Unit 2: God’s relationship with humanity & through Jesus

Question 1

What is unique about how God made humans compared to creation?

Answer 1

• Humans are made in God’s image
• God gives humans a role of stewardship over His creation
• No other creature is given this role
• God breathed his own breath into Adam’s nostrils to give him life

Question 2

How is God’s ongoing care for humanity seen throughout the Bible?

Answer 2

• His provision of the Promised Land of Canaan for the Israelites
• His provision of laws and commands which help humans to understand how to live a good life e.g. the Ten Commandments
• His provision of a means for salvation through animal sacrifice in the Old Testament

Question 3

When is God’s care for humanity most clearly seen?

Answer 3

His incarnation, when He became human as Jesus.
But one could argue it’s His crucifixion.

Question 4

Examples of God’s omnibenevolence

Answer 4

• Jesus was incarnated
• Jesus lowered Himself to the level of a human
• Jesus served people in his time on Earth
• He died as a sacrifice for human sin, he paid the penalty in order for humans to be with God in heaven for eternity
• Jesus’ sacrifice restored the relationship between humans and God, since sin was the blockage
• Humanity has the opportunity for forgiveness and salvation
• As Jesus ascended he left the Holy Spirit down on the Earth

Question 5

What does atemporal mean?

Answer 5

God is outside time and not limited by it.

Question 6

Why do some Christians disagree with how God is atemporal?

Answer 6

• Some Christians believe that if God were outside time and unchanging, then He wouldn’t be able to relate to His creation.
• e.g. in order to answer prayers, many Christians say that God has to be able to respond and change
• Also, God is shown to interact with the physical world in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
• From this view, God is seen as active in time and as changing in response to events in the world and prayers
• These Christians argue that God’s everlasting
• This means that instead of being outside time He’s in time, without beginning or end, but with humans each and every moment.

Question 7

What does the Catholic Church believe about how humans communicate with God?

Answer 7

• Priests have been called into the ministry by God
• When a priest is ordained, the Church teaches that he is acting in the power of Christ
• There is an intimate relationship created through God in the priest
• The priest can act as a link between humans and God
• Priest offers forgiveness from sins

Question 8

What do Protestants believe about how humans communicate with God?

Answer 8

• Protestants believe they don’t need a mediator between themselves and God
• Jesus enabled all people who truly believe in God to pray directly to Him and have a personal relationship with him, immanence
• Priests are no longer needed