There's a lady in my breakout group who's never had a position on religion. One of her friends told her about Alpha and she joined so she could make up her mind. It's cool to have Ewa in the group because she offers a fresh (and what I can only presume to be an honest and unbiased) perspective.
Our group conversation about believing in the existence of Jesus as the Son of God evolved to its natural terminal point, the uninitiated mind needs a leap of faith to close the loop. In Ewa's words as she described her reaction upon hearing the vicar give Biblical evidence as proof for believing, "Imagine my disappointment." That disappointment arose because without the benefit of years accepting the reality of God as a fundamental truth, she reasonably sought answers from a starting point of nothing. And, of course, that's a difficult leap to make, assuming one is not helped along by being in a difficult personal situation etc.
Two interesting ideas rose to my consciousness during today's conversation. First, accepting Jesus has to be an active decision one takes. Expect no light switches going off, no epiphanies to spark that belief. A married group-mate remarked that it's not unlike making the decision to take a mate (talk about making a point I can see...lol). Second, accepting God gives a sense of calm; it fills a void which, without God, makes us feel incomplete. I can relate to that nagging emptiness; I also feel confident that if I became religious, my belief would obliterate that void.
The trouble I've had, though, is that without having genuine belief, I feel uncomfortable about filling that hole just because it makes me feel better. ...So I'm back to needing faith, blind faith. A luta continua.
