![]() In Oxford Group belief, God provided guidance to the fully surrendered soul. After writing the Absolutes, members turned their lives over to the care of Jesus Christ. The Four Absolutes helped them to expose the fact that their way of living was not working. They were broken people in need of a savior. Oxford Group members discovered themselves to be sinners they were dishonest, impure, selfish and unloving. Writing the Four Absolutes brought about a sense of conviction. The Four Absolutes were meant as a guide to help members discover their sin, which in Oxford Group understanding meant anything that kept the soul separated from God. Group members then examined their own lives against the example of Christ and wrote down, to the best of their ability, all the ways in which they came up short. When writing the Four Absolutes, Oxford group members often folded a piece of paper into quarters and then wrote one Absolute at the top of each section. Oxford Group members believed that these four qualities were perfectly expressed in the life of Jesus, and so they represent an ideal for human conduct. The Absolutes are Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness and Love. The Four Absolutes are a tool that was used by the Oxford Group, an evangelical ministry that described itself as “a First Century Christian Fellowship.” Because the Twelve Steps were derived from the practices of the Oxford Group, we find the roots of moral inventory in the Four Absolutes. Hopefully, our survey of these four will at least give the newcomer some idea of the direction they might like to take in step four. Although these are not the only styles of inventory available, these four will give us some insight into various trends at work in the recovery culture. In this article we’ll look at four types: the Four Absolutes, Big Book inventory, the inventory presented in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and the inventory presented in a fourth-step guide published by Hazelden. Our choice of fourth step will determine how we view our selves, our problems, and what we need to help us recover.īecause this choice is important and not always easy, it might be helpful to look at a few of the styles of inventory. This choice is not one to be taken lightly, either, for each different style of inventory makes different assumptions about the nature of the stepworkers’ troubles and can influence what they will learn about themselves in the process. One potential sponsor says the newcomer must write out their life story another potential sponsor says she must search her heart for selfishness still another says the only genuine forth step is one that includes strengths as well as weaknesses. ![]() ![]() There is, however, no clear agreement in the 12 step fellowships about exactly how one should look at oneself or exactly what stepworkers should look for while they are at it.Īs with most things in the recovery culture, where there is no clear agreement, there is instead a wide variety of opinions, and the newcomer, looking into the steps for the first time, is confronted with what can feel like an overwhelming number of options. The fourth step suggests that we take a “moral inventory” of ourselves, which is generally understood to mean that stepworkers must look carefully at their lives and report back honestly about what they see.
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