When people try to portray A.A.’s co-founders as Christians, it is helpful to understand the relation between early A.A. and the work of New Thought teacher Emmet Fox. How, for instance, did A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob Smith feel about Fox’s book, The Sermon on the Mount? This book was used by early A.A. before the Big Book was written.
“…the fact is that Dr. Bob did read and recommend Fox’s The Sermon on the Mount. And Dr. Bob owned and read several other Fox books and pamphlets.” (Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library: A Major A.A. Spiritual Source, pg. 67)
The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox: “Dr. Bob often read and recommended this Emmet Fox book.” (Dick B., Dr. Bob and His Library: A Major A.A. Spiritual Source, pg. 42)
So, why would Dr. Bob Smith recommend this book? Fox denies Christ as biblical Savior. Why would the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous place this heresy in the hands of hurting alcoholics? The answer is simple. Dr. Bob Smith was not a blood bought Christian. He was in line with New Thought theology…and this is why he recommended Emmet Fox’s The Sermon on the Mount.
According to Emmet Fox, “‘The Plan of Salvation’ which figured so prominently in the evangelical sermons and divinity books of a past generation is as completely unknown to the Bible as it is to the Koran.” (The Sermon on the Mount, pg. 4-5)
“No suffering for another man’s original sin, but the reaping of a harvest that we ourselves have sown.” (pg.14)
“Because the change caused by prayer is a radical one, Jesus refers to it as being ‘born again.” Since it makes you into a different man, it is actually as if you had been born anew.” (pg. 44)
In Dr. Bob’s official A.A. biography, an oldtimer recollects how the first thing Dr. Bob did was to give her a copy of Emmet Fox’s The Sermon on the Mount. (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, pg. 310)
The A.A. co-founders were never biblical Christians. A.A. has never had a Christian or biblical origin.
Who is the liar but the one who denies Jesus is the Christ? (1 John 2:22)
Tagged: aa historian, AA's spiritual roots, dick b., Dr. Bob, emmet fox, faith, history
