From: "Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL> To: "WSFAList (E-mail)" <WSFAList at keithlynch.net> Subject: [WSFA] Theological Engineering Exam 1 Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 16:40:00 -0400 Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net> Keith Lynch posted the following exam on the WSFA Chat List. My answers, including assumptions, are below. Assumptions made by the student and applicable to all questions: With God all things are possible; without God all things are impossible. The test taker is a conservative Protestant Christian. Question (Q) 1. (20 pts) Bob and Joe are standing on a street corner. God loves each an equal amount L_0. Bob then accelerates to 0.9c. In Joe's rest frame, how much does God now love Bob? Answer (A) 1: God's Love is infinite throughout the material universe and is not relative to the frame of the material observer. Therefore, God's love for Bob is unchanged. Q 2. Sven, a Catholic, is in a state of grace. He then has sex with sheep S. Q 2a. (8 pts) What is Sven's atonement coefficient following the act if the sheep was not willing? A 2a. Infinite. The term "atonement coefficient" refers to the rate of change in Sven's spiritual status when he repents of the sin of beastality. When a person is genuinely sorry for his sins and sincerely asks God's grace, that person is immediately redeemed in God's sight thru the sacrifice (atonement) of Jesus Christ. The change in spiritual state from damnation to salvation is infinitely fast. Q 2b. (12 pts) What if the sheep, while not technically being willing, could not be said to mind either? A 2b. Same answer as 2a. The theoretically consensual nature of the act in question is irrelevant. Q 3. (20 pts) Let the eternal, all abiding love of the Holy Spirit be the xy plane. Let Sue's soul be at (0, 0, 5) at t = 0 sec., traveling at 5 m/s in the direction of the positive z axis. Everything is in Cartesian coordinates bespeaking subscription to a perfectly rational Enlightenment attitude towards the Universe. At what time t will Sue be saved? (Hint: Assume a point soul.) A 3. Sue will be saved when she accepts Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Q 4. (20 pts) Assume the Rapture occurs at time t. Cornelia, a saved human weighing 90 kg, in a state of grace, has her head in the closing jaws of an alligator at time t. What mass of meat will remain to the alligator at time t + 10 sec.? A 4. This question can not be answered with the information contained in the question. While a state of grace is a necessary precondition for being called into Heaven by the Rapture, not all in a state of grace will be called. Based on the information given, we do not know if Cornelia will be called. If she is not called, there will be 90 kg of human tissue available to the alligator assuming that it is able to subdue Cornelia and devour her body. We do not know the ratio of meat to other tissue in Cornelia's body. Making the assumption that Cornelia is called, there will be zero mass of meat available to the alligator at time t + 10 seconds because the entire physical body is taken into Heaven during the Rapture. Q 5. Stan is a frictionless, massless Mormon in a rest state. His sin level for his faith is currently 11 McBeals. He eats 0.3 kg of pork, and enjoys it very much. Assume that the Jews are right about, well, pretty much, everything. Q 5a. (10 pts) What is Stan's sin level now? A 5a. This question is invalid because the postulates contained within the question contradict each other. If Stan is a frictionless, massless Mormon in a rest state, he is a latter day saint in Heaven. If he was not in Heaven but in the material universe, he would possess friction and mass, which would violate the first postulate. If he is in Hell, he would possess friction and would not be in a rest state, which would violate the postulate. Accordingly, Stan must be a spirit in Heaven. There is no sin in Heaven and therefore Stan's sin level is zero, which may or may not equate to 11 McBeals since the term "McBeal" is nowhere defined. There is no eating or drinking in Heaven and therefore Stan would not eat any pork. Assuming that the Jews are right about, well, pretty much everything also violates the first postulate because Judaism teaches that there is no salvation in Jesus Christ but Mormons are justified before God thru love of Jesus Christ. If Jews are right, then then are no Mormons in Heaven unless Stan is a Jew whose family name is Mormon. Assuming for purposes of argument that all the postulates are simultaneously true, then St. Stan Mormon's sin level is still zero because, as there is no sin in Heaven, eating pork in Heaven would not be sinful. Q 5b. (10 pts) Stan is one of them Salt Lake City Mormons. He ain't so damn smug now, is he? A 5b. No. If Stan is in Heaven, he has been purified of all Earthly vices by the transforming grace of God, and therefore is joyful, not smug. Extra Credit (10 pts): 25 grams of wafers and 20 ml of cheap wine undergo transubstantiation and become the flesh and blood of Our Lord. How many joules of heat are released by the transformation? Extra Credit Answer: None. Transubstantiation is neither an exothermic nor an endothermic reaction; it is an exospirtual reaction not measured in joules.