Christian Fellowship.
The Missing Facts: The foregoing Akron historical material is just plain missing from almost every recent historical writing about A.A. Among these, there is little or no mention of the Bible. There is little or no mention of Quiet Time. There is little or no mention of Rev. Sam Shoemaker. There is little or no mention of Anne Ripley Smith and her major role in early A.A. as “Mother of A.A.” (an affectionate title given her by Bill Wilson and many others in the Fellowship). There is much more criticism of the Oxford Group than there is an accurate description of its twenty-eight basic ideas and their enormous impact on Bill’s Big Book and Twelve Steps. See Dick B., The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous: A Design for Living That Works, 2d ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998). There is virtually no discussion of the content and impact of the Christian devotionals The Upper Room, My Utmost for His Highest, The Imitation of Christ, The Greatest Thing in the World, The Runner’s Bible, and others that were daily fare in early A.A. There is seldom any mention of the Christian books early AAs read usually just a focus on the books of Professor William James (a non-Christian) and Emmet Fox (a Christian of the “New Thought Movement” variety). By contrast, writers of A.A. history have made little or no mention of the voluminous writings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Glenn Clark, Oswald Chambers, E. Stanley Jones, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Toyohiko Kagawa, and Oxford Group authors who were widely read for spiritual growth in early A.A. In fact, Dr. Bob circulated those materials, kept a journal of the people to whom the books were loaned, required their return, and then asked questions of the readers as to what they read and what they had discovered from their reading.
Clearly missing also is mention of Jesus Christ. There is no mention of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And you will search high and low for any mention of the much favored Book of James as a key to the solution to their problems and to cure by the power of God. Historian Ernest Kurtz hit the nail on the head:
Yet A.A.’s total omission of “Jesus,” its toning down of even “God” to a “Higher Power” which could be the group itself, and its changing of the verbal first message into hopeless helplessness rather than salvation. . . were profound changes” (Kurtz, Not-God, supra, p. 50).
Kurtz is dead right about the revision of, and changes, in A.A. But he certainly cannot speak, as he seems to do, for A.A.—or for me—as to what “A.A.” is or does. Nor as to what “A.A.” omitted, toned down, or changed. His views are much colored by his persistent and consistent claim that A. A. is about “not-god-ness.” See Kurtz, supra, pp.150, 160, 185, 206-07, 218-19. This alleged wedding between A.A.’s Christian Fellowship and Kurtz’s “not-god-ness” is just plain fiction. Regrettably, his views are echoed by many historians today, but they are examples of the very “rigidity” and “discipline” which perhaps emanate from Kurtz’s training and former status as a Roman Catholic priest. But, whatever Kurtz and even some AAs may think they find in A.A. today, there is certainly no agreed or documented thought control ex cathedra that justifies stating that A.A. omitted Jesus, toned down God, and or transformed salvation to helplessness. That kind of revisionist thinking just has no universal acceptance. Nor does it make sense—salvation to helplessness? Come on. Think. Think. Think. Moreover, such rigidity and doctrinal contentions have been severely questioned by many including two that are (happily for the purposes of argumentation and refutation) quoted in Kurtz’s Not-god treatise.
Thus a 1983 A.A. Conference keynote speaker (a Canadian, and trustee) is quoted as saying:
. . . there appears to be developing within our Society a rigidity, a perceived need for law and order, a determination to enforce the Traditions to the letter, without any elasticity. If that attitude became widespread, the Fellowship could not function (Kurtz, supra, p 266).
Three years later, retiring G.S.O. senior advisor Bob P, a director and trustee for six years and its general manager for a decade said:
If you were to ask me what is the greatest danger facing A.A. today, I would have to answer the growing rigidity the increasing demand for absolute answers to nit-picking questions, pressure for GSO to “enforce” our Traditions, screening alcoholics at closed meetings; prohibiting non-Conference approved literature, i.e. “banning books;” laying more and more rules on groups. . . (Kurtz, supra, pp.266-67).
Corroborating ex-trusted servant Bob P.’s comments are interesting pieces of history included by Historian Mitchell K. in his title How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio. (NY: AA Big Book Study Group, 1997), pp. 198-213, 225-228, 250-252. A.A. Historian Wally P. has dipped his finger into the problems of revisionism; but, unfortunately, has also endeavored to reconcile and harmonize in one puddle—without adequate discussion of the Bible—some of A.A.’s bizarre “higher powers;” a God of “convenience;” the Biblical views of Clarence Snyder; the revived Oxford Group assertions of 99 year old Jim Houck; Sister Ignatia’s program at St. Thomas; Wilson’s New Age “fourth dimension of existence,” “psychic change,” and “Spirit of the Universe” ideas; and some varied, but individual interpretations of the Steps in later years. The end result has not produced either a coherent or an accurate history, but rather a self-fashioned “back to basics” program of Wally’s own-making—a Wally P. program which moves us all farther and farther away from the original A.A. program and closer and closer to his illusory program where, as he writes, “You take all Twelve Steps in one month. Your life changes—you never drink again.” See Wally P., Back to Basics: The Alcoholics Anonymous Beginners’ Meetings. (AZ: Faith with Works Publishing Company, 1998), p. 27.
Oxford Group member Jim Houck (a recent colleague of Wally’s) is now 99 years old, got sober cold turkey just prior to Bill Wilson’s date of sobriety, and is and has been, a Christian and Bible student for years and years. Jim told me this and included the remark in his endorsement of my titles: “Take God out of A.A. and you have nothing.” And that seems to be the problem in much of A.A. today. I would add: “Take James, the Sermon, and 1 Corinthians out of our history, and then you can accurately tell me that all you have left is largely psychic changes, fourth dimensions, higher powers, self-made religion, absurd names for God, and half-baked prayers—the very nonsense that Rev. Sam Shoemaker courageously decried in talks to AAs themselves” at their 1955 and 1960 International Conventions.
I can verify from extensive personal attendance and activity within A.A. for some nineteen plus years that Bob P. and the Canadian trustee are correct in their observations. In my fifteen plus years of travel and investigation, as well as participation in many types of meetings and conferences, I have seen the following: (1) Alcoholics screened and thrown out of closed meetings. (2) The prohibition at A.A. meetings of non-Conference approved books, flyers, and even the Bible. (3) Striking from the rolls A.A. groups which study the Bible, study Emmet Fox, place the Bible in an A.A. meeting, or invite speakers who tell of our Biblical roots. (4) Banning from historical websites and chat-groups the remarks of those who tell of our Christian beginnings. (5) Letters written on A.A. stationary which attempt to intimidate AAs and groups in regard to symbols, publications, book placement at meetings, and religious expressions. (6) Litigation and litigious communications emanating from GSO, attempting to penalize the recalcitrant and to impose uniformity. This just has to be due, in part, to inaccurate historical writings and information; unwanted professionalism injected into our Fellowship; irreligious prejudice; or just plain egotistical aspirations for control—no matter what the end product. As A.A. buys this stuff, its success rates deteriorate, splinter groups proliferate, and older members just plain leave! That’s not to mention the tens of thousands who are denied access to the flavor, the history, the open-mindedness, the altruism, and the autonomous service in early A.A. itself.
I often recall from my research of early A.A. the expression “No pay for soul surgery.” It stemmed from the Oxford Group and became embodied in A.A.’s Twelfth Step work (particularly that involving Dr. Bob and over 5,000 people he helped without charge). Plainly, it meant, “We don’t get paid for our service.” By contrast, we AAs today pay for the seemingly endless production line of “Conference Approved” and GSO published books and literature (which are then frequently edited, revised, and reprinted); we pay for offices; we pay for administration; we pay for conventions; and we pay for litigation. All this comes from annual revenues, largely derived from book sales that were in the neighborhood of ten million dollars a year not long ago. Such overhead at the paid level of service propels the hierarchy to fear its own end; others to insure more control; and still others toward promoting their own private interpretations. And it has driven the facts out of most of our histories facts about God, facts about Christianity, facts about the Bible, facts about our founders, facts about what they read and did, facts about the sources of our ideas, and facts about cure!
The all-too-numerous revisionist historical writings and doctrines today: I have made a search many times. I have many, varied, historical and research books flowing my way with great regularity. I have looked at the historical writings of most of the best-known A.A. writers, those who don’t work for A.A. General Services. These are fine people, good writers, and researchers. But our real spiritual history is missing from their work. I’m not one of those frustrated, disgruntled believers in A.A. and there are many who think there is some kind of conspiracy to eliminate God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit from A.A. Actually, there are writers like Ernest Kurtz who think there is some kind of movement to shove God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit back “into” A.A. Instead, I am one of those who simply can’t understand how or why so many good writers just don’t write or talk about or analyze the real Bible roots of A.A.
Let’s be specific. The following widely disseminated works appear to contain absolutely no, or certainly very little significant mention of, A.A. in company with the Bible, or of the Book of James as far as our actual and original recovery program is concerned: See Mel B., My Search For Bill W., (MN: Hazelden, 2000); Mel B., New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle. (MN: Hazelden, 1991); Bill W.: My First 40 Years. (MN: Hazelden, 2000); Sally Brown and David R. Brown. A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann: The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous. (MN: Hazelden, 2001); Robert Fitzgerald, S. J., The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J. and Bill Wilson in Letters. (MN: Hazelden, 1995); Francis Hartigan, Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson. (NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2000); Ernest Kurtz, Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous, Exp ed. (MN: Hazelden, 1991); Matthew J. Raphael, Bill W. and Mr. Wilson: The Legend and Life of A.A.’s Co-founder. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000); Robert Thomsen, Bill W. (NY: Perennial Library, Harper & Row, 1975); Tom White, Bill W.: A Different Kind of Hero: The Story of Alcoholics Anonymous. (PA: Boyds Mill Press, 2003); William L. White, Slaying The Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America (IL: Chestnut Health Systems/Lighthouse Institute, 1998); and the about-to-be released Lois Wilson Story. I confess I haven’t read the recent Susan Cheever title, but I’ve heard nothing that suggests this later writer covers our full story accurately or adequately.
I should point out that I mention the lacuna in the foregoing historical writings not because they do or do not cover their selected subject matter accurately, but because their omissions have generated the common impression that today’s A.A. is not religious, not Christian, and no longer oriented to its long-proclaimed statement that “God could and would if He were sought.” Instead, they have portrayed a revisionist, universalized, sanitized, wimpy A.A. with an emphasis on not-drinking and going to meetings, but at meetings where you can believe in anything, “Something,” or nothing at all. And what a case these writers, many of them professionals, have made for treatment, prevention, therapy, and rehabilitation centers. Also for para-church groups where people don’t believe in something or nothing at all, but rather in the Bible, Jesus Christ, and healing. Also, ironically, for atheist or humanist groups which still think that A.A. is a religion, is too religious, and is ineffective, compared to therapeutic techniques.
If we buy all this, why would we even want to look at the Book of James in an A.A. history work! In a very real sense, the revisionist approaches leave faith—the faith of Jesus Christ that early AAs had—behind. They pass the victory wreath on to those who merely talk today about “works”—whether the “works” are treatment, therapy, para-churches that depend on 12 Steps, or secular “self-help” programs.
The Emergence of Non-AA “Twelve Step Bibles”: Shortly after I began my research into the Biblical roots of A.A., I ran into a very sad trend that suddenly had been magnified into huge proportions. In the zeal of the early 1990’s for treatment programs, rehabs, therapy, and recovery books, several major religious publishers decided to formulate a new type of A.A. presumably for Christians—but an A.A. that depended as much on Twelve Steps as it did on God and His Word. Regrettably, their ponderous works simply shoved the Bible into the Twelve Steps instead of recording and commenting on the Biblical history of A.A. itself and the Bible’s contributions to the Steps. As with the revisionist historians, however, there seemed to be a large and undue focus on the “Oxford Group roots” of A.A. to the exclusion of the Bible itself. The publishers rammed into their “recovery” Bibles page after page of Step commentaries attached to supposedly relevant verses. The writers seem to be more recognized for their Ph.D.’s in psychology than for their D. Min’s in religion. Seeming to respond enthusiastically to these tomes, para-church groups, often calling themselves “Christ-centered” Twelve Step Fellowships, began wide use of these “Twelve Step Bibles.” The publishers sold a chunk of the religious community on the idea that the Bible, without the Twelve Steps, was an ineffective recovery tool. The three “Twelve Step” Bibles—still splattered throughout the internet book ads—that I have found most in use were: (1) Recovery Devotional Bible (MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993); (2) Serenity: A Companion for Twelve Step Recovery (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990); (3) The Life Recovery Bible: The Living Bible. (IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,1992). All this work on the Bible and the apparent self-conceived effort to fit God’s plan and will into the 12 Steps makes me wonder how many lives could have been saved in the last decade if these same publishing efforts had been invested into reporting on, setting forth, and teaching about the original Bible ideas—ideas that are very plain and relevant in, for example, the Book of James. And highlighting the facts and “how” of the pioneer reliance on the Creator that epitomized early A.A.’s Christian Fellowship and astonishing cures.
It’s important to acknowledge here that the “Twelve Step Bibles”—now so widely owned and circulated—can be a useful part of your history study. Take The Life Recovery Bible, for example. Look at its material on James at page 1401 to 1410. There are comments on just about every verse and some general observations about James. They are, of course, indicative of the religious views of the editors and not necessarily the views that early AAs took. Moreover, if you hold to the proposition that no Scripture is or should be of any “private interpretation,” and that it is given us by “inspiration of God,” and is to be “rightly divided,” then your work with these Bibles has scarce begun. See 2 Peter 20-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Timothy 2:15. I personally believe you’ll get far more out of prayer and direct study of the Bible than you will out of commentaries about it, however sincere their intent and diligent their analysis may be. On the other hand, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Any version of the Bible can help understanding. And the editors of these Bibles seem to be scholars and writers also familiar with the recovery scene. In fact, I personally know the two Executive Editors of The Life Recovery Bible. Both have worked in the recovery field for a long time. One is an ordained minister, and both have doctorates.
In a sense, I have just highlighted the omission James, the substitutions added in its place, and the results of leaving it behind. Now for James itself.
Identifiable Spillovers in A.A.’s Big Book and 12 Steps from the Book of James
To avoid repeating materials in the next two sections, I’ll state first that there are many quotes, references, and ideas in the Book of James that regularly appeared in early A.A. writing and practices. The following are a few:
“Faith without works is dead” was practically the father verse among the ideas that bounced around early A.A. from James. The verse itself is quoted or paraphrased several times in the Big Book. The verse was allegedly the favorite Bible verse of Anne Smith, Dr. Bob’s wife (though that theory has not been documented).The verse was allegedly Bill Wilson’s favorite, along with the Book of James. And expressions said to have come from this verse were and are common in A.A. Thus Wilson named his Big Book promotional and publishing corporation “Works Publishing Company.” The shortest sentence in A.A.’s Big Book is “It works.” Big Book Chapter Five is titled “How it Works;” and the first part of that chapter is read at the beginning of many A.A. meetings. Most every A.A. meeting ends with the formation of a circle in which the members join hands, join in reciting either the Lord’s Prayer or the Serenity Prayer, and conclude by shaking their arms up and down and shouting, “Keep coming back. It Works.” See also Kurtz, Not-God, supra, pp. 68-69; Raphael, Bill W. and Mr. Wilson, supra, pp. 116-17.
“Confess your faults one to another” though modified and amplified by the Oxford Group, by Rev. Sam Shoemaker, and by Bill’s Fifth Step and its discussion language—James 5:16 has been almost universally acknowledged to be the basic source idea from James 5:16 for Step Five.
“But the tongue can no man tame: it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison”—In his last talk to AAs, Dr. Bob cautioned the fellowship to “guard that erring member the tongue.” And Anne Smith made similar comments in the spiritual journal she kept and shared with early AAs and their families.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—Of course, this sentence can be found in many Bible passages in addition to the one in James. It is called “The royal law according to the scripture” in James 2:8. And the verse is paraphrased in the Big Book.
“Father of lights”—a reference to Almighty God in James 1:17. Bill quoted this phrase, but misspelled it in his Big Book. He often mentioned it in talks to A.A. members. He spoke of the “Father of lights” who presides over us all.
The words and phrases in the following sections will illustrate how many other basic A.A. ideas came from the Book of James, though they were not actually quotes of chapter and verse and did not provide appropriate attribution.
Specific Pioneer A.A. Ideas from James
Again, to avoid undue repetition of the detailed study in the following James section, we will merely highlight here some of the key James ideas that seem to resemble words and phrases AAs adopted.
Patience.
Avoiding temptation.
Asking wisdom of God with unwavering faith.
Enduring temptation.
Recognizing that resisting temptation is man’s responsibility, not God’s.
Laying aside wrath and filthiness and receiving the Word of God with meekness.
Being a “doer of the word,” not a hearer only.
Purporting to be religious, yet failing to bridle the tongue.
Confirming that “pure” and “undefiled religion” includes visiting the fatherless and widows and keeping yourself unspotted from the world.
Not being a respecter of persons in well-doing.
Fulfilling the royal law to love thy neighbor as thyself.
Keeping all God’s commandments, not just the ones you like.
Accompanying faith with works.
Taming the tongue.
Recognizing that envying and strife are the product of “devilish” “wisdom.”
Realizing that wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, and without partiality or hypocrisy.
Realizing that asking amiss in prayer comes from asking to consume the object of your prayer upon your own lusts.
Knowing God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Submitting yourselves to God. Resisting the devil, and believing he will flee from you.
Drawing near to God knowing He will draw near to you.
Humbling yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and knowing He shall lift you up.
Avoiding speaking evil of, or judging, other brethren.
Saying that if the Lord will, you will live, and do this or that.
Knowing you are to do works that God’s defines as good, and that doing what is not good—as that is defined in the Bible—is sin.
Holding no grudges.
Eschewing swearing.
If you are sick, summoning the elders of the church and letting them pray over you.
Believing this prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise you up and forgive your sins.
Confessing your faults one to another
Praying for one another that you may be healed.
Believing that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Knowing that he who converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
You can find these principles in the writings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, in various issues of The Upper Room, in the pages of The Runner’s Bible, in Oxford Group writings, and in much of the Christian literature early AAs read with regularity. Many of these writings cite the correlative verses in James. And those of you who are steeped in A.A. sayings and thought should readily recognize the parallels.
A Review of the Bible’s Book of James as It Reached A.A.
Both Bill W. and Dr. Bob stated many times that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contained the underlying philosophy of A.A. Furthermore, our research has demonstrated how many words, phrases, and ideas in A.A. were borrowed from that Sermon. However, of probably much greater importance (than the Sermon) in the day-by-day thinking of early A.A., was the Book of James. It was much studied by A.A.’s co-founders. Quotes and ideas from the Apostle James can be found throughout the Big Book and in A.A. literature. As shown, the Book of James was considered so important that many favored calling the A.A. fellowship the “James Club” (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, p. 71; Pass It On, p. 147). And even the most fundamental phrases in A.A., such as “It Works” and Bill Wilson’s own “Works Publishing Company” (which published the First Edition of the Big Book), probably have their origin in the “Faith without works is dead” phrases in the Book of James (See: Nell Wing, Grateful to Have Been There, pp. 70-71).
Let’s therefore undertake a review the Book of James, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. As we do so, we will point to traces of that book which we believe can be found in, or probably influenced the text of, the Big Book. At the outset, we would report that as our research into the Biblical roots of A.A. has progressed, so has our understanding of some root sources that previously went unnoticed.
A.A.’s lack of commentaries on James that were similar to, and available to assist study of, those available and used on Corinthians and the Sermon on the mount: Not only did pioneer AAs have the Bible itself to study, when it came to the Sermon on the Mount and First Corinthians, but they had and used excellent commentaries by Henry Drummond, Samuel M. Shoemaker, Oswald Chambers, Glenn Clark, E. Stanley Jones, and Emmet Fox—all of which contained popular comments on the two Bible parts.
We could find no similar commentary that the pioneers used with the Book of James, despite A.A.’s specific emphasis on James. Finally, in our search for James reference materials, we studied again and again the spiritual literature early AAs read.
Relevance of The Runner’s Bible: We noticed in The Runner’s Bible the frequency with which all the books and chapters that Dr. Bob called “absolutely essential” (Matthew chapters 5-7, 1 Corinthians 13, and James) were there mentioned. We particularly noticed the frequency with which The Runner’s Bible mentioned and discussed verses from the Book of James. Hence our reader will find many references to The Runner’s Bible in the footnotes of our title The Good Book and The Big Book; for we believe that the little “Runner’s” devotional book may have provided Dr. Bob, Anne Smith, and perhaps even Bill Wilson, with much of the fodder that caused them to focus on James and to conclude, if they did, that James was their “favorite” book of the Bible. In a phone conversation with the author in 1995, from his home in Texas, Dr. Bob’s son stated that The Runner’s Bible (a little Biblical devotional book) was often used by those pioneers who wanted a quick and easy source for Biblical ideas in which they were interested. Perhaps, then, that book became a reference source for Dr. Bob, Anne, and even Bill Wilson when they were studying the pertinent Biblical ideas they extracted from 1 Corinthians 13, the Sermon on the Mount, and particularly James.
Relevance of United Christian Endeavor Practices
Take some time to study the Christian Endeavor material in our appendix. Realize too that we are far from through with our investigation and research of the principles and practices of United Christian Endeavor, in which Dr. Bob was a participant in his youth. But we know enough now to be sure that Akron’s “Christian Fellowship” far more resembled United Christian Endeavor than it did the Oxford Group. And we know a great deal about the Endeavor’s Confession of Christ, conversion meetings, Bible studies, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour, and emphasis on love and service. These principles and practices closely parallel those of the original A.A. pioneer group. They don’t resemble those commonly found in the Oxford Group.
Of even more significance here is the fact that each Christian Endeavor group kept a log of its programs. We know for sure their emphasis on the Sermon on the Mount and on 1 Corinthians 13; and we recently found a log detailing a study of the Book of James. For now, therefore, the question is how many other groups did likewise. Also whether Dr. Bob’s own St. Johnsbury Christian Endeavor group engaged in such a study or studies during the several years of Bob’s membership and participation.
Now let’s look at the chapters in James—one by one.
James Chapter 1
1. Patience. Chapter One is not the only chapter in the Book of James which mentions patience. Nor is it the only portion of the Bible that stresses patience. But we’ve noted that James was a favored Biblical source in early A.A., and James 1:3-4 do state:
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Patience certainly wound up as one of the most frequently mentioned spiritual principles in the Big Book (Fourth Ed., pp. 67, 70, 83, 111, 118, 163). And patience figured heavily as a sine qua non for application of the three absolutely essential beginning points for the Akron newcomer: Patience in overcoming the throes of acute withdrawal. Patience in dealing with the roller-coaster days of delayed withdrawal. And, of course, patience in recognizing that there is no progress toward a cure that does not necessitate patience in resisting temptation and remaining abstinent.
2. Asking wisdom of God with unwavering believing. James 1:5-8 state:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Asking for God’s direction and strength and receiving “Guidance” from Him, are major themes in both the Old and New Testaments. They were important Oxford Group ideas as well. We therefore discussed them at length in our titles on the Oxford Group and on Anne Smith’s spiritual journal. Certainly the Big Book, including the Eleventh Step itself, is filled with such Guidance concepts (Fourth Ed., pp.13, 46, 49, 62-63, 69-70, 76, 79-80, 83, 84-88, 100, 117, 120, 124, 158, 164). Seeking God’s guidance, wisdom, and strength—without giving in to doubt or faltering—is vital in resisting temptation and finding a safe and Godly way out and through the shoals.
3. Resisting temptation. It should surprise no one that AAs of yesteryear and of today are interested in resisting temptation, and having the power to do that that power being the power of God. James 1:12-16 state:
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to those that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Patient, relentless, resistance to temptation accompanied by action in obedience to God’s wisdom and guidance were keys to cure.
3a. A special note on resisting temptation (with God’s help), being cured, and remaining cured.
My personal view is that the foregoing verses in James 1:12-16, offer much insight into the cure of alcoholism and other life-controlling afflictions as early AAs saw the solution when they so often claimed they were “cured.” See Dick B., Cured: Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts, and Richard K. So You Think that Drunks Cannot Be Cured.
Man’s
job is to resist the devilBBsays
James in one verse. Man is to endure temptation when he is tried,
says another. When he is tempted, he cannot blame the temptation on
GodBBwho
cannot be tempted and does not tempt. Man can be tempted by being
drawn away of his own lust and enticed. James 3:15-16 speaks of a
“wisdom [that] descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual,
and devilish.” And, says James, when the enticement produces
lustful [and excessive]
thoughts and behavior [such as getting
drunk and
drunkenness], it can and should be recognized as sin, and sin as the producer of death.
For the “real” alcoholic (who is willing to go to any lengths to beat alcohol), the “devilish,” tempting thoughts must be resisted and expelled. The early A.A. prescription required much more than mere abstinence from drinking and going to 12 Step meetings. In fact there were no steps and were no meetings. That’s not in the Book of James. The enjoined failure to resist occurred when a man failed to submit to God, resist the devil, humble himself in the sight of God, and appropriately believe to be lifted up and out by his Creator.
Thus 2 Corinthians 10:5 calls for casting down human reasoning and “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
We are the ones who are to control the thoughts. 1 Corinthians 10:13 points out: