Welcome / Croeso
Exploring Religious Education
Erlas Centre
October 25th 2006
Mrs Barlow
RE Adviser Wrexham LEA
Timetable!
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The Big Questions!
Break
Stewardship
Lunch
The Moral Maze!
Your trip to a desert island!
• What
luxury item
would you
take?
The Natural World
Amazing Scientific facts!
• There is enough chlorine in
one person’s body to
disinfect a whole swimming
pool.
• There are about
100,000,000,000 stars in
each galaxy and about the
same number of galaxies.
• Bees beat their wings 200
times a second
• A flea can jump 130 times its
own height and takes off
with greater acceleration
than the Space Shuttle.
• The average person blinks
12 times a minute – that’s
over 10,000 times every day.
• The volume of the sun is big
enough to hold 1 million
earths.
• A giraffe’s tongue is over
half a metre long and it uses
it’s tongue to clean its ears.
• The largest hailstone ever
recorded measured 44.5cm
in diameter and weighed
758g.
Group Task:
• In your groups, decide which fact you think is the
most amazing and explain why.
• Do you know any other amazing facts about the
world in which we live?
You have 10 minutes.
You need to choose someone to feedback
to everybody else.
Song of Creation – Isaiah 40
Can anyone measure the ocean by
handfuls or measure the sky
with his hands?
Can anyone hold the soil of the
earth in a cup or weigh the
mountains and hills on scales?
Do you not know? Were you not
told long ago? Have you not
heard how the world began?
It was made by the one who sits on
his throne above the earth and
beyond the sky; the people
below look as tiny as ants.
He stretched out the sky like a
curtain, like a tent in which to
live.
To whom can the holy God be
compared?
Is there anyone else like him?
Look up at the sky!
Who created the stars you see?
The one who leads them out
like an army, he knows how
many there are and calls
each one by name!
His power is so great – not one
of them is ever missing!
The LORD is the everlasting
God;
He created all the world.
Understanding the Bible!
Under the heading
POETRY, list the
things that show
this was once a
poem
Under the heading
GOD write down
some of the things
that you think the
author believed
about God.
Under the heading
WORLD, write
down examples
that show us the
ancient view of the
world.
Draw a sad face
next to anything in
the WORLD
section that you
think scientists
today might
disagree with.
Draw a sad face
next to anything in
the WORLD
section that you
think modern
Jews and
Christians would
disagree with.
Underline
anything in the
GOD and
WORLD sections
that do not have a
sad face next to
them.
Discuss the
question; Why do
people still read
this passage
today when they
disagree with so
much of it?
How do you think
you worked as a
group. Make a list
of your strengths
and weaknesses in
working together
as a group. Give
yourselves a
mark out of 10!
Additional Question
!
•Mind map as many modern
inventions that you can think of.
•Put a smiley face by the ones you
think have been good for the natural
world and a sad face for the ones you
think have been bad for the natural
world.
If someone believes that God
created the world, what
implications does that have for
how they treat the environment?
What should people do for the
Earth?
THE WORLD IS GREEN AND BEAUTIFUL AND GOD
HAS APPOINTED YOU HIS STEWARDS OVER IT.
Words of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
Why should we look after the
Environment?
GOD LIVES IN EVERY CORNER OF
EXISTENCE. THEREFORE THE WHOLE
CREATION IS SACRED.
From Hindu Sacred Writings
Why should we take care of the
environment?
THE PLANET IS A GIFT FROM GOD AND
THEREFORE NOT TO BE EXPLOITED. WE
MUST BE AWARE OF THE CONSEQUENCES
OF OUR ACTIONS.
Words of Pope John Paul II
Why is the Earth important to
humans?
THIS WE KNOW; THE EARTH DOES NOT
BELONG TO MAN, MAN BELONGS TO THE
EARTH. ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED
LIKE THE BLOOD THAT CONNECTS US ALL;
WHATEVER MAN DOES TO THE WEB, HE
DOES TO HIMSELF.
The Words of Chief Seattle 1855
GOD’S CREATION CENTRE
• What sort of creature have
you created?
• What is your creature
called?
• What sort of food does it
eat and where does it live?
• What sort of life would
you like it to have?
• If somebody trod on
your creature/ forgot
to feed it/ hunted it to
extinction – then how
would you feel?
• How might Christians
think God feels about
his creation?
A Jewish Tale
A wise rabbi was walking along a road when he saw a man
planting a tree. The rabbi asked him “ How many years
will it take for this tree to bear fruit? The man answered
that it would take 70 years.
The rabbi asked “Are you so fit and strong that you expect
to live that long and eat it’s fruit?
The man answered “ I found a fruitful world because my
ancestors planted for me. So I will do the same for my
children.”
Moral
Choices!
Basil gets tempted.
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Complete the cartoon.
Choose one example that might tempt a young
person like yourself to do something bad or evil.
Write your temptation in Basil’s thought bubble.
Write at least three points in the demon’s speech
bubble to tempt Basil.
Write at least three points in the angel’s speech
bubble too, to stop Basil falling for temptation.
Ways of making moral choices…
Mr Ego
Miss Altruism
Mrs Utility
Planet X
What guidance could they look to?
Who could help them?