11Tu1

Christians are concerned not only about what they do with their money, but also where they get their money from. As such there are certain jobs that Christians are unlikely to take.

Some extreme examples might be:

• Drug dealing - because it is illegal and hurts the users and those involved in the supply chain
• Prostitution - because it is abusive and treats the body like an object rather than a “temple of the Holy Spirit” that is made in the image of God (imago Dei) so is dishonouring to God.

Other more everyday examples might be:

• Work in abortion clinics
• Work involving gambling
• Jobs in companies that employ slave or child labour
• Certain kinds of medical research

Remember that while these might be important issues for some Christians they won’t necessarily be for others. For example, while many Christians are against abortion, some may not be and would look to be a positive influence in abortion clinics.

Today we reviewed some of the responses to last lesson’s exam question. Here’s an answer to part B:

Explain why Christians are concerned about the poor:
Christians are concerned about the poor because God is concerned about the poor. In the Bible it says that humans should help the needy and protect the weak; they shouldn’t be greedy and should share with those who need it. Christians feel they should protect the rights of helpless people, such as the homeless and hungry and they should feed and house them also.
Christians are concerned about the poor because if they help the needy they will be rewarded by God - helping these people will get them closer to God.

This made lots of use of words like “because” and “therefore. Like the key word in the question it has explained why Christians are concerned about the poor.

Another answer was this one:

Explain why Christians are concerned about the poor

Christian are concerned about the poor because Jesus made himself poor for the sake of others, so they believe that if God and Jesus helped the poor followers of the Bible and God would help the poor as well.

When you lend to the poor, you are lending to God, God will pay you back. Christians believe that if they help do God’s job to help the poor God will repay them with help and care.

Jesus gave up all he had, his free will, to help the poor because he cared that much and believed they were important as the rich. If you help others you’re helping God to do his work and help the poor live. Kindness is an act of worship, because God wanted everyone to be kind to each other and help each other and God took this as following him and worshipping him.

I particularly liked the last bit of this one about giving to the poor being an act of worship. This makes clear the link between the teaching and the action that happens in response.

We also looked at a part C answer:

A rich Christian is a contradiction in terms. Do you agree?

Some would agree that a rich Christian is a contradiction because the Bible teaches that you should share your wealth among the poor. If a Christian shared their wealth out equally with the poor they would not be wealthy as they wouldn’t have that money.

On the other hand, others would say that it is not a contradiction because some Christians need wealth in order to give it to the poor. Also, they could argue that the person has worked hard in order to gain that wealth.

This has given two possible points of view. Note that when the question asks “Do you agree?” it is not simply asking what you think. You need to say what you think with reference to the teachings. If you give two points of view, you can then conclude by saying that: “I think… is right because…”, then you explain why you think one point of view is more convincing than the other.

Finally we tried another exam question. For every mark you scored you would get one entry into a raffle, so the more marks you get the better chance of winning a prize! We’ll hold the raffle on Tuesday after half term…

• Part A: Describe Christian teaching on poverty (8 marks)
• Part B: Explain why poverty is so difficult to escape from (7 marks)
• Part C: “God has a preference for the poor”. Discuss with reference to Christianity (5 marks)

If you have any questions then leave a comment and I’ll respond.

Today we continued on from last week looking at Christian attitudes to poverty.

The main part of the lesson involved looking briefly at Part C exam questions and did some practise at Part B and C:

Part B: Explain why Christians are concerned about the poor. (7 marks)

Part C: “Yes, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Jesus). The idea of a rich Christian is a contradiction in terms. Do you agree?

If, for any reason you did not hand in your response at the end of the lesson I expect to see it on Thursday morning.

For both part B and part C refer back to the information looked at last week (February 3rd lesson).

For part C in particular make sure you give a balanced argument. It is no good just saying “I think this…” - the examiner couldn’t care less what you think unless you explain why you think it.

Here are the criteria:

• Level 1 (1-2 marks): A statement of the obvious, a one sided judgement with little or no argument.
• Level 2 (3 marks): An expression of one opinion directly related to the issue raised with an argument offered in support of it or a simple expression of two points of view.
• Level 3 (4 marks): The ability to recognise some of the significance of the issue raised. The expression of opinions directly related to it supported with some use of evidence and argument.
• Level 4 (5 marks): The ability to recognise some of the significance of the issue(s) raised and to express valid opinions about different points of view supported by evidence and argument.

To get more than 3 out of 5 marks you have to “use evidence and argument”. That involves explaining why your opinion is better than someone else’s.

We’ll look at this a little more on Thursday.

6 different groups each had a different aspect of the Christian approach to poverty to look at through verses from the Bible. The work produced is here (large files):

• God’s concern for the poor
• God’s commands concerning the poor
• Blessings on those who serve the poor
• Consequences of not serving the poor
• Biblical attitudes for believers towards the poor
• God’s identification with the poor

We played a game simulating the world trading markets. Some teams were rich countries, others were poor. The countries experienced the frustration of not having the resources and tools to properly develop themselves…

Today we started looking at poverty. We considered the fairness of dividing so much wealth among such a small percentage of the population and shared some ideas about how rich and poor people live when compared to each other.

Finally we talked about the fairness of the way the price of a banana is shared between those who contribute to its production.

Notebook presentation: here.