Believing In God & Matters Of Life And Death

1. The Problem of Unanswered

Prayers & Belief In God

2. The Problem of Evil & Suffering and How Religion Responds to It

3. Christian & Muslim Beliefs

About Life After Death

4. Christian & Muslim Attitudes

to Abortion

5. Christian & Muslim Attitudes to Euthanasia

6. Assessment Lesson

The Media & Matters of Life &

Death

Christmas!7. Assessment Feedback

Task 1 •Read though the feedback comments you received last term, and write in the front of your books, 2 targets that you want to meet.

Current level – this is what you are working at.

End of year Target – this is what you should achieve by the end of the year.

Example Target 1: Explain my answers in greater detail using examples. In my assessment I lost marks because of this.

Example Target 2: Improve my spellings by asking a member of the class to check my work.

We always write our targets in full sentences. Tip – read my comments and also look at the marking decoder in order to improve your written work.

What grade did you achieve in your last assessment?

Read the comments and record What Went Well and Even better if. Colour up to the level you achieved. One solid colour.

Example: WWW – Excellent attempts at beginning to use the structure which will gain good grades in exams.

Example: EBI – Organise answers more clearly and ensure points are fully made and explained using key words.

As I mark your books, you will see letters written with my feedback. Each time I write one, you will write the explanation.

• D Describe what is meant by ‘unanswered prayers’

• C/B Explain how this might lead someone to doubt or reject the existence of God

• A/A*Evaluate the value of prayer and why this encourages a person to believe or not to believe in God

Key Words: Atheist / Atheism, Agnostic / Agnosticism

Title: Unanswered prayers, non-belief in God and the Christian response Date

What is a Prayer?

Prayers can be defined as an 'attempt to contact God, usually through words.'

• One reason for people believing in God is that when they pray, they feel the presence of God and/or their prayers seem to be answered by God.

• However, prayers can also lead people to become agnostic or atheist.

Why do people pray?

Consider the following:

Religious and non-religious

reasons, traditions,

expectations, routines.

Agnosticism – not sure whether God exists

Atheism- believing that God does NOT exist

Think – Pair – Share !

Create a spider diagram on why people pray

Annotate your spider diagram. Which prayers are:

1.Sensible and sincere2.Childish or selfish

A man sets off from Britain to Iraq to bring

aid and support humanitarian efforts. He and his family pray for his protection. He is

kidnapped. He continues to pray secretly. He is killed by Islamic state.

• Why do you think the man’s prayers were unanswered?

• Does this prove that God doesn’t exist?

A man enters a competition to win the latest sports car. He prays to God to win the competition. He doesn’t win.He finds out 2 weeks later

that the winner of the competition died in a car

accident, involving that car.

• Why do you think the man’s prayers went unanswered?

• Does this prove that God doesn’t exist?

A teenage boxer prays to God that he will win his

first fight. He loses the fight.

This makes him train harder and he goes on to win 2 belts in the next

year.

• Why do you think the man’s prayers went unanswered?

• Does this prove that God doesn’t exist?

If a person prays, and their prayer is not answered, they begin to wonder about a God who answers some people’s prayers, but not

others.

E.G. If parents have a child suffering from leukaemia and they pray to God for help, yet their child still dies, this may

make them question or reject the existence of God.

If prayers continue to be unanswered, especially if the person believes they are praying for good things

like the end of wars etc, then the unanswered prayers become evidence that God does not exist.

Some people do not feel God’s presence when they pray. They may feel something is wrong or that God is not

listening to them. They may wonder if God really exists.

Unanswered prayers can lead a person to become agnostic or atheist

Plan your 8 mark answer!Question C) Explain why unanswered prayers may lead some people to become Atheists (8 marks)

Firstly …

Secondly …

Thirdly …

Finally …

•Atheist•Agnostic•Jesus cured the sick•God is all loving/powerful – how can God not answer some people’s prayers?

How do Christians respond to

this?

Some Christians accept that God hears our prayers, but

chooses to answer “no” or “not now”

Some Christians believe that God may have answered the

prayer but not in the way that was expected

or hoped

Some Christians believe that God has an ultimate plan for each person and will respond to prayers that fit into that

plan

Some prayers will contradict other people’s prayers and

therefore God cannot answer these prayers at the same

time

B) Do you think unanswered prayers prove God does not exist? (4)

D) ‘God always answers prayers’.

Your view (3 Marks)

Another view (3 Marks)