From John B (jax760), J. Lobdell, and Baileygc23

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From: "jax760" <jax760@...> (jax760 at yahoo.com)

"It does not seem necessary to defer to the feelings of our agnostic and atheist
newcomers to the extent of completely hiding our light under a bushel." Bill W.
to Russ R. 1959 LTR

As he did so many times in many of his writings Bill quotes the Bible in
expressing everyday ideas. Here of course it's the Sermon on The Mount, Matthew
5:14-16

Bill frequently disguised his religious (or spiritual if you prefer) thought so
as to not scare away the newcomer but his views and his "biblically based" ideas
i.e. "ancient principles" can be found throughout his published and personal
writings.

I think we can find the roots of all the slogans and substantiate them, or cite
sources for most of them.

From the AA History Book "Pass It On"

"Bill now joined Bob and Anne in the Oxford Group practice of having morning
guidance sessions together, with Anne reading from the Bible. "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 problem was
the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely
essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the 13th Chapter of First Corinthians
and the Book of James. The Book of James was so important, in fact, that some
early members even suggested "The James Club" as a name for the fellowship." –
p. 147

From the AA History Book "Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers"

"We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got
them…as a result of our study of the Good Book. We must have had them. Since
then we have learned from experience that they are very important in maintaining
sobriety. We were maintaining sobriety – therefore we must have had them." – p.
97

"Dr. Bob noted there were no 12 steps at that time and that `our stories didn't
amount to anything to speak of,' later said they were convinced that that the
answer to their 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 13th
Chapter of First Corinthians and the Book of James' he said. This was the
beginning of A.A.'s "flying blind period." They had the Bible; they had the
precepts of the Oxford Group. They also had their own instincts. They were
working, or working out, the A.A. program – the Twelve Steps – without quite
knowing how they were doing it." – p. 96

The Biblical Roots of the Slogans are as follows"

Live and Let Live (The Golden Rule) - Matthew 7:12
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

Easy Does it (One Day at a Time) Matthew 6:34
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for
the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

But for the Grace of God - 1 Corinthians 15:10
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon
me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I,
but the grace of God which was with me."

Think Think Think - Romans12:3
"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

First Things First Matthew 6:33
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you."

Some of these slogans are first discussed (from a history perspective) in one of
the Earliest Akron Pamphlets, The Akron Manual circa 1940-41 which tells the
newcomer: "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."

From this pamphlet:

Shortly after you leave the hospital you will be on your own. The Bible tells us
to put "first things first." Alcohol is obviously the first thing in your life.
So concentrate on conquering it."

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for
the things itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. -- Matthew VI,
34.
These words are taken from the Sermon on the Mount. Simply, they mean live in
today only. Forget yesterday. Do not anticipate tomorrow. You can only live one
day at a time, and if you do a good job of that, you will have little trouble.
One of the easiest, most practical ways of keeping sober ever devised is the day
by day plan, the 24-hour plan. You know that it is possible to stay sober for 24
hours. You have done it many times. All right. Stay sober for one day at a time.
When you get up in the morning make up your mind that you will not take a drink
for the entire day. Ask the Greater Power for a little help in this. If anyone
asks you to have a drink, take a rain check. Say you will have it tomorrow. Then
when you go to bed at night, finding yourself sober, say a little word of thanks
to the Greater Power for having helped you. Repeat the performance the next day.
And the next. Before you realize it you will have been sober a week, a month, a
year. And yet you will have only been sober a day at a time.

"There is an old saying, "Easy does it." It is a motto that any alcoholic could
well ponder. A child learns to add and subtract in the lower grades. He is not
expected to do problems in algebra until he is in high school. Sobriety is a
thing that must be learned step by step. If anything puzzles you, ask your new
friends about it, or forget it for the time being. The time is not so far away
when you will have a good understanding of the entire program. Meantime, EASY
DOES IT!"

From another of the earliest Akron Pamphlets:

"The road to rehabilitation is not as long as the road to alcoholism, but
neither is it as tough. If you have successfully made the Sixth and Seventh
Steps you will fully understand this. Always remember, easy does it. We must
take life and its problems a single thing at a time" The Akron Guide to the 12
Steps

a single thing at a time……… as in one day at a time…….. as in easy does it?)

As Jared mentions, one of the earliest uses of "But for the grace of God"….. is
John Bradford who I would suggest took it from Paul's letter to the Corinthians
slightly out of context but expressing the identical idea as Saint Paul.

As for Think Think Think and how it is used in Romans 12:3………..you be the judge.

Knowing the Biblical roots of our program as noted above,the fledgling
fellowship (the First Forty and One Hundred)modeling itself after another
fledling fellowship (The Oxford Group) modeling itself after another fledgling
fellowship (The First Century followers of the teachings of the Man from
Galillee) why should it surprise us that our slogans all came from the bible?

God Bless

John B

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From: "J. Lobdell" <jlobdell54@...> (jlobdell54 at hotmail.com)

I'm not sure what different slant is given by the word "there" before "the grace
[or Grace] of God" tho' there might well be a different slant according to
whether "Grace" is capitalized. But my point was that the phrase long antedates
AA (so, for example, does "One Day At A Time" -- which was the title of a column
by William Lyon Phelps in the newspapers in the 1920s) and I figured AA history
doesn't start with AA (Washingtonians? Oxford Group?), so perhaps AA
historylovers might be interested in how this slogan started. As I say, I'm not
sure I see a significant difference between "but for the Grace of God" and
"[There] but for the Grace of God" -- but they may well have different
connotations to different people. I certainly agree that contentiousness is in
the eye of the beholder: it just happens that -- just in my experience -- the
view that alcoholics do not get sober on their own isn't particularly
contentious -- which was my other point here.

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From: Baileygc23@... (Baileygc23 at aol.com)

Although Bill W most likely went along with the
slogans, he did point out that the new comer is
sensitive to aggression in the name of spirituality.
God making me better off than the next person is
aggression. The beholder may think that we are
making fun of him.