Q.1
As matters currently stand, no-one's life can begin without an 'act of love' having taken place between a male and female parent ~ whether or not this was a one-off occasion, or fully loving and consensual for both people involved. If the couple are committed to each other (in marriage or otherwise) they could 'make love' without starting a baby, by using some form of contraception. Which branch of Christianity holds that it is deeply wrong to seek to 'play God' by enjoying the physical relationship while deliberately preventing the creation of a new life?
  • The Orthodox Church
  • The Roman Catholic Church
  • The Church of Christ, Scientist
  • The Lutheran Church
Q.2
At the other end of the arc of anyone's life, obviously and inevitably enough, lies death. Few of us can have any idea how or when this will occur. A sudden death through acute illness or accident is clearly hard for anyone to deal with (the person in question, or those around them), but might in some ways seem preferable to a long-drawn-out period ~ months, years even ~ of irreversible decline, and gradual loss of one's human faculties and dignity. Some people argue that a person in such circumstances should, subject to very careful safeguards, have the right at least to be allowed to 'slip away', rather than being kept officially 'alive' for as long as possible (yet hardly, any longer, in any meaningful sense of that word). What is the technical term for the process of giving someone such a sooner and pain-free death?
  • Suicide
  • Euthanasia
  • Mercy-killing
  • Murder
Q.3
In Christian circles, the end of a believer's life is regarded ... yes, of course, with some inevitable sadness (however the death may have come about) ... but also with pleasure at a life well-lived and completed under God, and with joy at the prospect of that person now claiming eternal reunion with God through Jesus in Heaven (where, as Revelation wonderfully tells us, there can be no more war, pain or tears). Which of the following phrases would one be LEAST likely to hear among the congregants at such a person's funeral or remembrance service?
  • 'Gone to meet his Maker'
  • 'Passed on to glory'
  • 'Pushing up daisies'
  • 'Been called home'
Q.4
'Where is Heaven anyway?' one might well ask. Earlier civilisations may understandably have assumed that a god, or gods, who were worthy of human respect would dwell above us, i.e. in the skies ~ from which good and bad weather, the seasons etc. come round. The first Russian cosmonauts assured us that God was not visible 'up there'; so where, or what, is Heaven?
  • A wonderful place where God is, and there can be nothing negative in His presence
  • A state of eternal joy in union with God
  • A physical space in a spiritual dimension that the human senses cannot perceive
  • A state of mind already available to living humans
Q.5
'Hasn't science answered most, or all, of life's big questions and problems by now?' Which of the following do you think best answers that challenge?
  • Yes: only credulous religious people, than need a crutch in their lives, need bother with a 'god of the gaps' these days
  • Many scientists are Christians, and enjoy discovering ever more about the detailed workings of the created world
  • Science is more concerned with 'how' than 'why', surely?
  • (Answers 2 and 3 each offer helpful perspectives)
Q.6
'If (or when) we find other planets with communicable civilisations, surely they won't have religions ... all that God and Jesus and other superstitious stuff?' Which of these seems the most appropriate Christian answer to such a challenge; how far down the offered answers might we reasonably be prepared to go?
  • Christians believe the whole of creation is in God's hands, so anything we discover is ultimately subject to Him.
  • Whether or not He had chosen to disclose Himself to any alien civilisation would surely be His choice, rather than for us to guess or prejudge
  • It may not be helpful to try and envisage an 'alien Jesus' doing anything comparable to what He did on earth, in such different conditions
  • How dare we presume to guess what God may have been doing in places we don't even know yet?
Q.7
You may have heard the phrase 'born-again Christian'. To those considering this from the outside, it may sound almost as absurd (and distasteful) as the misunderstood rumours about the early church indulging in cannibalism ('eating flesh and drinking blood' during their furtive communion rites); but what is the phrase supposed to mean?
  • Prior to believing, a person will have made mistakes ('sins') and needs to go right back to the start of their life
  • A new Christian sees the start of their new life as being at least as important as the date and process of their original birth
  • The Christian's new life will be marked with cleansing ceremonies (baptism by immersion, etc.) like a fresh version of the medical and folk rituals around their actual birth, which they couldn't remember
  • Until the Spirit came to dwell within them, they were almost more like 'dead men walking' without a clear sense of purpose
Q.8
Come to that ... what is the real point of a Christian's earthly life, at all?
  • To obey all God's rules and deal harmoniously with everyone we meet
  • To glorify and serve God to one's utmost
  • To represent the Kingdom of God on earth
  • To win round other people so they wish / choose to become Christians themselves
Q.9
Christians, like anyone else, are human beings ~ created ultimately and individually by God, so they believe, yet less than perfect under Him (because they would never dare to claim to equal His power and goodness). This in turn accounts for our human instincts and appetites: and as the prophet Job wrote, 'Man is born to evil as the sparks fly upward'. While the human soul may aspire to greater, purer and nobler conduct, it comes alarmingly naturally to us to get hungry, angry, jealous ... and, potentially, into all manner of sexual and relationship troubles. What label do Jesus and Paul apply to our biological nature, particularly when its urges distract us from higher purposes?
  • The body
  • The flesh
  • The earthly self
  • Our instinctual urges
Q.10
Sooner or later, the world as we know it will come to an end; but Christians believe the eternal God will still be there, and He will take stock of all people, taking His 'saved souls' to Heaven and discarding the rest. Earlier generations had vivid images of inextinguishable fires of Hell, where unrepentant souls would suffer the permanent torment of not being with God (based, very possibly, on the Gospel-era public rubbish dump at Gehenna, just outside Jerusalem ~ where an endless supply of non-recyclable material fed a large bonfire that never went out). Particularly in traditional artworks displaying this concept, what is the usual formal title for the moment when God separates the saved from the damned?
  • The Day of Reckoning
  • Doomsday
  • The Last Judgement
  • Apocalypse
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