100 Questions NCFCA

NCFCA APOLOGETICS TOPICS 

Category 1: EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD    
Definitions  
General Questions 
Statement Analysis
Category 2: SCRIPTURES
Definitions  
General Questions 
Statement Analysis
Category 3: THE NATURE PURPOSE AND DESTINY OF MAN
Definitions  
General Questions 
Statement Analysis
Category 4: SALVATION or HOW TO KNOW GOD
Definitions  
General Questions 
Statement Analysis
Category 5: THE PERSON OF CHRIST
Definitions  
General Questions 
Statement Analysis
  

Category 1: EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD

Definitions

1. Explain the meaning and significance of the trinity.

2. Explain the meaning and significance of the omniscience of God.

3. Explain the meaning and significance of the omnipotence of God.

4. Explain the meaning and significance of the omnipresence of God

5. Explain the meaning and significance of the transcendence of God

6. Explain the meaning and significance of the immanence of God.

7. Explain the meaning and significance of the eternality of God.

8. Explain the meaning and significance of the immutability of God.

9. Explain the meaning and significance of the infinite nature of God.

10. Explain the meaning and significance of the holiness of God.

11. Explain the meaning and significance of the righteousness of God.

12. Explain the meaning and significance of the justice of God.

13. Explain the meaning and significance of the sovereignty of God.

14. Explain the meaning and significance of the mercy of God.

15. Explain the meaning and significance of the grace of God.

General Questions

1. In what ways has God revealed Himself to man?

2. If God is real, why can’t people see or touch Him?

3. If God is holy, why did He allow sin in the world?

4. How can God be both merciful and just?

5. How can God be one and yet three (unity versus trinity)?

6. Open theology states that God is constantly changing and growing with His creation.
Respond to this Biblically.

7. Open theology states that God is constantly growing and changing with His creation.
Respond to this logically and pragmatically.

8. Why is the unchanging nature of God critical to who He is?

Statement Analysis
Analyze and respond to the following statement:

1. “The existence of God and of a future life is everywhere recognized in Africa.”  ~~David Livingstone

2.  “The Old Testament God is a God of hate while the New Testament God is a God of love.”

3.  “Gods are fragile things. They may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense.” ~~Chapman Cohen

4. “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”  ~~Voltaire

5.  “What we believe about God is the most important thing about us.”  ~~A.W. Tozer

6. “God is merely an impersonal force in the universe. He is untouchable and unapproachable.”

7.  “God set the universe in motion but He has no interest in it.”

8. “If God understands my humanity and sin nature better than I do, why does He still hold me accountable for what I cannot help doing?”


Category 2: SCRIPTURES

Definitions

1. Explain the meaning and significance of inerrancy.

2. Explain the meaning and significance of verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture.

3. Explain the meaning and significance of divine inspiration.

4. Explain the meaning and significance of Biblical canon.

5. Explain the meaning and significance of higher criticism and lower criticism.

General Questions

1. Jesus clearly demonstrated His belief in the authority of Scriptures.
Defend this statement with evidence.

2. If the Bible was written by men, how could it also be written by God?

3. How did The Church decide what should be included in the canon of Scripture?

4. How can the Bible be trustworthy when it has been translated so many times?

5. What is the foundation for accurate Bible translation?

6. Provide evidence for the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Statement Analysis
Analyze and respond to the following statement:

1. "No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.”  ~~~George Barnard Shaw

2.  “The Bible is no different than any other holy book.”

3. “The Bible is simply the work of a great conspiracy, where people sought to create a religion of their own.”

4.  “The Old Testament is merely a set of myths made up by the Jewish people to establish a national identity and give themselves a feeling of superiority.”


Category 3: THE NATURE PURPOSE & DESTINY OF MAN

Definitions

1. Explain the meaning and significance of the image of God.

2. Explain the meaning and significance of the depravity of man.

3. Explain the meaning and significance of original sin.

4. Explain the meaning and significance of the sin nature.

5. Explain the meaning and significance of sanctification.

6. Explain the meaning and significance of repentance.

7. Explain the meaning and significance of regeneration.

General Questions

1. Do all men have a longing for God?

2. Do all men have a conscience?

3. If God is invisible, (1 Timothy 1:17) how can man be made in the image of God?

4. If man is inherently sinful, why do most men lead relatively good lives?

5. What is the purpose of man?

6. What is the destiny of man?

7. Why would a loving God create hell?
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=716437 

8. What is the essential duty of man?

9. What is meant by the "fall of man"?

Statement Analysis
Evaluate and respond to the following statement:

1.  “All men were born with ten fingers and toes but no one was born with the knowledge of God.” ~~Voltaire

2.  “…whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”  ~~Galatians 6:7

3.  “Heaven is only a state of mind.”

4.  “He’s only human.” (as a justification for sin and the need for leniency).

5.  “When man dies, he simply ceases to exist. There is no immortality or eternal life.”


Category 4: SALVATION or HOW TO KNOW GOD

Definitions

1. Explain the meaning and significance of justification.

2. Explain the meaning and significance of atonement.

3. Explain the meaning and significance of propitiation.

4. Explain the meaning and significance of redemption.

General Questions

1. How can a man know God?

2. Can a man become right with God by keeping the Ten Commandments?

3. Isn't it narrow minded to believe there is only one way to heaven?

4. Why does man need salvation?

Statement Analysis   
Analyze and respond to the following statement:

1.  “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.”

2.  “There are many roads to God.”

3.  “Every charitable act is a stepping stone to heaven.”   ~~Henry Ward Beecher

4.  “I commune best with God when I am out in nature. I don’t need organized religion or a list of do’s and don’ts.”

5.  “I know that all of the good vibes he sent out will return to carry him off to a better place.”   ~~Comment made after to death of Bob Hope

6. “Christianity is the opiate of the masses.”  ~~Karl Marx

7. “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except though me.’”


Category 5: THE PERSON OF CHRIST

Definitions

1. What is the meaning and significance of the deity of Christ?

2. What is the meaning and significance of the virgin birth?

3. What is the meaning and significance of the Incarnation?

4. What is the meaning and significance of Jesus’ claim that He is “the Son of Man?”

5. What is the meaning and significance of Jesus’ claim that He is “the Son of God?”

6. What is the meaning and significance of Jesus as the Mediator?

7. What is the meaning and significance of Jesus as the Messiah?

8. What is the meaning and significance of Jesus as the Word if God?

9. What is the meaning and significance of Jesus as the Lamb of God?

General Questions

1. Why is the resurrection essential to the Christian faith?

2. If God is infinite, how could He limit Himself in the person of Christ?

3. How could Jesus be both God and man?

4. Why did Jesus have to die to provide salvation for men?

5. What evidence is there for the historical existence of Jesus?

6. What evidence is there for the resurrection of Jesus?

7. Did Jesus attain deity by His sacrificial death or was He God from the beginning?

Statement Analysis 
Analyze and respond to the following statement:

1.  “Jesus’ life and death are merely examples to us that we should all live sacrificial lives.”
 

2.  “Jesus was a good man and a good teacher but certainly not the Son of God.”

Tournament Directors will make selections from the topics posted on this site for use in league sanctioned competition.

Genesis to Jesus

http://www.salvationhistory.com/studies/courses/online/genesis_to_jesus_a_journey_through_scripture

Course Description
What is the Bible, where does it come from and what is its purpose? How are Catholics supposed to read the Bible and what story does it have to tell? These are the questions we take up in this “big picture” survey course.

Following an introduction to Catholic teaching about divine revelation and Bible, we jump right in and begin reading. We start with the creation story and Noah’s ark, and trace the history of salvation as it unfolds in the series of covenants that God makes with His chosen people - from Abraham and the twelve tribes of Israel to Moses and finally to King David. We see how this history reaches its climax and fulfillment in Jesus and the Church. The aim is to give you a solid outline and overview of the story that the Bible tells, from Genesis to Jesus.

Course Registration
Courses are free! But we do ask that you register. You will be prompted for your E-mail Address and directed to a page where you will be asked for your Name, E-mail Address, Address and Phone Number. This is for our informational purposes only. We will not lend or sell your contact information to anyone else. Thanks for your cooperation. Important Note: You only have to register once. Once you have registered you are registered for all the courses.  Click here to register. A password is not needed and will not be given to you. Once you have registered return to this page or any of the other courses to begin studying.  The lessons are listed in the column to the right.

Course Objectives

1. To learn the basic Catholic principles for reading Scripture.
2. To learn about God’s covenants in the Bible, and to understand     their significance for reading and interpreting the Bible.
3. To learn the broad outlines of the books of the Bible and to     understand their place in the story of salvation told in the Bible.

Course Materials
The primary text will be the Bible. And each lesson will provide links to biblical passages cited. In addition, the instructors recommend the following book, which covers much of the material to be studied in this course:

A Father Who Keeps His Promises:God’s Covenant Love in Scripture
by Dr. Scott Hahn,
Founder of The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

• Welcome

• How to Use the Courses

• Tips for Learning

Lessons

• Lesson One: How a Catholic Starts to Read the Bible

  Lesson Objectives:
  1. To learn how to read the Bible the way the Catholic Church has always read it.
  2. To understand the concepts of “salvation history” and “covenant” and their importance for reading the Bible.
  3. To learn the key points of the creation story in the Bible’s first book, Genesis.
  LEARN MORE
  

• Lesson Two: Creation, Fall and Promise

  Lesson Objectives:
  1. To read Genesis 1-3 with understanding.
  2. To learn God’s “original intent” in creating man and woman.
  3. To understand the sin of Adam and Eve and understand God’s promise of a New Adam and a New Eve.
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• Lesson Three: East of Eden, Headed to Egypt

  Lesson Objectives:
  1. To read Genesis 3-50 with understanding.
  2. To understand God’s covenants with Noah and with Abraham and to see how these covenants look forward to, and are fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
  3. To appreciate the key figures in the story of Abraham - Melchizedek, circumcision, the sacrifice of Isaac - as they are interpreted in the Church’s tradition.
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• Lesson Four: On the Way to the Promised Land

  Lesson Objectives:
  1. To read the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy with understanding.
  2. To understand God’s covenant with Israel at Sinai and to see how this covenant looks forward to and is fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
  3. To appreciate the key figures and events - Moses, the Passover, and the vocation of Israel as “a kingdom of priests” - as they are interpreted in the Church’s tradition.
  LEARN MORE
  

• Lesson Five: To Kingdom Come

  Lesson Objectives:
  1. To finish reading the Old Testament (from Joshua to Malachi) and to read with understanding.
  2. To understand the broad outlines of the history of Israel in light of God’s covenant with Abraham.
  3. To appreciate the crucial importance of God’s everlasting covenant with David.
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• Lesson Six: Into the Kingdom of the Son

  Lesson Objectives:
  1. To read the New Testament with understanding.
  2. To understand how the New Testament depicts Jesus as the fulfillment of the covenants of the Old Testament.
  3. To appreciate, especially,  the importance of God’s everlasting covenant with David for understanding the mission of Jesus and the Church as it is presented in the New Testament.
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More Courses

• Covenant Love: Introducing the Biblical Worldview

  

  Course Description
  “Covenant” is the master concept that unlocks the meaning of the Bible. The Bible tells the story of God the Father’s love for His children and His plan to fashion all people into one holy family. God unfolds this plan of salvation through a series of covenants, culminating in the New Covenant He makes in Jesus.
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• The Lamb's Supper: The Bible and the Mass

  

  Course Description
  In this course we explore the intimate and inseparable relationship between the Bible and the Mass. Following an overview of the Eucharist in the New Testament, we look at the deep roots of the Mass in the biblical history of sacrifice - a history that culminates with the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist.
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• 'He Must Reign': The Kingdom of God in Scripture

  

  Course Description
  The drama in the Gospels turns on a single question: Is Jesus the long awaited Messiah, the son of David come to restore the everlasting monarchy promised to David? Underlying this drama are centuries of rival interpretations of the Jewish Scriptures and competing expectations of who the Messiah was to be, the signs that would accompany his coming, and the shape of the kingdom he would establish.
  We explore all these issues in this thematic survey course, which goes to the heart of what the New Testament has to say about the identity of Christ and the Church.
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• Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God

  

  Course Description
  The Mother of Jesus is mentioned only about a dozen times in the New Testament. So why is Mary so important to Catholic faith and devotion?
  As we’ll see in this in-depth study, Mary is a key gateway into salvation history. The Bible portrays Mary as the all-holy one who gave the Word flesh, the Mother of God, and the spiritual mother of all who live by faith in her Son.
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• Reading the Old Testament in the New: The Gospel of Matthew

  

  Course Description
  How did the New Testament writers read the Old Testament in light of the coming of Jesus Christ? This course offers an in-depth answer to that question, focusing on the use of the Old Testament in the Gospel of Matthew.
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Infant Baptism (RR)

805. Then an unbaptized infant cannot attain Heaven?

 

An unbaptized infant cannot attain Heaven. Christ has said very definitely, "Unless one be born again ... he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." Jn. III., 3. 

I am not more severe than Christ in my denial. He declares that the ordinary principle of life received by human generation is insufficient. We must receive an additional life of grace by baptismal rebirth. An unbaptized infant has received natural life only and had one birth only. 

If it dies without Baptism it has no claim to the supernatural happiness of Heaven.

812. Do we not read only of adult baptisms in the New Testament?

No.
We read of some adult baptisms, but they were not administered precisely because the subjects were adults, but because they happened to be converted as adults.

Acts XV. commemorates the reception of two complete households into the Church by St. Paul, and we are not told that the adults only in those households were received.

Christ told the Apostles to teach and baptize all nations, and the term all nations certainly includes men, women, and children.

Again St. Paul tells us that Baptism is the Circumcision of Christians, and we know that Circumcision was administered to children. Col. 2, II.
Or is the New Law to be less perfect than the Old, containing no purifying rite for infants? Your ideas are opposed to the whole tenor of Christianity. Christ is the second Adam. If the children of Adam are born subject to original sin and its penalties, so they can be born again of Christ into the life of grace.
Or is Adam to be able to ruin all, yet Christ be unable to save any except adults?
"What is of the flesh is flesh; what is of the spirit is spirit."
Children by virtue of their natural birth are of the flesh, and Our Lord insists that unless one be born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

Do not be misled by the English translation, "Unless a man be born again." The original Greek does not use the word man in this text. It says, "Unless anyone be born again," and a child is someone.

Topic: "Baptism" in Vol 1.
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