Welcome / Croeso Exploring Religious Education Erlas Centre October 25 th 2006 Mrs Barlow RE Adviser Wrexham LEA

Timetable! 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. 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?