RE 113: COMPILATION OF GUIDE QUESTIONS

Name: _AIRA SHANE MARGES_

Class Schedule: _M,T,W,TH,F 02:15PM-04:15PM ________________
Date of Submission:_JULY 29, 2022_____________
GUIDE QUESTIONS #6
Topic: _CHRISTIAN FAITH PART 2 (Dimensions and Characteristics)

The Three Essential Dimensions of Faith

1. What is Faith as Believing?

- Faith involves knowing Jesus and the truth He teaches. It also involves “assenting to,

meditating on, and living out the truths which Christ has exemplified and taught.” It
requires us to deepen our knowledge of Him and His teachings. Believing is the first
essential dimension of the Christian Faith involves our basic conviction to the belief and
teachings of our Christian Faith but it also requires our knowledge of what we believe in,
that is to know who Christ is and his teachings as expressed in the teachings and
doctrines of the Church.

2. What is Faith as Doing?

- Faith entails the acceptance of our mission to spread the Good News and render
loving service to our neighbor. Faith, then, is a commitment to follow or obey God’s will
for us.

3. What is Faith as Entrusting/Worshipping?

- Faith is allowing God to take charge of our lives, trusting that He will not abandon us. It
is letting God to do the rest after exerting all of our effort, it is a matter of putting Him in
control.

The Characteristics of the Christian Faith

4. In what way Christian Faith is Total and Absolute?

- Only Faith in God calls for a total and absolute adherence. The kind of Faith that we
give to God should be total and absolute, that means it should be whole, full and
complete, never imparts and not with conditions this is so because He is God, the
source of everything.

5. In what way Christian Faith is Trinitarian?

- We invoked God as Trinitarian the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three persons
in one God that are united perfectly because they are divine, the baptism of Jesus in the
Gospels provided the scene wherein the Trinity is present. First, is the Son in the
person of Jesus who was baptized, then God the Father through the voice coming from
heaven and the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove.

6. In what way Christian Faith is Loving, Maturing and Missionary?

- We created by God out of his overflowing love, and to be Christian, this love must be
inseparably love of God and love of neighbor, like Christ’s. Helping those who are in
need is an

expression of our love of God becomes a way of bringing God closer to them.

7. In what way Christian Faith is Informed and Communitarian?

- Catholic Faith must be, “informed,” that is “believing Jesus’ words, and accepting his

teachings, trusting that he has “the words of eternal life” We should have knowledge of
our Faith or what we are believing in. The Christian Faith must be “communitarian”
since it is the Church that transmits to us Christs’ revelation through Sacred Scripture
and its living Tradition.

8. In what way Christian Faith is Inculturated?

- This Catholic Faith in God and in Jesus Christ is never separated from the typical
Filipino Faith in family and friends. Our culture and traditions as Filipino affirms the
teachings of the Christian Faith.
GUIDE QUESTIONS #7
Topic: CHRISTIAN FAITH (Paradoxical Characteristics and Obstacles)

Paradoxical Characteristics of the Christian Faith

1. In what way Christian Faith is “Certain yet Obscure”?
- Faith is certain because it is personally committed loving knowledge based on the
convincing signs God revealing Himself in Jesus Christ, and present to us in His Church
through word, service, fellowship and sacrament. This means we are certain and sure
that we have faith in God. But at the same time faith is also obscure because we believe
God is mystery, that is, He is always more than we can ever fully comprehend. We
instinctively recognize that persons, and especially the all-personal God, can never be
reduced to being proven by scientific experiment.

2. In what way Christian Faith is “Free yet Morally Binding”?

- Faith is free because our Christian Faith is a free response. No one, not even God,
forces us to believe. Faith at the same time is also morally binding because
accompanying this faith is the obligation to do God’s will for us. As we chose to believe
in God, we then accept the obligation to follow him.

3. In what way Christian Faith is “Reasonable yet Beyond Natural Reason”?

- Faith is reasonable because Christian Faith is in no conflict with our reason. On the
contrary, only the rational creatures can believe. Yet faith is also beyond natural reason
because faith itself is a grace that enlightens our minds.

4. In what way Christian Faith is “An Act, Yet a Process”?

- Faith is an act because faith starts with a decision to accept the gift God has given us.
Faith as an act is a personal decision to accept Christ in your life. Faith is also a
process because it is an enduring way of life within the Christian community, the
Church. Faith as following Christ must be gradually and perseveringly developed so that
it comes to touch every aspect of our lives, throughout our whole lives.

5. In what way Christian Faith is “A Gift, Yet Our Doing”?

- Faith is a gift because grace free given by God, it is impossible for us to have Faith in
God unless the seed of faith is planted in us by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, faith
is also our doing because God’s gift of faith demands our free cooperation with others.
Faith is also our active response to the witness to Christ and the Gospel.

6. In what way Christian Faith is “Personal, yet Ecclesial”?

- Faith is personal because it is my faith in God, we received the grace of faith when we
were baptized and received into the Christian community, the church. While Faith on the
other hand, is ecclesial because our personal faith in Christ is supported and intensified
by our fellow members in the parish, according to God’s own plan.

Obstacles to Faith: (Choose only two and explain)

7. Obstacle to Faith #1: Denial that God exists, usually caused by erroneous ideas
about human beings and God.
8. Obstacle to Faith #2: Seeking for special knowledge into one’s fate and future. This
practices takes over one’s faith to God
GUIDE QUESTIONS #8
Topic: INTRODUCTION TO THE CREED

1. What is the meaning of the term Creed?

- Creed comes from the Latin word “Credo” which means “I believe”. It presents the
essential truth of Christian Faith.

2. What are the two principal Catholic Creeds, when they are being prayed and their
similarity and difference?
- The Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, the similarity of Apostles’ Creed and Nicene
Creed is that both presents the belief of the Catholic Faith while the difference of
Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed is that Nicene Creed is longer than the Apostles’
Creed and it is more elaborated.

3. What is Arianism and what does it say about Jesus?

- Arianism was the first reason why Nicene Creed is longer, because in the fourth
century a great controversy developed in the Christendom about the nature of the Son
of God. Arianism is the heresy or false teaching. It originated from Arius, a fourth
century priest, held that the Son of God didn’t exist “before all ages”; Jesus was a
created being, not divine. Others contended that the Son of God is eternal, divine, and
uncreated.

4. What did the Council of Nicea taught about the Nature of Jesus?
- The council of Nicea as expressed to the Nicene Creed emphasized that Jesus is
begotten or the eternal Son of God, is not created by the Father, Jesus already existed
with the Father since the beginning of time, Jesus is consubstantial with the Father that
means He is also God just like God the Father, and Jesus was sent by the Father to
save us.

5. What does the Nicene Creed say about the Holy Spirit?
- Following the controversy about the Son of God, the Divine Word, and essentially
connected with it, was the dispute about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has the same
nature as the Father and Son. He proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy
Spirit is also God who is worshipped together with God the Father and God the Son,
who is Jesus.
6. In what way the Creed is a Summary of Belief?
- The creed has been an indispensable means of Faith for both the Church and the
Individual Catholics.
7. In what way the Creed is a Pledge of Loyalty?
- The Creeds are public confessions of Christian Faith in the Triune God. The Creed
also professes loyalty to the “Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of truth”
8. In what way the Creed is a Proclamation of Identity?
- The Creed helps ground the Catholic believer’s self-identity, for individual Catholics,
the Creed identifies who we are and what we stand for as disciples of Christ united in
his Church.
GUIDE QUESTIONS #9
Topic: _____________________

(Insert/paste questions and answers here)

GUIDE QUESTIONS #10
Topic: ARTICLES 5 - 8

SET A (Items 1 to 4): To be answered by Abad to Devera (Patricia)

Article 5: “He Descended to the Dead. On the Third Day He Rose Again.”
1. What is the Resurrection and why is it important for Christianity?
- It is where Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Jesus’ resurrection confirmed
his teachings, life, and promises; underscored his divinity; opened a new life for us;
brought about our adoption into God’s family; and laid the foundation for our own future
resurrection.

2. Why is Sunday the holy day of obligation for Christians?

- Sabbath day for Christians is celebrated in the light of the Easter Event.
Article 6: “He Ascended into Heaven; and is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father.”

3. What is the Ascension and its significance?

- Jesus, both body and soul, ascended into heaven forty days after Easter.

Article 7: “He will come again to Judge the Living and the Dead.”
4. What is the difference between Particular Judgment and General Judgment?
- In particular Judgement, Christ will judge every person at the time of his death. While
General Judgement, is at the end of the world, He will judge all mankind.

SET B (Items 5 to 8): To be answered by Devera (Rizza) to Tan

5. What do heaven and hell mean?

- Heaven is the state of eternal life in union with God and all those who share in his life.
It is the final, perfect human fulfillment, a state of being that makes us wholly what we
are meant to be eternally filled with joy. Hell is eternal separation from God. The Church
teaches that there is a hell, but that the images employed by the scripture to describe it
are symbolic. They are attempts to describe the horror of an eternal life alienated from
God and his love.

6. Who gives the judgment over going to heaven or hell?

- Only God can give this judgment.

Article 8: “I Believe in the Holy Spirit.”

7. Who is the Holy Spirit?
- The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father and the Son, and together with them is one God. The Holy Spirit is equal to
the Father and the Son.
8. How was the Holy Spirit present during Pentecost?
- The event where the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of tongues
as of fire. It is also considered as the birth of the Church because after the Pentecost,
the sanctified Apostles proclaimed the Gospel to all nations
GUIDE QUESTIONS #11
Topic: ARTICLES 9, 10 & 11 OF THE APOSTLE’S CREED

Article 9: “The Holy Catholic Church: The Communion of Saints.”

1. What is the Catholic Church and the meaning of the word “Catholic”? Who is the
Church’s visible
head?
- The Church is referred to as the people of God. It is the union of all faithful people of
God under one head who is Jesus Christ. The word “catholic” means “universal”. The
Church is universal because of Christ, who came to save all of humanity.

2. Is Salvation only possible in the Catholic Church? Why?

- Thus, even non-Christians “who do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but
who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their
actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience, may
achieve eternal salvation” (Lumen Gentium 16).

3. What is the meaning of the Communion of Saints?

- The Communion of Saints, that is, the communion of the holy – includes those who
are now living on earth (the Pilgrim Church), those being purified in purgatory (The
Church Suffering) and those who are blessed in heaven (the Church in glory).

4. Why do Catholics pray to Saints?

- Devotion to the saints is a traditional means to holiness. We do not pray to the saints
as though they were God. Rather, we petition them to pray and intercede for us with our
heavenly Father. They are living a deep, personal, and loving relationship with God and
have proven their friendship by extraordinary goodness in their lives while on earth. We
ask the saints to take our petitions to God on our behalf.

5. Do Catholics worship images: paintings or statues? Why?

- Catholics do not worship paintings, or statues. They are just a way of conveying
something about God, and are not God themselves. They are valuable help in prayer.

SET B (Items 6 to 10): To be answered by Abad to Devera (Patricia)

6. Who goes to purgatory and what happens there?
- Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their
eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter the happiness of
heaven.

Article 10: “The Forgiveness of Sins.”

7. What is sin and its types?
- Sin is an offense against God in thought, word, desire, deed or neglect. Original Sin is
the guilt of the sin of Adam and Eve in their disobedience to God. Actual Sins are sins
committed by a person and are either Mortal or Venial: Mortal sin is a serious offense
against God. It kills the soul and merits eternal damnation. Venial sin is less a serious
violation of God’s law.
8. What is Confession?
- Confession is an external sign of interior sorrow. Through it, we meet the Christian
community in the person of the priest and face our own sinful condition in the eyes of
God. The Church requires us to confess the serious sins of which we are aware by
number and kind at least once a year.

9. Why confess to a priest?

- The practice of Confession arises from the example and command of Jesus, who
showed that human nature could be used by God as an instrument of grace and
forgiveness. In this way He gave the Apostles the power to give "Peace", which is
nothing less than the reconciliation of man with God. Clearly, he gave that authority to
his Apostles and the apostles gave and they in turn "layed hands" (an ordination to
God's service) on other good men (sacrament of holy orders) and hence ordained men
are used by God to give assurance of forgiveness of sins.

Article 11: “The Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting.”

10.What is the Parousia and what happens during this time?
- Parousia refers to the second coming of Jesus. The bodies of all people shall be
raised to life and again become united to their souls. The bodies of the just, with their
souls, will dwell in Heaven forever. While the bodies of the wicked, united with their
souls, will be sent to Hell for all eternity