Do you have the street smarts to answer these questions about the Gospel?
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[
{
"question":"Who is God?",
"answer":"God is Love, the Supreme Being, infinitely perfect, who made all things and keeps them in existence. There is one God in three persons, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What are some of Godâs attributes?",
"answer":"He's Spirit so he can't die. He will live forever.
He is eternal. He had no beginning and will have no end.
He is all-powerful. He created the universe out of nothing. He created everything in it. He can do anything.
He is all-knowing. He knows the future. He knows our thoughts. There isn't anything he doesn't know. He is all holy. He is entirely free from sin and imperfection.
He is everywhere. You can't escape him.
God is all just and all-merciful. He gives us what we deserve and then so much more.
God is unchanging. Heâs never going to have a bad day and turn into a big meanie.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"Who is God the Father?",
"answer":"He is the first person of the Blessed Trinity. He is distinct from the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The three Divine Persons are perfectly equal to one another, because all are one and the same God.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"Who is Jesus?",
"answer":"Jesus is the Son of God and God. He is the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity. He has always existed in spirit. 2000 years ago He became man, atoned for our sins by dying on the cross and rose from the dead for our salvation. He is fully God and fully human. He is our Lord and Savior.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What should people know about the Holy Spirit?",
"answer":"The Holy Spirit is God and the third Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is equal to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit dwells in the Church as the source of its life and sanctifies souls through the gift of grace.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What is Heaven?",
"answer":"Eternal life with God; communion of life and love with the Trinity and all the saints. Heaven is the state of supreme happiness, the goal of the deepest longings of humanity.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What is man?",
"answer":"Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"How are we made in the image and likeness of God?",
"answer":"We are made in the image and likeness of God because we can love, create, and truly choose good. We are capable of truly and freely choosing to do good and to love. Human persons are not mere reactionary creatures but a creation that, like God, can choose to do good and to love one another. Human persons are also able to know and understand goodness and love. Human persons can mirror God in the manner we know, understand, love and do good.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"Who are Adam and Eve?",
"answer":"The first man and woman created by God. Every person in the history of the world descended from these two.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What gifts did God bestow on Adam and Eve?",
"answer":"The chief gift bestowed on Adam and Eve by God was sanctifying grace, which made them children of God and gave them the right to heaven. The other gifts bestowed on Adam and Eve by God were happiness in the Garden of Paradise, great knowledge, control of the passions by reason, and freedom from suffering and death.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What is Godâs plan for every human person?",
"answer":"God made us to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next world (Heaven).",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What are angels?",
"answer":"Angels are created spirits, without bodies, having understanding and free will. When God created the angels He bestowed on them great wisdom, power, and holiness. Not all the angels remained faithful to God; some of them sinned.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"What happened to the angels who remained faithful to God?",
"answer":"The angels who remained faithful to God are called good angels. They entered into the eternal happiness of heaven where they see, love, and adore God. They help us by praying for us, by acting as messengers from God to us, and by serving as our guardian angels. Our guardian angels help us by praying for us, by protecting us from harm, and by inspiring us to do good.",
"category":"God, creation, and his plan for our lives"
},
{
"question":"Who are the devil and demons? Whatâs their problem?",
"answer":"Every angel was made good by God. The devil (Satan), and the other demons fell from grace due to envy. They were envious of Godâs plan to make human beings partakers of the divine nature. And so, they hate us and seek to destroy us. The chief way in which the bad angels try to harm us is by tempting us to sin. Not all temptations come from the bad angels; other temptations come from ourselves and from the persons and things about us. We can always resist temptations, because no temptation can force us into sin, and because God will always help us if we ask Him.",
"category":"Bad news of sin"
},
{
"question":"What is sin?",
"answer":"Sin is bad because it harms us and our relationships. It is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as \"an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.\" CCC 1849
There are two kinds of sin, venial and mortal (or deadly). Venial sin weakens our friendship with God but doesn't end it. Mortal sin puts to death the life of God in our souls.",
"category":"Bad news of sin"
},
{
"question":"What was the original sin?",
"answer":"Man had to freely accept God's friendship. God's command to Adam (not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil) shows symbolically that man had to acknowledge his limits as a creature and submit his behavior to God's laws. By sin, man set aside his trust in God and disobeyed. All subsequent sin would be disobedience and lack of trust. By sin, man rebelled against his status as a creature. Man chose to be like God without God and not in accordance with God.",
"category":"Bad news of sin"
},
{
"question":"What else should people know about original sin?",
"answer":"The loss of the gift of original justice left our first parents and us in mortal sin because it deprived them of the Grace of God, and to be without this gift of Grace which they should have had was to be in mortal sin. As all their children are deprived of the same gift, they, too, come into the world in a state of mortal sin. The other effects of this is that our nature was corrupted by the sin of our first parents, which darkened our understanding, weakened our will, and left in us a strong inclination to evil.",
"category":"Bad news of sin"
},
{
"question":"What should people know about hell?",
"answer":"Hell is the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the saints. God has given the human person free will, because without free will love cannot exist. With the gift of free will comes the possibility of choosing mortal sin. Mortal sin results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and Godâs forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christâs kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. Hell is the worst thing ever. It lasts forever and thereâs no getting out. Avoid it at all costs!",
"category":"Bad news of sin"
},
{
"question":"What did Jesus do to save us?",
"answer":"Jesus Christ, as the Redeemer of the whole human race, offered His sufferings and death to God as a fitting sacrifice in satisfaction for the sins of men, and regained for them the right to be children of God and heirs of heaven.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). It's not primarily out of anger that the Father sends the Son - itâs out of love. So, what did He send the Son to do? He sends the Son into the mess we made. He stands shoulder to shoulder with sinners. He goes out to them, He eats and drinks with them, he heals them, he teaches them, he draws them in. His whole ministry it to travel into sin, to stand with us sinners and then finally at the end of his ministry he goes into the heart of darkness - He goes into sin & death themselves, becoming on his cross a sacrifice - not a human sacrifice designed to appease an angry God - rather God's sacrifice designed to reconcile us to God. What man tried to do through centuries of sacrifice in the temple has now been accomplished not by us, but by God sending his own Son into our sin, into what frightens us, into our death and by shedding his blood, which is a sign of God's love, he has performed the final and ultimate sacrifice. The sacrifice puts an end to all of our useless attempts to reconcile ourselves with God. God has come from heaven and has reconciled Himself to us in the blood of Jesus' cross. The sacrifice of love that Jesus made in His human will to the Father was more pleasing than all of the sins of all time are displeasing to Him, and thus made satisfaction for our sins. The Father was never angry with Jesus. Nor did the Father pour out His wrath on Him. The Passion is Jesusâ greatest act of love and the greatest revelation of the heart of God. (Bishop Barron)",
"category":"Jesus saves"
},
{
"question":"How do we receive the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit?",
"answer":"By putting our faith in Jesus, repenting of our sins, and getting baptized.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What is faith?",
"answer":"Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).
Hope is what we desire to happen. Faith is what we trust will happen.
It can also be said that faith is God's work in us to which we respond. God takes the initiative and pulls us towards Him and when we say 'yes' to Him with our thoughts and deeds, that's faith.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What does it mean to repent?",
"answer":"To feel sorrow for sin and to do your best to avoid it.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What is the Catholic Church?",
"answer":"Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church to bring all men to eternal salvation.
It is enabled to lead men to salvation by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who gives it life.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit enables the Catholic Church to teach, to sanctify, and to rule the faithful in the name of Jesus.
Jesus gave the power to teach, to sanctify, and to rule the members of His Catholic Church to the apostles, the first bishops of the Catholic Church and intended that this power should be exercised also by their successors, the bishops of the Catholic Church.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"How do we know that what the Catholic Church teaches is true?",
"answer":"Jesus Christ came into the world as the Voice of Truth Itself.
He said in John 14:6: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
And according to Ephesians 1:22-23, The Church is the body of Christ, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So, the Church is Jesus Christ extended into this world.
Jesus said: Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me (Luke 10:16).
When we reject the Catholic Church, we reject Jesus.
Joan of Arc speaking about the Catholic Church said this:
\"About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they are just one thing and we shouldn't complicate the matter.\"
Another passage to consider is Matthew 18:15-18.
\"If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.\"
We read here that Jesus has given His Church the authority to settle disputes and to excommunicate people if need be. How do we know that it was the Catholic Church that He was referring to? It was the only church that existed in the time of those who heard this message.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"How do we know Jesus established the Catholic Church?",
"answer":"Because it alone has the marks of the true Church, which are four: It is one, holy, catholic or universal, and apostolic.
It is one because its members profess the same faith, have the same sacrifice and sacraments, and are united under one and the same visible head, the Pope.
It is holy because it was founded by Jesus Christ, who is all-holy, and because it teaches, according to the will of Christ, holy doctrines, and provides the means of leading a holy life, thereby giving holy members to every age.
It is catholic or universal because, destined to last for all time, it never fails to fulfill the divine commandment to teach all nations all the truths revealed by God.
It is apostolic because it was founded by Christ on the apostles and, according to His divine will, has always been governed by their lawful successors.
We know that no other church but the Catholic Church is the true Church of Christ because no other church has these four marks.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What are the chief attributes of the Catholic Church?",
"answer":"Authority, infallibility, and indefectibility.
By the authority of the Catholic Church is meant that the Pope and the bishops, as the lawful successors of the apostles, have power from Christ Himself to teach, to sanctify, and to govern the faithful in spiritual matters.
By the infallibility of the Catholic Church is meant that the Church, by the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, cannot err when it teaches or believes a doctrine of faith or morals.
By the indefectibility of the Catholic Church is meant that the Church, as Christ founded it, will last until the end of time.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"Do people need to be Catholic to be saved?",
"answer":"Jesus made the Catholic Church a necessary means of salvation and commanded all to enter it, so that a person must be connected with the Church in some way to be saved.
Persons who are not members of the Catholic Church can be saved if, through no fault of their own, they do not know that the Catholic Church is the true Church, but they love God and try to do His will, for in this way they are connected with the Church by desire.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What is grace?",
"answer":"A supernatural gift of God bestowed on us through the merits of Jesus Christ for our salvation.",
"category":"Jesus saves"
},
{
"question":"What is actual grace?",
"answer":"Actual grace is a supernatural push or encouragement. It doesnât live in the soul, but acts on the soul from the outside. It gets the will and intellect moving so we can seek out and keep sanctifying grace.",
"category":"Jesus saves"
},
{
"question":"What is sanctifying grace?",
"answer":"Sanctifying grace is the sharing in the life of God Himself.
Sanctifying grace is necessary for salvation because it is the supernatural life, which alone enables us to attain the supernatural happiness of heaven.
An analogy may be useful here: If NASA invited you to go to the moon and you wanted to go, you wouldnât just show up at Cape Canaveral with jeans and a t-shirt, and say:
âIâm ready to go, whereâs the rocket? Can I get a window seat?â
You would need special equipment. Youâd need a space suit that would enable you to breathe, along with a bunch of other stuff or you wouldnât be able to survive in space.
Itâs the same way with heaven, God needs to equip us to go there. Weâre ill-equipped on our own. We donât love each other perfectly, so God has to share His own life with us so that we can love each other perfectly. This life of God, that enables us to love like Jesus is called sanctifying grace.
So, the main effects of sanctifying grace are:
it makes us holy and pleasing to God;
it makes us adopted children of God;
it makes us temples of the Holy Spirit;
it gives us the right to heaven.",
"category":"Jesus saves"
},
{
"question":"Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary?",
"answer":"She is the mother of Jesus. Because she is the mother of Jesus - Son of God and second Person of the Blessed Trinity - according to the flesh, she is rightly called the Mother of God. Mary is also called âfull of grace,â and âMother of the Church,â and in Christian prayer and devotion, âOur Lady,â the âBlessed Virgin Mary,â and the âNew Eveâ.
She is also the mother of all Christians and the model disciple. She was created free from sin and never sinned in her life. She is the most powerful advocate we have. We would be wise to cultivate a relationship with her, and ask her to pray for us and with us.",
"category":"Jesus saves"
},
{
"question":"How do we get sanctifying grace?",
"answer":"The principal ways of obtaining sanctifying grace are prayer and the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What is prayer?",
"answer":"To pray is to communicate with God. You can talk to Him out loud or in your head. Prayer is a two-way street, so we should listen as well as talk. We can prayer informally, which means to have a conversation with God, or we can pray formally, which is to recite wrote prayers like the âOur Fatherâ. Informal prayers often include praise for God, expressing sorrow for sins, thanking Him for the blessings in our lives, and asking Him for what we need.
It's a matter of justice that we should spend at least 15 minutes in prayer every day.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What is a sacrament?",
"answer":"A sacrament is a sense-perceptible sign instituted by Jesus that gives sanctifying grace.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What do people need to know about the Eucharist?",
"answer":"The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It is the sacrament which contains the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine. Christ gives us Himself in the Eucharist: to be offered as a sacrifice commemorating and renewing for all time the sacrifice of the cross; to be received by the faithful in Holy Communion; to remain ever on our altars as the proof of His love for us, and to be worshiped by us.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What does baptism do?",
"answer":"Baptism is a sacrament that is necessary for salvation. It washes away all sin and punishment due to sin, it brings us into the family of God, and infuses us with supernatural faith, hope and charity. Baptism also makes it possible for us to receive the other sacraments.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What should people know about the Mass?",
"answer":"The Mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the cross 2000 years ago. The only difference is the manner in which the sacrifice is offered. On the cross Christ physically shed His blood and was physically slain, while in the Mass there is no physical shedding of blood nor physical death, because Christ can die no more; on the cross Christ gained merit and satisfied for us, while in the Mass He applies to us the merits and satisfaction of His death on the cross.
The purposes for which the Mass is offered are: first, to adore God as our Creator and Lord; second, to thank God for His many favors; third, to ask God to bestow His blessings on all men; fourth, to satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against Him.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What do disciples do?",
"answer":"They strive to please the Lord by loving God above all else and loving one another as Jesus loved us. This means avoiding sin, especially mortal sin, and performing works of mercy.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What are the Works of Mercy?",
"answer":"The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Everyone is obliged to perform the works of mercy, according to his own ability and the need of his neighbor.
The Spiritual Works of Mercy have long been a part of the Christian tradition; just as Jesus attended to the spiritual well-being of those he ministered to, these spiritual works of mercy guide us to help our neighbor in their spiritual needs.
The seven Spiritual Works of Mercy are:
1. To admonish the sinner
2. To instruct the ignorant
3. To counsel the doubtful
4. To comfort the sorrowful
5. To bear wrongs patiently
6. To forgive all injuries
7. To pray for the living and the dead
The Corporal Works of Mercy are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a model for how we should treat all others, as if they were Christ in disguise; they are charitable actions by which we help our neighbors in their bodily needs.
The seven Corporal Works of Mercy are:
1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty
3. To clothe the naked
4. To visit the imprisoned
5. To shelter the homeless
6. To visit the sick
7. To bury the dead",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"Can we lose our salvation? How?",
"answer":"Yes, by committing a mortal (deadly) sin and remaining in it until death.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What makes a sin mortal (deadly)?",
"answer":"Three conditions have to be met for a sin to be mortal. (1) it has to be a grave sin, which means a more serious sin, (2) we have to know itâs grave, and then (3) we have to freely do it or fail to do it.",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"What are some examples of grave sins?",
"answer":"The 10 commandments are a good guide.
1. I am the Lord thy God; have no strange gods before me.
Examples of grave sins - loving someone or something more than God, astrology, psychics, ouija boards, etc. From this commandment we learn fidelity
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.
Examples of grave sins - swearing using Godâs name, breaking vows or promises to God. From this commandment we learn reverence.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lordâs Day.
Examples of grave sins - Skipping Mass for no good reason, doing unnecessary physical work on Sunday. From this commandment we learn service.
4. Honor your father and mother.
Examples of grave sins - ignoring mom and dad, not taking care of them in old age. From this commandment we learn piety
5. You shall not kill.
Examples of grave sins - abortion, euthanasia, suicide, getting drunk, refusing to forgive someone. From this commandment we learn meekness.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
Examples of grave sins - sex outside of marriage, pornography & masturbation, contraception & sterilization. From this commandment we learn chastity.
7. You shall not steal.
Examples of grave sins - taking what is not yours, gambling excessively, cheating, not honoring contracts, not helping the poor. From this commandment we learn justice.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Examples of grave sins - lying, gossip, being two-faced. rash judging. From this commandment we learn veracity or truthfulness.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
Examples of grave sins - deliberately permitting sexual thoughts about anyone other than spouse, watching shows with impure scenes with the intention of being aroused by them. From this commandment we learn purity.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
Examples of grave sins - being envious of the possessions, abilities, beauty or success of others. From this commandment we learn temperance.
There are also grave sins of omission - things we fail to do - because being a child of God comes with responsibilities. So, things like failing to do works of mercy such as: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting the prisoner can be grave sins of omission (see Matthew 25:31-46). Other examples of grave sins of omission are failing to forgive someone (Colossians 3:13) and not evangelizing (CCC 1816).",
"category":"Receiving the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit"
},
{
"question":"How is our salvation restored after committing a mortal sin?",
"answer":"By having our mortal sins absolved in the sacrament of confession, or by having perfect contrition.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What is the sacrament of confession?",
"answer":"The sacrament by which sins committed after Baptism are forgiven through the absolution of the priest. The priest has the power to forgive sins from Jesus Christ, who said to His apostles and to their successors in the priesthood: âReceive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retainedâ (John 20:22-23).
The sacraments of baptism and confession are called sacraments of the dead because their chief purpose is to give the supernatural life of sanctifying grace to souls spiritually dead through sin.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"What is perfect contrition?",
"answer":"Perfect contrition is being sad & heartbroken for committing a sin against God, not because we fear hell or purgatory or because we want to go to heaven - no selfish motive - but because we love God and have offended Him. Perfect contrition is not an emotion. Itâs an act of the will. We can, with Godâs grace, and with love in our heart make an act of perfect contrition. However, we should never presume that weâve made a perfect act of contrition, but we should have the hope that weâve been given the grace to do so. The problem is that we canât know for sure if weâve made that perfect act. Thatâs why the sacrament of confession is so important. If youâre even a little bit sorry for your sins for whatever reason, your sins will be absolved in the sacrament of confession. And thatâs why itâs so important to be Catholic. The sacrament of confession is only for members of the Catholic Church.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
},
{
"question":"Why should we go to confession regularly?",
"answer":"First and foremost, to be brought back to life if weâve committed a mortal sin. Itâs still a good idea even if we are in a state of grace because it can give us an increase of sanctifying grace, which can help us to avoid sin in the future. Also, doing the penance the priest prescribes can take away some of our temporal punishment due to sin.",
"category":"Jesus instituted the Catholic Church"
}
]
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