Christianity - Religion and Life

Question 1

What are the 2 main messages that all Christians take from the Genesis 1 story?

Answer 1

• God created everything

- The universe is good.

Question 2

How do fundamentalist Christians respond to the Genesis 1 Creation story?

Answer 2

they believe that everything happened literally as it is in the bible.

Question 3

How does the interpretation of the Hebrew word “yom” allow christians to believe literally in Genesis 1 but also in the Big Bang and evolution?

Answer 3

As “yom” is a word meaning an unspecified amount of time meaning that Genesis 1 could have literally happened in 7 “yoms” rather than 24 hour days.

Question 4

How do liberal Christians respond to Genesis 1?

Answer 4

That it is a metaphor of how God created the universe.,

Question 5

What Bible teachings show that Christians should be Stewards of the earth?

Answer 5

In the second Genesis story God tells Adam and Eve to care for the animals and to cultivate the Earth.

Question 6

How do beliefs about Stewardship affect Christian attitudes to the environment?

Answer 6

Christians who believe in Stewardship believe that pollution is sinful.

Question 7

What Bible teaching show that Christians should have Dominion over the Earth?

Answer 7

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

Question 8

How do beliefs about Dominion affect Christian attitudes to the environment?

Answer 8

Christians who believe in dominion believe that the Earth belongs to humans who can do what they want with it.

Question 9

Why is it important to preserve the world’s natural resources?

Answer 9

Because they are finite.

Question 10

List 3 ways Christians can be good stewards regarding the world’s natural resources.

Answer 10

• Use electric vehicles
• Carpool
• Do not deforest

Question 11

List 3 types of pollution explaining their causes and effects.

Answer 11

Air pollution - caused mainly by fumes from factories and vehicles. Long term exposure can lead to asthma attacks, lung cancer and other diseases. IT also causes global warming and acid rain.
Land pollution - Caused by the ineffective disposal of waste. When chemicals enter the earth this can poison wildlife, making farming less efficient.
Water pollution - caused by dumping waste into the sea. It can have a devastating effect on marine life. The deepwater horizon oil spill in 2010, for example, released over 750 million litres of oil into the sea and killed thousands of birds and marine animals.

Question 12

List 2 bible quotes that explain why christians believe humans are more important than animals.

Answer 12

“Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.” Genesis 9:3

“Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth”

Question 13

List 2 Bible quotes that show that Christians should be kind to animals.

Answer 13

“Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Deuteronomy 25:4

“The righteous care for the needs of their animals…” Proverbs 12:10

Question 14

Give 3 examples of how animals are used by humans in a positive way.

Answer 14

1. Bred, killed and processed for food
2. Skinned for their clothing
3. Used to test medical materials that could be dangerous to humans.

Question 15

Why do most Christians support animal testing for medical purposes, but not for cosmetics?

Answer 15

Because cosmetics are not completely necessary for human survival, therefore they are not worth the harm inflicted on the animal.

Question 16

Give a Bible quote that shows that Christians can eat meat

Answer 16

“Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you”,

Question 17

Give a Bible quote that shows that Christians can be vegetarian if they want to.

Answer 17

“The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.” Romans 14:3

Question 18

What does the Bible say about how humans first came into existence? ( Briefly summarise 2 creation stories)

Answer 18

1st Creation story - God created male and female humans on the final day of creation.
2nd Creation story - Adam was formed from the soil and God breathed life into him and created Eve from Adam’s rib.

Question 19

What does science say about how humans came into existence? (Evolution)

Answer 19

That humans evolved from the monkey which evolved from the first single celled organisms on Earth

Question 20

What do most athiests believe about evolution?

Answer 20

They accept it because they believe it best explains how life has developed on Earth.

Question 21

What do Fundamentalist Christians believe about evolution? (When/How universe was created + how they explain existence of fossils)

Answer 21

They believe that the origin of human life was exactly as recorded in genesis, with god creating each species separately. They believe that the world is 2000 years old and that the fossils that are supposed evidence to evolution were placed there by the devil.

Question 22

How is it that most Christians believe in the creation stories of Genesis and evolution?

Answer 22

They believe that God created the universe in 6 “yoms”, the Hebrew word for an unspecified amount of time, therefore God may have caused the Big Bang and ‘the evolution of humans’.

Question 23

What is the UK law on abortion?

Answer 23

Since 1990 abortion has been legal up to the 24th week of pregnancy if 2 licensed doctors both agree that one of the following conditions applies:

• Woman’s life is in danger
• There is a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health
• There is a significant risk that the baby will be born with severe mental or physical disabilities
• An additional child may affect the physical or mental health of existing children in the family.

Question 24

What do Catholic and Evangelic Christians believe about abortion and why?

Answer 24

Abortion is wrong and should never happen, except perhaps to save the woman’s life.

Question 25

What do liberal Protestant Christians believe about abortion and why?

Answer 25

That abortion is wrong but can occur under certain circumstances, for example if the pregnancy is the result of rape or if the child would be severely disabled.

Question 26

What are the non religious arguments against abortion?

Answer 26

Life begins at conception because all the DNA is present to create a unique individual.

Question 27

What are the non religious arguments for abortion?

Answer 27

The mother should get to decide what happens to their body.

Life doesn’t really start until birth, or at the very least until the foetus can survive outside the womb.

Question 28

What are the different types of euthanasia?

Answer 28

Voluntary: When it is the person’s choice

Non-voluntary: When they are unable to give consent but are killed because it is decided to be in their best interests.

Involuntary: When a person does not give consent but their life is ended anyway.

Question 29

What is the UK law on euthanasia?

Answer 29

It is fully illegal and treated as murder or manslaughter.

Question 30

What are the non-religious arguments against euthanasia?

Answer 30

It is important to help the depressed, disabled, elderly and sick.

Question 31

What are the non-religious arguments for euthanasia?

Answer 31

That everyone has a ‘right to die’ as dignified a death as

Question 32

What do most Christians believe about euthanasia and why?

Answer 32

That it is interfering with God’s plan and comparable to murder.

Question 33

What do a few liberal Christians believe about euthanasia and why?

Answer 33

That the drugs used to end a suffering person’s life are God-given and should be used if it is the most loving thing to do.

Question 34

What do Christians believe happens when you die?

Answer 34

That god will judge you and decide whether you are to go to heaven or to hell.

Question 35

How do Christians believe you get to heaven?

Answer 35

By truly believing in God, never sinning (actively or mentally) and generally obeying the bible’s teachings.