Jesus is the center of what it means to be Christian, a fact that is
demonstrated by His prominence in the Apostles' Creed (63% is about
Jesus).
Jesus is God. No true Christian doubts this, no non-Christian
believes it. This is why we all ourselves "Christian" as opposed to
simply "theists."
The incarnation is truly "the most surprising, unforeseeable,
unimaginable thing that ever happened."
a. This is not a reasonable story, people truly new to the idea
have always been shocked at the audacity of claiming that a man is
God.
a. God truly did die at the moment of the crucifixion.
Jesus is both fully human and fully God.
a. The Church firmly rejects the idea that he is part God and part
man.
a. The Church firmly rejects the idea that he is not really God.
a. The Church firmly rejects the idea that God only pretended or
appeared to be man.
a. Each of the above errors has been tried by one group of people
or another at some point in history and firmly rejected as wrong.
Jesus is both the Son of God and yet God is still one God. This is
part of what it means for God to be a Trinity.
The Jews were expecting the Messiah to free them from Roman rule and
establish the kingdom of David here on Earth, in fulfillment of the
Old Testament Covenant.
a. In class we discussed how this was an unrealistic expectation
because this covenant was broken not by God, but by the actions of
the Jews. More, that this covenant was broken not just once, but
almost continually over the course of the Old Testament.
a. We further discussed the difference in scope between the Old and
New Testaments. The Old Testament covers centuries. The New
Testament records a 60 to 90 year period of time (depending on
precisely when the book of Revelation was written). This difference
in scope leads to a difference in tone between the two sections of
the Bible.
Jesus became man for a number of reasons.
a. in order to save us. Only the infinite pain of God experiencing
death could pay for the infinite pain our sin causes God.
a. so that we could know God's love. Experiencing God in this
personal way through His Church and more through His sacraments, and
again through the example He gave us in His incarnation tells us
more of the nature of God and His love for us than we could ever
otherwise know.
a. to give us an example of holiness. Jesus was truly man. As a
human, he gives a model of how to be a holy person.
a. to adopt us. God was not content to leave us in our fallen
state. Through grace we become adopted. We were created at the
bottom of the spiritual hierarchy. We, through grace, are elevated.
Jesus became man at a particular time for a reason. The book talks
fairly briefly about this. This section actually formed the bulk of
our discussion in class, as it is actually very important to
understand if you are also to understand that God did not abandon us
to evil for centuries.
The Grace of Baptism is required to get into Heaven, but for those
who through no fault of their own do not receive that grace in
this life, we cannot limit God. He may, at His discretion, have
provided other ways for them to have received this grace.
We know this happened at least once - in the Apostles' creed we
state that Jesus descended into hell. Why? To provide the grace of
baptism to those who died before His crucifixion (such as Saint
Joseph).
a. We discussed the use of language in the Bible to denote
different segments of hell, and how that mirrors the temporary state
of purgatory that currently exists but will be unnecessary after the
Last Judgment.
a. We discussed that we cannot know what happens to those who do
not receive baptism now, but that we are guessing, and in many cases
hoping.
The second coming.
a. Not a lot is known for sure.
a. We will have bodies.
a. There will be a new earth for those bodies to be on.
a. this new earth is necessary because the last judgment is "at the
end of time."
a. The last judgment is there so that we can all know,
definitively, that God is in fact Just, and that people have truly
gotten what they deserve, both good and bad.
a. No one in heaven will stop being in heaven.
a. No one in hell will stop being in hell.
