During today's class, the announcement was made that we would be starting a 'Kid's Blog', separate from this blog. The students will be the authors of the postings, unlike this blog which has teacher postings. More information about this will be given, later this week, The first posting will be a student's question, asking what I meant by a statement I made while praying at the close of class on 6/10/12. The prayer was about asking God to help a person with a health problem, and the question was about words I used -- "the Blood-covered Light". I will then post a comment, giving my answer.
The Overview is given to introduce the idea that this big Book, the Holy Bible, does have a thematic unity, and this unity can be described by studying what the Bible says about 5 major topics. The topics are God, Man, Sin, Salvation, and the Kingdom of God. In addition, during the Overview, the point was made that all the stories in the Bible, that are woven together to make up The Story, are there for a purpose. We can learn from the people we read about, both the good and the bad examples.
The topic GOD is the crucial topic for this curriculum. Because all or most of the students have been nurtured by their parents to believe in God, now as 5th graders the students need to be trained and prepared to understand what they have been raised to believe and to handle opposition to that belief. So, in today's class, there was a forthright presentation of the other viewpoints:
- the atheists, and their religion, which is called Naturalism.
- the people who say they don't believe in God, but actually mean that they don't care if there is a God or not, because they are in-charge of their own life and are not going to accept any idea of a God that they have to obey. They are completely self-serving.
- a brief comment on the New Age/New Earth belief in god as a so-called cosmic force, and particularly the branch of this belief system that considers the forces of nature and "Mother Earth" as being their God.
The Spiritual world is real. God Almighty does exist; He dwells in heaven. Holy angels, and God’s Holy Spirit, the devil and evil spirits all exist and are active in our world.
The revelation of God Almighty, Yahweh, as a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, was presented.
We will continue next week with 'God' and then present 'Man'.
No Homework was assigned this week..However, next week there will be a study assignment on Scripture passages about God, and the following week there will be an extra-credit opportunity, to write a "reflection" -- a reader-response paragraph on one of those Scripture passages, for extra achievement points.
No Memory Verse was assigned this week. However, next week the two extra verses for the Summer quarter will be assigned. They are Psalm 121: 1-2, and Psalm 19: 1, both taken from the New King James Version.
[Parents should note that every week the children are reminded that I have High Expectations for them, since they are now 5th graders. One of those expectations is that they will work to achieve in this class. One of the things I give them to work on is Writing assignments, so that they can practice expressing themselves clearly and correctly. Parents need to help -- by assuring that the students do their homework and turn it in. Most parents already check on their children's school homework. Since you have enrolled your child in 5th grade Sunday School, do the same thing with their Sunday School homework, which is not usually very time-consuming, but still is important.]
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