Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mr. Womack and I'm really excited to be learning with you today.

I just know that we're going to do brilliantly.

Today's lesson is called Shared Stories and it's from the unit, "The Bible: What does it say about God's promises?" By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain that the Bible is a special book containing important stories.

Here's the key words that we're going to be using today.

We're going to practise them now.

I'm going to say them and then you are going to say them.

Here's the first one.

Torah.

Torah.

Jewish law and scriptures, also called the Hebrew Bible.

New Testament.

New Testament.

The second part of the Christian Bible recording the life and teachings of Jesus and his earliest followers.

Promise.

Promise.

An agreement to do or not do something.

Old Testament.

Old Testament.

The first part of the Christian Bible covering the period before the life of Jesus.

Testament.

Testament.

An agreement or statement of belief.

Well done! We're going to keep practising those key words as we go through the learning today.

So here's the lesson outline.

In the first part of the lesson, we're going to look at why a promise is important, and then we're going to look at why does the Bible have two parts.

We're going to start with, why a promise is important.

Izzy and Andeep are talking about promises.

Izzy says, "I promised my friend that I would play with her at lunchtime." Andeep says, "I promised my mum that I would get my homework done before the weekend." Can you think of some other examples of promises, maybe promises that you've made? Why not pause the video now and have a think of some examples of promises? A promise is an agreement to do or not do something.

Andeep says, "When we play football, we have to agree to the rules of the game so that everyone knows what to do.

If we all promise to keep the rules, the game is fair for everyone." Izzy says, "I made an important Brownie promise when I joined Brownies.

I promised to do my best to help other people and to do a good deed every day." That's a lovely promise, isn't it, Izzy? Maybe you've made similar promises too.

People sometimes use symbols to represent serious promises.

Izzy says, "When I made my Brownie promise, I was given a special promise badge to wear on my brownie uniform." So let's do a question to check our understanding.

What is a promise? Is it A, a plan to get your homework done; B, an agreement to do or not do something or C, a badge to show your achievements? Pause the video now, whilst do you think which one is the correct answer.

So the correct answer is B, an agreement to do or not do something.

Maybe you remembered that from our keywords at the beginning.

Well done if you got the right answer.

When people get married, they make solemn promises called vows.

They might give rings as a symbol of the important promises they have made.

A very solemn promise marked with a symbol or signature is called a covenant.

Marriage is a covenant between two people.

And there's a picture of two wedding rings that people might give each other when they're getting married.

Perhaps you've seen a marriage before and if not, you might see one in the future.

So then let's check our understanding with a quick question.

Which of these is not a word for promise? Is it A, vow; B, agreement, C, badge, or D, covenant? Pause the video whilst you think which one of these is not a word for promise.

So the answer is C, badge isn't a word for promise, whereas vow, agreement and covenant can be words for a promise.

Well done if you got the correct answer.

The Bible is the Christian Holy Book.

It is an important book for most Christians.

Many Christians read the Bible at home and in church, and if your worldview is a Christian worldview, you might have read the Bible too.

You may have even seen one in your classroom.

Christians read the Bible in different ways.

They might find different meanings in its words.

Here's Fiona and Charlie.

When we listen to different Christians, it helps us to understand how they view the Bible.

Charlie is a Christian.

He has a Christian worldview and he attends a Baptist church.

Charlie says, "I read my Bible to find out what God is saying to me.

The Bible is full of God's promises to people in the past.

I believe these promises are still true today." And here's Fiona.

Fiona is a Christian and she has a Christian worldview.

She attends an Anglican church.

She says, "The Bible is full of ancient stories that I have been hearing and reading since childhood.

When I read these Bible stories, I understand that God can be trusted to keep his promises even if it takes a long time." So let's check our understanding with a quick question.

What is the name of the Christian Holy Book? Is it A, Bible; B, Quran or C, Torah? Pause the video now whilst you think, which of these is the correct answer.

The correct answer is A.

The name of the Christian Holy Book is the Bible.

You might know that the Quran is the Holy Book for Muslims and the Torah is a holy book for Jews.

Well done if you've got the right answer.

Now it's time for a task.

Can you match these words to their descriptions? The words are Covenant, promise and Bible, and the descriptions are an agreement to do or not do something, the Christian Holy Book and a very solemn promise marked with a symbol or signature.

Pause the video once you complete this task and match the words to their descriptions.

Well done for completing that task.

Your answers should look like this.

Covenant should match with a very solemn promise, marked with a symbol or signature.

Promise should link with an agreement to do or not do something.

Bible should link with the Christian Holy Book.

Well done if you manage to match those words to the correct definitions.

So that completes the first part of our lesson about why a promise is important.

Now we're moving on to the second part of our lesson about why does the Bible have two parts.

The Bible is not just one book.

It is like a library of books.

The Bible has story books, poetry, history books, and even letters.

It was written by many different people over thousands of years.

Maybe you've held a Bible before and maybe you thought to yourself, "Wow, these pages are really thin, and that's so that we can fit all of those different books into that one particular book." So if you're ever wondering why the pages were so thin, that's why, it's a library of books.

Here's Fiona again.

Fiona explains why she reads the Bible.

Fiona says, "I like being able to read different books in the Bible.

I could choose to read some beautiful poetry or I might want to learn something about Jesus's teachings.

Sometimes I enjoy reading an old, familiar story." Fiona explains that the Bible is made up of many books.

"It is important to me that the books in the Bible were written by so many different people.

I like to imagine those voices from the past with their individual points of view and different experiences of God." So let's check our understanding with a quick true or false question.

The Bible is one long book.

Is that true or false? And why? Pause the video now while you think about your answer.

The answer is false.

The Bible is made up of many different books collected together.

Well done if you manage to get the correct answer.

The Bible has two parts.

The first part is called the Old Testament.

The Old Testament was written over 2000 years ago before the time of Jesus.

Jews and Christians share the books of the Old Testament.

You can see some of the names of the different Old Testament books in the picture.

That's quite a lot of books, isn't it? Perhaps you recognise some of the names of those individual books.

Here's Fiona again.

Fiona describes the Old Testament.

"The stories at the very beginning of the Old Testament are the same as the stories in the Jewish Holy Book, the Torah.

I sometimes talk about these ancient shared stories with my Jewish friends." Fiona explains more about the Old Testament and continues saying, "A testament is another word for a solemn promise.

The Old Testament is full of God's promises to the Jewish people.

Christians and Jews share these stories about God's promises." Here's Charlie.

Charlie explains more about the stories in the Old Testament.

Charlie says, "Christians and Jews share the stories of God's creation of the world and Noah's Ark.

They are right at the beginning of my Bible in the Old Testament.

They are right at the of the Torah too." The second part of the Bible is called the New Testament.

The New Testament is about the life and teachings of Jesus and the people who followed him.

Look back to the picture there on the left hand side of the slide.

You can probably make out that on the second shelf that's where the New Testament books begin with the gospels containing the life of Jesus.

So let's check our understanding with a quick question.

Which parts of the Bible are shared by Christians and Jews? Choose two.

Could it be A, the Old Testament; B, the New Testament; or C Torah? Pause the video now whilst you think, which two are parts of the Bible shared by Christians and Jews.

The correct two are A, Old Testament and C, Torah.

Well done if you manage to work out the correct two statements.

Here's Charlie again.

Charlie explains about the New Testament.

"The New Testament in the Bible comes after the Old Testament.

The New Testament has stories about Jesus." He continues and says, "The New Testament is full of inspiring words about Jesus and the people who followed him so long ago.

I read the New Testament to learn from the words and teachings of Jesus." So let's try a quick question again.

Which part of the Bible is about Jesus and his followers? Is it A, the old Testament; B, the Torah; or C, the New Testament? Pause the video whilst you think which is the correct answer.

So the correct answer is C, New Testament.

Well done if you worked out the correct answer.

It's time for a task again.

Which description of the Bible do you think is best and why? Izzy says, "The Bible is a book of stories and poems about Jesus written a long time ago." Andeep says, "The Bible is like a library of books written by different people.

It has two parts." Laura says, "The Bible is one very long book all about God." So pause the video, have a think, which of these is the best description of the Bible and why.

Well done for completing that task.

I wonder what you put.

Your answers might have included Andeep's description of the Bible is best.

Remember he said the Bible is like a library full of different kinds of books written by different people.

It has two parts, and the Bible is made up of lots of different books because it has an Old Testament and a New Testament.

Well done for completing that task.

So that brings us to the end of our lesson.

So let's summarise what we've learned today.

We've learned that there are important shared stories with promises in for Christians and Jews.

The stories are in the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible.

We've learned that the Bible has two testaments, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The word testament means a solemn promise by God.

We've also learned that the Old Testament is made up of writings about Jewish tradition and beliefs.

These are also sacred to Jews today.

And finally, the New Testament records the life and teachings of Jesus and his earliest followers.

These are sacred to Christians today.

So well done for all of your hard work in today's lesson.

I've really loved working with you and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye for now!.