No no, not teaching the whole course. But if we were, for instance, to give you the topic for one week (for instance, next week for us is “reading the bible”), and 30 minutes, and totally free rein, I totally bet that you would have no problem preparing a talk which would be far more engaging and fascinating than Mr. Gumble’s talk.

you asked: Does alpah straddle the line between modern and postmodern?

I think a postmodern person would want to know why you think there is a line, and how you came to think that, and so forth.

for me, it doesn’t really straddle said line super well. I’m too far into the postmodern camp, and I have to come back over toward that edge in order to engage with alpha. their legs aren’t long enough to sufficiently straddle it.
Nicky Gumble is … quinteseentially modern, as are his talks. I won’t be attending another alpha (after this current one) with his talks as the basis. It’s too modern to be watching video talks that were developed 20 years ago. I might find an alpha course where a local live speaker is giving talks more palatable. but then again I might not. It would depend on the speaker. they would have to be more postmodern in their christianity than nicky. Maybe if Jim or Helen or Brian McLaren or Scot McKnight were giving the talks. or Dave Sellers or Dan Allender or George Macdonald (wouldn’t that be nice?) or Weldon Nisly (can’t picture him being remotely interested) or … how about Robert Frost (I know, naming too many dead people), or … maybe ted haggard in five years (MAYBE!) or how about desmond tutu or

I’ll stop now

=)

I believe God wanted me to reveal just how dangerous this Course is. Readers must not imagine lots of folks are being saved through Alpha. Of the hundreds of testimonies I have investigated, only a handful include the biblical hallmarks of true conversion. Also, readers shouldn’t see Alpha as a passing ‘fad’, for it has already outlived most of the ‘new’ things invading the professing Church over the last sixty years. And they must not think Alpha is harmless, for it is deceiving the unsaved and is either: (a) turning them into false brothers who will persecute the remnant church – i.e. those of us who remain true to the whole Bible – or, (b) making them seriously gospel-hardened. Either way, it is consigning them to a tormented future. (It is deceiving many believers too – not least by helping them to accept the final Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3-12) – making them enemies both of God and of His faithful people.)

Actually maybe I should not have mentioned the booklet because evidently it’s dangerous to show it to Alpha fans:

Some readers may be tempted to send this brief and uncompromising booklet to people involved with Alpha, but I would beg you not to do so – unless you know beyond any doubt that it is God’s will. Only He knows how to rescue a specific person at a given moment, so we need to seek Him for the right way to proceed. This is especially true of Alpha – as we shall see below. It is crucial not to act in our own strength or timing here…

You have coped with this booklet either because you know – and believe – your Bible, or because you were already very dubious about Alpha and had heard of the perilous nature of these last days, or because you are extraordinarily open to correction. None of this is the case with Alpha’s devotees. Even just the first two pages of this booklet would incense the vast majority of them – and would cause them to stop reading and to harden their hearts rather than open up to you and to
the help you can offer.

What do you guys think of Todds assertion that Alpha straddles the line between modern and postmodern realities

It sounds good; I don’t know enough to say any more about it.

Hope that helps a little,

Todd