1 Year 9 Revision Guide. End of year exam. There will be five questions on the exam paper. 1. This will be a multiple choice question and will be worth 1 mark. 2. This will ask you to state two things about a Christian belief or practice. It will be worth 2 marks. 3. This will ask you explain two ways a particular belief influences Christians today or two ways Christians undertake particular practices. It will be worth 4 marks. 4. This will ask you to explain in detail two Christian beliefs or practices and will ask you to refer to scripture. It will be worth 5 marks. 5. This will ask you to evaluate a statement. It will be worth 12 marks. Here are beliefs and practices that that you will need to know for the exam. WORD MEANING HOW IT INFLUENCES A CHRISTIAN God Christians believe that God is: It will give them a sense of peace knowing that God is all powerful and loving so will never let them down. Trinity Omnipotent all powerful, can do anything that is possible. Omniscient all knowing, is aware of everything. Benevolent all loving, cares about his creation. Incorporeal without physical form. Transcendent existing outside of space and time. Christians believe that God is substance but that has three aspects called persons. These are: The Father: God as creator of the universe. The Son: God as saviour of humankind. The Holy Spirit: The power of God present in the world to help people. They will know that nothing can be hidden from God so they will be less inclined to do something bad. They will know what God is like in Jesus and this will give them a sense of hope and also enable them to know what God is like so that they may attempt to copy him. Incarnation This word means to become flesh and refers to the idea that God become human. God needed to save humanity and the only way he could do this and make himself known, was to enter into his own creation. Christians believe that Jesus is unique in creation as he is FULLY GOD AND FULLY HUMAN. He is also immaculately conceived, that means that he (like Mary - It helps a Christian to understand what God is like. Since God is above space and time we cannot see him. In Jesus actions a Christian can KNOW what God is like.
2 Sin Resurrection Creation Atonement according to Catholics) was conceived free form sin. This word means to do something that goes against God. Christians believe in something called Original Sin. This is the idea that Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the Garden of Eden and we, as descendents of them, have inherited this sin. We therefore find that within human nature there is an inclination to do bad things. To some extent humans cannot help sin but there are different views within the Christian traditiona regarding how much humans can avoid sin. This word means to return physically from the dead. Christians believe that that three days after his crucifixion, Jesus came back from the dead and showed himself to his discples for forty days before returning to heaven. This is the idea that the universe we live in is not just a random chance appearance but is the work of a loving God. Christians believe that God created the world in six stages. Human beings are the pinnacle of creation. They are the only creatures made in God s image. They are to act as God s stewards on the earth, maintaining it and looking after it. God needs to save humans from sin as they are unable to save themselves. The Atonement is what God does in order to save people. The atonement refers to the crucifixion. This is the action that Jesus undertakes for the salvation of humanity. There are different understandings of the atonement. One is that in the atonement Jesus is taking on the punishment necessary for - It gives Christians hope. Since God appeared Christians will know that he is really present with them even if he is not seen in their own lives. This is will influence Christians because it will help them to understand that they need to be saved. It will also help them to understand their own nature, why humans sin it is a consequence of the crime of Adam and Eve. This will give Christians hope, knowing that God has overcome sin and conquered death. By coming back from the dead Jesus showed that he had conquered the powers of evil. It will indicate to Christians the future life and help them to know that there is a meaning to existence and something beyond this life. It will encourage them to have faith. The idea that God created the world will help Christians to value life and everything in the creation, knowing that it is a gift from God. I will encourage them to look after the world knowing that they have a special responsibility. It will give them courage in difficult times as they will know that, despite the troubles in creation, God s loving hand is there behind it all. This will influence a Christian to know that they have been saved from sin. It will give them hope and help them to see that all will come right at the end.
3 Salvation baptism sacrament Prayer humanity s sin. This is known as vicarious suffering, taking on suffering for someone else. In this way, those who have faith in Jesus are set free. Since human beings are under the power of sin they need saving. This is known as salvation, to save from sin. Protestants and Catholics have different understandings of this: Catholics believe that salvation is got through FAITH and WORKS. In other words, you need to believe in Jesus for him to save you but also, you need to co-operate with God s grace by doing good things. The Protestant view by contrast says that you need have just FAITH ALONE. God is the only one that can save you, good works cannot. This does not mean that people will continue to commit bad deeds despite having faith. The idea is that good deeds follow naturally from faith but these good deeds do not save, it is faith that saves. This is one of the sacraments and is a sacrament of initiation. Christians believe that the water represents spiritual cleansing. Original sin is washed away, setting the recipient free from it power. A sacrament is defined as an outward sign of an inward grace. Since God exists outside of time and space, human beings are normally unable to access him. Christians believe symbols are needed for people to get an idea of who God is. These are sacraments, the ways God communicates to humans through symbols. Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe that there are seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Marriage, Ordination, Sacrament of the Sick. This is the word for communication with God. There are different types of prayer. Private prayer is where a person simply speaks to God in private, sharing his or her thoughts and worries. There are also set prayers that Christians say, such as the Hail Mary and the Our Father. There are also prayers of intercession. This is where It will influence them to have faith in Jesus and trust in him, knowing that he will save them. It will help them to spread the message of salvation throughout the world. It will give them a sense of joy, knowing that they have been saved and that any problems in life will be short-lived. Either a Christian is baptised at birth. Water is sprinkled on the child s head as part of a service and the God parents make promises to be an example to the child. OR in Believer s baptism the young adult is fully emersed in a pool at the front of the church and prayers are said by the pastor. The believer himself makes promises to follow Jesus. Sacrament of the eucharist is where the Christian consumes bread and wine believing either that it is literally the body and blood of Jesus (Catholic tradition) or the a symbol of Jesus (Protestant traditions that have the eucharist). A Christian can prayer on his own, sharing his own cares and concerns with God, speaking with him. There are also set prayers such as the Hail Mary. Catholic say the Hail
4 Worship Pilgrimage Christians pray for the other people in their need. Finally, there is contemplative prayer where a Christian simply rests in the presence of God, experiencing his love. Worship is where Christians gather together to praise God. There are two different types of worship. Liturgical worship is where there is a set form which is followed each week. This is particularly characteristic of Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches. Non-liturgical worship is much freer. The congregation spends a lot of time singing praise to God. This is characteristic of more evangelical churches This is where Christians go on a sacred journey to a Holy Place. There are many reasons why they might go: to get healing at Lourdes for instance, or to thinking deeply about their faith or to simply visit places that our special to them and receive some of the inspiration to had from these sites. Mary whilst imagining scenes from the life of Jesus. The Mass is the Catholic worship. Here a series of set prayers are said: Confession, Gloria, Our Father. Also the Creed is recited which is the statement of Christian belief. Hymns are sung and each worshipper receives the eucharist which is believed to be the body and blood of Christ. A worship at a Pentecostal church will involve lots of singing of hymns, often with a guitar and a band. The preacher will give a long talk explaining something about Christian belief and practice. Lourdes is a place in France where Bernadette Soubirous is said to have experienced a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary. She discovered a spring there that has subsequently become a place of healing. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the shrine every year in search of healing and inspiration. They will visit the grotto where the visions took place, join the torchlight procession, take part in a mass, and wash themselves in the spring.
5 Question 5: Evaluation These questions are worth 12 marks and so count for 50% of your mark. Be sure to get them right. To do so you need to follow a few general rules: - Make sure you present an argument. Answer the question, do not just repeat a series of arguments for and against. - Include arguments in support of your view and also arguments in opposition to your view. - Come to a conclusion Here are some possible questions: The existence of suffering proves that there is no God. Agreeing with the quotation Here you could explain the Problem of Evil. You could say that if God was all powerful he would BE ABLE to get rid of suffering. If he was benevolent he would WANT to get rid of suffering. If he was omniscient he would KNOW ABOUT suffering and KNOW HOW to get rid of suffering. So, a God with the attributes of traditional theism contradicts the idea of suffering. Furthermore, you could point out that so much suffering seems UNJUST. The good can get ill and die young whilst bad people live long and happy lives. Similarly, you could point out that people have different starts in life which is unfair. Some are born into wealth whilst others are born into abject poverty. Surely God would not be so unjust here either. Finally, you could object to some of the solutions to the problem. The first solution needs people to have free will. But you could say that free will is impossible if God is omniscient. God being all-knowing means that he would know every action you are going to do before you are even born. That would suggest that you do not have free choice. You could object to the second solution by saying that some suffering just isn t soulmaking. Babies die in the womb before they get a chance to develop an virtuous characteristics for instance. Disagreeing with the quotations You could argue that God needs to give people free will if he wants to make moral beings. A moral being is one that CHOOSES to do good and so humans need to be given the freedom to choose and an option between a good and bad action. This will inevitably mean that some will choose evil and so this explains why there is moral evil in the world Secondly, you can say that God needs to make creation CHALLENGING if he wants humans to develop virtuous characteristics. If you want people to become courageous you will have to create situations where this can be brought out. If you want people to become compassionate and generous then there needs to be opportunities where this generosity and compassion can be shown. Thirdly, you can say that God needs to permit natural disasters to happen as a way of testing humans. It is easy to be good an virtuous when things are going well but much harder when things go wrong. It is in disasters that people s true character comes out. Finally, you could argue that the suffering in the world is a consequence of Adam and Eve s sin at the beginning of the story of creation. Because they ate the forbidden fruit God had to punish them and we, as their descendents, inherit this punishment.
6 You don t have to go to church to be a good Christian. Agreeing with the quotation. You could argue that you don t have to go to church before Jesus never commanded this. Jesus teachings are mainly about ethical behaviour, how you conduct yourself in the world eg forgiving others, helping the poor, staying faithful to your partner. Ethical behaviour does not require you to go to church You can be a good person without having to go. Jesus also wants his followers to pray and have faith. But both of these can be done without having to go to church. You can pray at home or at any hour of the day wherever you are. Jesus in fact said that, when praying, you should go into a private room and pray to the Father in secret. People who go to church are not necessarily any more moral than people who do not go. This suggests that going to church is not that effective in helping people spiritually or at least it is not helpful for everyone. Disagreeing with the quotation Going to church shows a commitment and dedication to God. If you don t go then it suggests that you can t be bothered and this might mean you have only a half hearted faith. Christianity is a religion about community and the church IS that community. If you do not go to church then you are excluding yourself from the Christian community. Whilst it is good and important to pray on your own, it is equally important to pray together as a group. Jesus and his followers did this. So by going to church you will be carrying on the tradition. Going to church should inspire and empower you. By worshipping together with others and praying together you will go back out into the world with a stronger faith. Many people are very busy in the modern world and there is not time to go to church but they still want to practise a Faith. A Christian should concentrate on the here and now and not worry too much about what happens after death. Agreeing Thinking about the future life will only make people anxious. It is better to concentrate on what is going on in this one. Disagreeing Thinking about what happens after death will encourage people to act morally. Knowing that misdeeds will be punished will act as a deterrent. If you don t tell people there is a punishment then there is danger they will not take morality seriously.
7 If you only do good deeds because you do not want to be punished in the future then this will make you into a selfish person. No one can be certain about the future life, even a Christian. The Bible does not say a huge amount about it. It is better therefore to concentrate on the here and now and not worry about the future. If God is a loving God then everything will be taken care of so there is no need to think and speculate about the future. It suggests a lack of trust in God s grace. God wants his people to concentrate on living this life well. That is why he created the world, not to speculate about life beyond. Thinking and believing in a future life will give people hope and put their hearts at rest as they will know that when their loved ones die they will still see them again. Many people live in great pain. If they simply concentrate on this life they may get depressed thinking that this is all there is. Knowing that there is a future life, free from suffering, will encourage them and help them to endure their pain. Knowing and thinking about a future life will give meaning to the present life. If everything comes to an end at the end of this one then it seems to suggest that life is a bit pointless. Prayer is waste of time. Agreeing with the quotation There is no categorical evidence to suggest that prayer is effective. Praying may encourage people not to do anything about their situation thinking that if they just pray about it then it will be okay. Some people s prayers seem to be answered whereas others are not. If God does this then he is unfair towards some. It is much more likely that God has not done anything and it is mere random chance that good things seem to happen to some of them. Disagreeing with the quotation Research suggests that prayer has at least some psychological and physical benefits. Prayer can give people a sense of the presence of God and therefore some hope. It can make them feel peaceful and at one. Sometimes it seems that prayers are answered. Many people have reported instances where they have prayed for some problem, such as a cure for an illness, and the person has got better as a result. It is a way of becoming at one with God.
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