Religious Studies

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RS Test

Incarnation

Incarnation means in the flesh, and refers to the belief that at the birth of Jesus, God came to earth in human form. This is the part of the Trinity known as ‘God the Son’. The term Jesus as God Incarnate is the Christian belief that Jesus is God in human form.

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ John 1:14

Jesus was fully human, because:

He was born as flesh and blood

He was a helpless baby, ate, slept and drank and experienced hunger, weakness, temptation and disappointment (‘And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.’ Matthew 4:2

He died, as all humans do

Jesus was fully God, because:

He existed from the beginning with God and was God.

His appearance on earth was only a brief period in His existence

He returned to His Father after Resurrection

Example question-

Explain two Christian teachings about the incarnation.

That Jesus was fully human and was able to suffer these two ideas are together in the (Nicene) Creed: ‘Jesus became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and for our sake he suffered and was buried.’Jesus was fully God and fully human. He was God the Son, and part of the Trinity. God was incarnated as Jesus for around 30 years.

Creation

God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh– showing that He is omnipotent

God made mankind ‘in His own image’ showing that He is omnibenevolent

God created the land and everything on it, and saw that it was ‘good’ – it was perfect and as He wanted it to be.

‘God created the heavens and the earth.’-Genesis 1

‘Lord God formed a man’ Genesis 2:4

‘God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky.’ Genesis 2:4

Genesis 1- ‘they may rule over(...) all the creatures’

Example question-

Explain 2 Christian beliefs about creation

Christians believe that God liked the world as he described it as ‘good’ in Genesis 1 so some Christians believe that the world should be protected and preserved. Continuing, some Christians also believe that humans are meant to rule the world as in Genesis 1 it says that

‘they may rule over(...) all the creatures’. Some Christians may not believe in animal rights because of this as they are meant to ‘rule over (...) all the creatures’ .

Hell

Medieval ‘doom paintings’ were to remind/frighten Christians about the agony of Hell so as to guide them away from sin.

Universalists: Hell is incompatible with an omnibenevolent God; an all-loving God would send everyone to heaven – no such place as hell

Fundamentalists: literal interpretation of scripture - hell is an actual place that exists – a

place of eternal fire and torture.

Liberals: metaphorical reading of scripture, hell is NOT an actual place but a ‘state’ of mind that results from being separated from God.

‘‘They will be cast into a blazing furnace, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13

‘‘He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire..’ ’’ Matthew 25:41

Example Question-

‘A loving God would not send anyone to hell.’

Evaluate this statement:

In your answer you should: refer to Christian teaching

give reasoned arguments to support this statement

give reasoned arguments

to support a different point of view

reach a justified conclusion.

Arguments in support :

The Bible insists that God is loving eg John 15:9: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that those who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life This kind of love would not include hell.

God is a fair judge, a fair judge would not sentence anybody to pain and torment so God would not send anybody to hell.

Eternal punishment would be pointless and unloving so God would not do anything that is pointless.

Some Christians are universalists and argue that everyone will eventually respond to God’s love, repenting and being forgiven for the sins they may have committed, etc.

Arguments in support of other views:

The Bible refers to hell as a real place, a place of fire and torment. In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, it says that those who do not look after others will depart into eternal punishment. God's love therefore includes hell.

Some will understand hell as separation from God or as a person’s state of mind where they punish themselves for their own misdeeds. This idea of hell does not mean that God is unloving.

Some will argue that hell is an invention used by Christians (and others) as a threat of punishment in order to make sure that people follow Christian teachings. Alternatively, there is no God to send anybody to hell in the first place.

God gives free will so the choice is for people to make so God has to accept the choice of some to reject him, etc.