When Is It Right To Drop Out Of A Course.?

[modeller]

I was persuaded to go on a Christianity Explored course because, they said ', it was aimed at atheists and confused believers'.

I have to say after the second session I couldn't stand the nonsense anymore. There was no 'Exploration' . Everything was highly selected. as were the questions which were 'loaded ' to get the acceptable answer.

The acceptable answer was one which supported their view that the bible was fact , end of story, there was no real attempt to explore miracles and events to see whether there might be alternative explanations.

I gave up, ! Maybe prematurely but I was looking for some research not hours of evangelising. Was I right to give up so soon. ?

[boxtops]

If you couldn't find the course content plausible, let alone credible, then I think you were right to give up.

[seadogg]

Do you really want to be brainwashed by a bunch of fanatics?

[Jennykenny]

Absolutely. Life is too short to put up with nonsense!

[jomifl]

Modeller, perhaps a scientific approach would have saved you the second visit. You could have devised a thought experiment to determine whether the course was being honest or just being deceitful and trying to draw you in. As soon as your chosen test was passed or failed you could have walked out without any feeling of obligation.

[askyourgran]

I would tell them what you thought of their presentation modeller, obviously it wasn't much of an in-depth exploration of Christianity. Imo Christianity is on the back burner, we are awash with different faiths here. David Cameron has the nerve to tell us now that multiculturism is not working for us, we have concentrated too much on terrorism and other cultures rather than our own. As if we didn't know that. (sorry modeller I went off tangent at bit there). It would probably have been an interesting course had it been explored as you say.

[mikey4444]

If you are an atheist modeller, as I think you are, I'm not sure why you went on the course in the first place. Surely, it turned out exactly as you thought it would. You can't have been surprised !

[woofgang]

Its right to leave the INSTANT that you don't want to do it any more. I do believe in god and I also honestly believe that things like the Alpha course and so on are a very bad idea indeed.

[Peter Pedant]

This wasnt the course for you Modeller

Didnt you go in and say that John 1 - make straight the way of the Lord
was a conflation of two OT quotes and so the rest of the Bible was a load of cobblers ? Bit of a non sequitur there but you know we are talking Bible.

and then a little later let on that you are conversant with Aramaic ?
I only have the NT Gk: euthuvate thn hodon tou kyriou (my transliteration)

I mean come on - this course was neva YOU.

still - you could have turned up for a few more sessions
"because they needed you"

[CokeTulip]

Modeller - yes. (you know when something is working - trust yourself more)

[vulcan42]

Any Christianity based course aimed at atheists and confused believers is run for one reason only, to make you think the same way as they do. You're better off out of it, it's not giving up, it's regaining your good judgement.

[Zacs-Master]

Well done for escaping with a sound mind (relative).

[modeller]

I went on the course because I genuinely wanted to see if an historical Jesus existed outside the myths. In addition I hoped that if it was Explored with some scientific vigour it would be interesting to tease out the facts from the fiction but from the start it was based on the assumption that the Trinity was fact. That assumption precluded any depth of study.

[woofgang]

tbh i am amazed that you even thought that there was a possibility of that being considered

[modeller]

//I would tell them what you thought of their presentation modeller//
I did tell them personally and by email :

//You can't have been surprised ! //
No I wasn't , but one of the organisers runs a monthly debating group on social issues which is more down to earth so I thought the CE course might be of interest.
As it is I'm more atheistic than ever.

[Peter Pedant]

er... the Trinity is fact ... isnt it ?

[modeller]

woofgang Quite right ! I plead temporary insanity .

[birdie1971]

Modeller - “... from the start it was based on the assumption that the Trinity was fact. That assumption precluded any depth of study...”

The people that run courses like this are not doing so in order to debate and critically examine evidence for the literal existence of Jesus or anything else for that matter. These courses are simply a thinly veiled attempt to get more people into the 'Christianity Club'. As far as this and other religions are concerned, they want you – and in fact, need you – to leave critical thinking, logic and rationality at the door.

[birdie1971]

Peter Pedant - “... the Trinity is fact...”

It depends. If you mean, “There is an idea called the Trinty that means the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” then yes, that is a statement of fact. If however you mean that the Trinity is a literal truth, (ie. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit literally exist and are all just different facets of the same divine entity called God) then I certainly wouldn't use the word “fact” to describe a belief in such patent nonsense.

I am reminded of this quote from a chap called Peter Boghossian, “God sacrificed Himself to Himself to save us from Himself”. How deranged is that?

[ummmm]

I went on the Alpha course. I daydreamed my way through it...spent all my imaginary lottery win....