alpha@wefc

What about the Da Vinci Code? Wed, 20 Jan, 2010

Remember the book or the movie, The Da Vinci Code? and some of the claims or statements in it like the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus? And their descendants came to be the royalty of France  Controversy swirled around many of these claims. Whatever those claims, it was a hugely popular book and certainly a hugely popular movie.

As a facilitator in an Alpha Course, we are taught to turn questions around and ask  it of the participants instead to solicit responses and thus, a discussion amongst the participants that turns into learning for everyone. Sometimes, we get asked questions which aren’t handled in the same way and instead, we provide the answers.

While facilitating one of the weekly sessions during a previous Alpha Course, that occurred around the time of the movie, one of the participants  in the group I was facilitating surprised us when they asked about the Da Vinci Code and whether some of the claims made in it were true. Many of the  participants in the group had differing views and theories. Coincidentally, I had been reading about the same for the last few nights and was somewhat familiar with the topic. But because I was reading for self-interest and not expecting similar questions to pop up in Alpha, I was ill-prepared to share what I’d been reading. It was certainly an interesting discussion though!

I eventually printed out a bunch of stuff and distributed them to the group the following week. I invited everyone to read the materials in their own time and to ask questions in subsequent questions if they had any. In our last run of the Alpha Course, that question popped up again. This time, I found a video of Nicky Gumble, founder of the Alpha Course, dealing with the same topic and answering some of the commonly asked questions.

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- adrian t