alpha@wefc

Is That Question Taboo? Wed, 13 Jan, 2010

Start of a brand new year and we are already looking forward to a slew of exciting activities in alpha@wefc. Our church, WEFC, has started on packing and preparing to move out of our current premises so that the old building can be torn down and a new one gets built in its place. Lots of challenges ahead of us but looking forward to the excitement!

Meanwhile, on to our first post for the year 2010..

A teacher friend once made this observation about Singaporean students – they usually have no questions during Q&A but after a lecture, these same students would crowd around the speaker with a host of questions that they were too shy to ask publicly.

Many of us are like those students. We have questions that we are too embarrassed to ask publicly because we fear looking ignorant in the eyes of our peers, fear being admonished by others for our “lack of faith,” or are concerned that we may be hauled up by one of the church pastoral staff or church elders for “counseling” because of those questions.

I have recently encountered questions such as:

“Did Jesus really have an affair with Mary Magdalene as proposed in The Da Vinci Code?”

“Isn’t Christianity only one of the many roads to God?”

“Why did God have to go through all the trouble of Jesus dying for our sins and all that?  Just remove the tree in the Garden of Eden!”

.

The Alpha Course is the forum where no questions are considered too simple or too hostile to be brought up for discussion – there are NO taboo questions in Alpha!

As a facilitator and discussion leader in the Alpha Course, I have enjoyed these open discussions very much. You can hear and feel the earnest desire of guests seeking answers in their quest for the truth. I am very glad that I was a part of their journey to find this truth and can continue to be a part of their future journey.

Most of all, I have personally benefited from the Alpha Course as well – it has made me embark on the same journey so that I may think through what I believe, why I believe it, and learn how I can share these reasons for my faith!

Many of your friends, colleagues and even relatives may be on their own journey, looking for answers to un-asked questions about life and an explanation for the things that happen around them despite what they do.

Would you be willing to be that instrument that God uses to help us and others find the Way, the Truth, and the Life? Read stories and learn more at  http://alpha.wefc.org.sg. Invite yourself or your friend. Or maybe both of you can join us to embark on this journey of discovery in our next Alpha Course.

- Albert Y