Bless the Sick and Afflicted

[_karl61]

This morning as I sit here I saw laying next to other books the AA big book. I love that book. People tell their stories. They tell the truth. There is no shame in being sick and afflicted. People that drank two days earlier can lead the meeting. I posted a link. I like to pick up different editions because they have different stories in them. To me they all have the ring of truth because of how honest the people are in telling their story.

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_tableofcnt.cfm

[_karl61]

Infact, it would have been great to hear adults speak like the words that are written at testimony meetings. It would take real courage.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Three comments:

When I first came from California to Utah to attend BYU, I began (how, I don't recall) to attend the regular Sunday-night meetings of a group of former drug addicts that was known simply as "The Group." They were wonderful, precisely because of the genuineness of the participants and the quality of the speakers they brought in. I participated for two years, but then lost track of them when I went on my mission.

Some years ago, I spoke to inmates at the Utah State Prison at Point of the Mountain. Frankly, I was dreading the thing, which I had promised to a friend who served there. But it was one of the best experiences I've ever had, thanks to the lack of pretense among the people to whom I spoke. They were all in for 10-25 years -- which obviously didn't come from parking violations -- and there was a remarkable honesty to the questions and the concerns that they raised.

Finally, none of this -- the perceived defects of many fast and testimony meetings, or the high quality of some other experiences -- has anything to do with the truth or falsity of the claims of the Church.

[_karl61]

Daniel - thanks for your thoughts. But I think real honesty would stun Mormons, but it would wake them up. A lot of active Mormons become honest after they have married in the temple and had children. Have you ever heard of two people who are getting married in the temple move the wedding to a chapel a week or two before the wedding, after the announcements have gone out and all the plans have been made. The only thing that keeps them from being honest is fear.

[_karl61]

Some suggest that the best treatment for certain ailments is hearing people that have dealt with the same struggles and to tell how they got better.

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_they ... lyall2.pdf