[Serious] Interview Assignment

[Belacqua]

• How would you describe your own religious background and church involvement?
  

Zero. I was raised completely without religion. I have never attended a church service, or even gone into a church, unless it was to look at the art and architecture.

• How would you describe God?
  
  

If there is anything that should be called God, I'd say it would be along the lines of what Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite described. The source of being, the impassible origin of goodness and truth, the final cause of everything.

• What do you think is important in life?
  
  

Peace, love, and understanding. Beauty.

• What do you think it takes to be straightened out (or made right) with God?
  

I don't see how it would be possible to be "made right" with God. That would imply some state in which one is finished or perfected, and this could lead to the serious misunderstanding that one's own opinions just happen to be those of God, too. If you picture the kind of God that I described earlier, the goal would be to encourage peace, love as much as possible, seek to understand fully before passing judgement, and create as much beauty as possible. 

But one must never assume that one is currently "right" with God and therefore one is not full of error, ill will, and deception. I think it's better to be extremely self-critical and just assume that being "right" with impassible perfection is not possible for us.

• How would you describe Jesus?
  

The idea of Jesus as incarnation of the Logos is one of the most potent and challenging concepts invented by human beings. The question he poses -- "what would the reason and goodness of the universe do if it had to deal with human difficulties?" -- is an unsolvable question which Christians would do well to keep in mind, in my opinion. But the fact that the Logos is beyond human knowledge also means that we can never flatter ourselves into thinking that our own preferences reflect that of the Logos.

• What are your thoughts about churches today?
  

There is an enormous variety. Like all human institutions, they seem to be failing badly because the values of capitalism, American-style anti-intellectualism, and self-love are far easier to settle into than the real challenges of the New Testament.

[brewer]

Hi, I am a Christian and I'm doing an assignment for one of my college classes. The assignment involves asking several different individuals a list of questions:

• How would you describe your own religious background and church involvement?
  
• How would you describe God?
  
• What do you think is important in life?
  
• What do you think it takes to be straightened out (or made right) with God?
  
• How would you describe Jesus?
  
• What are your thoughts about churches today?
  

If you have any questions for me I would be happy to answer them to the best of my ability, just list them at the end of your response to these questions.

You will need to answer all of these questions first, in detail, before I even consider a response.

And if these questions are provided by the course/teacher, I have wonder if you're spending your money wisely.

[Foxaèr]

You will need to answer all of these questions first, in detail, before I even consider a response.

And if these questions are provided by the course/teacher, I have wonder if you're spending your money wisely.

It's not that he's handing our answers verbatim to the teacher, what kind of silly college class does that?

If I'm correct, and I could be wrong, I think the questions are a gateway for creating an essay paper based on the answers provided.

[brewer]

You will need to answer all of these questions first, in detail, before I even consider a response.

And if these questions are provided by the course/teacher, I have wonder if you're spending your money wisely.

It's not that he's handing our answers verbatim to the teacher, what kind of silly college class does that?

If I'm correct, and I could be wrong, I think the questions are a gateway for creating an essay paper based on the answers provided.

And the essay should probably indicate that these questions were to broad and that nothing can really be learned from the variety of responses.

I suppose he could conclude that everyone that does not have christ/religion in their life is fucked up,............. and get an A. That certainly seems to be where the questions are leading.

[Foxaèr]

And the essay should probably indicate that these questions were to broad and that nothing can really be learned from the variety of responses.

I suppose he could conclude that everyone that does not have christ/religion in their life is fucked up,............. and get an A. That certainly seems to be where the questions are leading.

If that's what you want to think, go ahead. The great thing about thinking outside the box is that I can see you're still in it.

[brewer]

And the essay should probably indicate that these questions were to broad and that nothing can really be learned from the variety of responses.

I suppose he could conclude that everyone that does not have christ/religion in their life is fucked up,............. and get an A. That certainly seems to be where the questions are leading.

If that's what you want to think, go ahead. The great thing about thinking outside the box is that I can see you're still in it.

Why should I expect this "help me with my homework" christian to be any different?

[Foxaèr]

Now you're standing on the box, great job.

[GrandizerII]

Ok, fine. I'll bite.

[*]How would you describe your own religious background and church involvement?

Orthodox Christian. Church involvement was minimal up until I became a "born again" Evangelical Christian and then became nil around the time I started to realize I had stopped believing. Haven't been to church in ages now, and thank God for that!

How would you describe God?

Useful fiction; product of creative and/or intelligent sapiens thinking.

What do you think is important in life?

Family and friends. Integrity, intellectual honesty, empathy for the less fortunate, awareness of one's biases and flaws without ignoring one's strengths, pursuit of hobbies and interests, progress in knowledge, etc.

What do you think it takes to be straightened out (or made right) with God?

Nothing. You do you, just don't be a pain to others.

How would you describe Jesus?

A 100% human being (if he did exist) and 0% divine.

What are your thoughts about churches today?

They're a bore.

[Student]

It's not that he's handing our answers verbatim to the teacher, what kind of silly college class does that?

If I'm correct, and I could be wrong, I think the questions are a gateway for creating an essay paper based on the answers provided.

Yes, that is exactly what I am doing. I have gone to other forum sites as well to ask others to answer the same questions.

---

@brewer asked for my answers to these questions, so here we go.
1. I was raised primarily Mormon, but eventually I converted to Christianity. Current Church involvement is lacking [insert excuse here].
2. God is an all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. He created everything. He is self-existent and without Him nothing else would exist. He is Good. He is Love. He is Just. He is Triune, meaning three persons one God (God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit)
3. Bringing glory to God.
4. Either become perfect (which is impossible because of sin), or Follow Jesus and believe what he did.
5. Jesus is the Son of God. Both fully God and fully human. He is my savior who died on the cross to save me and others from an eternity without God.
6. Some churches are very dogmatic in their beliefs and focus too much on themselves and not enough on others. Some churches don’t have this problem and are able to both focus on the community around them as well as those inside the church.

I am not trying to convert any of you to Christianity. Also, I am well aware that over the Internet is not best way to have meaningful and deep conversations with others, I just do not know many non-Christians so I decided to do it over the Internet. Also, thank you all of you for the all the responses.

[The Grand Nudger]

Mormonism -is- christianity. You didn't convert, you changed service providers. Congratulations on extricating yourself from one cult, though, and I mean that earnestly, even as I'm empathetic and saddened about your having joined another.

I've got a serious question for you, too.

How much would you have to owe in unpaid parking tickets, before you beat me to death and strung my body up on a torture device in order to clear the account?