“He can choose any conception he likes, provided it makes sense to him.” (Page 93, Big Book)
In terms of conceptions of God, almost everything goes, but
not quite everything. It has to make sense. I can’t have an AA group as my
higher power, because that would mean, when I ask said higher power to direct
my thinking, I would have to call a group conscience to do the asking, and then
the group would have to direct my thinking. But can it? I would then have to
ask the group to remove my character defects. But even if the group wanted to,
could it?
To make sense, God has to be non-material. A material entity
is not a suitable entity to direct my thinking, remove my character defects,
etc.
There are five features of God I cannot really do without.
The five are:
Good, Big, Powerful, Communicative, and Clever.
If God is bad, I do not want to turn my life over to Him.
That would make no sense.
God must be Big, specifically Bigger than any problem I can
conceive of. If there is any problem too big for God to deal with, no deal.
God must be Powerful, namely with dominion over all
situations and problems I encounter, or else the situations or problems are
more powerful than Him, and what good is such a ‘god’?
And I have to be able to communicate with God in Step
Eleven, and the communication must work in both directions. There’s no point in
praying for God’s will without such communication being in place.
Lastly, the capability and communication require
intelligence, hence Clever.
Once these are in place, I’m good to go. Any further conception is up to me.