WAEC SSCE - Christian Religious Studies - 1993 (Essay)

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(a) The experiences of Jonah in the belly of the fish and in Nineveh

In the belly of the fish (Jonah 1:17 - 2:10): After Jonah fled from God and was thrown into the sea, the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow him, and he was in its belly three days and three nights. There Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He confessed that in his distress he had cried to God and God had heard him. He described his sinking into the deep, the waters closing over him and weeds wrapping his head, and how his life was brought down to the pit. He remembered the LORD and his prayer came to God in the holy temple. He declared that those who cling to worthless idols forsake mercy, and he vowed to sacrifice and pay his vows, confessing that "Salvation is of the LORD." Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

In Nineveh (Jonah 3): The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, telling him to go to Nineveh and preach. This time he obeyed. Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey across. Jonah entered and proclaimed, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The king rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, sat in ashes, and decreed that man and beast should fast and turn from their evil ways, hoping that God might relent. When God saw that they turned from their evil way, He relented from the disaster He had threatened.

(b) Two lessons Jonah learned

• That no one can successfully flee from the presence of God; God's purpose will prevail.
• That God is merciful and gracious, ready to forgive and spare all who genuinely repent, including even the heathen nations.

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(a) The call of Abram and his response (Genesis 12:1-9)

The LORD said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you." With the call God attached great promises: He would make Abram a great nation, bless him, make his name great, and make him a blessing. God would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him, and in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.

Abram responded in obedience and faith. He departed as the LORD had told him, taking Sarai his wife, his nephew Lot, all their possessions, and the people they had acquired in Haran. He was seventy-five years old when he set out. He journeyed to the land of Canaan and came to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. There the LORD appeared to him and promised, "To your descendants I will give this land." Abram built an altar to the LORD there. He then moved to the hill country east of Bethel, pitched his tent, and built another altar, calling on the name of the LORD. He continued his journey towards the Negeb, going as God directed.

(b) Four ways through which God calls people to His service today

• Through the reading and preaching of the word of God, which convicts and directs individuals.
• Through dreams, visions and special spiritual experiences.
• Through the counsel, advice or influence of parents, ministers and fellow believers.
• Through circumstances of life and inner conviction or the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

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How Jesus explained separately to Martha and to Thomas that He is the resurrection and the life

To Martha (John 11:17-27): When Lazarus had died and Jesus came to Bethany, Martha met Him and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha, thinking only of the last day, replied, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Then Jesus made the great declaration, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." He then asked her, "Do you believe this?" Martha answered, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." Jesus went on to prove His words by raising Lazarus from the tomb after four days.

To Thomas (John 14:1-6): In the upper room, comforting His troubled disciples before His death, Jesus told them that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father's house, and that where He was going they knew the way. Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." By this Jesus taught Thomas that He Himself is the living way to God and the source of eternal life; through faith in Him one passes from death to life and reaches the Father.

Thus to Martha He revealed Himself as the resurrection who conquers death, and to Thomas as the life who leads believers to the Father.

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(a) James' advice to be "doers of the word and not hearers only" (James 1:22-25)

James warns believers not to deceive themselves by merely listening to the word of God without acting on it. To hear the word and do nothing about it is self-deception, for the true purpose of hearing is obedience. A person who only hears but does not obey gains no lasting benefit from the message.

James elaborates the point with an illustration: such a hearer is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, observes himself, then goes away and immediately forgets what he looked like. The word of God functions as a mirror that reveals a person's true spiritual condition, but the careless hearer forgets the reflection the moment he turns away and so makes no correction.

By contrast, the one who looks intently into the perfect law of liberty (the gospel) and continues in it, being not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, will be blessed in what he does. James further insists that true, undefiled religion is expressed in action: bridling the tongue, visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, and keeping oneself unstained by the world (James 1:26-27).

(b) Two ways a person can live up to this standard

1. Practical charity and service: By caring for the needy, the orphans, the widows and the afflicted in the community, thus putting the teaching of love into concrete action rather than mere profession.
2. Self-control and holy living: By bridling the tongue, controlling anger, keeping oneself unpolluted by worldly vices, and obeying God's commands daily, so that conduct matches confession.

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(a) Paul's teaching on humility in his letter to the Philippians (Philippians 2:1-11)

Paul appealed to the Philippians to be united in love, of one mind and one accord. He urged, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." He then set before them Christ as the supreme example of humility.

Though Christ was in the form of God and equal with God, He did not regard that equality as something to be grasped or held onto. Rather He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. Being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul thus taught that true greatness comes through humble self-giving and obedience, and that God exalts the humble.

Two ways a Christian can manifest a life of humility

• By considering others as better than oneself and serving them selflessly rather than seeking personal glory.
• By being obedient to God and submitting to His will, even when it involves suffering or self-denial.

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How the Thessalonian Christians should prepare for the second coming of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:11)

Paul taught that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, suddenly and unexpectedly, and that no one knows the exact times and seasons. Since the Thessalonians were children of light and not of darkness, they should not be caught unprepared like those who sleep. He gave them the following ways to prepare:

• Watchfulness and alertness: They should stay awake and be sober, not sleeping as others do, but keeping spiritually alert and ready at all times.
• Self-control and sobriety: They should live soberly, avoiding drunkenness and the excesses associated with the night.
• Putting on spiritual armour: They should put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
• Holy and blameless living: They should live holy lives, abstaining from sexual immorality and controlling their bodies in holiness and honour, so as to be found blameless at His coming.
• Diligence and honest work: They should not be idle but work quietly with their hands and mind their own affairs, so as to command the respect of outsiders.
• Comforting and encouraging one another: They should not grieve like those without hope over believers who have died, since the dead in Christ will rise first; rather they should comfort and build up one another with these words.
• Constant devotion: They should rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, holding fast to what is good.

In this way they would be ready to meet the Lord and obtain salvation through Him.

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(a) The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)

A certain man had two sons. The younger son asked his father to give him his share of the inheritance. The father divided the property between them. Not many days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a far country, where he wasted his substance in riotous living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that land, and he began to be in want. He joined himself to a citizen who sent him into the fields to feed pigs, and he longed to eat the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to himself he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, while I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants." So he arose and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and had compassion, ran to him, fell on his neck and kissed him. The son confessed his sin, but the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.

The elder son, returning from the field, heard the music and dancing and was angry, refusing to go in. The father came out and pleaded with him, saying, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive, was lost and is found."

(b) How the action of the father illustrates the nature of God

• The father's readiness to welcome back the son shows that God is loving, compassionate and full of mercy toward sinners.
• His running to meet the son and forgiving him fully shows that God is patient and eagerly forgives all who genuinely repent.
• The restoration of the son to full sonship, with robe, ring and shoes, shows that God fully restores the repentant sinner, and the celebration shows the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

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(a) Events in Iconium and Lystra during the first missionary journey (Acts 14:1-20)

Iconium: Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke so effectively that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. The apostles stayed a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the word of His grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through their hands. The city was divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When a plot was made to mistreat and stone them, the apostles became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, and there continued to preach the gospel.

Lystra: At Lystra there sat a man crippled from birth, who had never walked. He listened to Paul, and Paul, seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." The man leaped up and walked. When the crowds saw it, they cried out in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men." They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, and the priest of Zeus brought oxen and garlands, intending to offer sacrifice to them. When the apostles heard it, they tore their clothes and rushed among the crowd, crying, "Men, why are you doing this? We also are men of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God who made heaven and earth." With difficulty they restrained the people from sacrificing. Then Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, won over the crowds, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him dead. But as the disciples gathered round him, he rose and went back into the city, and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.

(b) The attitude of the Jews in both places

In both Iconium and Lystra the unbelieving Jews were hostile, jealous and full of opposition to the gospel. At Iconium they stirred up and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against the apostles and plotted to stone them. At Lystra Jews came all the way from Antioch and Iconium, incited the crowd, and actually stoned Paul and left him for dead. Thus the Jews consistently rejected the message, persecuted the apostles and tried to turn the people against them.

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(a) Josiah's immediate response to the discovery of the Book of the Law (2 Kings 22)

During the repair of the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law. Shaphan the scribe read it before King Josiah. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes as a sign of grief and repentance, for he realised how far the nation had departed from God's commands and how great was the wrath they deserved.

He immediately commanded Hilkiah, Shaphan and others to go and enquire of the LORD for him and for the people concerning the words of the book. They went to Huldah the prophetess, who confirmed that God would bring disaster on the land because of its disobedience, but that because Josiah's heart was tender and he had humbled himself and wept, he himself would be gathered to his grave in peace and would not see the evil to come. Josiah then gathered all the people, young and old, priests and prophets, to the temple. He read to them all the words of the Book of the Covenant, and standing by the pillar he made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD, to keep His commandments with all his heart and soul. He then carried out sweeping religious reforms, destroying idols and pagan altars and restoring the Passover.

(b) Two ways the religious situation today is similar to Josiah's time

• Just as idolatry and pagan worship had crept into Judah, today many people mix Christianity with idol worship, occult practices and superstition.
• Just as the word of God had been neglected and forgotten in the temple, today the Scriptures are often neglected and God's commandments are widely disobeyed, calling for genuine repentance and reform.