This week we began the presentation of the Fall session of extra Bible Curriculum materials for 5th graders. Today the Lesson is "The Bible is God's Message for Me" (‘BGMM’) covering the major topic of Salvation and JESUS our Savior. The Fall session also will begin the transition from presenting major topics to presenting the ‘On the Right Path’ (‘OTRP’) lessons. This transition will be completed in the Winter session, when both BGMM and OTRP present lessons on the major topic of the Kingdom of God.
This class began with a very brief review of the lesson taught on 9/2/12, about Giving, being generous, and Christian service as a form of giving. Then the Second-place award for the Summer Quarter Achievement was given, to Christopher Koerwitz, and the announcement was made that beginning in the Fall, the minimum level of achievement to receive an award will be 22 points.
The first session of BGMM was taught on July 1st, 8th, and 15th. Session two began by explaining the basic objective of BGMM, which is to see that there is a unified message presented by the Holy Bible which can be seen and understood through studying five major topics: God, Man, Sin, Salvation - through Jesus our Savior, and the Kingdom of God. Then a review of the lessons from Session one was started. The topics covered in July were God, Man, and Sin. The lesson on Sin also introduces the topic of Salvation.
The review of the lessons from July lasted for the remainder of the class period and beyond (including our closing prayer time, the class dismissed 10 minutes late). This was not anticipated, but it was announced to the class that the asking of questions that are on-topic is OK, and those questions will be answered. If this delays the presentation of new lesson material, we will just press-on and extend the lesson into the following week.
The students had questions about the review material in all three of the topics from July, including God as a Trinity, Creation, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the punishment of Adam and Eve as a result of their sin, including difficulty in childbirth, man existing as a 3-part being (body, soul, and spirit), what is the soul, death, and evolution.
“I thought we did come from monkeys.”
This was a student comment to my declaration that Adam and Eve were created by God, not the result of a random development through evolution of species. Since my declaring of Creation as the truth and evolution as a lie was a point heavily emphasized on July 1 and July 8, it was somewhat frustrating to hear that a student was already convinced of the opposing view. But, parents and other readers of this Blog post should note the importance of this comment. Our fifth graders have already been exposed to the viewpoint known as naturalism, and the teaching of evolution as Fact. Nothing else is presented as an alternate explanation for the existence of mankind.
This stands in direct opposition to the viewpoint expressed in the Bible, which is what we teach. Our number one learning objective for 5th grade is that the students learn that the spiritual realm is real, and that God Almighty along with the other spiritual beings mentioned in the Bible are real. The Spiritual Realm is not religious mythology. After being indoctrinated with naturalism, in schools that teach this, students are likely to consider what we teach, creation by God, to be just a story. They can "take it or leave it" and parents shouldn't be surprised if they choose to leave it behind, as just a myth.
Parents should note that this is one major reason why we emphasize developing strong character in our 5th graders. They will have to stand-up to this opposition to the Bible. Parents should also note that our one hour per week of Church-based Christian Education is not enough to overcome what they are exposed to in school and the media. Parents need to reinforce the Biblical viewpoint, throughout the week. Furthermore, the preteen years are the best time to do this; the children are ready for the next level up, in their spiritual development - from hearing the stories in the Bible to making the commitment to be young disciples of Jesus.
We concluded the class by focusing on Jesus, and on the choice we all make, whether or not to be disciples of Jesus. The ‘On the Right Path’ illustration was distributed to the students, and we discussed the right path. Class closed with Memory Verse practice, then the closing prayers.
A Memory Verse was assigned, 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (HCSB), This is the Emphasis verse for the next month, so it can be repeated each week during that time, for Achievement Points credit. Each student received a copy of the verse to take home. The HCSB text is shown below:
13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong. 14 Your every action must be done with love.
The girls in the class have been instructed that they have to memorize the verse, just as it is written, but when they read and then say “act like a man” - they should understand this to mean that they should be brave, and be willing to fight (fighting the good fight of faith).
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