E250: The Straw Man Chapter of the Big Book

Sober Friends

Matt J

Alcohol Free, Alcoholics Anonymous, Recovery, Dry January, Spirituality, Sober, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Sobriety, Sober Curious, Addiction, Religion & Spirituality, 12 Steps

4.2 • 718 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Send us a text In this episode, Matt and Steve take a hard look at We Agnostics, one of the most debated chapters in the AA Big Book. Matt admits he’s developing a resentment toward Bill W.’s logic — from comparing God to electricity to invoking Columbus and the flat Earth. Are these inspired metaphors or just sales tactics to get the drunk to believe? The guys talk about where Bill’s arguments fall apart, why intent might matter more than accuracy, and how the idea of “contempt before invest...

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, before we jump in, if you like what you hear on the podcast, check out our free
0:05.2	Substack newsletter, the Sober Friends Dispatch.
0:08.8	It's a weekly dose of real talk, stories from the sober life, and a little extra support
0:15.0	between episodes.
0:16.3	Go to Soberfriendspod.substack.com and subscribe. That's sober friendspod. Dotubstack.com and subscribe.
0:22.1	That's sober friendspod.
0:23.7	That's substack.com.
0:25.3	All right.
0:25.7	Let's get into the show.
0:30.8	Welcome to the sober friends podcast where we talk a little bit about sobriety,
0:36.2	your journey, sober curiosity, all of that good stuff.
0:39.8	My name is Matt Jay. I'm joined, as always, by Steve. What's going on, Steve?
0:45.3	Good morning, Matt. Not much. Just enjoying this beautiful crisp fall weather we have up in Connecticut.
0:53.3	And yeah, it's living the dream.
0:57.8	Yeah, the only thing I'm not enjoying is the sun going down early.
1:00.5	Yeah, well, that'll change next week and it'll go down even earlier.
1:07.3	I forgot about that.
1:08.5	You'll be dog walking in the dark.
1:10.6	Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah. Next weekend. I'm about that. You'll be dog walking in the dark. Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah. Next weekend.
1:13.6	I'm enjoying that. All right, I want to talk a little bit about the chapter we agnostics because we read that in our Monday Night big book. And that thing has been kind of rubbing me raw every single time we get to it. And I'm developing a resentment.
1:29.2	So I can go over a few points.
1:31.2	I think I know what Bill's doing.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Matt J, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Matt J and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.