2 results for tag: 12-step

“Does the story have to be true?” Bradley Jersak

Recently, I wrote, God participates in our lives. How? Not through coercion or force but through loving care. How? Most often, God’s care shows as people are inspired to love and care for each other; to embody God’s presence and care in the world ... to be made in God’s image and likeness is to image (verb) God in the world as God’s hands and feet. A reader responded with this astute question:  I wonder. Is it God compelling these acts of love? Or is it our idea of God that compels us. I suppose a question I ask is—does the story of a good God have to be true? or can our idea of a good God be enough to compel us towards ...

Breakfast with Brad: What 12-steppers can teach us about (Self-)Will & Grace

Bilingual cereal boxes, Christianese words and what 12-step recovery teaches us about self-will and grace (in step 1 and 2). Notice how the first 2 steps of 12-step recovery focus on sin as a disease and its symptoms, incurable by self-effort (religion's game) ... and belief in a God who's grace can heal us. Step 1  "We admitted we were powerless over our addiction -- that our lives had become unmanageable." Overcomers look to God's grace alone, growing in our belief in and surrender to "the care of a loving God": Step 2 "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." 12-steppers use ...