Special Guest: CJ McMurry, serves as Program Director at The Refuge in Winterset, Iowa, a ministry that serves those struggling with addiction. CJ is also a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection.
Dr. Mark E. Shaw asks CJ about Step 5 of The Twelve Steps. Their discussion centers around how the Bible speaks into the lives of God’s people who have been addicted and are addicted, and how the Twelve Steps sometimes contradict what God says in His Word.
Step 5: “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” https://aa.org/pages/en_US/read-the-big-book-and-twelve-steps-and-twelve-traditions
As a 15-year-old, CJ was first exposed to the Twelve Steps when he personally attended. He also was well involved with the program as an adult.
"On the surface, this one looks super solid but as you look closer and dig in a little bit deeper there are some problems. Admission is okay but confession is so much better." -CJ McMurry
1 John 1:5-10: This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (ESV)
A response is given to page 83 of As Bill Sees It: The AA Way of Life. Collected Writings of A.A.’s Co-Founder: https://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/aa-literature/b-5-as-bill-sees-it
McMurry says, "I actually disagree with this statement that the 5th step of AA deflates our egos if we have a god of our understanding. If we have created a god that we can understand and fits our way of doing things, how does that really deflate our ego? Who sets the standards on what is wrong? We must call the problem what it is. It’s sin."
