AA Step Seven: "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."
LDS Addiction Recovery Guide: "Humbly ask Heavenly Father to remove your shortcomings."
King Benjamin: "And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them." (Mosiah 4:10).
The phrase, "humble yourselves before God; and ask," could not be any closer to the AA Step without infringing on copyright laws. However, we must remember that any lawsuits levied here would come upon Alcoholics Anonymous and not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Book of Mormon was published just over 100 years earlier than the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, which, like the Book of Mormon, needed additional witnesses to verify its truthfulness. The Book of Mormon needed its three and eight witnesses to testify, and AA was founded on the sobriety date of its second member, Dr. Bob Smith on June 10, 1935. Thus, there had to be at least two to testify. And of course, this speech was actually delivered by King Benjamin over 2,100 years ago.
Since this step aligns so perfectly with King Benjamin's teachings and Restoration scripture, perhaps this would be a good time to mention just a couple of similarities between AA and the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
I feel blessed to belong to two of perhaps just a handful of organizations that believe in personal revelation and divine personal guidance directly from God. I will need to cover this in greater detail in Step Eleven, which speaks of a "conscious contact with God." In a gospel setting, we call this personal revelation.
The New York-Ohio Connection
In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and in other places, AA founder Bill W. refers to his personal "Higher Power" as "the Father of Lights." He was admitted into Towns Hospital in New York City, where he had a profound spiritual experience that would change his life and the lives of countless drunks like me. Francis Hartigan observed, "While under treatment at Towns Hospital, Bill Wilson experiences a flash of white light and an overwhelming sense of well-being that frees him from his alcoholism." (see https://stepstudy.org/1934-bill-wilsons-hot-flash/).
In the spring of 1820 Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees in upstate New York and saw two Personages in a pillar of light. Joseph describes, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. . .One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith--History 1:16-17).
The parallel of both of them being delivered from an enemy, and both seeing a bright, white light is striking.
Later, Joseph and the early saints would travel to Ohio upon receiving revelation from the Lord and there would be established the new headquarters for the Church. Bill Wilson, a New York stockbroker, would travel on a business trip to Akron, Ohio. The trip challenged his newfound sobriety. He went to a payphone and called various clergymen in hopes of finding another drunk to talk to. He realized this was his only chance at staying sober. He found a washed up surgeon by the name of Bob Smith (same last name of Joseph in case you missed it). We call him Dr. Bob, who reluctantly said he would give Bill W. fifteen minutes of his time. The conversation lasted six hours.
There is an old church in Akron, Ohio where there is a sort of visitors center. AA meetings are held there around the clock--24/7.
The Steps Are Simple But Not Easy
I remember that first week of AA meetings and eyeing the steps. I said to myself, "Let's see, I'll be on that step by next Thursday, and I'll just go ahead and say that prayer and be done with it." It may be a simple request, but it's not that easy. This is a tough step.
Knowing I would be writing about this step, I decided to really try to work it this past week. I thought about how long it's been since I sincerely tried a Step Seven prayer. So on Monday I asked Heavenly Father to remove my shortcomings, hoping for drastic results within the week so I could share some profound spiritual experience. I kinda forgot that impatience ranks about third on my Step Four list of character defects. So if He were to grant my request immediately, as I wished, there would still be left at least one glaring defect. I can sum up 27 years of trying to work this step with something a good friend shared many years ago at an AA meeting. I will call him "John" to protect his anonymity. At this time he had close to fifteen years of continuous sobriety. John had a wife and a daughter. He said something like, "Fifteen years ago I could think of no one but myself. I had to look out for John. But after fifteen years of working the steps and spiritual progress, I can now stop and think about my wife or my daughter for maybe three or four minutes. Then I have to start thinking about John again." Like chapter five in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous states, "We believe in spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection."
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