Explore the meaning of life

The Alpha Course

Arsen Sargsyan — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:57:50 +0000

The Alpha Course is a practical introduction to Christian faith. We Armenians are born in a Christian country and usually consider ourselves Christians. But most of us don’t know that Christian means the follower of Christ and what is the teaching of Christ. We have 1700 years old Christian heritage which is worth nothing if there is no teaching on it.

At an Alpha course people explore the Christian faith in a relaxed setting over ten thought-provoking weekly sessions, with a day or weekend away. They get new friends and enjoy interesting topics on Christianity. There is small group discussions followed the teaching on Alpha. Young people have an opportunity to discuss the topic and ask questions.

Everyone is welcome!

People attend from many different backgrounds, religions and viewpoints. They attend for a variety of reasons. Some want to investigate whether God exists and if there is any point to life; others are concerned about what happens after death. Still others may have attended church all their life, but feel they never really understood the basics of the Christian faith.

Alpha is the course where people can learn and practice being a Christian. There are at least three objectives that are of great importance: prayer, reading the Bible and being part of a church. These are means through which people can have a relationship with God and Jesus Christ.

National Leadership Institute invites you to an Alpha Course to explore the meaning of life!

Who is Jesus Christ?

Arsen Sargsyan — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:02:15 +0000

When my brother was three years old he was performed an operation on removal of appendix. His organism was totally poisoned. Doctors were struggling to bring him to life. I was four years old at that time. I remember that doctors had asked for some medicine which my parents couldn’t get in Armenia. They went to Holy Echmiadzin (Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic church) where the bishop helped them to get the medicine from Georgia. Whole month my little brother was in the hospital and his body was connected with any kind of medical hoses. After a month of struggles my brother started to get better. He couldn’t walk as his organism was totally exhausted. He was learning to make steps with the help of my parents like a one year old child. We thanked God for that miracle as my brother started a new life. Every year we used to go to Holy Echmiadzin to light candles and celebrate his “birthday”.

Somewhere deep in my heart I knew that there is God who rules over everything and who can take or give life to us. Some twenty years later I have learned that Jesus Christ is son of God who died for us so that ‘whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’. What is eternal life? It should be something that never ends. Does it make any sense? I don’t know any person who would like to die. Even the old would like to start the lives over again. Nobody wants to perish and close his eyes forever. This is true for every human being without regard to sex, age, ethnicity, education and even religion. I find this inner desire to live something that is installed in us when we are born.

In 1960 Californian millionaire James McGill died. He left detailed instructions that his body should be preserved and frozen in the hope that one day scientists might discover a cure for the disease that killed him. There are hundreds of people in Southern California who have put hopes of one day living again in this process which freezes and preserves human bodies. The latest development in Cryonics technology is called neuro-suspension which preserves just the human head. One reason why it is becoming popular is that it is much cheaper than preserving and maintaining a whole body.

Such attempts to avoid the inevitability of death are plainly absurd and, indeed, unnecessary. Jesus came to bring us ‘eternal life’. Eternal life is a quality of life which comes from living in a relationship with God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Jesus never promised anyone an easy life, but he promised fullness of life (John 10:10). This new quality of life starts now and goes on into eternity. Our time on earth is relatively short, but eternity is vast. Through Jesus, who said, ‘I am . . . the life’ we can not only enjoy fullness of life here, but we can be sure that it will never end.

Armenia a Christian nation

Arsen Sargsyan — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:13:31 +0000

National Leadership Institute is a Christian organization which implements various Christian educational projects under the auspices of the Armenian Apostolic church which is the national church of Armenia.

Armenia is the first nation which adopted Christianity in 301 AD as its state religion. The first cathedral of St. Echmiadzin was built between 301 and 303. In 401 Armenian alphabet was created in order to translate the Holy Bible into Armenian and the first sentence that was translated was the first verse from Proverbs. We have a great heritage and culture. Armenian Church was the main institute (school) where Armenian history, literature, music etc. were kept and taught to younger generations. It is Armenian Church that struggled and kept our unique identity in the world.

Now after the times of Soviet regime there is a revival in our church. We Armenians consider ourselves Christians and usually we associate being an Armenian and being a Christian, in other words we see both concepts identical. Our organization is committed to its vision to provide Christian education for young people and help to find the roots of its nation’s faith.

We have various programs and Alpha Course is one designed to meet the needs of those who are in search of the meaning of life. If you think that the life is the ocean where we drift in the boat and the death is the harbor all of us should moor to, then ask yourself what is the meaning of my life, yes my life. Then what is the meaning of getting an education, getting married, raising children and then passing away and becoming a breakfast for different kinds of warms and vermigrades. I personally don’t see any meaning. If we are here on earth to enjoy the life then why should all these have so sad ending. Christianity answers this question. But I will talk about it later. Now I need your opinions before moving forward.