'After a recent talk I had given at Aberdeen University...a student approached me...[and] explained how he had...abandoned his faith as a teenager... He looked at me thoughtfully and then said quietly, "...Nobody ever told me there were *reasons* to believe that Christianity might be true...I...may need to rethink some things." He signed up for the Alpha Course.'
'He signed up for the Alpha Course.'
Oh terrific! As someone who has experienced the Alpha Course in all its watery fullness (fortunately I was at this point a solid believer seeking fellowship rather than a foundation for my faith), you can probably kiss goodbye to that student if you have merely left him to participate in the nonsense of the Alpha Course.
I've likewise been through an Alpha course. At least in my experience, while the material was perhaps meager, there were theologically sound and apologetically knowledgeable Christians leading, teaching, and otherwise involved in the course.
Then you were one of the fortunate ones, my friend.
Also, while it can be said that the Alpha Course contains some of the basic fundamental truths of Christianity, it is widely understood that these fundamental truths are not so much impressed upon participants than merely asserted and held open to discussion.
In general I fear for the ungrounded who enter this course.
'After a recent talk I had given at Aberdeen University...a student approached me...[and] explained how he had...abandoned his faith as a teenager... He looked at me thoughtfully and then said quietly, "...Nobody ever told me there were *reasons* to believe that Christianity might be true...I...may need to rethink some things." He signed up for the Alpha Course.'
ReplyDelete'He signed up for the Alpha Course.'
Oh terrific! As someone who has experienced the Alpha Course in all its watery fullness (fortunately I was at this point a solid believer seeking fellowship rather than a foundation for my faith), you can probably kiss goodbye to that student if you have merely left him to participate in the nonsense of the Alpha Course.
Hopefully he will supplement that with material by Bannister and other suchlike.
ReplyDeletePardon me, Steve, I thought I had replied to this... Yes, that is my hope.
DeleteI've likewise been through an Alpha course. At least in my experience, while the material was perhaps meager, there were theologically sound and apologetically knowledgeable Christians leading, teaching, and otherwise involved in the course.
ReplyDeleteThen you were one of the fortunate ones, my friend.
DeleteAlso, while it can be said that the Alpha Course contains some of the basic fundamental truths of Christianity, it is widely understood that these fundamental truths are not so much impressed upon participants than merely asserted and held open to discussion.
In general I fear for the ungrounded who enter this course.
Thanks, Danny. :-) Fair enough. N=1 and all that.
Delete