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13 Nov 2007 Alpha Course: The Day Out part 3

[Alpha] After session 1 and session 2 it was time for the final talk of the day; 'How Can I be Filled with the Holy Spirit'.

The minister gave his final talk on the subject of the Holy Spirit. There was much page flicking and praising about how great God and Jesus Christ is, which is what I've come to expect from each of these talks. He answered the question of "How do we know that we are a Christian?", though whether he overheard our discussion or he planned to addressed that question much earlier only he knew. His answer is that everyone reacted differently to the realisation and acceptance of Christhood; some laugh with joy, others shed a tear, some don't feel particularly different.

He also mentioned that Christians received gives from God, one of which is speaking in tongue. The minister didn't want to speak in tongue in front of everyone but mentioned that if anyone was interested then he would happily take people in the corner to discuss it further. I was rather curious about what speaking in tongue sounded like. However I never plucked up the courage to directly ask him.

He concluded the session with the message of God is always wanting to give more and more of the Holy Spirit to help you when it is needed; all you need to do is ask Him.

He then got everyone to stand up and invited them to a silent prayer. The minister prayed out loud, thanking God for a whole manner of things. I decided to close my eyes and do some breathing exercises to relax myself so I didn't really hear what the minister said. Then he got all the staff members to go to each of the people standing up and place their hand on them to pray. Something like a channelling of praying power or something.

Then the minister approached me and, with my eyes closed, he placed his hand on my chest.

He prayed for me.
He thanked me for having a inquisitive mind and for being a seeker.
He wanted to let me know that God loved me.
I could feel the warmth of his hand on my chest. Noticeably warm in fact. I was trying to work out if he still had his hand on my chest or not without opening my eyes.

After the prayer everyone opened their eyes. I felt particularly relaxed.

Now to me there could be either one of two things happening there. One, is that there was a kind of spiritual energy being used (perhaps even The Holy Spirit™ Himself) or two, the minister and staff members we using the power of suggestion to program people to think positively.

After the prayer the day was pretty much finished and it was time to go home. I took this opportunity to do a little networking with some of the other people. It was interesting to listen to their other viewpoints; some were very passionate about Jesus Christ and argued for his case strongly, others were not too sure about Christianity and had more questions than answers, one was a complete Atheist and gave a completely different spin to the whole religion angle.

One person's comment cause my attention the most. I was discussing the idea that there were many similarities between religions. This leads me to believe that there was once a single real thing, whether it be God, a mass spiritual energy, or whatever, that all religions stem from. However over time ideas changed, names got mixed up and lost, and eventually religions ended up the way they roughly look like today. This guy quickly though about what I said and came back with a response that challenged me. He pretty much said to me:

“If all religions have one original stemming point but then split off into their own versions, which one speaks the truth?”

I sat in my car at the end of the day, the only car left in the car park. This was the time for me to reflect upon the day, I felt like I wasn't ready to go home just yet.

I enjoyed the chance to learn more about Christianity and to hear different people's opinions, as well as voicing my own opinions. The thing I thought about the most was the silent prayer.

The silent prayer at the end of the day, with the church staff members approaching people, placing their hands upon them and channelling the energy to them. It was the first time that I've ever come across something that physical in any religious activity before. Obviously this channelling has a positive impact upon Christians as they believe in it. Likewise I can imagine that this touching would have no effect on somebody that does not believe in religion and spiritual things.

But what happens if you apply this energy channelling to a non-Christian but slightly believes in spirituality?

What happens if you use the power of language and the power of suggestion on someone who is suggestible and can be easily influenced?

Can a church staff member spot these believers/influential people in the audience and target them?

...

I have to admit that the experience did leave me feeling a little... unsure of myself.

God I hate thinking sometimes.

Posted at: 19:00 PM

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