How can I resist evil?

(This entry is from the 17th March)

Here we are on the first Thursday after the Holy Spirit
weekend. I have to say that I am a little nervous about what the evening held
for me but generally it appears to have gone ok. My partner has agreed to come
along to the rest of the Alpha sessions with me as she is going to support me
which I am really happy about and really grateful to her for doing so. Also I
know that she is giving up her own Thursday nights to do that with me so Thank
you again J

Anyway to the evening. The topic on this Thursday was How
can I resist evil? I have to say my initial thought on this one was (a bit sarcastically
as always) I don’t have to. I haven’t given my life to Christ yet so I don’t
need to worry about it anyway J.
The first thing about this evening is the video does assume that you have given
your life to Christ and is now talking much more about how you live your life
as a Christian rather than providing information. That was really noticeable
actually from the way the video was.

However the discussion afterwards I thought was fantastic.
We were sat discussing the merits of Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries and Lord of
the Rings. The reason is because these all deal in magic and Harry Potter
especially deals with the dark arts. These are technically considered “bad” for
you as a Christian and it was interesting to see how people dealt with that.
The thing that struck me was that the reaction of everyone was we all read these
books or watch the films etc. That was quite good to listen to and hear. The general
idea was that it was based around the person and the type of person that they
are. For example lots of people play computer games which go around killing
zombies etc, however they don’t go out straight afterwards and mow down an entire
neighbourhood. It is known however there are some people that are affected by
some of these things.

The second area that is covered off is looking into the
future (Ouija Boards, Horoscopes, Fortune Telling, Psychics etc). You are not
supposed to look into your future. Again at times it can be difficult to avoid
some of these things. Horoscopes for example appear on website and in all sorts
of places and you don’t always have control over the information that you get
access to. I have done most of the above list at some point. I like loads of
other people had a go at a Ouija board at University as we all pushed the glass
round the table, have read horoscopes and had my fortune told or read at some
point. I can quite happily confirm I don’t believe a word and Psychics I don’t
believe a word of. To me it is all absolute rubbish and doesn’t work at all.

It was a really enlightening discussion as I believed that
the Christian faith as a whole would be quite strict and hard line on some of
these things especially from some of the things that I have heard in the past.
I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that people were quite relaxed about
some of the books that were being discussed. The thing that particularly
surprising was that in reality living by these values didn’t make any
difference to my life at all. I think that is really good if I ever want to go
further down this route.

Besides that I haven’t really done much with the bible or
pray at all. I have decided to have a low key week and have just done the
minimum and let things tick over for a bit. That was probably a good idea as
the whole thing was very intense, but then I guess that is not surprising.

I also had a really good open honest conversation with the
minister about the holy spirit weekend which was really well received so  I am pleased that I am able to talk to people
honestly about the experiences I have been through. I am really pleased with
it.

Anyway I am beginning to feel a lot more positive about the
whole thing. I wouldn’t say it is perfect or I am feeling as confident as I was
before but I at least am feeling like I want to be engaged back with the course
again.  That is where things were left on that Thursday