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15 Dec 2007 Alpha Course: The Conclusion
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The Alpha Course is now finished. It's been an interesting 9 weeks, with an extra day-out day of discussion. However at the end of it all I don't feel anymore of a Christian than I did at the beginning of the course. I don't feel converted, I have not developed a desire to go to church or make any attempt to spread the Christian gospel.
But I do feel I have more understanding and respect for Christians. I also believe that there is something to this religion thing, something 'spiritually' special that conventional, scientific means cannot explain.
And I did come to the following conclusions:
- Christians are normal people too. They have normal virtues and vices and they do the things that non-Christians do. This fact is something that often gets overlooked when we think of religious people.
- It's the person that gives religion a bad name, not the other way around. If you meet a Christian who is smug about being a Christian, with his “I'm holier than thou” attitude, it's probably because he is generally a smug person and would feel the same about anything that made him feel better than others.
- Religion does make some people do positive things, like self help, being charitable and so on. However religion does not take away the corruption and politics that can happen behind closed church doors.
- There are lots of similarities between different religions, like Christianity and Buddhism, that makes me think there is something real about spiritual energies, deities and the likes of. Either that or everyone is completely wrong.
- One of the fundamental messages of many religions, if not all religions, seems to be “To love and respect one another”. This to me seems to be a fundamental human lesson and survival instinct.
- It gives people a chance to think outside the conventional box a little. Maybe the world was created in just seven days. Would that be a bad thing?
There was a some value to be gained from the Alpha Course, especially if you are willing to listen. If there was a kind of Alpha Course for all of the major religions, hell for all religions, then I would definitely sign up to learn about them. Either that or dedicate some time to studying religious theology.
Despite all these things that I've learnt, despite how 'simple' it seems to become a Christian and to gain all of the praise and love from God due to Jesus Christ, I feel that Christianity is not right for me. There are many things about it that I disagree with, I don't like the idea of being completely submit to a deity that I feel I have no connection with. I don't feel a sense of benefit if I was to become a Christian. I know that I would not give 100% of myself to the religion.
If I didn't give 100% then surely that would make me a kind of hypocrite, so what is the point?
Posted at: 21:25 PM
Your Thoughts
Flik said on Monday 31st of December 2007 at 06:02:15 PM
does anyone give 100%?