For a couple of years I have been using a really helpful interview that explains some basic (but very important) stuff about the Bible. Finally the world of technology has caught up and it is happily sitting online for you to enjoy. You will need the password to watch (just get in touch to find out).


About the Bible from whatisyourworldview.com on Vimeo.

It is usually found sitting on the Bible page of the Christianity section.

As ever, any feedback or thoughts on the material covered are warmly welcomed.

Tags: Nature of Belief Unit, Nature of God Unit, GCSE

I think that the pages people were moaning about now work... sorry and thanks.

Tags: Nature of God Unit

That's right my delightful class people.

By the time you read this, you will have undertaken the notorious Bib-Nav course and have the following references written down from the lesson:

Matthew 22v36-40 James 2v1-13
1Timothy 6v6-10 James 4v13-16
1Timothy 6v17-18 Philippians 2v4-11
Matthew 19v16-29 2Corinthians 9v6-8

An online Bible is available for use here.



a. Please get yourself a copy of each text.
b. Read them.
c. Make some marks on the page - which are the relevant parts?

And by 'relevant parts' please remember that the four aims of the course are these:

1. The causes of hunger, poverty and disease;
2. Christian teaching about concern for the poor and about the right uses of money;
3. Giving to charity in Christianity;
4. Christian teaching about moral and immoral occupations.

Tags: Poverty and Wealth Unit

All the best with the exam on Friday. Don't forget to come and chat if there are any problems or anxieties. I will be expecting you to also hand in your A3 revision sheets to demonstrate your abundant preparation...

See you then.

Tags: revision guide

Now you have passed the BibNav download session you are free to become a confident and competent RS student!


Here are the Bible texts that you are to bring in to next lesson:

Genesis 2:23-25
Genesis 1:27-28
Matthew 19:4-6
Ephesians 5:21-33
Hebrews 13:4
Exodus 20v14
Matthew 5v27-30

a. You can photocopy them, cut and paste online or even write them out (although that may take a while). Please have a copy of each to refer to for the remainder of the unit - they are key Bible texts.
b. Go through each one and read them. Ask yourself which of the areas each one relates to. The areas we are touching on are:
- s-x/contraception
- men/women roles
- marriage/cohabitation
- divorce

If you ever get stuck this is the link for the online Bible.

Tags: Religion and Human Relationships unit

Having marked the Nature of Belief end of unit test I am setting you the following homework:

Go and find out how the church building assists worship.

I don't mind this work being shared between friends, but some of you have to do the leg work and go and ask someone who worships in a church building how the architecture ACTUALLY helps.

Tags: Nature of Belief Unit

Your homework is to produce a diagram that demonstrates what the ten commandments are. You can base it on the stuff in class or do something totally different... all the best!

What is a Sufi Muslim?

This is to back up some of the video we are watching in class. Just bring in a short piece and stick it into your book.

Tags: Islam

So then, we are at the end of the Genesis storyline and have seen the amazing ending where Joseph forgives his brothers for their horrible behaviour. One of the brilliant things about the story is how it demonstrates the way in which God works so positively to use bad times to bring good.

Your homework is to write what you have learned from this.

Please finish those A3 revision sheets for homework so we can move on. Due in next lesson.

Tags: Nature of Belief Unit

Do you know what a Muslim worldview is? You have to prepare a homework that explains this before we finish the unit.

Tags: Islam

We may be laughing in the picture, but it is a heavy topic, so be careful...

The fourth unit on the GCSE (see this page) is all about what happens when you die, whether there is a body/soul difference, and also what happens at a funeral. This is the audio from a Skype video interview I conducted recently with a Christian minister from Birmingham. (Thanks John!)

Tags: Death and the Afterlife Unit

We have been watching the helpful interview with Samira (go here for the audio-only version). This has brought up some very interesting discussions on why she chose to wear the Hijab at age 18, and whether there is anything for us to learn about our own western-influenced society.

Homework: to look up the term 'Hijab' - you can use the links on this page.

Don't forget that this homework is about you researching something interesting and not simply finding a quick definition! Bring the class something that will get you an outstanding mark.

Tags: Islam

We are looking at the adventures of the Bible hero Abraham - a character of massive importance to Jewish and Christian people. The homework is to find out how Abraham is important to the Jewish people. Have a look at the Judaism page where there are some website links for you to use.

If you don't fancy clicking your mouse two times, you can use the following web pages to guide you.

Judaism 101 has lots of helpful starting points for investigation. Don't forget that you can use the side menu to look up keywords or topics.




The BBC Worldservice Guide is very clear.

a. Explain Christian beliefs about why there is evil in the world. (8 marks)
- Adam and Eve, original sin/a virus out in the open on all of our world, the devil - personal/other, psychological damage
- explain your ideas clearly. No opinions needed.

b. Explain how a Christian might find out the right way to behave. (7 marks)
- not enough to say 'read the Bible'... what is in it? Sermon on the Mount?
- just saying 10 commandments isn't adequate - how do they try to obey? Is there anything you can say about how in reality this sort of thing works... what are their motives? Sister Anne Brittain? Jesus? Sermon on the Mount?
- home influences, church community? church leaders?
- give us a sense of what the reality is like for people who really do believe and follow this... waffle and blagging are easy to spot

c. ‘Being happy is more important than being good.’ Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer, and show that you have thought about different points of view. You must refer to Christianity in your answer. (5 marks)
- which is more important? Good or happy? Can you have both? What if you had to choose?
- what do Christians think? Any specific examples you could use? What about Jesus? Joseph? Sermon on the mount?
- examples and specifics are the key... give us grounds for a decent higher grade by showing you know...
- have you included all the ingredients?
- concluded a clear perspective?

Tags: GCSE, Good and Evil Unit

The homework is to put in the remaining images from this page, and to read the original text from Genesis chapter 3.

Your homework this week is to try and dig up something about the names of Allah. Anything you can find on this will be useful for your grasp of this important world religion.


Don't forget that you can always use great websites like this one to find out the info.

Tags: Islam

According to the end of Genesis chapter 1, the human race has something in common with God. We appear to be like Him - three ways I described in class were:

- being moral (having a sense of right and wrong)
- being creative (making things, art, music, which pencil case to buy, style of sport you play etc)
- relationships (love, kindness, showing mercy etc)

Your homework is to write down some good examples of these and bring them to class for a nice old chat about it.

The first homework of this unit is to uncover what you think you know about the Muslim religion.


Next time we shall be meeting Samira.

Now you have had a good introduction to the creation story using these simple images, have a read of the actual text and work out what is different/better.

We covered this topic in class and concluded that for Christians:

1. God has shown them what right and wrong is about through revealing it in history and Bible writings.
2. Behaving in a good/moral way and rejecting evil is a way of saying thankyou to Jesus who died to open up the doors of heaven.



Homework:
To read some or all of the 'sermon on the mount'* and bring back 7 quotes or specific examples that Jesus gives for Christian living.

*this a famous section of the Bible and lives in Matthew chapter 5 to 7.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

This week it is all about looking at the way in which the Bible explains the origins of evil in the world.

Homework:
1. Read the Genesis text (chapters 2 and 3) for yourself.
2. Present your own version of this story (notes/diagrams/whatever).
3. How far do you agree with this view of the origins of evil?

LOST? There is a whole section on the garden of eden story here.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

This week I shall be aiming to cover five for/against arguments used when it comes to God existing or not*.



Homework:
Do a review of the arguments with a few of your family/friends/aquaintances: which ones are the most convincing? Which are the least? Why?



*it should be acknowledged that for many people, the idea of arguing this is neither here nor there. Hardened atheists like Hawkins make the assumption that you are a fool for believing it in the first place, and conversely there are tons of theists who find it bizarre at we should even be asking the question because it is obvious that there is a creator (see Psalm 19 for an example).

Tags: Nature of God Unit

The Homework involves two activities*:

1. Remember the FOSSIP thing?

- faith: it builds your faith (or trust) in God
- others: can be helped by you if you have experienced suffering.
- success: cannot happen without it. No pain, no gain is what they say...
- strength: lots of people who face suffering find that it makes them strong in unusual ways
- isn't pointless: there is a reason for you to go through it.

Rate these responses in order of importance, saying why.
Include if you think any aren't worth bothering with.
Have you ever seen them happening?

2. The problem of being a believer in God when suffering and evil affect you.
Explain (in your own words) the problem that was outlined for you in class and the 'solution' that Rama provided. Don't forget to say what you think.

*of course - they might have been partially covered in class, so just go along with it.

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

The homework for this week, folks, is to

1. Produce a decent version of the worldviews diagram (if you haven't done it already).



2. To do some interviews with up to 3 people using the four questions.
3. Put yourself and the people you interviewed on to the map.

Tags: Worldviews

If everything goes according to plan this week then you will have dug into the following things:

1. Some real examples of TOMPIPI and TOOOsHd.

Your homework:

a. complete any notes from the lesson - they MUST be readable and revisable for you (and checkable by me).
b. include a reflection on how you are similar or different from the two examples.


These sausage rolls came up when I typed in 'tompipi' into google images...

Tags: Nature of God Unit

In two very tight lessons we have:

1. Handed out folders (yay!).
2. Given you an idea of where things are going in the two years.
3. Shown you the text book which is worth asking for as a birthday/christmas/halloween/tooth-fairy/whatever present.

4. Shown you that the world of beliefs about God is wider than you might have previously thought (3 massive worldviews involving loads of interior ones).
5. Shown you where lots of the different major religions reside on the map.
6. Begun to tackle some important words for describing God.

Homework:
1. Read up on Worldviews on this site
2. Aim to learn most of the terms from the TOMPIPI/TOOOsHd sections.

Tags: Nature of God Unit

Having listened to the majority of the difficult interview, please go away and write a reflection on how you would have responded to the same situation.

Some of the points from the lesson to consider:
1. This is a real case study which is useful to your grasp of this unit.
2. If God is all-knowing/all-powerful* then does that mean that He is unloving?
3. If God is all-loving, does that mean that He isn't in control?
4. Is the Christian worldview easy to understand when it says that God is both loving and powerful...? How hard is it to reconcile this statement in the face of such suffering?

*omniscient/omnipotent remember?

Tags: Good and Evil Unit

You guessed it folks, the first serious homework of the term is to write about what experiences you have had with religion.

Try to explain what you think of religion as well.

Are there any other views of religion that you might want to include? Perhaps you could chat to some family or friends about their views.

Tags: Worldviews

Yes, well done. This is where homework and stuff will be posted in case you fell asleep in class. Something I am looking for help with is writing and contributing stuff to the site. If you get any enthusiasm or ideas then please tell me here, at school or even email.


And finally: just in case you were wondering... the story of the fractured elbow is to do with not wearing an elbow pad and tearing about madly on a Lush longboard in a multi-storey NCP car park in Brighton with another teacher (who should also know better).

Here is the link for the pdf homework sheet just in case you lost it.

PS Respect to Raffaella for helping with the room. Congratulations on Tring!