Hands up to speak Remain in seat Follow all instructions THE RULES!!

WHAT IS TRUTHOLOGY?? A series of lessons which allow you to explore your deepest questions such as… –W–What happens when we die? –D–Does God exist? –W–Was Jesus God? To understand the Truth Claims of Jesus and other religious/non-religious leaders as you consider “What is the real TRUTH?”.

What else do we have to offer? A weekly lunch time club where you can have an opportunity to further wrestle with what we have covered in lessons. A website where you can search/question/debate

Lesson 1 – What is the TRUTH? Objectives: Become aware of your own beliefs about truth and reality Understand why the pursuit of truth is important

Keywords Worldview Truth Claim

Brainstorm What is truth?

THE MATRIX

Questions How do you know you are not in the matrix right now? How would you live your life differently if you found out you were really in the matrix?

Lesson 1 – What is TRUTH? Objectives: Become aware of your own beliefs about truth and reality Understand why the pursuit of truth is important

Truth claim cards Jesus is God God exists There is no truth Student A - Based on your beliefs, divide up the cards into a TRUE and FALSE pile Student B - Question student A to discover where each belief comes from and separate the cards into different piles. E.g. From parents, from television, from pastor, from teachers. SWAP and do the same If finished…consider How can we tell the difference between lies and truth? How do you know that what you believe is really true?

Get out your traffic light cards Agree Not sure Disagree

The truth?? God exists God does not judge anyone Jesus was a prophet There is more than one God There is a heaven but no hell Jesus was a false prophet Human beings are all equally valuable All religions lead to God All religions are true in their own way Human beings are not good Jesus died on the cross The truth is we are all Gods

The truth?? There is a heaven and a hell Jesus came back to life after dieing After we die we reincarnate Jesus was a good man but not God or a prophet What matters is not your faith but only if you are a good person or not A just God has to punish all wrong actions Jesus is GodGod is completely good There are good people and bad people

The truth?? There is no such thing as good and evil There is only one truthThere is no God There is no such thing as right and wrong Truth is what is true to you Truth is what you want it to be God created the universe Life has no purposeEverything is God

What can we learn? Where do our beliefs come from? Can we all be right? What if some of us are wrong?

Lesson 1 – What is the TRUTH? Objectives: Become aware of your own beliefs about truth and reality Understand why the pursuit of truth is important

Why is pursuing truth important? CASE STUDY - Jesus

What did Jesus say his purpose was? John 18:37 - "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.

What “Truth” did Jesus teach? HUMANS GOD lying stealing hating lusting Pure and Holy Evil and Wicked

What “Truth” did Jesus teach? HUMANS GOD bullying lusting loves angry Loving Just

What “Truth” did Jesus teach? JustLoving Must give a fair punishmentForgives Can not tolerate injustice / cruelty / lying / stealing / adultery / lusting Cares. Does not want to punish anyone.

What “Truth” did Jesus teach? Anger towards lying Anger towards stealing Anger towards bullying

What “Truth” did Jesus teach? CHOICE Acknowledge your guilt before God and turn away from your way of life to Jesus to save you. Don’t turn to Jesus for salvation Heaven / relationship with God / forgiveness Hell / eternity separated from God / God’s justice

So??? Why is it important to pursue truth?

RECAP All worldviews have their own truth claims There are many different contradicting beliefs Accepting or rejecting a religion’s truth claims could mean heaven or hell if the religion is teaching the truth

Next lesson… Learn different ideas about moral truth and reality and identify problems with these ideas. Consider what the conscience is and how it reacts to right and wrong actions. Consider what true justice is

Homework Go to the website to see what your homework is.