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CHECK POINTChristianity

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Science Press. ABN 98 000 073 861

© Science Press 2010First published 2010

Science PressPrivate Bag 7023 Marrickville NSW 1475 AustraliaTel: (02) 9516 1122 Fax: (02) 9550 [email protected]

The authors wish to thank the following people for their advice and help.

Andew Cameron, Miles Carrick, Howard Clark, Jenny Earle, Greta Gaut, John Heffernan, Ruby Holland, Mark Latham, Catherine Leale, Jenny Lyle, Barry McGrath, Kimberly Sawyer, Colin Watson, Judy White.

Unless otherwise stated, quotations from Scripture are from the Holy Bible New International Version (International Bible Society).

Introduction iv

Chapter 1 Religion and the Bible 1

1.1 What is religion? 2

1.2 What is Christianity? 8

1.3 The Bible 14

1.4 How the modern Bible has come to us 27

Chapter 2 God Builds a Nation 33

2.1 From Creation to the Tower of Babel 34

2.2 The Patriarchs 43

2.3 God frees Israel 51

2.4 The Kingdom is established 64

2.5 The end of a nation 77

Chapter 3 Jesus and the Gospels 91

3.1 The life and times of Jesus 92

3.2 The Gospels 99

3.3 Jesus’ birth and early years 106

3.4 A year of popularity 113

3.5 The second year of Jesus’ ministry 121

3.6 The final months 128

3.7 Travelling to Jerusalem 134

3.8 Jesus’ death and resurrection 138

ContentsChapter 4 Growth of the Church 149

4.1 Going on without Jesus 150

4.2 Under pressure 157

4.3 A community that cared 164

4.4 Breaking down the barriers 170

4.5 Spreading the new religion 176

4.6 Preserving the new religion 184

4.7 The people of the early Church 189

4.8 Paul’s second missionary journey 194

4.9 A tale of three cities 202

Answers 211

Glossary 237

Index 243

iiiScience PressCheck Point Christianity 1 Contents

IntroductionCheck Point Christianity is an easy to use activity-based introduction to Christianity for junior students.

Check Point Christianity will provide you with knowledge about Christianity and its beliefs and values. This information will be useful throughout your life even if you do not attend church.

Many Western institutions and traditions and areas of knowledge such as literature and art are built on or require an understanding of Christianity.

In Check Point Christianity you will learn about:

Australia.

As you grow older you will have to take on more responsibility. You will need to make many decisions about your attitude to personal and global issues where the concepts of right and wrong have to be thought through. This is an area called ethics.

Personal ethical issues explored in Check Point Christianity include sex, bullying, peer pressure, self-esteem, anger, drugs and alcohol. Global ethical issues considered include pollution, war, poverty and homelessness.

Your main source of advice when making decisions about ethics will be your parents, but you will also be influenced by your teachers, peer group and the media. Check Point Christianity provides a Christian background which can help you make these decisions.

Features of Check Point Christianity:

– over 150 in each book

Check Point Christianity 1 topics: Check Point Christianity 2 topics:

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Introduction Check Point Christianity 1

1Religion and the BibleChapter

of being high or getting a buzz. It can also be a feeling of how big or mind-blowing the Universe is, something that makes you think of words like ‘awesome’. Sometimes these experiences happen anywhere, when you are not expecting them; they

feelings in places that are more often connected with religion, such as churches or temples.

While this is a book about religion in general, it is mostly about Christianity. These are words that you may have heard of before, but sometimes people use the terms in different ways. This can cause problems!

So it is important to start the journey of exploring Christianity by checking that we know the meaning of the words we use.

Religion: Before you read any further, take a minute to write down your own ideas. Write a definition of the word ‘religion’; after you have done that on your own you can share answers around the class.

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Your discussion may have shown you that the word ‘religion’ is hard to define. Many people can give examples of religions, but it is not easy to say

‘belief in God.’ But this meaning is not very good – it would not cover religious people who believe in more than one god, or religions (like Buddhism) that do not believe in god at all (Figure 1.1)!

it to talk about things that happen in their life. It is not uncommon for people to say they have had a ‘religious experience’. This can mean a moment of great happiness and delight, like a feeling

Figure 1.1 World religions There are five main world religions. Clockwise from top left: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism.

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Chapter 1 Religion and the BibleCheck Point Christianity 1

All religions have beliefs, but not all beliefs are religious.

The Simpsons is the best TV show ever made’ is a non-religious belief.

To believe means to think that something is true. A person might not have total proof that a belief is true, but if they choose to believe something they put their trust in it. To put your trust in something is called faith.

There are different types of faith, based on different levels of proof. We may be certain about some aspects of science or some historical facts. But in the area of relations between people, and in religion, it is not possible to totally prove something in the same way, for example:

observations from Earth as well as from outer space.

in 1770’ is an historical belief based on Captain Cook’s logbook and historical documents.

belief based on some evidence, but not total proof.

but is not total proof.

What is religion?1.1UNIT

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

The use of the word ‘religion’ to describe experiences is a reminder that religion is not just about beliefs or thoughts, but includes events and feelings. Any meaning we give to the word ‘religion’ needs to include these aspects.

Here are a few meanings given to the word ‘religion’:

Concise Oxford Dictionary

The word ‘religion’ may cover beliefs and ideas about the meaning of life and how we should live, as well as beliefs in God, or gods.

What is belief?1.1ACTIVITY

Figure 1.2 Big questions What happens after death? Fact: Bodies disintegrate. Belief: Some people believe their spirit or soul goes to Heaven or hell.

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Chapter 1 Religion and the Bible Check Point Christianity 1

1. Religion brainstorm: As a class, write on the board (but do not discuss) everything you know about Christianity. When you have run out of ideas or the board is full, stop and look at what is there.

Copy the words from the board and put them into groups that you feel belong together. Give each group a heading or title. Compare the way different students have grouped words; when you get to the end of the course you could look back at this exercise and see what you have learned.

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2. Write down five things you believe. Compare your list with a friend’s. Are there things they believe in that you do not believe?

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3. Write an acrostic poem using the letters of the word ‘religion’. Each line of the poem should start with a letter of the word. The aim of your poem is to explain what religion is about.

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Figure 1.3 Belief The belief that God created the Earth is a religious belief.

Why is faith important?We all have to exercise faith. We cannot always totally prove that what we believe is true. This may apply to some ideas in science and history and in relationships with people, and so it is not a surprise to realise that our ideas about God also involve faith, trust and belief.

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Chapter 1 Religion and the Bible


Check Point Christianity 1

Why study religion?1.2ACTIVITY

Why is religion worth studying at school? For most people it will not help you get a job or make more money! Why should you spend the time and energy to know something about religion, and Christianity in particular?

Religion is about questions everybody asksThe topic of religion covers a range of issues. These issues include the ‘big’ questions of life that most people think about in some way or other, even if they do not think of themselves as religious! Questions include:

Anyone who thinks about these questions or has an answer to them is considering issues of religion. That makes religion an important topic.

Religion is important for understanding the worldIf you want to know why the world is the way it is, you need to know something about religion. You will learn a lot of history as you study religion (Figure 1.4).

There are many examples of the importance of knowing about religion in order to understand history and the modern world. For example, do you understand the differences between Roman

know the answer you have to refer back to the 1500s! Why did Henry VIII break away from the Roman Catholic church to form the Church of England? Then how did this affect the settlement of Australia by Europeans from 1788?

Figure 1.4 History You will learn about the people who built the

Colosseum in Rome.

Christians and Muslims find it hard to live together and trust each other. As well as learning about their different beliefs, you would also need to know about the history of the start of Islam in the 600s CE, as well as the Crusades of the 11th and

information about why Australia has the Lord’s Prayer said in our parliament, or why we have a public holiday at Christmas and Easter.

Religion is important for understanding peopleIn Australia today there are people from many different countries and backgrounds. In our multicultural society there are many different beliefs and religions.

A knowledge of religion helps us to understand why our friends and neighbours and people in our school live in ways that are different from us.

Religion influences many areas of studyThis might seem surprising, but religion has influenced lots of subjects at school. Its relevance in History is noted, but it is also important in English, Science and Mathematics!

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1. Movies and religion: Write a paragraph about how a movie you have seen contains ‘religious’ themes. This could be a movie where the characters discuss their meaning or purpose in life.

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2. (a) Identify three reasons why some people believe in God.

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(b) Identify three reasons why some people do not believe in God.

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(c) Write a paragraph stating what you believe about God as you start this course.

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and playwrights has a number of links to the Bible.

studies because they believed in a God who created the world.

by the work of Islamic (Muslim) scholars of the Middle Ages.

Figure 1.5 Multicultural Australia is a multicultural country.

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Religions of the world1.3ACTIVITY

Before exploring what Christianity is about it is helpful to get an overview of the main religions in the world and where Christianity fits in and what are the main groups within Christianity.

There are many religions in the world. Based on numbers of followers and their influence in the world, there are five main religions. They can be placed into two groups: Middle Eastern origin and Asian origin.

These groups are based on the part of the world where they originated, but are also related in

Name OriginBeginning date (approximate)

Place (modern name)

FounderNumber of members

(estimate)

Hinduism Asia 3000-2500 BCE India Unknown 750 million

Judaism Middle East 1700 BCE Iraq/Israel Abraham 18 million

Buddhism Asia 560 BCE IndiaGautama (‘The Buddha’)

320 million

Christianity Middle East 4 BCE Israel Jesus Christ 2000 million

Islam Middle East 600 CE Saudi Arabia Muhammad 1300 million

Table 1.1 The major world religions.

their beliefs and the way in which the religions developed from each other. Table 1.1 shows the main religions in the order that they appeared.

Within Christianity there are different groups of believers. There are three main branches or sections of Christianity, as shown in Figure 1.6. Under the headings there are examples of smaller groups listed. These smaller groups within Christianity are known as denominations.

1. Each of these symbols is important in a religion. For each symbol, identify the religion it is and investigate its meaning.

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(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

(g)

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2. Match the region on the left with one or more of the religions on the right.

(i) Asia (a) Judaism

(ii) Middle East (b) Buddhism

(c) Hinduism

(d) Islam

(e) Christianity

3. Unscramble the words below. They all occur in this unit.

bddhimsu achiiinrstty aenoprsttt

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4. Classify the following as a denomination or a religion.

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5. Which is the odd-word-out?

Hinduism Christianity Baptist Islam

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6. Study the information in Table 1.1. Use that information to draw a column graph showing the number of members of each religion.

Place the religions in order, from most to least common.

Orthodox Roman Catholic

Jesus Christ

Protestant Figure 1.6 Tree of Christianity All Christian Churches begin with Jesus.

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What is Christianity?1.2UNIT

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:26)

The origin of the term ‘Christianity’The word ‘Christianity’ is a term given to describe the religion based on following Jesus Christ. The Book of Acts in the Bible says that this label was first used in Antioch, a place north of Israel and near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Figure 1.7 Antioch Believers were first called Christians in Antioch.

A man called Jesus1.4ACTIVITY

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a small town in what is now Israel, about 2000 years ago. The exact year is not known, as in those times there were no official birth records made.

The Western calendar is based on the assumed date of Jesus’ birth. In the 6th century after Jesus lived a monk named Dionysius Exiguss tried to calculate when Jesus was born. He called the time from what he thought was the year of Jesus birth ‘AD’. AD is short for Anno Domini, Latin for ‘in the year of our Lord.’ The time before Jesus’ birth he called ‘BC’, ‘Before Christ’. Most historians now think Dionysius made a slight mistake, and that Jesus was most probably born about 4 or 6 BC! This conclusion is based on the fact that the Gospel of Luke mentions that Jesus was born at the time when Herod the Great was king; but he died in 4 BC, so Jesus must have been born before then! Secondly, the Chinese astronomers described the appearance of a supernova in the year we call 6 BC. Some historians think that this bright light in the sky may have been the one that is mentioned in the Gospels at the time Jesus was born.

Slightly different terms, BCE and CE, are now increasingly used out of respect for people of other religions. Since not all the world is Christian, it makes no sense for a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu or an atheist to refer to the date as being in the year of ‘our Lord’.

BCE – ‘Before the Common Era’ or ‘Before Christian Era’.

CE – ‘Common Era’ or ‘Christian Era’.

When Jesus was born he did not have a last name or family name. He was known by his father’s name (‘Jesus, son of Joseph’) or by where he

his followers began to refer to him as ‘Jesus, the Christ’, shortened to ‘Jesus Christ’.

The word ‘Christ’ is a title. It means the ‘Anointed

was predicted would come into the world. Jesus’ followers came to believe that Jesus was this king who came from God. So they called him ‘Christ’; this led to his followers being called ‘Christians’ and being known as people who followed the religion of ‘Christianity’.

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Chapter 1 Religion and the Bible Check Point Christianity 1

Did Jesus really live?There are at least two non-Christian writers who record that Jesus lived. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived from 37 CE to about 100 CE. In the Antiquities of the Jews Josephus recorded that James ‘the brother of Jesus who was called Christ’ was put to death. James the brother of Jesus

13:55; 1 Corinthians 15:7). Some churches believe

that ‘brother’ here refers to close friend or family member. The Catholic Church believes Jesus did not have siblings.

Tacitus (born around 55 CE, died around 117 CE) was a Pagan public servant of Rome who wrote several historical works in his retirement. Tacitus did not like the new Christians. In his book, the Annals, Tacitus explained where the word ‘Christian’ had its origin.

Tacitus wrote:

‘Christus from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but also in the City’ (by the word ‘City’ Tacitus means Rome).

1. Draw a timeline showing the following events and dates. Most of the years to include are found in the text above.

2. Match the term on the left with the correct response on the right.

(i) Anno Domini (a) The time before Jesus lived

(ii) BCE (b) Means ‘Year of our Lord’

(iii) CE (c) The time after Jesus lived

(d) Means ‘Common Era’

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Key beliefs in Christianity1.5ACTIVITY

In this brief summary you will find some Scriptures from the Bible quoted. Thus, Acts 11:26 quoted at the start of this unit tells us that the Scripture came from the Book of Acts, chapter 11 and verse 26. You will learn to look up Scriptures in the next unit.

Key beliefs in Christianity include:

Belief in one God(Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Exodus 20:3)

Christians believe in one God, who created the Universe. This belief is the same as that of Judaism and Islam, which trace their belief in one God back to Abraham (Ibrahim), a prophet, in about 2000 BCE.

The belief in one God is known as monotheism, and comes from the Greek words ‘mono’ meaning ‘one’, and ‘theism’ meaning ‘of God’. This belief was not common at the time that Abraham and the Israelites lived. Most people worshipped many gods or had their own god who they believed looked after their tribe or group. Belief in more than one god is called polytheism. But God told Abraham that there was only one God, the Creator God. The people of Israel came to see that if there was only one Creator, then this God was the only one who should be worshipped. You will learn more about this in Chapter 2.

Figure 1.8 God the Creator The Bible tells us that God created the Universe.

Belief in one God who is a Trinity(2 Corinthians 13:14)

Christians also believe that the one God is made up of three (3) ‘persons’ or ‘beings’. These are known as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This belief first came about as the followers of Jesus came to the conclusion that Jesus was not just a man, but was also God. As Jewish believers, they tried to work out how Jesus could also be God, yet there would still be only one God!

The answer they came up with was that there was only one God, but within God there are separate aspects or ‘persons’. Jesus often spoke of God the Father. The Bible also shows the Son and the Spirit to be God. Since God exists outside the physical Universe, nobody can fully explain how this works. To express this idea the word ‘Trinity’ was developed (from ‘three in one’), although the actual word is not found in the Bible.

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Belief that Jesus brings ‘salvation’(Romans 8:11)

All humans have sinned. To sin means to disobey God. We can sin by not respecting God or by hurting other people. Since God cannot tolerate sin, the penalty should be eternal death. Jesus was both God and human and his death and resurrection made it possible for human beings (bad and sinful) to approach God (perfect and good). Those who believe in Jesus as God are united with him and can receive forgiveness of sins. Thus through Jesus’ death and rising again we are able to receive salvation.

Belief in the Holy Spirit(Romans 5:5)

The Holy Spirit is God’s presence with believers in Jesus Christ. An early leader in the church named Paul (sometimes called Saint Paul) wrote to Christians in Rome that ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’.

Belief that the Bible is a book from God(2 Timothy 3:16)

The main evidence for Christianity is found in the Bible, which is the ‘sacred text’ of this religion (Figure 1.11). It explains what God is like and God’s ideas about how people should live. Christians believe the Bible is so important it has

every language has its own writing. Thus Christians have had to invent new ways to write down some languages. This includes Aboriginal languages as

Belief in Jesus as Lord and Son of God(John 20:28)

Christians believe that Jesus died on a cross (in about 33 CE), but then rose from the dead. From this we deduce that Jesus was both a human being and also God. Jesus was a human being in that he lived and died. But he is God in that he has been raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God the Father.

This is an important Christian belief that is not held by Jews and Muslims. For example, the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, refers to Jesus. He is respected as an important prophet who spoke words from God, but is not considered to be the Son of God or a person to be worshipped.

Figure 1.9 The Trinity A symbol for the Trinity.

Father

GodSon Holy

Spirit

Figure 1.10 The cross Jesus died on the cross to bring us salvation. Figure 1.11 The Bible A book inspired by God.

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1. Match the term on the left with the correct response on the right.

(i) Trinity (a) Religion centred on belief in Jesus Christ

(ii) Christ (b) Means one God with three parts

(d) First used in Antioch

2. Unscramble each of the sentences below. They are the same as or similar to sentences used in this unit.

(a) and cross dead. Died from Jesus on rose the the then

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(b) believers Christ. God’s Holy in is Jesus presence Spirit The with

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(c) able and are Because death Jesus’ of receive resurrection salvation. to we

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3. Christianity and Islam both believe in one God. Use one or more complete sentences to explain how Christianity and Islam differ.

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4. ‘Doubting Thomas’ is a well-known saying. Read John 20:24-29 and then answer these questions.

(a) Describe what it means to be a ‘doubting Thomas’.

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(b) Explain why Thomas exclaimed ‘My Lord and my God!’ (verse 28).

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(c) How could a person become more ‘blessed’ than Thomas?

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5. These verses are part of the Jewish Shema and are often said by people who follow Judaism. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with

all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Identify if this belief is an example of monotheism or polytheism. Justify your answer.

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6. The Holy Spirit is spoken about in Romans 5:5. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

(a) Can we earn or buy the Holy Spirit? Justify your answer.

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(b) Why does God freely give the Holy Spirit? See also Luke 11:9-13.

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(c) Do you think God literally ‘pours’ the Holy Spirit into our hearts? Why?

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7. The role of the Bible is described in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom

you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

(a) Identify when in his life that Timothy first started to read and learn the Scriptures (Bible).

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(b) Identify three uses for the Scriptures.

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(c) Describe what Timothy was supposed to gain from what he learnt.

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8. Identify the statements below as true or false. Rewrite the false statements to make them true.

(a) Monotheism is the belief in many gods.

(b) Polytheism is the belief in one god.

(c) The Bible is the sacred text of Islam.

(d) The Qur’an is the sacred text of Buddhism.

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9. Research: Use an encyclopedia or the internet to find out about one of the following famous people who has been influenced by their Christian beliefs.

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