I read the Big Book, and went to a couple of meetings. As a logical but also religious person, what they said made no sense.

First, just "give yourself over to God" means nothing. Sobriety takes work. One falls into a bad pattern, and you need conscious effort to break that pattern. I found the SMART program, which uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That worked for me and made sense for my brain.

Also, my religion (Eastern Orthodox Christianity) teaches that God will throw a life raft, but you gotta grab it, hold on, and swim to shore yourself. Again, the same work ethic, not just "turning yourself over".

I really find AA makes it difficult to people to get sober. I'm sure it does work for some, but I believe it may take longer for them.