Aim to learn that everything has a cause and effect
Aim
* to learn that everything has a cause and effect
* to understand that we can learn about God (the cause) by looking at what he made (the effect)
Materials
* objects to demonstrate the effect of air and gravity – paper, straws, feathers, hairdryer, magnets, a small ball
* photos of people with different expressions
* pictures reflecting something about God’s nature – a forest, the setting sun, a thunder storm, a flower, two seals, a young child.
* Laminated outlines of faces to draw different expressions, whiteboard markers
* worksheets
Key words – cause, effect
Lesson Outline
1. Review last lesson
2. Cause and Effect
3. Explaining God
4. Activities – Make facial expressions, draw faces, play games, worksheets
5. Review the lesson aims
6. Prayer
1) Review last lesson
Man’s understanding of God has developed through history. Read through the children’s worksheet from the previous lesson.
At the time of Abraham God was a God of judgement who had to be obeyed. God blessed those who obeyed and punished those who disobeyed. To come to God people had to make offerings,
especially animal sacrifices. There was no book to teach people. They were not ready to receive God’s words
At the time of Moses God was still a God of judgement. God was the master and people the servant. Instead of animal sacrifices God gave rules to live by called the 10 commandments. Man’s
responsibility was to obey these rules.
Jesus said God is a God of love. He said God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. He gave two commandments: love God and love your neighbour. He still said we must obey God’s
word, but it is more important to love a person than obey laws. He also said we must believe God’s word. When we believe God’s word God can do great things in our life.
Today, Sun Myung Moon brings new words from God; The Divine Principle. He still says we must obey and believe in God’s word. He still says God is a God of love. He talks especially about true
love, to live for the sake of others. The Divine Principle also explains God more clearly. To believe is not enough. We live in a scientific age and we need an explanation that makes sense today.
2) Cause and Effect
We cannot see God, so how can we know that there is a God and how do we know what God is like? The are many things we cannot see, but we know exist.
Let’s think about some of them:
AIR
We cannot see air, so how do we know that it exists? Can we describe it?
We know air exists, because we feel it when the wind blows.
We can make the air move when we wave our hands in the air or blow on a piece of paper.
We feel air when we blow through a straw
We feel it from a hair dryer.
We see a balloon grow when we blow into it.
Smoke rises above a fire.
We know there is air when it moves something, such as paper, our hair, a balloon or smoke. We can say that the invisible air is the cause of these things moving. What moves is the effect. Two words, cause and effect. When you see the effect you know there is a cause.
GRAVITY
When you jump you always fall back down. Why is this? It’s because of something we cannot see called gravity. It is like a big magnet. In space there is no gravity, so you can float. Gravity is the
cause. Falling is the effect.
OTHER EXAMPLES
Can you say what is the cause of each?
effect – cause
1. limping sprained ankle, falling over?
2. sickness a virus?
3. thirsty needs to drink water?
4. hungry hasn’t eaten for a long time?
5. breathing heavily running?
FEELINGS
Feelings are invisible. How do we know how someone is feeling, whether they are happy or sad?
By the expression on their face. The feelings are the cause, the facial expression the effect.
Sometimes you know exactly how a person is feeling by the expression on their face.
Look at pictures of people with different expressions. Can the children identify the feelings from the expressions?
THOUGHTS
Thoughts are invisible, but we can know what someone is thinking by what they do. For example, we can learn something about an artist’s mind, by looking at his painting. A painting of a mountain tells us that the artist likes mountains. A painting of big waves tells us the artist likes the ocean. The thoughts in the mind are the cause, the painting is the effect. The same is true for a singer and the kind of songs he sings. A person who sings about peace, thinks a lot about peace.
3) Explaining God
What about God? God is also invisible. God is the cause. To know something about God we need to look at the effect. What is the effect? The creation is the effect. That means everything God made.
Look at the pictures – a forest, the setting sun, a thunder storm, a flower, two seals, a young child.
What does each one tell us about God, the cause?
1. God is like an artist. When we look at what God made we can learn something about God himself. For example, when you see a forest or the setting sun, they tell us that God is a God of beauty
2. When we experience a thunder storm, it tells us God is a God of power.
3. If we look a flower it tells us that God is very smart. How long would it take you to make a flower as beautiful as the one on the picture?
4. If we look at two cuddly seals, God is soft and cuddly
5. If we look at a young child’s face we can say that God is funny and cute
The fact that we have different feelings tells us that God has feelings too, because God is the cause and we are the effect. God can be happy, sad, surprised and angry, just like us The fact that we have a mind to think with tells us that God has a mind too, because God is the cause and we are the effect.
Some people don’t believe in God, but when we understand about cause and effect, there must be a creator, because everything has a cause. The world didn’t just suddenly come into existence. The creation is like a beautiful painting that God worked so hard to create. God is an expert artist who put His whole heart and energy and made a most beautiful world.
By studying the creation we can understand a lot about God. Next time we can go into detail by looking more closely at the creation.
4) Activities
* Practise making different facial expressions – happy, sad, surprised, angry, sleepy, afraid, bored, hungry, thirsty, tired, suspicious. Can the others guess which emotion one person is expressing?
* Children draw different facial expressions for others to guess – Use laminated pictures of faces and whiteboard markers.
* Play Games – Simon Says or Freeze to practise different emotions
* Complete the worksheets
1. We can learn about the cause by studying the effect.
ARTIST – PAINTING
We can learn about an artist by studying his painting.
GOD – CREATION
We can learn about God by studying the creation.
2. The external expression on our face tells us how we are feeling inside. By looking at God’s creation, we can learn about what God is like inside.
Draw facial expressions (the effect). Write words to describe the emotions (the cause) Examples of different feelings: happy, surprised, angry, sleepy, sad, afraid, bored, hungry, thirsty, suspicious,
5) Review the lesson aims
* to learn that everything has a cause and effect
* to understand that we can learn about God (cause) by looking at what he made (effect)
6) End with a prayer
