Sat, 11 May 2024 14:39:51 -0700WeeblyThu, 04 Oct 2018 22:10:19 GMThttp://recoveryliterature.com/blog/october-04th-2018Chaplain Farris Robertson blogs:
I have had brothers and sisters at church ask me from time to time why it is that I continue to identify myself as an alcoholic even though I have not had a drink since 1985.            

First, it is important to know that I normally refer to myself as a 33-year sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous to those outside AA, and only describe myself as an alcoholic around other alcoholics.  But in any event, the predominant reason I will (until I leave this flesh) consider myself an alcoholic is simple.  I have proven many times in my life that when I take in any alcoholic drink, I become a slave to alcohol instead of a servant to God.           

I don’t ask people to understand why alcohol can affect me that way—there is no certainty in science about this matter, but my brain chemistry is part of my creation.  Perhaps the ten commandments hold the answer.  In Deuteronomy 5:8-10, we read “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.   But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.” 

Perhaps it is a generational curse passed from generation to generation through God’s gift of genetics, a kind of blessing-curse that can only be stopped by devotion.  That would seem to agree with both the Bible and what mankind has uncovered about family tendencies toward alcoholism. Alcoholism has taken its toll in my family since my uncle was a “bootlegger” almost one hundred years ago.  In any event, I have had this abnormal response to alcohol since I was a young teenager and have never been able to take a drink without wanting more.  I have many friends who will drink half a glass of wine with dinner and say something like, "Oh, I don't want any more...I am starting to feel it."  What normal drinkers don’t understand is that when alcoholics drink, it is to promote and expand upon that very feeling.             

After numerous vain attempts to prove that I could drink normally, I awoke one morning lost inside my soul and I wanted my life back.  I had become nothing more than a slave to alcohol and drugs.  I got on my hands and knees and said, "God help me...I'm an alcoholic."   That was May 18, 1985.           

Since that day my sobriety has not been contingent only upon refraining from drinking, but upon the maintenance of my spiritual condition.  I am one that has proven that if I become spiritually unfit that I can still fall prey to my own wrong thinking.  Let’s face it, my flesh is still intact and has not undergone the same complete conversion that my soul has undergone.  Now, my Christian life is largely the process of letting my flesh die daily and conforming my mind to the Spirit of God.So, when I am in the company of AA members I lovingly refer to myself as an alcoholic and make no apology for that because if I take just one drink—I am gone, perhaps never to return.  In turn, when I am around non-alcoholics, I do not expect them to have the same understanding that I do and I refer to myself as a 33-year sober member of AA and make it clear that the grace of God saved me from my alcoholism.           

Identifying myself as an alcoholic doesn't create my alcoholism or lock me into being that unchanged sinner.  It is simply an acknowledgment that God has a specific plan for my life relating to alcoholism, and that I do not place myself above those who are still at the mercy of their rebellious alcoholic sin nature.  It is this common heritage with the lost souls that enables me to minister to them at their level and tell them how to find victory.  The apostle Paul referred to himself as “chief of sinners” and I am certainly no better than he. AA and Christian Prejudice           

It is foolishness for Christians to deride Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) because of the generic Higher Power concept.  I have even heard ignorant preachers assign evil to it as idol worship.  Is Satan behind AA because he has changed his mind and decided to free the captives?  Is it so difficult for us to see AA as a hospital for sick people instead of judging them as a clan of idol worshipers?  Do we hold it against a diabetic to continue to say they are a diabetic even when though their condition is held at bay?  Do we say they should not go to a dietician that isn’t a Christian because they might put healthy food practices ahead of God?  Is God jealous?  Yes!  But is He stupid?  No!  He knows He is going to gain in His relationships from people becoming healthy and practicing self discipline. As many people know, Alcoholics Anonymous does not identify their Higher Power as Jesus Christ even though they may use the word God liberally, and Jesus Christ is quietly discussed among many believers in AA.  The reason for this is simple…a drunken person cannot accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and a drunken person is not going to join up with a group promoting Jesus.           

Paul talked about “milk” Christians and “meat” Christians and I liken that to AA.  The “Higher Power” concept is “milk” to those drunks who come in with a burning resentment toward God, the Church, and society.  The “meat” for them comes later as God reveals Himself to them through other believers in AA.           

To have Christians remove themselves from AA would be a sin.  When He made me a “fisher of men” He didn’t want me to cast a net in a “stocked pond” in a church, perhaps only catching those that were already caught once but got away and got caught again.  The Father wants me out in the byways of life, ministering to lost souls, teaching His ways.  So I think of AA as “deep sea fishing.”           

Don’t be fragile.  You are bound to hear rough talk around an AA meeting and those of us with spiritual eyes abide by those who are weak and nurse them into God’s kingdom.  So, please don’t be so quick to criticize those groups that don’t worship in a perfect way, they may be part of the path to salvation for some poor soul.  If nothing else, it is good that we have one less drunk on the road for one less night.           

​Please do not help perpetuate Christian arrogance and ignorance about something that is as important to Jesus as seeing drunks stop drinking and stay stopped. ]]>Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:27:06 GMThttp://recoveryliterature.com/blog/welcome-to-our-personal-blogMay the effort of Recovery Literature glorify God.  Welcome to our little place of expression.

Farris particularly enjoys John 17.  There Jesus describes His unity with us believers and compares it to His unity with the Father.  Our marriage (Ruth and Farris) is ordained by God to be that same picture.  We work daily to overcome our individualism.  It is interesting that our individual talents and gifts from God are not at issue...those blessings to our flesh nature can flow freely and were ordained when we were created; at issue is our self-expression wherein, as subjects in the Kingdom, we want more for God to express Himself through us instead of us expressing our own perspectives, as if they are important.  Our culture teaches individualism and when somebody is particularly good and successful, we make them into idols or heroes.  I pray that we spend more time listening to God instead of the culture.]]>