Lesson video

Hi everyone and welcome back to our lessons on Christian beliefs.

My name is Miss.

Day, and I'm going to teach you about another key Christian belief today.

So today we are thinking about sin, judgement , and forgiveness.

This is quite a heavy topic.

It's quite serious topic within Christianity.

And at the start of this, I would encourage you that if you feel uncomfortable with any of what we are going to discuss, that you take this lesson sitting near a parent or carer, so you can discuss any of the things that come up in this lesson with them.

But thank you for tuning in.

And we're going to learn lots about what Christians think about sin, judgement , and forgiveness in today's lesson.

So the first thing you need is a pen or pencil, paper, and a different coloured pen.

So if you don't have these on you, you can pause the video here and go to find them.

So what are we going to look at today? So firstly, we're going to look at the definition of sin.

Sin is quite a religious word that people say, but what does it actually mean? Secondly, we are going to look at Jesus' death as an atonement for sin.

Again, another big word.

We will explain what it means.

And finally, we are going to look at the Christian belief of judgement.

So what do they think judgement is? When will it happen? And how will it to happen? So that is what we are going to cover today.

As you can see quite big topics.

So, have a look at the image on this screen.

I'm going to tell you about how Christians believe that sin entered the world.

I want you to think back to lesson one.

In lesson one, we looked at the creation of the world.

That God created everything in Genesis chapter one.

But, what happened next? You might have some ideas and you might have a little bit of a clue from the picture.

If you want, pause the video here and write down what is happening in this image.

What do you think happens next? Great! So, as you can see from the image, after God makes the world in Genesis chapter one, and we see Adam and Eve as the first man and woman in Genesis chapter two.

But then in Genesis chapter three, something goes wrong.

So God has instructed Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But they get tempted.

The snake or the serpent, as you can see in the image, appears to them, appears to Eve and says, go on.

It's not that bad.

And eventually Eve gives in.

So she eats the fruit from the tree and then Adam comes over and says, Eve, what you doing? And she says, oh, it's not bad.

Come on, have a go.

And he does it too.

And this is the first time that we get an idea of sin in the bible.

So there are consequences to this act and God banishes them from the garden.

He says, you're going to have to work hard on the land.

So this is the moment where we see that humans are no longer perfect.

Humans have sinned.

And we're going to look at what that word sin means in a minute.

But this is where, Christians believe, this idea of original sin comes from.

So they believe that after this happened, every human being is born with sin.

So every human being is born with a sinful attitude.

An easy way to explain this is that you don't have to teach a six month old child how to be greedy.

You don't have to teach a one year old how not to share you.

You might've seen children play and you know that they like to keep things for themselves.

They don't want to share.

And Christians would say that is original sin.

That is because they are born with sin due to the fall.

But what is the consequence of this original sin for people now? What do Christians believe about this? So Christians believe that we all have this problem.

All human beings have original sin and that is such a problem because it separates them from God.

So it means that they can't have a relationship with God because God is a just God.

What do I mean by that? I mean, God is fair.

Christians believe that God doesn't like sin.

God can't be in relationship with people who have sinned.

So that poses a real problem for Christians because they think because of this fall, because they're born with sin, they're born separated from God.

So what is the solution? I wonder if you have any ideas? We have looked at some beliefs so far, so you might have a clue.

And we're going to look at this in the next part of the lesson.

But the problem, is sin, is the separation.

The solution to Christians is Jesus's death on the cross.

And we're going to look at how that is a solution in this lesson.

What I would like you to do now is to have a go at the questions that are coming up next.

You can have a go at them and pause it and then resume when you are ready.

So have a go at these questions.

You can write in full sentences and then we will go through them together.

Please pause the video here and you can restart it when you're done.

Really well done! We're going to go through these together.

So number one, define original sin.

Original sin is the sin inherited from Adam and Eve that all humans are born with.

Number two, why do Christians believe that original sin is a problem? The answer here, is original sin is a problem because it separates God and humans.

Number three, what do Christians believe is the consequence of sin? Christians believe that the consequence of sin is death.

Number four, what does it mean to say that God is just? God is just means that God is a fair judge.

And number five, what do Christians believe made it possible for God to forgive their sins? Christians believe Jesus took on human's punishment so that their sins could be forgiven.

You can mark those with a different coloured pen and flick back if you need to look at some answers again.

So we've mentioned this word sin a lot, but what is sin? As we said, it's quite a religious word that you might have heard before, but you don't really know what it means.

And a definition of sin that you could use is, sin is defined as an offence against a religious or moral law.

So a sin breaks a religious or a moral law.

An easier way to think about this might be using this acronym.

So you could say that sin stands for, see you later God.

I'm in charge.

Not you.

So Christians believe that sin is anything that humans do, which says actually, God, see you later.

I'm in charge, not you I'll do what I want.

I won't follow what you ask.

Okay.

But does that mean that sin is anything that we do that's wrong? Does that mean that the laws in our country, if we break the laws of the country, is that sin? Because this is where it gets confusing.

Because we knew that some laws in the bible are different from laws in the country.

So for example, a lot of them overlap.

So murder is wrong in the bible and in the legal system, theft is wrong in the bible and in the legal system.

But we get to some trickier issues where, in our country, it's not against the law to tell a lie.

Yes, it is in court.

But if you tell a lie to your friend, that's not against the law.

You're not going to get in trouble with the court or with the criminal justice system for that.

But the bible would still regard that as a sin.

If we think of another example, the example of adultery.

That's not against the law in our country, but that would be regarded as a sin in the bible because the bible instructs Christians not to do that.

So yes, Christians keep the law of the land, but they go further than that.

And they follow the laws in the bible.

And if they break those, that is regarded as a sin.

And actually we could say that Christians regard even the thoughts that you have that are bad as a sin.

If you feel jealous of someone, that's a sin.

You don't have to act on it.

And so we're starting to see here that actually, this is a bit of a problem.

Because, I don't know about you, but I'm sure that we all have thoughts that aren't right.

So Christians believe that that's a sin.

They believe that everyone sins and even if it's in your mind, it's still a sin.

So that's the problem.

So what do Christians believe is the solution? That's what we are going to focus on now.

And this solution involves this word atonement.

We're going to explain what this means and think about how it is as a solution for the problem of sin.

So we've talked about God's character earlier in these lessons.

And one thing that we talk about is God's love and we've spoken about how God is omnibenevolent, which means God is all loving, but now we have a problem because Christians believe that God is all loving, but we have this massive problem of sin.

So surely an all loving God, wouldn't leave human beings with this problem of sin.

That's where we come to this idea of atonement.

And this is, the Christian belief that Jesus' work on the cross, made God and humans one again.

And you can use the word atonement.

When we talk about the crucifixion.

If you look at the word, you will see that the word one is in the middle.

So this is the belief, that Jesus died on the cross made God and humans one again.

So Jesus' death on the cross allowed humans and God to have this relationship again.

So Jesus atoned for human sin by dying on the cross.

So let's look at this in a little bit more detail.

How can the death of one man mean that all humans can be forgiven for their sins? Because Christians say that Jesus dying on the cross has paid the price for all human sin.

Remember we said, God is a just God.

He needs to punish sin.

God cares about justice.

So he needs to punish sin.

So Christians believe that every single human being deserves that punishment, but that Jesus, has taken the punishment for everyone.

How can that happen? Did it have to be Jesus? Or could it be someone else? Could I have done that? Christians would say, no.

It had to be Jesus because he was perfect.

He had no sin.

Because he had no sin, he could pay the price for everyone else's sin.

Whereas I have sinned.

So I need to pay for mine, nevermind anyone else.

But Jesus, as someone who had no sin, could pay the price for everyone else's sin.

So let's look in more detail at how atonement works.

So if you say that we have humans on the left hand side and we see the big jumble going on in that picture, and that's meant to symbolise sin.

So humans have this problem of sin.

We see God in the right hand side and God looks pure and clean and holy.

And then we see that there's this barrier between the humans and God, and that is sin.

And that separates humans from God.

So Christians believe that by ourselves, we're separated that barrier down the middle separates humans from God.

And there is nothing that humans can do because they have sinned.

Even if they try to be really, really good and try to do lots of kinds of things, they still have this problem of sin.

It's this attitude that they have, that they can never cure by themselves.

Which means they are separated, humans on one side God on the other.

So let's look at the solution.

So the solution is Jesus's death.

And if you look at this image, you will see on one side we have humans.

And on the other side, we have God.

And the gap was too big.

There's a barrier between them.

Humans can't get to God because of their sin.

But then what happens? Jesus's crucifixion happens.

And Christians believe that this means that Jesus has taken all the punishment for human sin and therefore the humans can have this relationship with God again.

Humans can be at one with God again.

So Jesus has atoned for human sin through the crucifixion.

Remember he was the only one who could do this because he was perfect.

And because of his death on the cross, humans can have a relationship with God again.

Jesus has paid the price for their sin.

So now we are going to do a little quick fire quiz to see what you can remember.

So number one, select the key term that means paid the price.

Five, four, three, two, and one.

The answer is atonement.

Well done! Number two, you can either point at the screen or write it down.

Why can Jesus pay the price for sin? Is it because he is fully God and fully human? Or is it because he has not sinned? Tougher question.

Five, four, three, two, and one.

Your answer is he has not sinned.

So Jesus is fully God and fully human, but this is not why he can pay the price for sin.

He can pay the price for sin because he is sinless.

That's why he can pay the price for other people.

Number three, what is the human problem? Is it, all humans have original sin? Or, is it humans are too confident by themselves? Five, four, three, two, and one.

The answer is, all humans have original sin.

Remember that link back to the story of Adam and Eve, where they sinned in that was the introduction of sin in our world.

Number four, which one of God's characteristics mean that he must punish sin? Number one, is it because he is just, or number two, is it because he is omnipotent? Five, four, three, two, and one.

The answer is of course, because he's just, and that comes from the word justice.

So God cares about justice.

God has to make justice happen in our world.

Yes, God is omnipotent, but that is not why he must punish sin.

Number five, which of the following is an example of sin? Is it murder or is it kindness? Five, four, three, two and one.

The answer is of course, murder.

Remember we said the sin is breaking a religious law.

It is like saying, sorry, God, I don't care.

I'm in charge.

Number six, which of the following is not illegal, but would count as sin to Christians? Is it theft? Or is it adultery? Five, four, three, two and one.

It is of course, adultery.

Adultery is not illegal in our country, but it would count as a sin to Christians.

Number seven, which act of Jesus allows humans to be reunited with God? Allows humans to be in this relationship with God.

Is it the crucifixion or the incarnation? Five, four, three, two and one.

It is of course, the crucifixion.

Jesus, Christians believe that Jesus paid the price for human sin when he died on the cross.

And that this allows humans to be one with God again.

So now we have done that, I would like you to have a go at explaining this by yourself.

So I'd like you to pause the video and write down of an explanation of atonement using this diagram to help you.

So you might want to say what's the problem and how is it solved? You can press resume once you have finished.

Really well done.

We are going to talk through that together.

So how does atonement work? Remember we said, the problem is that humans have an issue.

They have this original sin, which means that even in their thoughts, they are sinful.

Why is that an issue? Because God is perfect.

God is Holy.

So humans can't have a relationship with God if they are sinful, the sin is a barrier between them.

So what was the solution? Jesus's crucifixion.

Jesus's crucifixion atoned for human sin because he was perfect.

He could pay the price for human sin.

Which took the punishment off humans and on to Jesus.

This allowed humans to have a relationship with God again.

Really well done on that.

In the final section of today's lesson, we're going to think about the idea of judgement.

So we've heard that Christians have a problem, but there is a solution.

And then they believe that everyone will be judged.

So now we are going to look at what they think this judgement is all about.

So what is judgement ? I think a good way for you to think about judgement is if you think about a court case.

So what happens is someone might be accused of a crime.

They will defend themselves.

Evidence will be given on both sides.

And then finally, the judge will make a decision.

They will either say guilty or not guilty.

And that will determine whether the person goes to prison or is released back into society.

And it's quite similar with what Christians think about judgement.

So we're going to look at this in slightly more detail now.

So you might remember, that we read this verse when we were talking about the ascension, let me read it to you now.

This Jesus who was taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.

So from this, Christians believe that the day of judgement will happen when Jesus returns to heaven.

So they believe when Jesus comes back, that everyone will be judged based on different things in this life.

So that is when, but how does it happen? So what are people judged on? What, what's this all about? What do Christians believe that people are judged on? So Christians believe different things about what humans are judged on.

Some Christians believe that you are judged on your faith.

So on your faith alone, some people believe you're judged based on what you do.

So on your actions or your works.

And some other Christians, believe that it's a bit of a combination.

So we're going to look at that in more detail now.

So these are the three different understandings on what humans will be judged on.

So, work, this is the belief that people will be judged on their works or actions.

So this is all the things that you do.

This belief is really prominent in the Roman Catholic church.

Believe that actually what you do is really significant.

So that means how much money you give to charity, how kind you are to others.

The second understanding of what humans will be judged on is fear.

And this is the belief that people will be judged on whether or not they believe in Jesus.

So this means it doesn't matter what you do, but it is your belief and your attitude towards Jesus.

Finally, the third option is works and faith.

So this is the belief that people will be judged on both of these things.

So that they need faith but they also need to live in a certain way.

We're going to look at these slightly more detail now.

So now we're going to consider a few different passages in the bible that support these different arguments.

So the first one is the parable of the sheep and goats.

And this was a story told by Jesus where he said that a shepherd will separate the sheep and the goats.

The sheep being good and the goats being not so good.

And he compared this to human beings.

And he said, actually that he will separate people on judgement day.

And he said he would make the separation based on what people do for others.

So there's a quote in it that says, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

And the people say, Oh, well, we never, we never saw you.

And Jesus says, yes, but what you did for others is what you did for me.

So here Jesus makes it very clear that someone's actions are really important.

And that is how he will separate people.

But then we must look at the other arguments.

So this is a very famous verse.

And this is one of the key arguments to say that for judgement , all you need is faith.

That faith will decide how you're judged.

And the verse says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

That whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Notice the key phrase there.

It says that whoever believes, it doesn't say whoever believes and does good things.

It doesn't say whoever believes and gives money to charity.

It says, whoever believes shall not perish, perish just means to be destroyed, but have eternal life.

We know what the word eternal means, lasts forever.

So this verse makes it very clear that all you need is faith.

It doesn't mention how you live, but let's look at the last argument.

So finally, some people would argue that it's actually a combination that you need both faith and works.

And here's a verse from a book in the bible called James.

And James talks a lot about the importance of how Christians live.

And he says, for it is with faith, if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.

It's quite strong.

So, James says, actually, if you have faith and you don't have any actions because of that faith, then your faith is dead.

There's no point.

If you just have faith, but no actions, your faith is dead.

So here we can see that James talks about a combination.

Because he also talks about the importance of faith.

He's not saying, just do good things, but he's saying your faith needs to be supported by actions.

So now you have three different views.

What I would like you to do now is to complete this table.

So you can draw on your own sheet of paper and you can pause this while you're completing it.

And what you're doing is listing the bible verse or passage that links to each of these arguments for how Christians are judged.

And then I want you to explain it in your own words.

So what does the verse show? How does it show that people are judged by works? So for example, if we take works, my bible verse or passage would be the parable of the sheep and the goats.

And then in my explanation, I'm going to explain how that is relevant.

So how he does that say that Christians should be judged by works? Let's quickly talk through that together.

So the works one, your bible verse or your passage is parable of the sheep and the goats.

The explanation is that Jesus told people they would be separated based on their actions.

And then we see faith and we look for faith, we have John three 16 where it says, whoever believes in him should have eternal life.

And the explanation is that this verse says it is all about whoever believes, belief is the key word.

It does not mention how you live.

It's all about what you believe in.

And finally, works and faith.

There we go back to the book of James, where he says that if you don't have actions backing up your faith, then it is dead.

Those three words are quote, it is dead.

The explanation, he is hinting that these two need to work together.

Faith without action, isn't really faith.

Action without faith, isn't really Christianity.

Lots of good people do good actions.

So there are three different arguments for what Christians are judged on.

Now, I wonder what you think? So we've been through, is it works? Is it faith? Or is it a combination? I wonder what your opinion is.

You've read these verses, we've talked through them.

I'm sure you have some view on this issue.

So I think it would be great if you could pause this and just write down your opinion.

So what do you think that Christians are judged on from the verses that we've read, what do you think? You might have noticed that actually all of these verses are from the bible and they kind of say different things.

And that is where we need to be really careful with how we look at the bible.

But it's also why we have so many different denominations today in Christianity.

Because people have came to different conclusions about what they believe.

So have a go at writing down your opinion and think, what do you think? What are Christians judged on? Thank you so much for joining me today.

And it's been so good to see you again, if you would like to share your work or your opinion on what you think Christians are best judged based on, please do ask a parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and tag @OakNational.

Thank you so much for all your great work today.

I hope that you have learned lots about sin, the solution and judgement.

Now, have a go at the summary quiz to test yourself on what you have learned.

I will see you soon for the lesson on the afterlife.