Gamblers Anonymous

Double Standards - Higher Power
Author : GA

Tell it as it is. And your recovery will be steady and sure.

You suffer from an illness that progressively got worse until you reached your personal rock bottom and sought help from GA. Your recovery is also gradually progressing on a daily basis. This means that your character defects won’t go away overnight. They will still be there and it is your task to work away at them one day at a time and to be satisfied with your progress.

But be warned not to fall into the trap of telling other members how to run their lives and rid themselves of certain character defects, allowing them to believe that you yourself have overcome these problems. Don’t preach a brand of honesty that you don’t have yourself. Base your comments on your actual personal experiences, not ones you hope to have.

Admit that you struggle in certain areas of your life. You are among people who have been there, or are there, and they will only admire your honesty. Also, you can do untold damage to other members if they discover you have been telling lies. You can undermine the whole fellowship. They can find themselves asking, “If this member is lying to me, who else is?”

HIGHER POWER

These doors are open to anyone with a desire to stop gambling - churchgoers, atheists or agnostics. This program works equally well for all types, including you.

The mere mention of God or a Higher Power seems to frighten some newer members. Why? Well, we believe that they may think that GA is a religious fellowship and that we will eventually get around to preaching to them.

Nothing could be further from the truth. When we speak of a Higher Power we mean a power greater than us. Let’s face it - when we come through the doors of GA, that would not be hard to find. In the first step of recovery we admitted that we were powerless over gambling, so obviously gambling was a power greater than us. On entering GA, we find ourselves with a group of people who are together beating gambling on a daily basis. Surely there is a power at work here. In Step Two, we eventually come to believe that this power can restore us to a normal way of thinking and living. In Step Three, we are asked to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this power. This may cause you to wonder if perhaps this is the real power of GA. If you are comfortable with that thought, then so be it.

This fellowship is designed for you and your needs. Whatever your beliefs, there is a place for you. No one demands that you believe in a God - if you do, that’s fine too. No one will argue with you.

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