And now for Naomi's interpretation!

Brilliant notes from Naomi follow below:

Alpha follow on: The Cross pg 17-24

P18 – Girl in china shop:

Does her father’s response make the girl more aware of her actions, the effect of those actions and what the cost of those actions are to others? i.e. Does this incident have a more lasting effect on her than simply grateful for payment of the vase?

Actions speak louder than words – it is easy to say ‘I love you’, but doing something to show that is often a much stronger message, and means more than the words themselves.

The father doesn’t seem like he necessarily wants any kind of recognition for what he’s done. He doesn’t discipline the child and say ‘You should be grateful, look what I’ve done for you’. He quietly gets on and acts. Although he requires nothing from her, he would be delighted with some form of recognition from his child – otherwise he becomes simply the provider in a one way relationship. If the child showed her appreciation, the relationship becomes 2 way.

Idea of feeling guilty – does the child feel guilty for making her father pay? Does this guilt turn to gratitude, or does it stay as guilt and have an adverse effect on their relationship?
It is so easy for us to take what God has done for us for granted. We can’t comprehend what it cost him and so we undervalue what he did and so don’t respond as we should. If we truly understood, we would be much more grateful and so much more loving of him and others.

P19 – People being evil:

Is it nature or nurture? The argument that sin stems from free will seems to imply that the answer is nurture. However, if we interpret sin as meaning selfishness/being egocentric/‘I’-driven, then maybe it is inherent in our nature. Does survival of the fittest essentially boil down to being centred on self and looking after number 1?

BUT Jesus, although the son of God, was wholly human, and yet was sin-free. He showed us that it is possible for humans to live sin-free lives. This would bring us back to sin rising from our choices, and thus nurture again!

Sin inevitably leads to spiritual death, and eventually physical death. It is like rust – it starts to infect its host, the host decays until it breaks. Jesus is Anti-Rust, and returns us to being shiny and new!

P20 – Concept of ‘sin’:

We decided that sin is not best described as what we do, but our innate character – being sinful equates to being selfish, and all sin stems from that selfishness and a desire to control our own paths through life. Even our response to ‘sin’ can be sinful; - in making a list of ‘external sins’ (smoking/drinking etc) we are aiming to control our external behaviour without having to face up to confronting what’s going on internally, which is what God is more concerned with. We therefore maintain control, thus going full circle back to selfishness and control. We are reluctant to relinquish that control to God.

Sin can also manifest itself as relational sin – it is not disobeying ‘rules’ that make us feel bad as much as the way we treat others and God – this is when we feel most ashamed of ourselves, when we don’t do right by others.

Good way of approaching the concept of sin with non-christians (who might otherwise get defensive and have misconceptions of ‘sin’): Series of questions:

Are you the person you want to be? - No
Who’s in control of your life? - Me
How’s that working out for you? – Not so good
Do you feel lost? Not sure where you’re headed? - Yes
Then look to God to take control!

Following God’s guidance:
Hearing God’s voice is like getting to know a new friend (Bex’s analogy) – to start with, when they ring you, you won’t recognise their voice, but the more you speak to them the easier it becomes to recognise!

Do we have to consult God on every little decision we make? – God gave us free will and he did not take that away from us when we became Christians. Therefore, as free will was a gift, it seems logical that we have God’s blessing to use our free will to make choices. Plus, even if we get it wrong and go down the wrong path, we must remember that God is the Almighty Redeemer, and will always help us out if/when we get lost. If we set off down the wrong route he’ll let us know we’re going the wrong way as long as we are open to hearing him. Also, it is easier to steer a moving car (Dave’s analogy) – i.e. God can guide us more easily if we are moving forward than if we sit still and wait for him to prod us in the right direction!