Christian Practices (questions?) Flashcards
Explain two ways in which Christians think worship is important. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One reason why worship is important is to Christians is that it’s a way to praise God for all the amazing things he has done. This is shown in Jeremiah when it says ‘Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD!’.
Explain two ways in which Christians celebrate Easter. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One way in which Christians celebrate Eater is by attending church and singing hymns to rejoice at Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus’s resurrection is very important as it is mentioned in all four gospels and shows how God is so powerful that he can even avoid death.
Many Orthodox Christians walk into a dark church on The Saturday Night before Easter to symbolise the tomb of Jesus. The priest then says ‘Christ is risen!’ to which the congregation replies with ‘He is risen indeed’. This symbolises the resurrection of Jesus and is a very powerful tradition in the Orthodox Church.
Explain two ways in which Christians celebrate Christmas. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer
One way in which Christians may celebrate Christmas is by getting children to re-enact the nativity. The Nativity was the story of the birth of Jesus and was featured in the books of Luke and Mark. The story reminds Christians of Jesus’ humble beginnings.
Another way in which Christians celebrate Christmas is by going to Midnight mass on Christmas Eve. This night reflects the holiness of the incarnation of Jesus. It is a ceremony that focuses heavily on praising God and reflecting on the glorious life of Jesus.
Explain two ways in which Christians respond to the word poverty. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One way in which Christians may help the poor is by offering them money. This is because in the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, Jesus taught that rich people who ignore the needs of the poor can be punished by God.
Another way in which Christians may respond by world poverty is by offering support and shelter to those in need. In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus teaches the importance of caring for all people, therefore influencing Christians to do the same.
Explain two ways in which Christians evangelise. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One way in which Christians evangelise is by doing something called mission. Mission is where one travels to another country to spread Christianity through preaching and charitable work. This is seen as important as in the Great Commission Jesus said to make ‘disciples of all nations’
Another way is by running courses which educate non-Christians about God. An example of this is with the Alpha Group where they offer courses with the purpose to make people interested in Christianity.
Explain two ways in which Christians support their communities. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One way in which Christians may help in their local community is to volunteer at a food bank. This is because in the parable of the good Samaritan Jesus teaches to support those who are less fortunate than you.
Another way in which Christians may help out in the local community is by becoming a street pastor. Street pastors aim to care and help people in the community with the priority being assistance rather than evangelism. This reflects the teaching of agape.
Explain two ways in which Christians pray. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One way in which Christians pray is in private. This is often a form of informal prayer in which a Christian makes up their own prayer to suit their personal needs, this helps create a closer one on one relationship with God
Another way in which a Christian may prayer is by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. When Jesus was asked how his disciples should pray, he responded with the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s prayer is an example of a set prayer and remind Christians of some core values.
Explain two ways in which Christians put their faith in action. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One Christian may put their faith into action by practicing evangelism. This is where Christians spread the word of God. This is very important as in The Great Commission Jesus orders his followers to ‘make disciples of all nations’
Another Christian may decide to help in their local community in order to put their faith into practice. Jesus taught agape so to complete this teaching Christians may decide to volunteer at a food bank or become a street pastor.
Explain two ways in which Christians respond to persecution. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
One Christian may respond to persecution by showing love and forgiveness towards their persecutors. This idea is shown in Romans where it says, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’. This shows how Christians should not show hatred towards their enemies.
Another way a Christian may respond is by supporting the persecuted. They may do this by raising awareness of the persecution, they do this because the worldwide Church is a big community where Christians should help each other out.
Explain two ways in which Christians think baptism is important. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
Baptism is said to remove original sin. Original sin is the inherit sin that all humans have because of Adam and Eve disobeying God. Removing this sin allows Christians to have a higher chance of going too heaven therefore it is very important
Baptism is important as in the book of Matthew Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. As Jesus is seen as an example for Christians, they may decide to do the same. When Jesus was baptised, it is said that heaven opened therefore showing the divine nature of baptism.
Explain two ways in which Christians think Christmas is important. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
Christmas is important to Christians as it celebrates the incarnation of Jesus. In the gospels of Mark and Luke it describes the story of the Nativity, this story explains the birth of Jesus. Many Christians decide to celebrate this on Christmas, showing its importance.
Many Christians take place in customs to signify the birth and life of Jesus. For example people will give gifts to remember the three wise men and put up Christmas lights to represent how Jesus lighted up the world from darkness.
Explain two ways in which celebrating Easter is important to Christians
Easter is important for Christians as it remembers the resurrection of Jesus. This reminds Christians that one day they can also be resurrected and receive eternal light if they follow the teachings of God. Its importance is shown in the fact that all 4 gospels display the resurrection, this showing its importance.
Another reason why Easter is important is because it reminds Christians of Jesus saving humanity from sin by sacrificing himself. This is the reason why humans can restore their relationship with God therefore making It very important.
Explain two ways in which Christians think reconciliation is important. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer
Reconciliation is important as it is a loving action. The quality of love and forgiveness is important to Christians as in the book of Matthew it says, ‘You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself’.
Reconciliation can also be linked to wanting to repair peoples relationships with God. This is very important for a lot of Christians as to get to heaven it is important to accept Jesus as your lord and saviour.
Explain two ways in which the worldwide Church works for reconciliation
Reconciliation can mean to rebuild the relationships between humans by showing love and forgiveness. An example of this is when Desmond Tutu attempted to rebuild the relationship between people of different races. This idea of loving people despite their differences is shown in the phrase ‘You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself’.
Church organisations attempt to bring people closer to God with people who have previously sinned and gone against God’s teachings. An example of this is when the Priest David Wilkerson converted a criminal, Nicky Cruz to Christianity. In the process David Wilkerson reconciled the relationship between Nicky Cruz and God.
Explain two ways in which a worldwide Christian relief organisation carries out its mission overseas.
A Christian organisation may carry out mission by going overseas and helping the victims of natural disasters. They do these actions in the name of Christianity therefore promoting their religion. This reflects the teachings in the parable of the Good Samaritan where more fortunate people help people who are in need.
Another way in which Christians do this is by fighting injustices in foreign countries. For example, they may put pressure on governments to improve working and living conditions. This promotes human rights in other countries and reflects the loving teachings of Jesus.
Explain two contrasting Christian views about the importance of pilgrimage
One may view a pilgrimage as important as it a help Christians gain a better understanding of their faith and feel more connected to the history of Christianity as they can see the origins of some teachings. Another reason is because pilgrimages can give benefits, for example many Christians go to Lourdes to be healed.
Explain two contrasting Christian views about the importance of reconciliation.
For one Christian reconciliation may be important as if people do not have a good relationship with God, then they could go to hell. Whereas another Christian may say that reconciliation is important because Jesus told people to love and forgive another so to achieve this you must reconcile with other humans.
Explain two contrasting ways a Christian might perform Baptism.
Some Christians practice infant baptism, they do this by anointing a young child with water and getting their parents to make promises to raise them in the Christian faith. Another Christian may practice believers baptism where adults or older children choose to get baptised as an expression of their faith.
Explain two contrasting ways in which Christians respond to persecution.
One Christian may respond to persecution by acting against persecution, this may result in Christians helping people in need and participating in peaceful protests to stop the damage the persecution. Another way in which a Christian may respond is by forgiving those who are persecuting, this shows how Christians should respond with love, not hate.
Explain two contrasting ways in which Christians respond to poverty.
One way in which a Christian may respond is by offering people in poverty support. This is shown in the parable of the Lazarus and the Rich man not helping the poor can have horrible consequences. Another response is that Christians should instead educate people in poverty and provide them with skills to thrive as this will be more helpful to the people in poverty, this type of help has been adopted by the organisation Tearfund.
Explain two contrasting ways in which Christian charities respond to need
One way in which a charity may respond to help is by providing short term aid to those in need. For example, after a natural disasters Christian Aid provides emergency relief such as food, water and shelter. Whereas Tearfund, provides more long-term aid to people who are living in bad conditions, they will provide the people in need with skills and equipment to be better off.
Explain two contrasting ways in which Christians celebrate the Eucharist
An Orthodox Eucharist mainly takes place behind the iconostasis and the priest distributes the consecrated bread and wine on a spoon. Whereas in nonconformist churches the wine is distributed in small cups and bread is broken and passed around the congregation.
Explain two contrasting ways in which Christians celebrate the Christmas
One-way Christians may celebrate Christmas is by re-enacting the Nativity story. This is often done by children and commemorates the birth of Jesus. Another way is by attending Midnight Mass on Christmas eve, where there is a service that reflects the holiness of Jesus’ birth.
Explain two contrasting ways Christians play a role in the local community
Many Christians may become street pastors, street pastors show agape by keeping their local community safe whilst also giving out advice. Another way in which a Christian may help out is by helping out in food banks, food banks such as The Trussell Trust help out people who do not have the money to buy food by offering them free food.
Explain two contrasting ways Christians play a role in the global community
One Christian may help in the global community by helping in more deprived areas in the world. This is encouraged in the parable of the good Samaritan and means less fortunate people can be better off. Another way in which Christians play a part in the global community is by encouraging reconciliation, this is the mending of previously damaged relationships for example the Pope during the time of the Cuban missile crisis encouraged peace between both countries.
Explain two contrasting ways a Christian might worship.
Liturgical worship is a common practice in Christianity. Liturgical worship is often led by a priest and is a set service that follows a set structure for example Holy Communion. On the other hand Christians also practice non liturgical worship, this a type of worship that doesn’t follow a set text or ritual.
Explain two contrasting ways in which a believer may enter God’s family
One may say that into order God’s family simply one has to believe, this is reinforced by the idea that the Church is more about the community than the building of a church. However, another person may say that to fully enter God’s family one must be baptised as baptism shows dedication to the faith of God.
Explain two contrasting Christian views about the importance of the sacraments.
One Christian may say the sacraments are important as they help to strengthen the relationship between God, this is because if one does a sacrament, it means God is integrated into part of their life. Another Christian may say that the sacraments are important as by following the sacraments it allows Christians to receive the special gift of grace, this gift gives Christians comfort showing its importance.
Explain two contrasting examples of Christian pilgrimage.
One example is the pilgrimage to Lourdes, Lourdes is a place where pilgrims often go to be healed. This is because the water in Lourdes is said to have healing properties and multiple healing miracles are said to have happened there. Another example is the pilgrimage to Iona. Iona is a quiet and beautiful place where Christians can attend church services and reflect on the teachings of God. Iona is very peaceful place allowing Christians to focus on their faith.
