4. RECOVERY ACQUIRED RELIGIOSITY
The Jewish Lobster Prologue: Part 4
Systems analysis:
How the recovery culture functions as a religious structure of equivalency: original sin (disease), sacred texts (Big Book), confession (steps 4-5), conversion narrative (qualification), and heresy enforcement (questioning = denial).
IN MY WORDS
“In essence, the program is obvious religion dressed down to complement the cultural arbitration and aesthetics. Original sin (alcoholism), sacred text (Big Book), confession (4th and 5th step), conversion narrative (your qualification = your personal low-bottom = your testimony of wickedness), excommunication for heresy (questioning is denial).” For the record, lobsters LOVE & LIVE & THRIVE at the bottom possibly because they call it “home” not “bottom”.
“The Big Book functions exactly like any religious scripture—you’re supposed to find yourself in it, not evaluate it.”
“Qualifications, your background, are catalyzed to create conversion narratives. ‘I was lost, now I’m found.’ The structure is identical to testimony.”
“The rooms and the culture enforce orthodoxy through social consequence. Question the steps, lose your fellowship, and likely your life. That’s not medicine, that’s doctrine.”
THE EVIDENCE
Generally, recovery meetings function in the normative American meeting format, reverently balancing the “business of the moment” and Church through consistent format, repeated phrases, and group recitation.
“Working a program” mirrors religious practice or, more consequentially, commitment. Bill W’s writings are treated as revealed truth rather than one guy’s rather audaciously progressive appeal for society to reconsider us doomed and damned alcoholics/addicts. The disease model functions as a veneer of medical credibility while actually being a theodicy—explaining suffering while demanding submission.
WHY THIS MATTERS
It is clearly critical to establish a concrete framework for understanding what you’re actually dealing with when you question the orthodoxy, the work, the program.
This is NOT medicine or science or the character of your sponsor or the amazing doppleganger you found at the “ranch” or “meeting” — when you’re doubting, it’s doctrine as learned tribal truth that you’re questioning.
YOU BROKE IT YOU BOUGHT IT
Common Christianity: You are born fallen. Inherently corrupted. The sin nature precedes any actual sin. You didn’t choose it, you inherited it.
Recovery: You are born an alcoholic. The disease is part of your constitution. It precedes your first drink. You didn’t choose it, you inherited it.
Both frameworks begin with ontological corruption.
“I’m an alcoholic” isn’t a description of behavior. It’s a claim about essence. About what you fundamentally are.
And like original sin, it’s permanent. Incurable. Manageable through practice, but never resolved.
“Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.”
The disease is your nature. Sobriety doesn’t change the nature; it manages the symptom.
This is theodicy. It explains why you suffer (you have the disease) while providing a path to manage the suffering (work the program).
But it’s religion disguised deliciously as medicine, now featuring trendy wellness-aligned themes to further confuse the issue (reference “Mocktails” on your next wine list….).
SACRED TEXTING
The Big Book. Alcoholics Anonymous. Written in the 1930s by Bill W. and early members as an open, honest evolution of the Oxford Group.
It’s treated as superlative scripture.
It seems we are intended to read the Bible:
Find yourself in it
Apply it to your life
Don’t question its authority
The words contain universal truth
Personal interpretation within orthodox bounds
How you’re supposed to read the Big Book:
Find yourself in it
Apply it to your life
Don’t question its authority
The words contain universal truth
Personal interpretation within orthodox bounds
The text is best unilaterally received rather than critically recognized. Implications that “this was written by one guy in the 1930s with his particular biases, cultural context, and limitations” seem to be far more than discouraged — “heresy” is a more accurate descriptor of the nature of the response you may receive.
The correct response is: “The book saved my life. Don’t question what works.”
Scripture resists critique by claiming salvific power.
THIS PRAYER IS MY PRAYER, THIS PRAYER IS YOUR PRAYER….
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
It’s a beautiful prayer. I’m not critiquing its incredible content in any way; rather, the opposite, I am intrigued and inspired by its efficacy and intent.
(If you want to take it to that “Lobster level,” I would recommend anyone read “The Way of Serenity” by Father Jonathan Morris.)
I’m observing the function: Liturgical repetition creates shared identity and reinforces doctrine.
Churches do this. Temples do this. Mosques do this.
Recovery meetings do this…Ralph and the bad guys do this in “Ralph Breaks the Internet”.
The format is identical: gathering, opening ritual, shared recitation, testimony, closing ritual. This is a religious practice.
JUST KISS THE RING
Catholicism: Confess your sins to a priest. Receive absolution. Do penance. Return to state of grace.
Recovery: Step 4 (searching and fearless moral inventory). Step 5 (admitted to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs).
The structure is identical.
You catalog your moral failures. You confess them to another person (a sponsor as a priest figure). You receive guidance. You work to make amends.
The program says this is psychological housecleaning. But the function is religious: purification through confession and penance.
And like religious confession, it’s never finished. You keep working the steps. Keep taking inventory. Keep confessing. Keep seeking absolution.
The perpetual confessional state maintains dependency.
LOW BOTTOM BUT A HIGH ROLLER
“Hi, I’m David, and I’m an alcoholic.”
Then you tell your story of alkie/addict qualification (extra points for jail/legal/medical hard knock life terminology) in Standard structure:
What it was like (before)
What happened (crisis/bottom)
What it’s like now (after the program)
This is the conversion narrative. “I was lost, now I’m found.”
A good Christian’s slogan: “I was a sinner in darkness. I accepted Christ. Now I walk in the light.”
Recovery slogan(?): “I was a drunk in chaos. I accepted the program. Now I’m sober.”
The structure is identical: fall, revelation, redemption.
Your qualification isn’t just your story. It’s proof of the program’s salvific power. Each telling reinforces the doctrine.
And your personal program narrative has required elements. You have to hit bottom. You have to surrender. You have to credit the program.
If you say “I got sober through therapy and meditation, the meetings helped but weren’t essential,”—that’s not the right story. That’s not how conversion works.
The narrative must validate the required framework.
HYPIN’ UP THAT HOPE
“Carry the message.”
Step 12: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
Convert others. Spread the word. Bring people into the fold.
This is a religious mission. And it serves a dual function:
Helps the suffering alcoholic (ostensible purpose)
Reinforces the converter’s belief (actual function)
When you evangelize, you strengthen your own commitment. Each person you bring to the program validates your own conversion.
The missionary becomes more devoted through the mission.
And notice: you’re supposed to carry “the message,” not “a message.” There’s one truth. One way. One program.
To distill medical or behavioral fact from missionary messaging is difficult, if not fully deleterious.
WHITE KNUCKLE WINNERS AND LOSERS
Question the steps? “You’re not working the program.”
Suggest the Big Book might be outdated? “Your disease is talking.”
Wonder if the program is the only way? “Let me know how that works out for you.”
Consider therapy instead of meetings? “Therapists don’t understand alcoholism like we do.”
Every deviation from orthodoxy is met with social consequence.
Not through official excommunication. Through social pressure. Concerned looks. Whispers. Loss of fellowship.
“I’m worried about David. He’s been questioning the program lately. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”
The community police belief through relationship.
And the enforcement mechanism is brilliant: Any negative outcome after questioning proves the questioning was wrong.
If you question the program and later struggle, that’s evidence you shouldn’t have questioned. The framework is unfalsifiable.
If you question the program and stay sober, you’re “white-knuckling” or “haven’t hit your bottom yet” or “got lucky.”
The doctrine cannot be wrong. Only your interpretation can be wrong.
THEODICY & YOUR ABV%
Theology’s central problem: If God is good and powerful, why does evil exist?
Theodicy provides answers: Free will. Original sin. Divine plan. Testing. Mystery.
Recovery’s version: If you work the program, why do you still struggle?
The program’s answers:
You’re not working it hard enough
You’re not being honest enough
You haven’t fully surrendered
You’re in denial
Character defects remain
God’s plan for you includes this difficulty
Suffering is never evidence that the framework is flawed. It’s evidence that you’re not following the framework correctly.
This is how religions maintain themselves. The doctrine cannot fail. Only people can fail the doctrine.
THE HIGHER POWER EQUIVOCATION
“You don’t have to believe in God. Your higher power can be anything—the group, nature, the universe, whatever works for you.”
This sounds flexible. Inclusive. Non-religious.
But watch what happens:
Step 2: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
Step 3: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
You must submit to external power. The specific nature of that power is negotiable, but the submission isn’t.
This is a religious structure with ecumenical branding.
And in practice, the “higher power can be anything” quickly becomes “if you don’t have a higher power, you won’t stay sober.”
The framework requires submission to something external. That’s a hallmark of religion, not medicine.
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES
“Keep coming back, it works if you work it.”
“I’ve seen miracles in these rooms.”
“The promises will come true.”
“Trust the process.”
This is faith language.
Medical treatment doesn’t talk about miracles. It talks about mechanisms. Therapeutic interventions don’t promise miracles. They describe expected outcomes with probability.
But recovery culture uses miracle language constantly. Because it’s not describing a medical process. It’s describing a spiritual transformation.
The framework is religious, even when it claims to be secular.
WHY THIS MATTERS
I’m not arguing religion is bad. Many people find profound meaning in religious practice.
I’m arguing: You should know when you’re being offered religion so you can make an informed choice.
The program is presented by recovery culture as the medicine. Evidence-based treatment. Scientific understanding of disease.
But then structure is religious: original sin, sacred text, confession, conversion, evangelism, heresy enforcement, theodicy, submission to a higher power.
If I wanted religion, I’d join a religion. I went to detox for medical treatment.
What I got was medical intervention plus religious conversion. The first was necessary. The second was smuggled in.
A FAMILY TRADITION
We recognize many traditional practices as religion; “recovery” has grown into a novel and different tradition with the same reverent structure.
Sacred texts. Ritual practice. Confession of unworthiness. Submission to divine authority. Community enforcement of orthodoxy.
And here’s what I found in recovery: The exact same structure with different vocabulary.
Instead of sin, disease. Instead of God, higher power. Instead of scripture, the Big Book. Instead of prayer, steps. The architecture is identical.
Recovery culture teaches: You’re broken (diseased). You can’t fix yourself (powerless). Submit to external authority (higher power + program). Don’t question (your disease talking). The community knows what’s best (sponsors, old-timers).
Crisis creates vulnerability to totalizing frameworks—this is a feature of human psychology, not necessarily malicious intent.
A LOBSTER ON DRY LAND
When you’re in crisis, you’re vulnerable to totalizing frameworks.
You’re desperate. You need help. Someone offers a complete system that explains everything and promises salvation.
Of course you accept it. What choice do you have?
The program worked perfectly in my crisis. It provided:
Structure (meetings, steps)
Community (fellowship)
Identity (I’m an alcoholic in recovery)
Purpose (carry the message)
Explanation (disease model)
Hope (the promises)
All the functions of religion. Exactly when I needed them.
But now I’m not in crisis. I’m stable. I can think clearly.
And from this vantage point, I can see: What I needed was medical intervention and social support. What I got was a religious conversion.
KOSHER STYLE & CHURCH APPROVED
The brilliant move: Present the religious framework as secular medical treatment.
“It’s a disease, like diabetes.” (Medical framing)
“Spirituality, not religion.” (Secular-friendly language)
“Your higher power can be anything.” (Apparent flexibility)
“Evidence-based.” (Scientific credibility)
The packaging is secular. The structure is religious.
This lets the program spread into secular spaces. Courts mandate attendance. Therapists recommend meetings. Doctors refer patients.
Would they do that if it were explicitly religion? Some would. Many wouldn’t.
The secular disguise is strategic.
RECOGNITION IS NOT REJECTION
I hope it’s clear that the Program was invaluable and critically helpful in my journey. It helped me and helps millions every day. The Big Book’s ideas and meetings provided support when I needed it, and I sincerely relish any opportunity to assist my fellow alcoholics and addicts.
I’m saying: Recognize what it is so you can engage with it consciously.
If you want a religious community, spiritual practice, moral framework—the program offers that. Honestly and effectively.
But if you’re looking for medical treatment, therapeutic intervention, or empirical understanding, recognize that what you’re getting is primarily religious structure.
You can choose a religion. Just know you’re choosing it.
PLOT THICKENER
Once you recognize the religious structure, you can investigate it the way you’d investigate any religious claim:
Does the doctrine serve you? Does the practice align with your values? Do the claims hold up under scrutiny?
You’re not being disrespectful. You’re thinking critically. That’s what you do with any framework that claims authority over your life.
Religious claims aren’t exempt from investigation just because they’re religious.
And recovery’s religious claims aren’t exempt just because they’re disguised as medicine.
CRISIS CAVE EXIT ESCALATOR
In a crisis, the religious structure helped. It provided meaning, community, identity, and purpose.
But I’m not in crisis anymore.
And from stability, I can see: The framework that saved me in crisis is now constraining me in health.
The Big Book is the most paramount and impactful global thing to be produced in 1939, and most other years, but it is still not revealed truth.
My qualification is my authentic personal history, not contrived, and not proof of universal doctrine.
Working the steps is a practice, but not the only practice.
The fellowship is supportive, but a person’s sobriety should never be subject to excommunication.
I can honor what the program gave me while recognizing its religious structure and choosing whether that structure still serves me.
The Hanukkah light: You accept the framework that works in crisis. But you don’t stay in that framework forever, treating it as sacred, afraid to recognize its nature and limitations.
Four years sober. The program helped. It’s also religion. Time to choose consciously whether that’s what I want.
NEXT: EXIT COSTS & CONSEQUENCES
If you recognize the religious structure and start questioning, what actually happens? What are the real costs of leaving? Why does exit feel impossible even when staying feels wrong?
Part 5 examines the trap mechanics: how the system maintains itself through relationship loss, identity dissolution, and the sunk cost of years invested.
The Jewish Lobster Core Curriculum is an 8-part series examining recovery culture through systematic inquiry.
It’s for people who got sober but found the provided framework intellectually untenable.
Not therapy. Not a program. Not steps. Just tools for thinking.
