Anyone done the Alpha course, can you tell me a bit about it please?

[zulubump]

I've never been a churchgoer and none of my family have, but I've always felt a bit of a spiritual "hole" in my life. The idea of going to church always seemed a bit scary, though. Dh's family are regular church goers but he stopped a few years ago and is not at all keen! Then I had dd who is now 18 months. I've recently started taking her to a Sunday service at a local methodist church. My reasons being that I'd like to give her a chance to see whether Christianity is right for her and also taking her along gives me an excuse to go and see whether it is right for me.

However, attending the services has thrown up all sorts of questions in my mind about Christianity. There are bits I don't understand or aren't comfortable with or even totally disagree with. When dd is older I want to be able to discuss things openly with her so I feel I should try and get some of these things straight in my head. Is the Alpha course somewhere where I could feel safe asking questions like "what's so wrong with being gay?" or "I don't think I believe in the devil" etc?

justaboutback - I do have a very narrow minded view of what proper Christianity is - and so should all Christians.

We are called to search the scriptures as the Bereans did, or do you disagree with that? Much of Catholic teaching just not biblical but then you don't seem to want to address that issue.

Getting back to Alpha, it does have some good points (anything that contains scripture is bound to after all). Again though, we have to examine it in its fullness (like any teaching and I include anything that I'm saying in that).

I really wanted to go on an Alpha course when DD was quite little

The church were very pushy about it but at the time it 'fitted' for me

However no-ne at the church was able/willing to help out with DD & DH worked evenings so I never went - I kinda wish I had

The very one.

Paul was very capable of making mistakes, just like the disciples were. After all, ALL have sinned and fall short of God's glory. However, when it came to recording scripture, there were no mistakes.

Can I ask why testing your faith isn't Biblical?

I'm not about to start telling anyone they're not a Christian, that's for the Lord to decide. Only He and the person involved know the heart.

However, I am in a position to recognise false teaching when I hear/see it and we are called to watch for false teachers.

If the Bible doesn't back it up then it's worth nothing. I include tradition/experience in that.

Well see here's the thing.

The Bible claims for itself to be the infallible Word of God.

If it's not what it claims to be then I'd rather have nothing to do with it.

Do you have any particular examples that you find hard to understand, or even examples of the "mad stuff".

As for nobody taking the Bible literally? Well that's just a silly statement to make.

Alpha course is homophobic bullshit. Avoid at all costs.

Second what other poster said about Quakers, Unitarians are awesome too.

dizietsma - I was holding my mouth, but hear hear. I'm now going to research the Unitarians.

sgrant Actually, the Bible claims that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. It is through relationship with him, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that we have our faith revealed; Scripture - Reason - Tradition - Experience is how many of us realize the outworking of that in our lives.

dizietsma the Alpha course I went on contained nothing about homosexuality at all. I am sure this may come up in some group conversation/Q&A time, though it happened not to be raised in the group I was in. I am sure how it is "answered" (Alpha groups are often led by lay people, and the emphasis is on debate and conversation, not "answers" from Christians to non-Christians) differs from Church to Church. If a Church is being anything less than loving, welcoming and accepting to anyone, and taking away their opportunity to discover more about Christianity through being judgmental then imo they will have to answer to God about that one day. It isn't what the Jesus that I know did whilst on earth.

My cousin is gay and a C of E vicar in a church that runs Alpha.

is the alpha course very 'happy clappy'? our church advertised one on Sunday, but i don't want to go if its all hippies in rainbow tops and jesus sandles and tambourines and guitars.

its ...well...just not very...Roman Catholic!

Their is a Catholic version of the alpha course that I have thought about going to custy. Every now and again we need to go the local CofE church which is a bit happy clappy and I find it mortifying.

Have just read this whole thread, very bizzarre.

Sgrant, you are quite, quite mad. And offensive to many religions.

Great post, Hedgie.

Homosexuality is not part of Alpha, so there is nothing homophobic about the course. The course does not even 'instruct' in Christian living. It uses anecdotes and discipleship, not judgement.

Custardo,

One of the principles behind Alpha is not to do anything that makes guests feel uncomfortable, and that governs how much worship there is, as well as bible reading and prayer. There isn't even a grace before the meal.

We don't have any worship on the courses at our church, although we have done in the past. If churches do have worship, they are supposed to have it in a very accessible and simple way, using hymns that may be familiar to guests. They do not do full-on passionate praise songs.

Bible reading, prayer and worship are introduced several weeks into the course. By then, mosts guests will be ready to move on. Those that find that Alpha is not for them will have dropped out after week 2 or 3.

abbierhodes - I make no apologies for being offensive to many religions.

Not all of them can be right. A faith in Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to salvation. The gospel IS offensive, offensive to sinners. I was raging the first time I sat in a service being told I was a sinner. I proclaim a scandalous message. The message of the cross is, from the perspective of the world, shameful. It is so shameful, so antagonising, so offensive, that even faithful Christians struggle to proclaim it because they will be resented and ridiculed! I am happy to be like Paul who said in Romans 1 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes: to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For, in it, the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written: 'the righteous shall live by faith.'"

hedgiemum - yes you are right, Jesus Christ is referred to as the Word of God, but so is the Bible.

Isaiah said, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken" (1:2). Because the Bible is the Word of God we must obey its message.

Proverbs 30:5-6 says, "Every word of God is pure."

2 Timothy 3:16-17--"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." - this doesn't mean that we need to work toward salvation, that's secure from the moment you believe but scripture help purify the believer in their daily walk with God.

sgrant is clearly a Protestant, it's not that big a shock that a Protestant doesn't agree with Catholic teaching, is it?

but not all protestants agree with sgrant

I'm not asking people to agree with me. My words ultimately mean nothing.

I'm asking people to look at what the Word of God says

Alpha courses - you may like it or hate it. I went on one nearly 10 years ago and didn't like it but other members of my group were enthusiastic. I found it a little too evangelical and rather obviously aimed at the wealthier members of society - but that is where its roots are. It may well have changed in the last 10 years.

"The founder of the Alpha movement, Nicky Gumbel, says in his book "Searching Issues" (using quotations from biblical sources) that homosexuality involves ?shameful lusts?, and he refers to gay people as ?homosexual offenders?. In an article headed ?Catch me if you can? in the Guardian in October 2000, Gumbel said that gay people ?need to be healed? and likened gay men to paedophiles."

Having read "Searching Issues" myself, I can confirm that it is offensive, homophobic nonsense. It is one of the texts the Alpha Course encourages attendees to purchase - I know, as that's why my mother-in-law owned it, and how I managed to read it.

Whether all protestants agree with each other isn't the point (and rather a defining feature of being a protestant in and of itself, actually). It's a historic Christian position and I'm always mildly 'huh?' when I see people shocked-and-appalled by it.

KayHarker - you don't give yourself enough credit on these forums. You get more than you think

That's very nice of you to say, sgrant, but I rather think I get enough credit, and give a rotten witness, generally speaking.