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Can I Recover Without a God?

The higher power piece is my biggest struggle by far. I really don't believe in any deity, nor do I see any of the other suggested higher powers(the group, the program, nature, etc) actually helping me lose the desire to get high nor helping me maintain sobriety. The whole willpower thing is tough too. If I don't believe in god, whos will am I following? People do recover/abstain without believing in god, but the language of the program and texts are loaded with god references, and it can be very off putting
 
2 Timothy 2:11-13

11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
_________
I feel this is saying that to use common sense, to be good as you are with out necessarily serving God, you have done Gods will by just being.
makes the Bible more interesting?
 
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First in answer to your question, yes definitely.

Speaking from personal experience. I've been off heroin for almost 11 months now and I do not believe in God nor have I ever attended an AA or NA meeting. I can see how God can help in some peoples recovery. But for people like you and me who can't accept the idea of a supernatural being, who can't accept the idea that we somehow need saving, then we have to become our own saviors. We alone have to be enough.

For me instead of giving oneself to a higher power I prefer the idea of self perfection or self betterment.

Perfection is an impossibility of course. But by trying to attain it one betters one self through this impossible task.

You said you like to read Camus. Are you familiar with his interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus? The man condemned to forever roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down again. Camus wrote

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
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`bLow? said:
I've been asking people at my local meetings but haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer. I've read the big book and found some guidance there but I was wondering if someone here could maybe help me.

I do not believe in a God. I just don't. And I don't know if it's an ego thing, if it's because I think I'm so intelligent because I read Nietzsche and Sartre and Camus. But I just can't accept that there is a magical, benevolent being. They say it is an issue of faith, and as much as I'd like to, I just cannot bring myself to believe. If anything I lean towards Buddhism, in being present in the moment, but as far as this life being samsara and cyclic, I'm not sure I can swallow that either. Eternal recurrence, the concept Nietzsche postulated later in life is about as far as I can get to a theory of salvation.

I desperately do not want to drink anymore. I am willing to do anything, but I think that includes being honest with people instead of just pretending that I believe in God.

Please help.
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It's not about "God"/God. The higher power concept is about not just believing but accept there is something more important than just yourself, something more. Some people worship a mountain, other's existential "bullshit".

I personally worship tits. :p

It's not about worship really either, but about not being so self-centered and selfish.
 
To recover, you must hold a belief which in some permutation can be called that which you speak, yes.
 
DexterMeth said:
It's not about "God"/God. The higher power concept is about not just believing but accept there is something more important than just yourself, something more. Some people worship a mountain, other's existential "bullshit".

I personally worship tits. :p

It's not about worship really either, but about not being so self-centered and selfish.
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lol

fond of nipple rings?!?
;)

_________
"I teach you the Superman. Man is something that should be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?"
Friedrich Nietzsche
 
sconnie420 said:
Very well said, I totally agree with you...it sure seems like it would be a waste of time if there wasn't something else out there, but who knows..Wishful thinking.
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Though not a "religion" in the technical sense, I very much admire the thought the Dali Lama puts out, "my religion is KINDNESS." I can dig it.
 
I'm sorry to hear you don't believe in a God. Have you tried getting on your knees and praying something like. "If there is a God, then, please tell me the truth about you and if Jesus Christ is your truly your son.
My opinion is that God will answer your prayer and show you that there is only one way to God, and, that's through Jesus Christ, and, since you haven't known Jesus, that is why you haven't known God.
 
I struggle with this. A helpful tool, if you're in NA, is to think of the group as your higher power. Anything outside yourself- the universe- can be your higher power.
 
The people that recover without a belief in God, are the strongest people in the world, because they can rely on themselves.

I recovered without God.
 
You don't need a God to live your life for you.

It's easier without God, infact.

I was religious as a teenager and faced a period of adversity. For weeks and months I desperately cried to God for help, with full force of unwavering belief. And.... nothing.

This is your life and yours alone to do with as you will. This freedom of will comes with the responsibility of carrying it out. Knowing early that no God is going to deliver you, that the journey is yours to make, helps you get started down that path all the sooner.

Don't feel scared, feel empowered. Feel alive.
 
If youre as intelligent as you claim to be, you'll realize that god doesn't have to be "some dude sitting up in the clouds smiting people like a kid smites ants with a magnifying glass". You'll realize that god as a concept has been twisted in all of our heads to fit someone elses definition. Its been embedded in us that "God is like this and nothing else" but in reality that COULDN"T BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH. We have been conditioned since birth to think one way, which is why you are having such a hard time.

You are trying to accept the god as everyone else makes him out to be, not your own god. I personally see god as something totally different than most peoples concept. I dont even know if i could call it "god" because our definitions and language LIMIT the ability to understand my concept. Sometimes definitions and language can be a bigger barrier than anything to someone (even in your own language!). When we have a caged in idea of something based off of single words, instead of the overall "big picture"...it can hinder us.

Plus, if you look at history and shit, you can have faith without evidence or being religious. We have faith that the theory of evolution is correct, we have had faith that the standard model of physics was correct (and we were rewarded!), someone had faith the earth was round BEFORE evidence that validated it.

I mean consider this: Is christianity any less "real" if jesus was a fraud? The effects of that faith have been a bigger impact than the fact of whether or not he WAS the son of god.

Faith and believing can be just as vital as the evidence validating that faith. Hope and faith can go hand in hand as well. When you hope, you have faith that something "good" will happen.

I at least hope you have faith you can stop drinking. In that you NEED faith, otherwise you will fail.
 
Faith is a poor substitute for true power.

Within ourselves is true power to make a life we choose. Faith in the power of god or the power of self is somewhat redundant. The power of self can be grasped and used directly, no need for faith where you have control.

Faith is nothing without direction. It may keep your head high along the journey, but faith alone makes you blind, a leaf blowing in the wind.
 
You don't have to believe in God. Read the Tao Te Ching. I believe in the Tao, personally, and I'm pretty squarely in the atheist camp where white bearded men in robes are concerned.
 
morpher001 said:
Faith is a poor substitute for true power.

Within ourselves is true power to make a life we choose. Faith in the power of god or the power of self is somewhat redundant. The power of self can be grasped and used directly, no need for faith where you have control.

Faith is nothing without direction. It may keep your head high along the journey, but faith alone makes you blind, a leaf blowing in the wind.
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So you're saying he doesn't need to have faith that he can stop drinking?

You definitely need faith in addition to other things. How can you attain true power in yourself if you dont even have faith in your own skills and abilities? How can the OP stop drinking if they dont have faith that they possess that skill, before they even get to that point? How would anyone do anything if they didnt have faith in themselves and the "ability to carry out" as you yourself said.

Sounds like you have faith that your own thoughts/conclusions are the correct ones.

Nothing about religion is a requirement of faith. Nothing about god either. Just like hope its PART of what you need in your bag, not by any shot the entire thing. Its part of your spiritual health. And spiritual doesn't mean god or faith or religion or spirits or anything like that either, its a deeper concept of well being, part of it being comfort with your place in the universe and your existence.
 
Yes I agree. Faith in the sense of confidence is an important feather in the cap of any successful strategy for personal development. For the peace of mind it brings. I think we are more or less on the same page.

The distinction I perhaps didn't convey clearly, is that faith alone or faith in religious context tends to be an empty thing, a sticking of ones head in the sand on the basis that problems will solve themselves without further input.

Anyhow we digress from the topic. At the end of the day, God is not required. Invest that faith in yourself instead.
 
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I have overcome heroine and crack addiction...I did not believe in God when I first started...but I did realize that an open mind was essential...I wanted to believe in God and that was enough to start with....the only scoffers at prayer are those that never honestly tried it!...in my first prayer I expressed to God that I did not believe in Him...the only requirement in the process of recovery are honesty open mindedness and willingness...its ok to not believe...your honesty will serve you well...I continued to pray and express my disbelief and a desire for help if He was real...I kept praying and being honest...now there is no doubt in my mind He is real....try reading we agnostics in book alcoholics anonymous...it may help...God bless you in your search for truth...peace
 
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