Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Mon, 12 Oct 1992 00:03:11 EDT
From:         JEK@NIHCU.BITNET
Subject:      Some questions, and articles on them

     A few questions for the reader:

Is it reasonable to suppose the the Gospel of John was really
written by the Apostle John? How first-hand is its account?

Are the stories of the infancy of Jesus as found in Matthew and Luke
historically reliable?

Was the Sermon on the Mount a Pentecost sermon?

What is the justification for observing Sunday, rather than
Saturday, as a special day?

Are the Jewish people responsible for the death of Jesus?

Why did Jesus refer to Himself as "the Son of Man"?

Suppose that someone makes an assertion, and you ask him, "How do
you know?" and he answers, "By faith." Under what circumstances is
this, by Christian standards, a commendable answer?

When Jesus said, "Ye must be born again," what was He talking about?

What is meant by the Trinity?

Is "Sola Scriptura" (We are not commanded as Christians to believe
anything not taught in the Holy Scriptures) a recent innnovation,
unknown before the Reformation? Is it a reasonable position?

Sometimes, in Christian worship, public or private, someone will
burst into ecstatic speech, which appears to the bystanders to be
babbling. Leaving aside instances where someone claims to understand
the speaker, what are we to make of this?

Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except by me." Does this
mean that all non-Christians go to hell?

What is a "fundamentalist"?

Who is C S Lewis, and what has he written, and what are his books
about?

What Christian preacher has been called "the most towering intellect
produced by the Western Hemisphere prior to 1900"?  What is your
favorite sermon by him? (akay, I admit that as questions go, this is
stretching it)

Do moslems worship the true God?

If God knows what I am going to do, does it follow that I have no
choice in the matter?

Can the arguments used by philosophical skeptics (such as David
Hume) to justify rejecting belief in the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ be used to justify, on the same grounds, rejecting other
beliefs that few educated persons reject?

What is the background of the Apostles' Creed?

What is the background of the Nicene Creed?

Why is there controversy about the phrase "And from the Son" in the
Nicene Creed?

What do the Creeds mean when they speak of the Catholic Church?

If we do not take the opening chapters of Genesis to be a literal
historical assertion about the early stages of the cosmos and of the
human race, what alternatives are there?

Can a scientist reject Darwinism?

Can a Christian accept Darwinism?

Christians believe that they are saved by Christ, and more
particularly, by His offering of Himself at Calvary. One common
explanation of how this works is called Forensic Substitution, and
goes something like this: "We have sinned. Divine Justice demands
the death penalty for sin. Jesus paid the penalty in our stead, and
we have accordingly been let off the hook." Is it possible to
believe in the Atonement, to believe that we are saved from sin and
reconciled with God by the work of Christ, and not accept this
particular explanation?  Con one believe in Substitution but not in
Forensic Substitution?  Are there alternate theories of the
Atonement? What are they? Do they make sense in the light of
Scripture, of Christian Tradition, and of Reason?

     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

If any of the previous questions interests you, you might want to
send for an article on the subject from the Library at ASUACAD.  I
append a partial list (not a random sample) of the Entries in said
Library. Note that each has a two-word name, and that the number of
lines in each is given. To obtain (for example) the Entry called
BORN OFWATER, send the one-line message
     GET BORN OFWATER

to one of these addresses (depending on what network you are on).

     LISTSERV@ASUACAD
     LISTSERV@ASUACAC.BITNET
     LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU

Back will come (in this example) a 188-line file (not mail).

To obtain a complete list of LIbrary Entries, send the message
     GET LIBRARY CATALOG

If you wish to submit for inclusion in the Library an article on a
subject of general and long-term interest to Christians, choose a
title (two words of at most eight alphamerics each) and a brief (say
at most 30 characters and spaces) description, and send the title,
description, and article to the Librarian, Madge McBurney. Her
address is <ISPMOM@ASUACAD.BITNET> or <ISPMOM@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU>.
She is also co-listowner of the list CHRISTIA at that node.  Don't
forget to thank her.  She is a volunteer.

And now for the partial list of entries as promised.

     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

 *
 *From the Listowner
 *
 CHRISTIA CHARTER      47 Statement of purpose
 LIBRARY  CATALOG     276 The File you are now reading!
 CHRISTIA HELP        202 Details of Listserv commands,
                          and Christia information
 *
 *From James Kiefer
 *
 JOHN     PART1       804 Is John's Gospel first-hand?
 JOHN     PART2       519 Ditto (from Salmon's book)
 INFANCY  PART1      1589 Are the Bethlehem stories fact?
 INFANCY  PART2       696 Gospel genealogies
 SERMON   MOUNT       376 Structure of the Sermon on the Mount
 LORDS    DAY         528 Replacing Sabbath (Saturday)
                          with Lord's Day (Sunday)
 CHOOSING BARABBAS    594 Responsibility for the Crucifixion
 JESUS    SONOFMAN    250 Jesus called himself "Son of Man,"
                          meaning what?
 FAITH    KINDS       924 Meanings of the word "faith" distinguished
 BORN     OFWATER     188 Baptism, rebirth, and John 3:5
 TRINITY  ANALOGY     364 On the Trinity
 SOLA     SCRIPT      945 On the Sufficiency of Scripture
 TONGUES  NOTRANS     163 Speaking in Tongues (Uninterpreted)
 NONXIANS SAVED       246 Can non-Christians be saved?
 DEFINING FUNDIES     234 What is a "Fundamentalist"?
 CSLEWIS  BOOKS       170 List of books by C S Lewis,
                          with descriptions
 LION     LAMB       1454 Christ as Lion and Lamb (Rev. 5:5-6)
 ISALLAH  GOD         273 Do Moslems worship the true God?
 FORESEEN CHOICE      428 Divine omniscience and human freedom
 DOUBTS   NAPOLEON   1170 A Classical Case Study on Skepticism
 *
 *From James Kiefer on Christian Creeds
 *
 CREED    APOSTLES    109 Background of the Apostles' Creed
 CREED    NICENE      377 Notes on the Nicene Creed
 CREED    FILIOQUE    713 "And from the Son" in the Creed
 CREED    CHURCH      158 The Nicene Creed on the Church

 *
 *James Kiefer's series on Genesis (preferably read in sequence)
 *
 GEN01    RUFF       1363 The Problem of Evil in Genesis 1-11
                          Three views of Genesis 1
 GEN02    RUFF       1106 Darwinism and science
 GEN03    RUFF        971 Darwinism and Christianity
 GEN04    RUFF       1747 Fall and Atonement Theories:
                             (1) The Penal Substitution Theory
                             (2) The Beau-Geste Theory
 GEN05    RUFF        468        (Hebrew Sacrifice: an interlude)
 GEN06    RUFF       1155    (3) The Pattern Theory
 GEN07    RUFF        878    (4) The Existential Theory
                             (5) The Conflict Theory
 *
 *From Jon Loux
 *
 GEN03    CRITIQUE    369 Critique of James Kiefer's
                          GEN03 File.
 GEN04    CRITIQUE    453 Critique of James Kiefer's
                          GEN04 thru GEN07 Files.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU