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Alpha Film Series, aflevering 1 | Leven: Is er meer? | Alpha-cursus | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Alpha Film Series, aflevering 1 | Leven: Is er meer?
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n can you get a a m check hi I'm Nikki
welcome to Alpha life is
busy every day we ask so many
questions what should I wear what's the
we going to be
like what's happening
today how am I going to fit everything
in but then there are those bigger
questions like why am I here where am I
heading is this it is there more to life
than this these are life's big questions
but there's rarely enough time to think
them through
properly we all have different
perspectives on the meaning of life and faith
faith
and Alpha is an opportunity to explore
life's big questions this is a great
place to come together and talk about
them openly and honestly I'm Gemma I'm
Alpha um I go on Google Google I
definitely Google I go on Wikipedia
internet I uh scroll through all the
different answers and then I try and
combine it
and then make my own kind of Cornerstone
or myart friend I don't ask Big Life
questions it's too hard to answer
Google or my grandmother I meditate or I
read when I have a big life questions I
probably go to my family I haven't
really had any mess what this to my mom
or my dad basically my mom or my dad
maybe my grand I get most of my answers
from the library in any section there
cuz I don't trust the people that I'm
around the key is always to yourself you
got to figure some things out for
yourself if I'm confused I go to him
first and he confuses me more but when
it's something more personal I try to
find it within myself
first friends of mine told me that the
first night they came to Alpha they sat
in their car for half an hour waiting
and watching people going in and
eventually when they'd seen enough
normal looking people going in they
thought they' give it a try and one
thing that might be going through your
mind is am I going to be the only one
there who doesn't believe all this stuff
who's not a Christian that doesn't go to
church well if that's you then you're in
the right place Alpha is designed for
people who wouldn't call themselves
churchgoers it might feel a bit strange
to be discussing life and faith with
people that you've never met before but
the best thing about Alpa is often the
great friendships that have formed over the
the
weeks for much of my life I was not
remotely interested in Christianity in
fact I don't think I'd ever come to
something like Alpha I was not brought
up as a Christian my father was a
secular Jew he was an agnostic and my
mother didn't go to church a and I had
no interest at all in Christianity first
of all I just thought it was so boring
everything to me about church
Christianity religion was just dull and
Dre and it kind of made me feel a little
bit guilty I didn't know why but I just
didn't want to have anything to do with
it and I also thought it was true I I
thought I'd sort of thought it through
and uh I come up with these intellectual
objections and I call myself very
pretentiously I called myself a logical
determinist and I quite enjoyed arguing
with people who call themselves
Christians and at University I had a bit
of a reputation for being an
argumentative atheist and I also thought
it was irrelevant to my life I couldn't
see how someone who'd lived 2,000 years
ago 2,000 miles away could have any
relevance to my life today it just
seemed outdated and irrelevant but at
the same time looking back now I would
say something was
missing I say that because I don't think
I was living in the moment I was always
looking forward to the next thing in
life so when I was at school I was
thinking when I finish my exams maybe
that will be when I'm going to really
start to enjoy life I finished my exams
and then after about 3 weeks I started
think there's got to be more to life
than this and I thought well maybe when
I've left school that that would be what
life's all about and then I left school
and after about 3 weeks I started to
think there's got to be more to life
than this I thought maybe the answer get
a girlfriend and somehow I don't know
how I managed it but I managed to find a
girlfriend again after about 3 weeks I
thought think it's got to be more to
life than this and and basically there
was something missing I was longing for
more the actor Jim Cary once said I wish
everyone could get rich and famous and
have everything they've ever dreamed of
so they would know that's not the answer
some people dream of having their Name
In Lights of Fame and Fortune some
people dream of finding happiness
through relationships careers money
whatever it may be but do you ever get
that niggly feeling that as good as
those things are there must be more to
life yeah all too often life just
doesn't turn out the way we think it
should and even when it does and we
achieve our wildest dreams it's somehow
never quite enough it just doesn't
satisfy it's like there's something missing
missing
the comedian and actor Russell bran said
drugs and alcohol are not my problem
reality is my problem drugs and alcohol
are my solution to fill up a hole inside
me and Jesus said I am the bread of life
in other words I'm the one who fulfills
the longing that's deep inside every
human heart Jesus claimed to be the one
person who can satisfy that spiritual
hunger Freddy Mercury the lead singer of
the rock group Queen had a master a huge
fortune and attracted millions of fans
but he admitted in an interview shortly
before his death that he was desperately
lonely he said this you can have
everything in the world and still be the
loneliest man and that's the most bitter
type of loneliness success has brought
me world idolization and millions of
pounds but it's prevented me from having
the one thing we all need a loving
ongoing relationship Jesus said I am the
way the truth and the life ultimately
there's only one relationship that is
totally loving and goes on forever and
that's a relationship with God and Jesus
relationship maybe money what makes me
happy music music ice cream and cheese
sleep makes me happy I gu James say my
friends kind Club playing football dogs
alcohol uh women
pretty much the idea of life in general
makes me happy
clothes uh women more toiz than this
that's a really good
question I don't know I can't tell you I
think we're supposed to learn a couple
of things there's nothing more I'm still
figuring that out to be honest uh
no let's live in the moment absolutely I
strongly believe that there's more to
life than this no idea
sorry when I was about 17 I was sitting
having a burger with two friends and we
were looking out the window and
commenting on a few of the stores across
the street and I suddenly realized that
I couldn't read any of the signs even if
I squinted so I asked if I could borrow
one of my friends pair of glasses and as
soon as I put them on I realized I could
see everything like colors shapes words
I was amazed at how everything was so
clear and I could see before but now I
could really see and to me that's the
best way to describe the difference that
Jesus makes Jesus is the lens through
which we see God and he's also the lens
by which we see the world in a totally
different way Jesus said I am the truth
some people's response to a Christian
might be well it's great for you you
found mean and purpose in your life but
it's not for me but when you think about
it that's not actually a logical
position because if Christianity is true
it's of vital importance to every one of
us and if it's not true it's not great
for us cuz it means we're deluded CS
Lewis was one of the great intellectual
Giants of the 20th century probably best
known as the author of The Chronicles of
nania he said this Christianity if false
is of no importance and if true of
infinite importance the only thing it
cannot be is moderately important I come
from a family of lawyers so naturally I
wanted to look at the original documents
and S sources I never really looked at
the evidence before and I was astonished
at how much evidence there is for the
life death and resurrection of Jesus for
me it was through reading these
documents that we find in the New
Testament that I came to the conclusion
it's true one of the last cases I did as
a lawyer was in the court of appeal in
front of Lord Denning absolutely
brilliant mind perhaps the greatest
judge of the 20th century he said on one
occasion that his Bible was his most
tattered book book in his Library he'd
examined the evidence really carefully
and he came to the conclusion it's true
one former professor of history at
Oxford University described the
resurrection as the best attested fact
in history I hadn't realized how many of
the pioneers of modern science were
Believers deart Newton Kepler Galileo
Loch kernus Faraday Kelvin Pastor
Francis Collins one of the greatest
scientists of time was director of the
Human Genome Project mapping the three
billion letters in the human DNA
considered by many to be the most
significant scientific undertaking of
our time he describes how he encountered
Jesus and came to believe in the truth of
of
Christianity well in the home where I
grew up uh Faith was not something that
was talked about very much my father was
a professor of drama my mother a
playright uh when I went to college and
those discussions in the dorm late at
night about religion uh began to occur I
had no particular reason to attach value
uh to a faith system it had never been
something I was familiar with or had
internalized at all and I assumed that
any religious feelings that anyone held
must be on the basis of some emotional
experience and I didn't trust those or
on the basis of some childhood
indoctrination uh which I felt I was
fortunate to have missed I love Lov D
the experience of learning about the
human body and all of the components of
that and I particularly loved being
introduced to genetics but then I ended
up in the medical school curriculum
sitting at the bedside of patients with
diseases this was no longer an abstract
study of molecules and organ systems
these were real
people and one afternoon one of my
patients uh wonderful elderly woman much
like a grandmother uh who had very bad
heart disease she had a particularly bad
episode of chest pain while I was with
her she got through it and at the end of
that explained to me how her faith was
the thing that helped her in that
situation she realized that the doctors
around her weren't really giving her
that much help but her faith was and
after she finished her own very personal
description uh of that face she turned
to me and I had been silent and she
looked at me quizzically and she said
what do you believe doctor
and ultimately I had to admit to myself
that her question had made me realize
that I had arrived at an answer to the
most important issue that we humans ever
deal with is there a god and I had
arrived there without ever really
looking at the evidence and I was
supposed to be a
scientist if there's one thing
scientists claim they do is to arrive at
conclusions based upon evidence and I
hadn't taken the trouble to do that I
was greatly assisted uh by a pastor who
lived down the road who I went and asked
about all this and who gave me a copy of
Cs Lewis's wonderful book Mere
Christianity because here was an Oxford
scholar a prodigiously developed
intellect who had traveled the same path
within those pages I realized for the
first time that one can come to belief
on a rational basis and that in fact
given the many pointers that one sees
around oneself in terms of the universe
and it having a beginning and its
fine-tuning in terms of the way in which
all those constants that determine the
behavior of matter and energy seem to
have been set just in a certain very
precise range to make life possible uh
and many other things including my
beloved mathematics and why they
actually work anyway to describe the
universe something that makes you think
the Creator must have been a
mathematician that brought me then to
the person of Jesus Christ
as a person who was historically
extremely well documented that was news
to me I thought Christ was as much myth
as history and I realized after reading
more about it this was a historical
figure upon which we have a great deal
of evidence for his existence and his
teachings and even his rising from the
dead in a literal way that day at uh my
patient's bedside started a journey for
me a journey that I was reluctant uh to
begin but I felt I needed to a journey
that I thought would result in
strengthening my atheism but to my
surprise resulted in my
conversion there's a difference between
knowing facts about someone and really
knowing them personally now I've know my
husband Phil for 3 years now but suppose
if before we met I found him on a
website called the amazing man now
there's no doubt I would have looked at
him and thought okay I'm intrigued but
what if each page was dedicated to his
amazing ability
his sparkling personality his tender
heart his extraordinary intelligence and
his cooking abilities well I would think
wow he does sound like an amazing person
but that's head knowledge but I also
have the privilege of being married to
him and I know that he's an amazing
person which is knowledge that comes
from an experience of relationship and
that's heart knowledge when Jesus said I
am the truth he was talking about more
than just a kind of intellectual truth
the Hebrew understanding of Truth was
truth as experienced and there's a big
difference between a kind of
intellectual knowledge and a personal
knowledge between your head and your
heart so when someone says I know Jesus
is the truth they're not just talking
about being convinced of the evidence
they're also talking about experiencing
a relationship with the Risen Jesus
Christ so Jesus said I am the way the
truth and lastly he said I am the life I
have come that you may have life and
have it to the full Jesus came to deal
with the things in our lives that stop
us from enjoying life to the full the
Lives I hate shopping I lo it I I think
I'm allergic to shopping but
occasionally my wife per persuades me to
go shopping and just after Christmas uh
it was the sales and she persuaded me to
go shopping and we went into the shop
and we bought this very nice new sweater
uh same color as all my other sweaters
and um we left the shop and we went to
buy a present for her and we went into
this ghastly shop it was so crowded it
was unbelievable and even pipper had had
enough and said okay we're leaving so we
went to leave and as we left the
security alarm went off and the security
guys moved in very quickly and they
stopped us all from leaving and like the
crowd that was trying to leave was
stopped and the crowd that was trying to
come in was stopped and we were there
right in the middle middle uh the six of
us who were going through the security
at that one time were all taken off and
sectioned off from all the rest and they
wanted to see which one of the six of us
had set off the alarm so they sent one
of them through and that was fine they
obviously hadn't set it off then they
sent the next one through they obiously
hadn't set it off then the third then
the fourth none of them set it off so it
was left with Pippa and I were standing
there and I thought oh my goodness I'm
married to a shoplifter it must be
pipper who got set off the alarm so they
sent her through and she didn't set it
off so I thought oh my goodness I've
obviously got something someone must
have planted something on me I'm going
to be arrested I'm going to be sent to
prison all the crowd were watching both
sides they were just watching this
criminal who'd been caught going through
so they went through and as I went
through the alarm went off they took me
to the side they opened up my ruck sack
on my back and there they found this
sweater from the other shop with the tag
still on it I felt so guilty that was
like false guilt I also sometimes
experience true feelings of guilt
because I do things that are not right
that are not good and this is the wonderful
wonderful
news that God loves you and he loves me
God came in the person of his son Jesus
Christ to die for you and for me and on
the cross he took all of your guilt all
of my guilt everything you've ever done
wrong everything I've ever done wrong
said wrong thought wrong and he died in
our place in order that we could be
forgiven and forgiveness CS Le said it's
like a recording of our life wiped
completely clean and when we receive
that forgiveness we find life and life
in all its fullness and that's what
Jesus wants for you and for me Life in
all its fullness life at its very very
best I think for so many years you know
I always just strived to be strong in
myself and it was as if that all I
needed was me and my buddies and you
know would be like Invincible but the
truth is none of us are and I don't want
to do this thing called life I don't
want to do it on my own and it kind of
feels like my longing for this this
light inside is now stronger than my
fear of what others might think and
people often ask what doesn't that make
uh Faith Like a crutch and you know well
maybe but you know what does a crutch do
uh a crutch helps you stand and it makes
you stronger and in that case you know
sure I need a bit of that but especially
when it's so much more than that when
this Faith inside is also also like a
backbone uh helping me stand tall and
helping me be strong when I'm really up
against it facing those odds whether
it's on a mountain or stuck in some
jungle or just dealing with the storms
you know with the storms of life uh sure
I need it I you know I need that uh but
at heart my Christian faith says that I
am that I'm known that I'm known to
Christ uh faith says that we're loved
regardless of our mess uh regardless of
how many times we fall down and that Jes
Jesus somehow picks me up and sure you
know I'll reach out to that why why
wouldn't I I used to think chrisan he
was boring untrue and irrelevant but
when I read about Jesus I realized he
was anything but Jesus said he's the way
to God he's the one who brings meaning
and purpose to your life he said he's
the truth he said he's the life the true
fulfillment is found in a relationship
with God through
him Alpha is a place where you can be
yourself you can say what you think and
challenge everything now no question is
too complex or too simple and what your
point of view is is as important as
anyone else's and over the weeks ahead
we are going on a journey together an
adventure to explore the questions of
life Faith and meaning think of it this
way if you live to be 70 you're going to
spend 20 years and 3 months asleep 10
years and 5 months watching TV 5 years
and 9 months mon in some form of
transportation 7 years and 6 months
eating and drinking you have
approximately 570,000 hours left to live
so why not spend less than 24 of them
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