Course Capstone Assessment

Instructions

As much as we would like more time to disciple, many Christians only get 20-30 minutes of instruction each week during a sermon. They may not belong to any small group or interact with teaching at any other time during the week. They may not read their Bible regularly or, even if they do, may see in its words whatever they already believe.

For this exercise, find at least three Christians to interview. Ask them the following five groups of questions in keeping with the five Lessons of this micro-course. Perhaps they know the orthodox (historically held) position on the question. Or perhaps they have never thought about it or have absorbed unorthodox perspectives from somewhere else. 

The purpose of the exercise is not to “school” them but to discover what people in the church are believing and perhaps to share some insights they have never heard. Feel free to use your learning to customize the questions.

1. How important are our bodies for us as Christians? Are they trivial and relatively unimportant? Does it matter what we do with them? Why? Does it matter if we want to change the body we were born with?
2. What were the physical consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve? In what way might Christ “undo” some of these? Or are those consequences prescriptive until Jesus returns? Why or why not?
3. Was it important that Jesus come to earth in a body? Would it have mattered if he were a spirit-being that looked human but really wasn’t? Why or why not?
4. How might we best honor God with our bodies? How might we especially honor God in the realm of sex and sexuality? Are there any biblical guidelines that God has laid down? If so, why do you think God has set such boundaries?
5. What happens to our bodies when we die? Is that the end of our bodies? What form will we have in eternity?

After you have done these interviews, write up the questions you asked and the answers given. Tell about any follow-up conversation that ensued about the questions. Reflect on the experience and the answers given, and upload your thoughts to the course.