Today's class introduced the idea of truth in preparation for Chapter Two- The Truth Revealed. This chapter will help us to understand that through the scriptures and traditions of the church, we will always know God. There is no way to forget Him and all that He has promised us.

Nowadays, we are faced with many experiences and images that claim to be true. We are bombarded with so much information in our lives that we need to be able to distinguish truth from opinio and fact from fiction. But at the same time, we must live by God's truth, one that can never be distorted.

Attached is the video I showed in class today. Comment to this post your opinion about the media and its truths based on the clip.  Do you feel "duped" as the consumer? How can being aware of this truth (the reality behind ads) assist you in making choices?

I have uploaded the group poster projects from both classes. Since we haven't had eneough time to present them all, go to the Class Projects page to look at the gallery. Click on each poster to enlarge it. Once it's bigger, you can click on the "Next" or "Previous" arrows to move around the gallery. Take a look at each one in depth and write about the following:

- Tell which poster attracted you the most.
- Discuss the bible quote, the illustration, and any connections it makes with you.
- Watch your spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Proofread before you post, but if you notice an error, fix it in your next post.

This is due Tuesday at midnight.

Happy Weekend!

Another FAN-TABULOUS class today! Boy, you are all making me smarter and smarter by the minute. The more we chat, the stronger my FAITH gets! Today, we learned that God actually gave us that gift of faith when He made us. He stuck it within our souls, but only WE can open up the gift and decide to use it or not. We also learned that God doesn't control us or program us like a computer to force us to be good or force us to believe. We have to choose it ourselves. This answers why God "allows" bad things to happen in this world. They don't happen because He allows them, but because mankind was given free will (another gift!) and chooses how to react to situations.

I know that if I were God, and if I chose to control my people and FORCE them to believe and worship me, it wouldn't be very rewarding to have even created my people since their actions are not genuinely coming from the heart, but merely out of control!

 But, boy, how meaningful it must be when His children come to Him on their own! That's what he wants! He created us to KNOW Him! That's it!

Faith enables us to do three things:

1. To believe in God (Duh, without faith, we can't believe in Him).
2. To accept all he has revealed to us (even the things He's revealed that we truly can't understand. Instead of breaking our brains trying to figure out these divine concepts, we accept these truths with faith).
3. To respond with God's love to others. You cannot have this awesome gift from God and then treat people (including yourself)  like dirt.

Lastly, faith is not just something we say when we believe in God. It extends beyond that. Faith is a way of life. The way we have relationships involves faith, the way we serve others involves faith, and the way act when even no one is watching involves faith. It's not a switch you can turn on or off.

I have FAITH that you will all do amazingly on tomorrow's test!

Homework: Study your text, your notes, and the worksheets. Complete the Chapter One Assessment worksheet handed out today.

Between Friday and today, we discussed how God reveals himself to us through divine revelation in several ways. Divine revelation is the way God makes himself known to us. I used the joke about the man who kept thinking God was on His way to save him during the storm. He rejected several helpers, telling them, "Thanks, but God will save me!" After he died, he asked God why He didn't save him. God told him, "Hello! I did attempt to save you! I sent you the newscaster to warn you, your neighbors on the raft to get you, AND the Coast Guard in the helicoptor to rescue you."

Sometimes we are so consumed, that we don't realize God is reaching out to us in these ways:
     1. Through nature and creation
     2. Through others (Jesus included)
     3. Through self-knowledge and the Bible

Homework: Based on the activity on page 15, create a timeline of at least 7-10 events between birth and today in which you believe God revealed Himself to you using the 3 ways above. These events can be based on something someone else experienced. For example, even though my brother needed an emergency surgery, I still felt God was revealing Himself during this moment in my life through my brother. Your timeline should be no larger than a sheet of computer paper. Each event needs a title, a colored picture or scene, and a one sentence reason how God revealed Himself in that moment.

This is due on Wednesday. Neatness and professionalism is part of your grade. STUDY for Wednesday's test!!

This post comes late since the Weebly site was down on Thursday, but  we discussed how God remains a mystery to us. Faith can answer many questions that science can't, but we must also remember that we cannot answer everything about God. We have to remember that he is and always will be a mystery. A mystery is defined as something that cannot be understood or explained. Remember, just because He is a mystery doesn't mean He doesn't exist! All sorts of things are mysteries, but that doesn't mean they didn't happen.


As requested: The Atheist Quote/ Joke. Enjoy!

Wow, class was wonderful today! You got your quizzes back (great job!) and we began presenting our awesome projects! So far, so good!

Does anyone understand this cartoon?

Homework- Don't forget to answer the discussion question by midnight tomorrow. Have a great night!

Today in class, we completed our group posters representing each of the five proofs. Great job!!! We also took our quiz on the five proofs.

Homework- Watch the videos below to further understand the five proofs. They sound boring at the beginning, but they are super short and totally cool! They are only on Motion, Causation, and Contingency (Possibility).

Select a proof video and discuss an element about it that helped you to understand the proof just a bit more! Due Wednesday at midnight.

God rocks!

Alright! We finally finished our second lesson! We had some GREAT discussions and new ways of understand God's existence. Thank you for enlightening me! I love learning from my students, too!

Today we completed all five proofs of God's existence. We learned:

Proof 3- Motion- The world is full of motion (tides, planet's  orbit, etc.) Obviously, nothing can just move by itself! Therefore, there must be a Mover.... God needed to exist in order for anything to move at all!

Proof 4- Possibility- Ahhhh, the hard one to understand. Let's make it simple: Every thing that exists in this world has contingent existence, meaning it either could or could not have existed prior to it actually coming into existence (are you still with me, people?).  Without God (who has necessary contingency- meaning it is necessary for Him to exist before other things are created) NOTHING could exist! There is no way to explain how anything was here, unless something was already in existence prior to it. 

Proof 5- Forms or Degrees of Goodness- God is the highest degree of perfection, truth, morality, beauty, and goodness of all things and qualities. How do we know how to rate things as evil or good; right or wrong; true or false? There must be a standard by which we measure all these things. Therefore, there has to be an ULTIMATE right, truth, beauty, etc. Without having a perfect God, we would not know the difference among all these elements. God is that measuring tool.

Today's classwork involved heavy notes and discussion. I introduced your poster project. I have uploaded it here for your downloading enjoyment in case you lost your copy. See the download link below. If you are going to be absent on Friday or Monday, please do this assignment on your own on computer paper. Your group needs you BOTH days!

We will present each one.

HW- Study for Monday's quiz on the five proofs. Know definitions, titles, and examples of each. Breathe, it'll be easy to grasp. It's 10 questions.

Proof #2- Design

After reviewing the elements of causation, today we learned that there MUST be a God because all around us, we see living, moving things that are so intricate, they MUST have required a great thinker. Think of how complex the human body is, the development of trees, and the orbit of the planets. There's no way this was thought of without a main architect! Our Design Star is God. Without this master plan and sketch of His creation, we would not be here. There MUST be a GOD because creation so beautiful like this cannot just combust out of nowhere.

Classwork: Genesis/ Exodus Bible Search
Homework: Review all notes!

There is a God. We always knew that, right? But isn't it really, really cool to have PROOF? No, not tangible, physical proof of his "face" or "hands", but outside, real proof of His ACTION in our lives! Today we talked about Aristotle, the philosopher, who came up with 5 "proofs" of a supernatural force. Saint Thomas Aquinas revisited these proofs to make them what they are today, but nevertheless, GOD IS PRESENT!!!!


Proof number 1- Causation. Nothing in this world happens by chance. EVERYTHING is caused by something. Nothing just happens on its own. It rains beCAUSE there's condensation in the atmosphere. We cry beCAUSE something CAUSED us to. The earth shakes in an earthquake beCAUSE the plates below the ground shift. Keep tracing all those things that are caused, and you will find one main source. One who causes. That's GOD!


Homework: Finish your billboard (not screensaver) on page 13. Study your notes each day!