Alpha episode 4: Is there more to life than this? Join the Alpha Course for a share of the SBD from this series of posts

nextgen622 (71) in life • 7 years ago

Thanks for joining me for episode 4 of the Alpha Course. If you missed the previous post, you can view episode 3 here.

In this series, I hope to explore with you some of the most important questions we'll ever ask. No matter what beliefs or lack of beliefs you currently hold, I invite you to join me in these series of posts for a share of all SBD earned to be split between all active participants throughout the series.

Is there more to life than this?

This series is designed for anyone who have wondered about any of the following:

Is there a God?
What is the purpose of life?
Why is there so much suffering in the world?
Is there more to life than this?

If you've ever wanted to ask these deeper questions of life in a non-judgemental environment, and receive intellectual, evidence-based answers to life's tough questions, then I invite you to follow me in this series of posts.

How to participate and receive a share of all SBDs earned from this series of posts

To receive a share of all the liquid rewards from this series of posts, you will need to watch the video each week, and comment with the following:

Something that stood out for you from the video (such as a question or observation), and
respond to the discussion question

Please watch the video from Week 4 below

This week we will be delving into the following:

What is faith?
Faith and Christianity is a relationship
The work of the Holy Spirit

Hope everyone could watch to the end of the video and share any points that stood out for you in the video.

This week's question is: What do you think it means to have a relationship with God?

You're welcome to answer the above question, or alternatively, you can choose to comment on any other theme from this week's video.

Rewards from the posts will be shared at the end of the Course among those who participate each week. Its not too late to join the course. You can check out the first post here.

This is meant to be a respectful and open group, where all questions and views are welcome, and where we intend to explore these deeper questions of life without any fear of being judged. So please try your best to be respectful.

The Alpha Course is held all over the world. If you enjoyed this video and would like to attend an Alpha Course in person, you can go here to find out more.

Alpha Course是一个我在英文区开始的系列。希望中文区的朋友们也能够来参加。

在这个系列中，我们将会一起探讨一些关于人生的大问题；比如生命的意义是什么？

这系列收到的所有SBD将会与每个参与者一起分享。

Follow me @nextgen622 for the next installment in the Alpha Course series

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7 years ago by nextgen622 (71)

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progressivechef (76) · 7 years ago

I have actually witnessed quite a lot of positive changes in behaviors from many of my friends who changed completely their life after having faith and started a relationship with god!
It's amazing to see how someone who was leading a very bad way of living, completely change like that. Rude people become so sweet and start caring for the community. This is the magic of faith in god.
Everyone has different faiths, but in the end , from my understanding, all religions have the same message, be good and do good. Now of course some people with dirty mentality do the contrary by hiding behind some religion and make it look bad. Well we have to live with it!
The message in the video, as said by the lady is so true ; one does not become Christian just by being born in a Christian country, or because your parents were Christian. And the same goes to any other religious faith.
I hope you understand what I want to explain!

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nextgen622 (71) · 7 years ago (edited)

Hi mate,

Thank you very much for taking the time to watch the video and comment.

It’s great that you’ve had the opportunity to witness the change in some of your friends after they started a relationship with God. Certainly that’s what happened in my life, and it was only when my mum witnessed the change in my life that she too wanted to know this Jesus.

I just wanted to comment on your following statement, because it’s a very common belief held by many people. You said Everyone has different faiths, but in the end , from my understanding, all religions have the same message, be good and do good.

This is what I believe too in the past, until I actually started exploring what each religion teaches. Actually each religion differ significantly in every aspect and in fact contradict on many of the core teachings. For example, Christianity teaches that Jesus is God and he proved this by resurrection from the dead, Islam say that Jesus was a prophet and he did not resurrect, so they can’t be both right at the same time. So how do we know who to believe? For me the central question comes down to what did the founder of each faith/religion say about who they were. The Buddha never claimed to be God, Muhammad who founded Islam said he was only a prophet, only Jesus claimed to be God, and proved it by resurrection from the dead. So for me, the most important question is ‘Is Jesus really who he claimed to be and did he really resurrect from the dead to prove this?’

You are right in that many religions teach that we need to ‘do good and be good’, but in fact that’s not what Christianity teaches. Jesus and the Bible teaches that we can’t earn our way into a relationship with God. No matter how hard we try, no one will be able to do enough or be good enough, because we are all in the same boat, we have all sinned and deserve God’s punishment for our sins. Christianity teaches that we can only be right with God because of what Jesus has done. Only Jesus lived a perfect life and took the punishment for our sins on the cross. So we are only able to be forgiven for our sins and have a relationship with God when we accept what Jesus has done and accept him into our life to lead our lives. Like the example in the video, the choice to open the door to allow Jesus to come into our hearts rests with eachindividual person. When we invite Jesus into our lives, we become a new creation, and our thoughts and passions are transformed by the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jesus), and only then can we have a relationship with God, and are empowered to truly live out the life God intended for us. So for me I never consider ‘Christianity’ a religion. Religion is all about rituals, and needing to do enough good to earn your way to be accepted by ‘God’. Christianity is about having a relationship with the Creator of the universe and Jesus who loves us so much to the point of choosing to die in our place.

Hope this make sense. Thank you once again for taking the time to engage in these discussions. I appreciate your honesty and your questions. Please feel free to be totally honest with any other views you want to share or questions you want to ask.

Until next time, take care mate.

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happyme (68) · 7 years ago

Jimmy, I have just 1 issue with the response above. You said:

we have all sinned and deserve God’s punishment for our sins.

Do you punish your children for making mistakes or do you lovingly guide them and teach them not to make the same mistakes again? I do not believe that 'might is right'. Punishment does not create a loving relationship. Instead it creates one of fear and resentment. If you truly show your children love, they WANT to earn your respect and approval. There is no reason for punishment. I used to fear my parents and I did not want my children to fear me. I never had to punish my children and they turned out quite well.

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nextgen622 (71) · 7 years ago

Hi @happyme, sorry I’ve had a busy weekend and only had time to respond now. Thank you for taking the time to read other discussions in the comments. It’s a good question you ask, and here’s my attempt at responding to it.

Do you punish your children for making mistakes or do you lovingly guide them and teach them not to make the same mistakes again? I do not believe that ‘might is right’. Punishment does not create a loving relationship. Instead it creates one of fear and resentment. If you truly show your children love, they WANT to earn your respect and approval. There is no reason for punishment. I used to fear my parents and I did not want my children to fear me. I never had to punish my children and they turned out quite well.

That’s very good parenting advice, and sounds like you did a great job parenting your children. But you know what… God has done the same for us. God has always loved us; all the beauty in creation, the gift of relationships, and above all the love revealed through Jesus. You won’t truly know the full extent of God’s love until you understand the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

The thing is that God has always wanted to ‘lovingly guide us’, and with many people, that’s what God has done for them all their lives. But for many of us, myself included for a large part of my life, we have rejected God and refused to be lovingly guided by him. For some people, no matter how many times God has reached out to them, they have rejected him, and so God allows them to live with the consequences of their sins.

Another thing we need to understand here is God’s justice and holiness. Here’s a part of my response to @maninayton with a similar question he had:

“You say these things because you can’t fully appreciate the concepts of holiness and justice. Many people in the world cannot receive justice for the things done to them in this life time, some because they don’t have the opportunity and other because they don’t have the power. Our judicial systems in the world are flawed because we as people are limitted. But God hates all these evils in the world, and only he can bring about true justice for the wrongs people have chosen to commit. But what kinds of evil deserves punishment and demands justice? As people, we tend to think we are better than others and we are not that bad, but that’s because we can’t fully grasp the holiness or standards/purity of God, in that we have all done wrongs in hurting others. The fact that God chose to voluntarily take the punishment we deserve for us and
suffer in our place, if this isn’t the most amazing act of love, I don’t know what is. He is merciful and patient, patient in waiting for us to come to our senses and
turn back to him.”

Hope this addresses your question and comment. Thanks again for the discussion.

Until next time.
Jimmy

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happyme (68) · 7 years ago

Thanks Jimmy! Please don't feel like you MUST reply immediately. Your daily chores of looking after yourself and your family need to take priority over this course. A response is still just as valid even after several days. I can sense your passion for this topic and that is admirable. Your comments are always respectful and appreciative. I have no idea what you were like in the past, but you seem like a very nice person now. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to meet you here on this platform.

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nextgen622 (71) · 7 years ago

Thank you very much @happyme. I appreciate that. I’m really thankful to have met you here too. You ask great questions and are always open to hearing different points of view. I’ve really enjoyed engaging in the various discussions with you.

Yes, I have a deep passion for this topic because honestly I can say that this relationship with Jesus has totally transformed who I am to the core. It was because my mum saw the transformation in my life that she too decided to explore this faith. That is why I am so passionate in telling other people about Jesus, because I believe he is the truth and the one who I’ve unknowingly been longing for all my life.

I haven’t had an easy childhood as I have written about in my introduction and mini-memoir series, but God has taught me about love, given me joy and peace which were so foreign to me, and a passion for life I never had in the past. He has enriched my life in so many ways and freed me from many of my fears and destructive behaviors in the past. I’m still a work in progress, but I know I am different now. J

Thanks again for your encouragement and taking the time to listen. J

Jimmy

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happyme (68) · 7 years ago

I know I'm married because I have a document that says so.

Before there was paper and the written word, people were married because they FELT they were married. They CHOSE to be married. No piece of paper could validate nor invalidate that feeling.

The Bible doesn't mention your specific name and therefore is no validation that you are a Christian. You are or are not a Christian based on your personal choice.

There exist evil people who hide behind the bible and profess to be Christians (I was married by such a person; the priest performing my marriage) but are far from being a practicing Christian.

I went to a Buddhist temple for an open house and was told by one of the Buddhists that I was a better Buddhist than they were.

Marriage, Christianity, Buddhism: They are but mere words to describe something and categorize it. The reality is what you feel and how you behave.

When I was in grade 5, the school handed out new testaments to all of us. I opened the book and began to read. One page listed 10 commandments. Part way down I read something to the effect of, 'Thou shalt believe or thou shalt be punished'. That's as far as I ever read from that book. I refused then and refuse now to be threatened into believing anything. In this video I saw something similar: You can choose Jesus and have eternal life, or die. There is no middle ground, no 3rd choice, nothing! Black or white. What if I reject Jesus but accept God? Nope... no good... you die!

But you know what? Death might just be better than eternal life. Death makes living now worthwhile. Knowing that you don't get a 2nd chance makes life worth living. Can you imagine being bored out of your mind after 200 Million years and wanting to kill yourself but not being able to?

I really have no idea and no proof one way or the other of what happens after death. So in the mean-time, I do my best to live life in a peaceful harmonious way and to assist others whenever I am able. I know that God loves me, but I wouldn't call myself a Christian, nor any other religious name for that matter. I am simply me; a lump of cells and organisms living together in a symbiotic relationship that we call a body and that body lives in a symbiotic relationship with a larger body that is the world around us; both physical and non-physical. I am God's creation and God loves me.

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maninayton (58) · 7 years ago

Thank you @nextgen622 for posting another video in this series.

I - as always :-) - have a number of issues with what the video talks about.

The presenter in the video says "Faith is based on facts" and then goes on to say his facts are in the Bible. Without wanting to reopen the previous debate we have had already on this topic, I will say again that the Bible is in no way a historical document.

It is also mentioned that "Belief in the non-existence of God requires faith"

No, it doesn't.

I don't believe in Unicorns because there is no evidence for them. I don't have faith that they don't exist, instead, I have a lack of evidence that drives me to conclude that they don't. Evidence-based thinking. Not faith.

One thing that has struck me so far in this series of videos is that we have been presented with nothing but quotes from a dubious source (the bible) and talk about feelings. No evidence and nothing that would stand up in a court of law. Therefore faith has to be used as a prop for a belief when there is nothing else to support it.

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nextgen622 (71) · 7 years ago

Thank you @maninayton once again for taking the time to watch the video and comment.

You are right in saying that we have already discussed extensively all the points you have raised. I and many others have provided evidence to support why we believe the Bible to be a reliable historical document, which you’ve refused to accept. And that’s totally fine, because you are entitled to your opinions. But I don’t want to be circling around the same points again.

It is also mentioned that "Belief in the non-existence of God requires faith"
No, it doesn't.
I don't believe in Unicorns because there is no evidence for them. I don't have faith that they don't exist, instead, I have a lack of evidence that drives me to conclude that they don't. Evidence-based thinking. Not faith.

I’ve already previously pointed out the flaws to your reasoning, so I’m just going to post what I previously wrote again.

“Atheism like any other belief system requires evidence or else you are simply jumping into its claims with blind faith. If you said you were agnostic, then you don’t need to prove anything, because you would be unsure about whether God exists. But since you believe in Atheism, Atheism claims that there is definitely no God, and the universe and life came into existence without any intelligent design and intervention. If you looked at the extraordinary number of factors that is required for life to exist on Earth and the improbability of this happening, you would know that the claim of Atheism is arguably an even more extraordinary claim. So yes, you would need to provide evidence supporting your claim that without any doubt, there is no God/intelligent design, and the universe was a coincidence.”

And you said Atheism does not require faith. I take a sceptical position regarding an
extraordinary claim you make for there being a God. This is because no one has
ever produced compelling evidence for there being one. This disbelief is not an
act of faith; it is simply common sense. As I read somewhere recently. If a man
came up to you and said he had a magic, invisible elf sat on his shoulder, would
you believe him? No of course not. To my mind, there is no difference between a
man saying he has a magic elf and you saying there is a God. Neither of you can
provide evidence that either exists.

“The problem with your statement is that it is purely your own subjective view of what is common sense. In the same way, I can assert that from my perspective the existence of God is the much more common sense position to take. Your magic elf example is flawed because no rational person believes that and there is no evidence for it, whereas many rational people hold to the believe of a God based on evidence, such as the fine-tuning and order of the universe that point to a Creator.
Like anything, holding to the belief of Atheism does require evidence to support your beliefs. Just as if you said to me your wife doesn’t exist or Donald Trump doesn’t exist, you would need to provide evidence to me that support your claim why you don’t think they exist. Claiming something doesn’t exist requires evidence in the same way as claiming that it does exist, especially in this case when it relates to God as such a large proportion of rational people believe in the existence of God.
And yes this relates to the whole intelligent design debate. I’m not sure we’ll get anywhere with that debate, but again for what it’s worth, the Theory of Evolution has very weak evidence and many flaws I can point you too, but that’s going to take up a huge amount of both our times. In addition, I believe in science too, but science can only test hypotheses and there are many questions that science have no answers to.”

Jimmy

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happyme (68) · 7 years ago

I have been having very similar discussions with the Jehovah's Witnesses for over 10 years. They keep bringing me more 'evidence' and I keep finding more 'questions'. Humans have a way of finding proof of what they believe, but ultimately it comes down to making a personal choice about how we wish to explain that which (at this point in time) cannot be explained, let alone understood.

I had 3 young Mormons visit me one day and I asked them a simple question: Would you still be a Mormon if your parents were not Mormons? All 3 fell into silence and then had to suddenly leave. I doubt they had ever considered such an option. It is common to grab hold of something that is easy to grasp and hang onto it if it 'works' for you. It is less common to dig deeper and question why we need to believe in something.

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