More Questions Than Answers

So I have spring break this week (that is one thing I will miss when I'm not in school!) but I have to spend some time of it writing 2 papers... ugh! Well, at least starting them. Anyway, one of them is for my religions class-- which I'm still loving by the way-- and I thought I'd get other people's insight cuz they're not easy questions to answer. We have the option to write about one of 5 questions. Here are the two I am thinking about writing about:

1) Is Christianity a monotheistic religion?
-- This was a very interesting discussion because I have grown up in the church and it was never a question as to whether or not we believed in one God; Jesus and the Holy Spirit are just part of God (use whatever analogy you wish to explain it--the egg one is my favorite). So at first my answer was, "Yes, duh!"However, in this class, we discussed the question of: how it is possible to think of Jesus as fully God as well as fully human? If he's human, he can't be God, but if he's God, he can't be human... well, according to logical thought. And if Jesus was praying to God and was the son of God, that would make him separate, right? Well, I'm not saying I believe that, but it definitely gives you something to think about and gives me a big headache! But it did get me thinking about this issue. How would you discuss that? How can Jesus be God AND human at the same time, all the while being God himself? Any thoughts? I'll definitely be wrestling with this and researching it (I'll have to see what our theology textbook has to say about this... I'll get back to everyone about what I find). But I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.

2) Can a Christian believe that members of other religions are “saved”?
-- It's kinda funny cuz we got this assignment and I got onto my blog reader thingy and Paul had written a blog about this issue! Crazy! (I'll post a comment about it when I read it, and especially if I write my paper on this!) So I am going to read that (it's really long!) and see what he has to say as well I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks! When we discussed this in class, I was in a group with mostly Christian (well, self-proclaimed) girls and we really struggled with this issue. It would be great if everyone got into heaven. The discussion always came around to "what about the guy in the middle of nowhere? will he go to heaven if he's never heard about God/Jesus?" That question was a little easier to answer or at least give a decent answer for, but what I want to know is what about the people in the Middle East who strongly believe that their religion is the truth? Or even the Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, etc. in the US? Does it come down to theology? Cuz Muslims believe in Jesus, just that he was a prophet, not the son of God. And Jews believe in God-- and if Jesus is God, would that mean they indirectly believe in Jesus? What about Catholics and Mormons who have very similar beliefs but different values and some VERY different beliefs but the core beliefs are the same? Cuz they all believe in Jesus. Where is the line drawn? Is there any way to know? Isn't it very prideful for Christians to say they have the one and only way to heaven? Let me know what you think!

--Also, any good references would be greatly appreciated for either of these questions-- books, websites, Bible verses, etc! Feel free to comment about only one or both! I'd love to hear what people have to say and think!