Powerpoint:
Download Session 1’s Powerpoint here: TIC_Session1
Video Clips:
Why do we exist?
There are two video options here. Decide which clip will be most useful to your candidates.
Option One:
Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th Century, proves to his teacher through a logical argument that God exists:
Option Two:
Whatever begins to exist has a cause; the universe began to exist; therefore the universe has a cause
On how we can reason God’s existence
The beauty of creation:
Faith – what is it?
Here are some people’s answers:
Does anyone else have any tips on using the videos in a place with no internet? I opened them at home and played them and then disconnected and played them again. So far so good. I then shut the lid on my laptop without closing the windows and took it with me. Two of them worked but the other (the Mountain) didn’t. This wasn’t a huge disaster but I was just wondering if anyone has a better way?
Hi Alex. If you google ‘download Youtube’ there are some options of ways to download clips while you’re connected to the internet so you can use them later. I normally use RealPlayer downloader… Hope that helps! Sadly most catechists struggle with no wifi in their church halls… 🙁
We had a really interactive “Devil’s Advocate” session with enthusiastic participation by almost all candidates. We spent the first 45 minutes educating with the Einstein video, discussion and other small group activity. Then we chose two relatively self-confident candidates and gave them prompt cards from Appendix 9 of the Catechist Manual, plus a few of our own along the lines of “The Bible is a fairy-tale, full of scientific inaccuracies; how can any rational minded person believe in it, or on God ?” The sort of thing one might commonly hear. Our young people really engaged with the debate, and we gently fuelled arguments from both sides of the floor by adding our own encouragement to people making good points in response. Soon everyone seemed eager to express an opinion on the existence of God. As long as people are stimulated to think about God in a Spirit-filled environment, we’re on good ground and we were glad to see the session work so well. Thanks, Hannah !
Wonderful! Delighted to hear about this!