R.E
Parents and carers you are going to need to set this lesson up to hook your children in!
This is a really useful discussion to have with your children. It is classed as RE but the discussion around this issue has a much wider impact on our children as learners.
Can I describe how religious stories tell believers about temptation?
Leave a closed box/covered bowl in aroom for a while before the lesson begins.
Ensure children are aware that there is something special inside, but that they are not allowed to look inside it. Keep checking to see if they are tempted to peek!
Ask the children if they were tempted to look inside. Let the children give reasons for the temptation, or lack of it .Discuss whether the feeling of temptation was too great that they just had to look.
Ask your children what they think temptation means. Can they draw it or define it?
Temptation in the story of Adam and Eve
Do you know the story of Adam and Eve ? I can’t recommend any single telling but there are lots of animations online.
Explain that the story of Adam and Eve is told by Christians and Jewish people. It teaches many Christians and Jews about more than just how Adam and
Eve ate the wrong fruit. It teaches them about how people behave.
Discuss these questions: ‐ When in the story are Adam and Eve tempted?
What do you think the story is saying about
temptation? ‐
Who does Adam blame? Who does Eve blame?
Do you think the story is saying that making excuses and blaming others is a good thing?
In the story, do Adam and Eve say sorry for eating the fruit?
Might a Jew or Christian learn something about saying sorry from this story?
It is important to choose to do the right thing, even when you are tempted to do the wrong thing. Everyone gets tempted to do the wrong thing sometimes it can seem easier to blame someone else than to own up to what you have done.
These are good discussion points
People should blame others. Even Adam and Eve blamed others.
Making excuses and blaming others is wrong.
Saying sorry is really important when you have done something wrong.
Adam and Eve made a mistake when they did not say sorry.
We all make mistakes sometimes.
We have rules to help us know how to live, but it is not always easy to keep.
Discuss this conversation starter with grown ups at home!
How can people decide what is right and wrong without God’s help?
How Humanists come to decisions about how to act.
To identify some values that matter to Humanists.
To identify similarities and differences between how humanists and people from religious groups might think about and react to situations where they are faced with a moral choice.
Knowing the difference between right and wrong
Discuss these scenarios at home
You are playing football with your friends. You are all using Joe’s football. Joe won’t let Freddie play with his football, so now Freddie is left out of the game and has nobody to play with. What could you do?
Freya has a brand new toy in her tray. You all know that it is there because she showed it to youbefore school and you watched her put it away in the tray. She will not yet anyone else use it, but you and your friends really want a go. It’s playtime and there is nobody in the classroom.
That’s when Amber suggests that a few of you go into class and take the toy out of Freya’s tray. Everyone seems to think this is a good idea. What could you do?
Riley has not finished the maths problems that your teacher set and is finding them a bit tricky.Now Riley has to stay in at playtime to finish the
maths and your teacher has asked if anyone can stay in to give Riley a hand. You were really looking forward to playing with your friends.
What could you do?
Ask: Is it always easy to choose to do the ‘right’ thing?
Haveyou seen a cartoon where a character has an angel on one shoulder urging him/her to do the right thing and a devil urging him/her to do the
wrong action. Do you think this is a good way to show how it feels when we are making a moral decision?
Being Good Without God
We have explored the idea that religion can sometimes help people to make the right decisions.
Religions can help people from that faith to work out how to act in the right way.
Humanists do not think that there is a God. They do not believe God teaches anyone how to live.There are three things which are really important
to remember about how Humanists decide what is right and wrong.
1 The Golden Rule.
2 Using reason. Explain that when making a decision about how to act, many Humanists will try to make good choices. They will try to think about
whether their actions will cause harm or good to others and animals.
3 Listening to their conscience. ForHumanists, their conscience is very important in helping them decide what is right.
Humanists do not feel that they need a holy book to help them know how to be good. They have their own reasoning and conscience to do that. Lookback at the scenarios from the start of this discussion. Which solutions do you think a Humanist might choose if they were guided by
the Golden Rule, reasoning and conscience?