Questions and Answers
The Gospel and the Twelve Steps: Following Jesus on the Path of Recovery
Question 1: What do the Twelve Steps have to do with following Jesus?
Answer: For me, following Jesus means that we become his disciples;
that is, we become students or apprentices of Jesus. He is the Master and
our job is to emulate him, to become like him. He is the master of life who
came to teach us how to live life to the full. The Twelve Steps are tools
that we use in our apprenticeship to the Master.
Question 2: Can you say more about being students or
apprentices of Jesus?
Answer: In centuries past, if one wanted to learn a trade such as
making shoes or weaving, one went into service with a master of that
particular trade. The student lived and worked with the master in order to
learn the trade so that the student, or apprentice, would eventually also
become a master of that particular craft. For Christians, Jesus is the
Master of life to whom we apprentice ourselves. We emulate him by studying
his life and teachings in order to learn the craft of abundant, joyful
living based on love for God and others.
Question 3: We hear a lot these days about being born again Christians. Is there a relationship here to the Twelve Steps?
Answer: When we admit that we are powerless to save ourselves and
that our lives have become unmanageable, then, by faith, submit our
wills and our lives to God, we experience what is often called the
new birth. God regenerates us; that is, he gives us a new beginning—a new
life—by filling us with his Holy Spirit. We become adopted children of
our heavenly Father. For Christians in recovery, the first three steps may
be viewed as the process by which God grants us new life, or new birth if
you prefer. In my book, The Gospel and the Twelve Steps, I
develop this idea in detail.
Question 4: Can you say more about the new birth and how that relates
to recovery?
Answer: The new birth simply means something old has died and
something new has risen in its place. In other words, the new birth means
that our self-centered human nature—that the apostle Paul calls the sinful
nature—is put to death and a new person in Christ rises from the grave. The
apostle Paul described it like this: “I have been crucified with Christ and
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” It’s a re-enactment of the
crucifixion-resurrection experience. Call it the Easter experience if you
like. Steps one through three are the initial passage though this
experience. We all have to go through it if we are to experience new life in
Christ.
Question 5: Is this crucifixion-resurrection scenario a one-time thing? Can we do it
and get it over with?
Answer: No. We reenact the Christian drama of death followed by
resurrection every day of our lives, sometimes many times in a day. That’s
why the apostle Paul says, “I die every day.” Paradoxically, what I am describing is both an event and a process. In
Twelve-Step terms, we are constantly taking Step Three. As Twelve-Steppers
say, we are always turning it over to God.
Question 6: In The Gospel and the Twelve Steps and in your new book, Ashes into Gold,
you talk a lot about surrender. What makes that such an important concept in
your writing?
Answer: Regarding the Twelve Steps, I think that step three is the heart of the program.
Step three is often called “the step of surrender.” We turn our wills and our lives over to God.
That, of course, is what it means to surrender. Moreover, surrender is a process that runs throughout
the Twelve Steps. It does not occur in step three only. I make that clear in The Gospel and the Twelve Steps.
In addition, surrender is not only a recurring theme in the Twelve Steps, it is the essence of all true
spirituality. Jesus said it best: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will save it.” That’s surrender. The great prophet John the Baptist expressed it very simply
and quite to the point. He said, “He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less.” The apostle Paul
also captured the essential idea of surrender. He said, “I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live.”
Finally, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous gets it exactly right by saying, “Relieve me of the bondage
of self that I may better do thy will.” This teaching is everywhere because it is the essence of the
spiritual life. Self must die so that something better can take its place. In Christian terms,
the sinful nature with its selfish desires dies, and we become “new creations” in Christ.
In Twelve Step terms, we turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.
Question 7: So surrender is the most important aspect of spirituality?
Answer: I think so. For me, the overarching goal of our lives is to
move from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. That’s what we are
here to learn. That’s what surrender is all about. If we miss that, we miss
what life is really about. "I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me." That’s how Paul put it. That’s what it’s all about.
Question 8: What about all the different kinds of spiritualities we see in the
marketplace today? Is surrender a vital aspect of, say, new age
spirituality?
Answer: New Age spirituality is based on eastern religions, so there is
really not much new in new age. To be sure, surrender is a vital aspect of
religions such as Buddhism and Taoism, the two eastern religions I know a
bit about. We see the general idea in the Zen saying, “On the withered
branch the blossom grows.” It's similar to what we just talked about.
Christianity has taken it further, however, especially in the teachings of
Jesus and the apostle Paul. Nevertheless, I think surrender plays little
part in the kinds of spirituality on the market today. In other words, it
seems to me that the many brands of "spirituality" that are going around
these days are more about self than about God. Many moderns are nothing more
than spiritual window shoppers moving from one form of spirituality to
another, depending on what is in vogue at the moment. They choose the
spiritual practices that fit with their lifestyles and ignore those that
don't. I call it the cafeteria plan: pick what you like and pass by the
rest. This kind of spirituality is very appealing to many today because it
allows self to remain in charge. I decide what's right for my personal
tastes and lifestyle. Nevertheless, spirituality that is about self and its
desires is no spirituality at all! True spirituality, the kind that involves
surrender to God, is not a hobby that we engage in while talking to other
seekers around the table at the local coffee bar. Surrender, real
spirituality, is about dying to self—not discovering self or exploring our
spiritual personality profiles. C. S. Lewis describes real spirituality so
well; he hits the nail right on the head. I quote his comments in this
regard near the end of The Gospel and the Twelve Steps. That
quote alone is worth the price of the book! But we can't just read about it;
we've got to live it—and that's the hard part. Jesus captured the essence of
true spirituality in one of his many pithy, profound statements. He said,
"Whoever loses his life for me will save it." The apostle Paul encapsulated
the same message when he wrote, "I am crucified with Christ and I no longer
live." I think the fourth-century Christian thinker Augustine captured the
whole thing very nicely. He said that we must choose between two
alternatives: "love of self till God is forgotten or love of God till self
is forgotten." That's what it all boils down to. That's surrender, and quite
frankly, I don't think that will ever be very popular, at least not with the
"me generation" I grew up in.
Question 9: Let's get back to the Twelve Steps. What do you think
Jesus would have to say to alcoholics, cocaine addicts, compulsive gamblers,
sex addicts, or overeaters if he were here today?
Answer: He would say exactly what he has already said: “Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” And, by the
way, he is here today.
Question 10: Do you think he would be judgmental and critical of addicts? After all, a lot of Christians are.
Answer: When Jesus walked the earth as a human being, he kept
company with drunks, prostitutes, and--what was even worse in those days—tax
collectors (they’re still not too popular). In other words, he “hung out”
with the very people that most Christians try to avoid. By the way, the
religious people of his day criticized him severely for the company he kept.
Question 11: What would Jesus think about Twelve Step meetings?
Answer: I believe he would feel right at home.
Question 12: Is there anything else you want to mention about your book,
The Gospel and the Twelve Steps?
Answer: When I was revising the original edition of the book, I was
struck once again by the beautiful harmony that exists between the Twelve
Steps and the teachings of the Holy Bible. As you may know, the Twelve Steps
are rooted solidly in biblical teaching. Surely that is one reason why
Twelve Step programs have been so successful in helping many overcome
addiction. Persons who are in Twelve-Step programs, but who are turned off
by institutional Christianity, could really benefit from this book.
It presents basic biblical teaching in language that they will find quite
familiar. After all, being a Christian is not about going to church or
following the innumerable rules and regulations prescribed by this or that
group. Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything
else is mere extras.
