Our American Heritage- week 2

Here is week of my compiled lesson plan in order for you as a Christian educator help the next generation be informed. 

Scenario 2- read and discuss by showing how God’s word can be use to help them that situation- allow 5 to 10 minutes

Your class just got a new kid. All your friends say the new kid looks weird and tease them behind their back. You talked to the new kid and they seem nice. What do you do? What do you think God would want you to do?

1 John 3:16-17, 2 Tim 1:7 or if you found any verses yourself

Bill of Rights- ask if anyone remembers the 3 they learned and what the Bill of Rights are and give 4 more - 5 minutes

Lesson: What Happen to Our Country?!- 15 minutes

The goal for this lesson: to share of the story of separation of church and state

Verse: 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13

The Lesson (remember this is only a brief outline for you to add or take away and allow God to lead you)

Ask if the kids if they have heard their parents or on T.V the phrase, “separation of church and state” Most will tell us that it was apart of our Founding Fathers desire for our country or that it was apart of the Constitution. But it was not. It was never discussed among them. It was through a letter from a Baptist church to Thomas Jefferson, who was not even apart of making the Bill of Rights, that the phrase “separation of church and state” came from.

The Baptist church was afraid that the 1^st Ammendment (ask if anyone could tell you what it is) would give some government officials in the future a way to away take our freedom to exercise the way we worship God. The 1^st amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”  The intent of the first amendment was 2 things

1)    The Federal Government was prohibited to have one denomination or church run the nation (like the church of England did)

2)   The Federal Government was prohibited from limiting and interfering with the people’s religion exercise

The 1^st amendment was for government to have no part of religion.

 “What it doesn’t mean is that either of these institutions is separate or independent from God and His law…does not mean ‘separation of God from government. If it did mean separation of God from government, then there be no basis for us as citizens to claim that you have unalienable rights.” (7)

         http://www.theamericanview.com/does-separation-of-church-and-state-mean-separation-of-god-and-government/

Our unalienable rights, which comes from the Declaration of Independence, are given to us by our Creator which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. We all have the same rights. Inalienable means they cannot be taken away and right means something we exercise. So when the government takes away the right to worship the way we want to, they are saying there is no Creator in which we have no rights at all. Our Founding Fathers did not want that for our country. Remind them of last week’s lesson.

But as we know, at school we are longer able to pray and read God’s word. How did that happen? In 1962, a court case called Engel Vs Vitale changed the meaning of what Jefferson said to the Baptist church. “A group of parents sued a New York public school district for requiring students to begin each school day by reciting a nondenominational prayer. Written by the New York State Board of Regents, the prayer read: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country." (8)

            http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/court/enge_v_vita.html

The court said it was unconstitutional and the prayer was taken away. When they did that, they changed the word “church” from the 1^st amendment to now meaning a religious activity performed in public. The government now does not allow religious activity.

Because that has happen, there has been a gradual change in our school system. But if we read God’s word, He told us that people were going to not want God’s way but their own sinful way.

Read 2 Tim 3:1-5 and Luke 24:4-8: explain to them what those verses mean to you concerning how the world no longer cares about the ways of the world. If you can find other verses share those too. The whole point is that this is not a surprise to God. He is still in control.

Ask: But what do we need to do even though this is going on? Allow the kids to give their thoughts.

To finish up the lesson, BRING HOME THAT THEY TOO CAN TRUST IN GOD AND LEARN TO LIVE FOR HIM THROUGH READING HIS WORD AND REMEMBERING WHAT THEY MEMORIZE FROM CHURCH

GIVE ALSO A BRIEF GOSPEL INVITATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT CHRISTIANS