Forget the course themes, the discussion sessions and the talks; forget rational inquiry, evidence, theories and logic; forget the search for truth or a meaningful probing into the notion of what God is or why we should believe. This isn't what the Alpha Course is about. In fact, I think I've sussed how the Alpha Course works, and how it's been so successful. Call it a "revelation", if you will.
After our dinner, we move into the room where we are about to hear the speaker for the evening give her talk about Bible reading, only this time there's a bit of a twist: rather than getting straight to it, making the introductions and explaining the significance that the Bible should play in our lives, we're going to do something else first: we're going to sing a hymn. Amazing Grace, I'm sure you know that one. It has a catchy tune, I remember it from my primary school days, so I'm sure it'll be no problem for everybody to join in and sing their praises to God together.
This is what the Alpha Course is all about: gradually increasing levels of active involvement in Christian activity. Last week, if you remember, we were encouraged to take part in a prayer. It was simple to do, you just bow your head and close your eyes and say "Amen" at the end. This week, we're upping the ante a little by actually singing. Far less passive, much more active, yet still a simple act.
This is week four out of a total of ten. I've heard stories (which appear to be confirmed by the course guide given to us) that this goes as far as encouraging us to speak in tongues. Maybe even further...
What impact does this have? It affects how you identify yourself. For example, I would quite comfortably identify myself as a singer. Why? Because I regularly sing in public. I'd refer to myself as a blogger. Why? Because I regularly write blogs. I'd refer to myself as a driving instructor. Why? Because I teach people to drive.
If I ceased doing any of these things, I'd no longer refer to myself as such. Instead, I'd say "I used to be a singer," or "I used to be a driving instructor." A person's behaviour can have quite profound effects on their self-image. Could it be that these small steps are a way of leading somebody who may have been sitting a little bit on the fence when considering whether to identify as a Christian or an agnostic into the type of behaviour that would make it easier to decide on how they define themselves?
I know many people who would answer the question "what religion are you?" with a very wishy-washy answer along the lines of "Well, I'm kind of a Christian, but I don't go to church..." and if you do a bit more digging and questioning, you'll probably find that they don't pray, don't read the Bible etc., all the kinds of behaviour that Christians are supposed to do. As far as whether or not they believe in God, they may well answer "yes", without really knowing anything about what God supposedly is in the way that he's described in the Bible. "Christian" is simply the box that they tick on the census form because they were labelled as such from a young age and haven't stopped to think "Do I actually believe all this?"
I can see how this might have an effect, but at the moment it's just my hypothesis. We'll see as the weeks go by.
The talk for the evening was about "Why and how should we read the Bible?" and as much as I've just attempted to recall anything from it to include here, the only thing I can really remember was that it was once again (as is becoming a predictable pattern) a series of anecdotes and metaphors that didn't seem to make a lot of sense. The conclusion was that we should try to read a little of the Bible every day and let it help to guide us.
She also points to a collection of books at the back of the room that contain "Bible reading Guide notes". Why do we need Bible Reading guide notes? It's a big book, there's a lot in it, and it's supposed to be inspired by God. There are some very nice verses in there and some very not-nice verses in there. There are some verses that flatly contradict each other. These guides show you which verses you should focus on and how to interpret them. But if you're only reading the parts you're directed to read and ignoring the rest, you're not being guided by God at all, you're being guided by a person who can be just as fallible as you or I. It's a form of quote mining, like when creationists pull Darwin's quote about the evolution of the eye out of context, completely ignoring the words that follow directly after it.
I need to stop on that subject, all this faulty logic is making by brain hurt.
The talk is mercifully brief, and this is usually our break for coffee, but just as I'm about to get up, the leader from my discussion group comes over and sits down with me. She tells me that after last week's discussion, she wondered whether the group I'm in was really helping me at all, and that perhaps I might get a bit more out of a discussion with her husband, who is a vicar, and the man who gave the first two evening's lectures on "Who is Jesus?" and "Why did Jesus die?" This is an interesting twist, and something that intrigues me. If you read my first two blogs you may remember the impression I was left with after the lectures he gave. Not very impressed with his logic, but he was, at least, quite articulate. At the time that I was asked, I felt a little wary, but the more I think about it, the more I relish the opportunity to have a one-on-one theological discussion with an articulate vicar... even though it might end up being akin to banging my head against a wall even harder than the granite one I described in blog number 2.
He wasn't available that night, but should be around for a discussion next week. Make sure you tune in to next weeks blog, that should make for some very interesting reading!
Getting back to this session though, we made our way into our groups to find ours quite severely diminished from the previous weeks: just me, the leader and two others. It turned out to be quite a good experience! One guy, who had been fairly quiet in the first few weeks and seemed to be quite willing to take on the stories being presented to him, suddenly showed himself to be very critically minded. He set about highlighting one absurdity in the Bible after another, which made me smile, but I really remember very little about it so I won't go on. For me, the important parts of the evening were the hymn, which highlighted to me the approach that the Alpha Course is really taking, and the offer of a one-on-one talk with the vicar next week.
I really don't want to forget what's said during that discussion, so I may ask him if he minds if I record the conversation.
This may be interesting...
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