Not so long ago I was sitting in a bar with my friend, and somehow the whole religion thing worked its way into the conversation, (it wasn’t me this time, and no, we weren’t drunk!) Anyway, my friend turned to me and said, “Are you religious?” “Yeah I’m a Christian,” I replied. He simply chuckled, rather sympathetically, and said, “That’s very nice, but… well, just open your mind!” He was very light-hearted about it and he’s a lovely guy. It did get me thinking though.
Is a Christian mind a closed mind? I’m not so sure it is. As my faith has developed, I’ve found that I’ve slowly been able to understand things about the world that never made sense to me before.
The story of Creation is one that tends to crop up frequently in the debate between religious and non-religious people. Perhaps my friend thought that I was ‘closed-minded’ in believing the story of Genesis, for instance, when there is apparently so much scientific evidence to support theories such as Evolution. But is it not possible that both theories could be true, and that they could go hand-in-hand instead of head-to-head?
I think so. In the first chapter of Genesis, the process by which life came to be on the Earth is described as happening in this order: the emergence of plants and vegetation, (verses 11 – 13), the emergence of life in the sea, (verses 20 – 21), the emergence of winged life, (verses 20 – 21), then animal life on the land, (verses 24 – 25), and then finally the arrival of man, (verses 26 – 27). Compare this to the article on the origins of life from http://www.space.com/searchforlife/life_origins_001205.html and you’ll see the same pattern: the first microbes from the primordial soup “learned how to extract oxygen from water, and living things populated the newly expanded continental shelf regions,” (so possibly plants), after which came, “fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and humanity.” (Accessed 17/07/09).
In my opinion, both theories tell the same story but from a different perspective. Whilst the Bible breaks the process down into periods of time referred to as “days,” the theory of Evolution refers to periods of billions of years. In my opinion, Genesis had to be written in a context that the people of time would understand, and I interpret the use of the term “day” to be metaphorical rather than literal.
There are many other instances in which science and Christianity can work together, (why does there have to be a difference between The Big Bang and God saying “Let there be light” in Genesis 1:3, for example.) My friend presumably couldn’t accept that anything about my religion could be true, whereas I can see the accuracy in both scientific theory and the teachings of my faith.
In which case – could it be that I am more open-minded than he is?
Friday 17 July 2009
Friday 3 July 2009
Revelations: How to Find God (Documentary) - An Analysis
On Sunday 28th June 2009, Channel Four transmitted an interesting documentary from writer / director Jon Ronson on The Alpha Course. The Alpha Course, for those of you who don't know, is a series of talks and discussions held over a number of weeks that allows agnostics to listen to, and engage with, Christians about God, Jesus, the Bible, and the meaning of life.
I found the documentary refreshingly balanced for the most part, giving both Christians and agnostics a chance to express themselves in interview. Jon Ronson took the audience into the heart of the group discussions and lectures, managing to capture on film the workings of The Alpha Course with reasonable accuracy.
It was nice to watch a programme, (particularly one with such a potentially controversial subject matter), that didn't seem to have been blemished with a high degree of manipulative editing. However, the cynic inside me still thinks it a remarkable coincidence that the part where one of the Christian leaders apparently loses her temper with an agnostic wasn't captured on film for technical reasons, (they were changing the tape over!) So we only have director Jon Ronson's word for what was actually going on.
This was the main problem with the programme for me. Jon Ronson's voice-over commentary did not accurately reflect the true nature of The Alpha Course. (I myself can speak from personal experience, having recently finished one in December 2008.)
First, he described some of the agnostics attending the Alpha Course as "candidates for conversion," who would be "routinely transformed" by the "mathematical niceness" of the Alpha leaders. This reminded me of the Cybermen in the 2006 series of Doctor Who. They were originally humans who were forced to undergo conversion by a deranged scientist who believed he was making them better, after which, they became thoughtless, emotionless drones, incapable of thinking for themselves. Whether or not this parallel was intended by Jon Ronson, it does conform to the generalised misconception as to how Christians find their faith; they get manipulated and drawn in until they don't know any different, while the non-believers remain capable of seeing the world "as it truly is."
This was not my experience of Alpha. I didn't feel as if I was being twisted or drawn in by any number of faux-pleasantries. As the weeks progressed, I became good friends with my fellow attendees and the group leaders, and of course they were genuinely nice people! During the meals I used to talk geekily to my friend Adam for ages about Doctor Who, for example. There was nothing mathematical about that. He didn't know I was a fan until he very shyly admitted to me that he was, and all manner of Menoptra-related conversations ensued! What it boils down to is the fact that God is a god of love, and those filled with his loving Holy Spirit will reflect this quality, this "niceness," this sense of friendship. I find it strange that Jon Ronson was so obviously disturbed by this. I would be fascinated to know what he would have made of nasty, violent Christians, fighting tooth and nail to drag non-believers into their seminars for upgrading!
Second, Ronson draws particular attention to Alpha's structure. In one sequence, he juxtaposes footage from one of Nicky Gumbel's talks, (Gumbel being Alpha's founder), with footage from a talk being given in the church in which the documentary is based. Ronson shows that they are delivering an almost identical lecture. Why this should be quite so shocking is a mystery to me. It's a course! If we were looking at a Science GCSE in which one school taught that the Earth was flat while the other taught that it was a sphere, nobody would have a clue what the real answer was! So if what Alpha says about God is true, why would another Alpha Course at another church contradict this? At a time when people criticise Christianity and the Bible for supposed contradictions and inconsistencies, I find it startling that Ronson has drawn attention to the fact that Christian leaders are actually agreeing with each other!
There's plenty more I could say about Jon Ronson's rather bizarre commentary, (such as his fixation with young Christian women serving food, and the unusual comparision he makes between Nicky Gumbel and Tony Blair), but let's not turn this blog into one big moan! A nice thing for me was that, at one point in the programme, an agnostic called Mel was described as feeling a surge of energy during difficult times that she thought might be God. She's a non-believer, I'm a Christian, we don't know each other from Adam, and what she experienced is exactly the same as what I feel when I talk to the Holy Spirit! (In fact I've made mention of it in my blog on how I found my faith.) So although Ronson did annoy me a little with his moments of impartiality, I am grateful that he strengthened my relationship with God through this piece of evidence.
I found the documentary refreshingly balanced for the most part, giving both Christians and agnostics a chance to express themselves in interview. Jon Ronson took the audience into the heart of the group discussions and lectures, managing to capture on film the workings of The Alpha Course with reasonable accuracy.
It was nice to watch a programme, (particularly one with such a potentially controversial subject matter), that didn't seem to have been blemished with a high degree of manipulative editing. However, the cynic inside me still thinks it a remarkable coincidence that the part where one of the Christian leaders apparently loses her temper with an agnostic wasn't captured on film for technical reasons, (they were changing the tape over!) So we only have director Jon Ronson's word for what was actually going on.
This was the main problem with the programme for me. Jon Ronson's voice-over commentary did not accurately reflect the true nature of The Alpha Course. (I myself can speak from personal experience, having recently finished one in December 2008.)
First, he described some of the agnostics attending the Alpha Course as "candidates for conversion," who would be "routinely transformed" by the "mathematical niceness" of the Alpha leaders. This reminded me of the Cybermen in the 2006 series of Doctor Who. They were originally humans who were forced to undergo conversion by a deranged scientist who believed he was making them better, after which, they became thoughtless, emotionless drones, incapable of thinking for themselves. Whether or not this parallel was intended by Jon Ronson, it does conform to the generalised misconception as to how Christians find their faith; they get manipulated and drawn in until they don't know any different, while the non-believers remain capable of seeing the world "as it truly is."
This was not my experience of Alpha. I didn't feel as if I was being twisted or drawn in by any number of faux-pleasantries. As the weeks progressed, I became good friends with my fellow attendees and the group leaders, and of course they were genuinely nice people! During the meals I used to talk geekily to my friend Adam for ages about Doctor Who, for example. There was nothing mathematical about that. He didn't know I was a fan until he very shyly admitted to me that he was, and all manner of Menoptra-related conversations ensued! What it boils down to is the fact that God is a god of love, and those filled with his loving Holy Spirit will reflect this quality, this "niceness," this sense of friendship. I find it strange that Jon Ronson was so obviously disturbed by this. I would be fascinated to know what he would have made of nasty, violent Christians, fighting tooth and nail to drag non-believers into their seminars for upgrading!
Second, Ronson draws particular attention to Alpha's structure. In one sequence, he juxtaposes footage from one of Nicky Gumbel's talks, (Gumbel being Alpha's founder), with footage from a talk being given in the church in which the documentary is based. Ronson shows that they are delivering an almost identical lecture. Why this should be quite so shocking is a mystery to me. It's a course! If we were looking at a Science GCSE in which one school taught that the Earth was flat while the other taught that it was a sphere, nobody would have a clue what the real answer was! So if what Alpha says about God is true, why would another Alpha Course at another church contradict this? At a time when people criticise Christianity and the Bible for supposed contradictions and inconsistencies, I find it startling that Ronson has drawn attention to the fact that Christian leaders are actually agreeing with each other!
There's plenty more I could say about Jon Ronson's rather bizarre commentary, (such as his fixation with young Christian women serving food, and the unusual comparision he makes between Nicky Gumbel and Tony Blair), but let's not turn this blog into one big moan! A nice thing for me was that, at one point in the programme, an agnostic called Mel was described as feeling a surge of energy during difficult times that she thought might be God. She's a non-believer, I'm a Christian, we don't know each other from Adam, and what she experienced is exactly the same as what I feel when I talk to the Holy Spirit! (In fact I've made mention of it in my blog on how I found my faith.) So although Ronson did annoy me a little with his moments of impartiality, I am grateful that he strengthened my relationship with God through this piece of evidence.
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