Starter: what can you remember about the

creation story in the Bible? Write down 5 facts!

RELIGION & LIFE

The Origins and Value of the World
Objectives:
To understand religious and non-
religious ideas about the creation of
and value of our world.
GCSE Religious Studies – progress so far…

• Paper 1 (14th May 2018): Beliefs and Teachings

– Christianity: Beliefs
– Christianity: Practices
– Islam: Beliefs
– Islam: Practices
• Paper 2 (16th May 2018): Thematic Studies
– The existence of God and revelation
– Peace and conflict
– Religion and life
– Relationships and families
 Religion and Life – Key Questions
• How did the universe come to exist? (creation vs. Big Bang
theory)
• Why does the world matter and how should we care for it?
– Use and abuse of the environment
– Pollution
– Use of animals
• How did humans get here? (creation vs. evolution)
• Why do humans matter and how should we look after
them?
– When does human life begin?
– Issues around abortion
– Is it ever right to take a human life? (issues around euthanasia)
– Death and the afterlife (beliefs about heaven and hell)
What have we already studied through other topics?
 How did we get here?
• Big bang?
• We were created?
• Something else…?

• What do you believe?

 Keywords
• Creation
– The act by which God brought the universe into being
• Fundamentalist Christians
– Christians who believe that the statements in the
Bible are literally true
• Liberal Christians
– Christians who believe that the authors of the Bible
were guided by God but that not everything they
wrote is a literal account of what actually happened
Recap – The Christian way
 Recap - Creationism
• The world was created in 7 days.
• Some translations of the Bible call this 7
‘periods of time’ (or “yom” in the original
Hebrew).
• God created the earth, then separated the land
from the sea. He then made plants, and lit the
sky with the sun and moon. He created animals
of the air and sea, followed by animals of the
land. He saw all this and said it was good.
• Lastly he created humans. He breathed the
breath of God in to them, and called them ‘very
good’.

• What would a Fundamental Christian say about this story?

• What would a liberal Christian say?

A fundamental Christian would say that the creation story…

However, a liberal Christian would say that the creation story…
One reason for this difference is…
The World has the ‘Wow’ Factor

Awe: a feeling of devout respect

and
Wonder: marvelling at the
beauty of the world
 Stewardship and Dominion
Then God said, ‘Let us make
Stewardship
humankind in our image,
Taking
according to our likeness;
responsibility for
and let them have
the welfare of
dominion over the fish of
others.
the sea, and over the birds
of the air, and over the The Bible teaches
cattle, and over all the wild that humans should
be ‘stewards’ of
animals of the earth, and
creation.
over every creeping thing
that creeps upon the earth.’ Dominion
(Genesis 1:26) To have authority
over something
 Stewardship and Dominion
• What makes humans special? Task
• Dominion – Humans have Draw an outline of a human being in
authority over God’s creation to
use it for the good of mankind your book.
• God gave Adam the authority to
name his creation and to look Inside your drawing, explain what
after it makes human beings special according
• Made in God’s image to Christian belief.
• Breath of God living within them
• God saw that they were “very
good”
• They have a soul, which will live Extension: if you have finished, respond
on after death. to the following statement underneath
• John 3:16 – ‘For God so loved your drawing…
the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever It is big-headed to think that human
believes in him shall not die but
have eternal life.’ beings are special. Do you agree?
Religion vs. Science – really?
 Religion vs. Science – really?

Is there another way to view the relationship

between religion and science?

Watch the video and note down 3 different

ideas about how religion and science can/cannot
relate to each other.