Lesson video

Hi everyone, and welcome to today's lesson on RE and Christian practises.

And today we are looking at the application to non-human issues and stewardship in particular.

My name is Miss Day, and I will be taking you through this lesson today.

So what do you need for this lesson? You need to get yourself a pen or pencil, some paper or something to write on, and a different coloured pen, so you can mark your own work.

If you don't have any of those, I would advise that you go and get them now, pause the video, and then press Resume when you come back.

So what will we be learning today? So in this lesson, we're going to look firstly, at definitions of key terms, then we will look at the idea of stewardship in the creation story, which I know a lot of you are aware of.

And then we will look at the use of animals in medical testing and cosmetics.

So we will think about whether using animals in this way is right or wrong? And what Christians would say about that.

So I hope you are ready to go and you have all your equipment and you're ready to learn.

Please be aware that this lesson may feature some sensitive content.

So if animal testing is a sensitive topic for you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting the lesson, or doing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

So firstly, let's start by considering some of our key definitions that you need to know for today's lesson.

So, as we start to think about stewardship, we are firstly going to try and work out what a steward is.

So I would like you to spend two minutes now, writing down a list of what steward does.

And if you're not sure what steward is, think about stewards who work at sports event or concerts.

They will be standing around normally in bright jackets, looking up into the crowd and watching what is happening.

So what I would like you to do is to pause the video here and write a list of what a steward actually does, and when you're finished, press Resume and we will go through some of your ideas together.

Really well done.

Let's have a look at some of these ideas together.

So you can pick up another coloured pen and go through your own, add extra points.

So what does a steward actually do? So firstly, a steward keeps people safe, stops any trouble, ensures that the event runs smoothly, looks after the facilities or the local area, and looks after people.

So you can maybe picture stewards standing at football match.

They usually look up into the crowd and not at what's happening.

And they watch people.

They make sure everyone is safe.

They make sure that things go as they are supposed to.

So that is the role of a steward.

So let's now apply that to stewardship.

So stewardship is simply the job of supervising or taking care of something.

So supervising or taking care of something.

And for Christians, stewardship means the job of taking care of the earth.

So Christians believe that they were put in charge of the earth.

So stewardship for them is taking care of the earth, supervising the earth that God has created.

So where does this idea of stewardship come from? So this idea of stewardship comes from the creation story.

And I know a lot of you are aware of the creation story.

We looked at it when we did Christian Beliefs and it is based in the book of Genesis.

So if we look at these images, it gives you some idea of the creation story.

So you can see that in Genesis, there is an account of God creating the world, and we know that God created different things on every day.

So for example, on the first day, God said, let there be light.

And there was light.

On day six, God created animals on the land and human beings in his own image.

So we have this account in Genesis of the creation story.

And if you would like more details on that, please do look back at the Nature of God lesson in Christian Beliefs.

So God created the world in seven days.

So Christians believe that God is responsible for everything that was created in the world, but then where does stewardship come in? So if we look at this Bible verse, you will understand where stewardship comes from.

So this verse is found in Genesis 2:15.

And it says, "Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it." Let me read that again, "Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it." Some quite big words in there that you might not be aware of what they mean.

So the Garden of Eden is where Adam and Eve were placed.

So this was where man and woman were placed at the very beginning of the world, according to the Bible.

So this is explaining why God placed them there.

So to cultivate it and to guard it.

So what I would like you to do is to pause the video here and write down your own definition of what it means to cultivate something or to guard it.

You might want to use a dictionary to help you or to ask someone near you.

So what does it mean by cultivating something and guarding something? I recommend that you probably know what's to guard something means, but you might need to use a dictionary to look up the word cultivate.

So pause the video here and write down your own definitions and when you're finished, you can press Resume and we will go through these answers together.

Really well done.

Let's have a look at these definitions together.

So, you might have got something similar.

You can add on extra words with your different coloured pen.

So to cultivate something means to prepare or grow something and to guard something is to watch over in order to protect it.

So we have the idea of preparing and growing something, but we also have the idea of watching over and protecting something.

So how does that apply to Christians being stewards of the earth today? So if we think about cultivating it, means preparing or growing something, so working with what God has given them, and then guarding it is watching over it in order to protect it.

So protecting what God has given them.

So let's think of this idea of stewardship applied to today.

So firstly, we have the idea of preparing or growing something and we see that in what Christians do today, in the idea that they plant plants, they take care of the environment.

They keep working to improve what is already here.

So they will think of ways to improve things that might be planting more trees.

It might be looking after animals.

And then secondly, watching over to protect it.

So that is them being aware of what people are doing to the environment, so working against taking down trees, working against climate change.

So there's two rules of this.

One is preparing and growing the earth, and the other is watching over to protect it.

So Christians want to actively do both of these things in an attempt to keep stewardship today.

So what I would like you to do now is to complete the following task.

So you can pause the video here and spend two minutes, making a mind map of how a human being could practise stewardship of the world.

So let's think practically, if people are going to do stewardship today, what could they practically do? And you can use the two images at the side of the screen to help you.

So just press Resume once you're finished, and we will go through your mind map together.

Really well done.

Let's have a look at some of your ideas together.

So firstly, humans could care for animals today.

So they could practise stewardship by looking after animals.

Animals were created by God.

So they might want to care for them to practise stewardship.

Secondly, they could prevent global warming.

That is a huge environmental crisis in our world today.

And the Bible teaches that Christians should care about that because they are responsible for protecting the world.

They could look after the environment.

So that could be in a whole range of ways, but they could look after the environment today.

They could also recycle.

So you have probably seen recycle bins that are around and have been more and more popular recently, and a real push by shops and cafes to recycle.

So stewardship teaches that Christians should really care about that.

They should want to recycle.

They should want to look after the world.

Finally, they could protect rain forests, et cetera.

So they could want to protect the earth's natural resources and not let deforestation happen, et cetera, et cetera.

So there are lots of other things that you could have had as well there, but any ideas like that are really good ways that Christians could practise stewardship today.

So well done.

Now we are going to consider, how this idea of stewardship applies to the treatment of animals.

So in our previous lesson, we looked at the treatment of humans and human life.

But today we are going to think about the treatment of animals.

So how animals are treated in our world today? So there are two different things that we are going to consider.

Our number one is the use of animals in medical testing.

Number two is the use of animals in cosmetic testing.

So medical testing and cosmetic testing.

So what does it mean by the use of animals in medical testing? This is when animals are used to test medication that could save human life.

So medication is test on animals to check safety and usefulness on humans.

So what this means is when scientists come up with new medication that could save lives and cure diseases, such as cancer, they will firstly, test this medication on animals to ensure that it doesn't have any really negative side effects, and to see if it works.

Now, some people agree with this and some people don't, because some people think actually if human life is more valuable, remember sanctity of life, if human life is more valuable, then this is worth it.

Because if an animal is harmed, but it saves a human life, that's worth it.

Some others disagree and think actually animals shouldn't be used for this.

I wonder what your view on this is.

We're also going to think about animals being used in cosmetic testing.

And this is when beauty products are tried out on animals first, and it's used with eye and skin treatment to see if it causes any irritation.

So this is much more controversial because this probably is not going to save any human life.

This is beauty treatments that they try on animals first to see how it reacts with them, before applying it to human beings.

So a lot of people would say, actually, this doesn't need to happen.

This is causing harm to animals and it's not saving human life.

Okay, they might get my skin treatment from it, but it's not saving their life.

Is it worth the harm that it's causing to animals? So we are going to consider these two different issues today, and we're going to use three different approaches to look at this, and some of these approaches you have already considered.

So we're looking at stewardship from today's lesson.

You know, it is the job of supervising or taking care of something.

We are also going to consider situation ethics from our past lesson.

And this is an ethical theory that is based on the idea of doing the most loving thing in any situation.

So remember Joseph Fletcher is our key thinker and he said, actually your aim should be to do the most loving thing in every situation.

So that means there's no blanket rule.

You decide what to do based on the situation.

And then finally, the sanctity of life.

And this is the idea that all human life is valuable because it is created by God, in the image of God.

Remember we got this idea from the Genesis creation story where the Bible says that humans were created to be like God.

So, stewardship, taking care of the environment, situation ethics, doing the most loving thing, sanctity of life, created by God, in the image of God.

So we are going to have a few quick fire questions to check that you know the difference between these three approaches to ethics.

Ethics is just a way of making decisions, so these three different approaches to making decisions.

So number one, which approach focuses on the most loving thing to do, is it situation ethics? Is it sanctity of life, or stewardship? You can point at the screen or you can write down your answer.

Five, four, three, two, and one.

It is of course, situation ethics.

Fletcher's theory that said people should do the most loving thing in every situation.

Which approach focuses on caring for the world? Is it situation ethics, sanctity of life, or stewardship? Five, four, three, two, and one.

It is stewardship.

Well done.

This idea of being a steward of the earth.

So Christians believe they're stewards of God's world that was created for them, and they are stewards to look after it.

Which approach focuses on the value of human life? Is it situation ethics? Is it sanctity of life or stewardship? Five, four, three, two, and one.

It is sanctity of life.

This idea that human life is valuable because it is created by God, in the image of God.

Well done.

Which approach obviously prioritises human life above all others? Situation ethics, sanctity of life, or stewardship? Five, four, three, two, and one.

It is sanctity of life.

The other approaches do value human life, but sanctity of life obviously prioritises it above everything else.

Which two approaches come from the creation story in Genesis? So this time you're selecting two out of the three approaches.

So situation ethics, sanctity of life, or stewardship? Five, four, three, two, and one.

And the answers are of course, sanctity of life and stewardship.

Sanctity of life comes from the idea that God created humans in his image.

Stewardship comes from the idea that God created the whole world.

So humans should care for it.

Now, I would like you to have a go at your own task.

And I would like you to work out how each approach view the use of animals for medical testing.

So I'd like you to use the following sentence starters when you are doing this.

So situation ethics would either agree or disagree with medical testing because, so what do you think would it agree or would it disagree, and why? And I would like you to do the same for the sanctity of life and stewardship.

So please write in full sentences, press Pause and spend about five minutes doing this.

If you need to look back to look at any of these approaches or what medical testing is, then please do that and press Resume when you're finished the task.

And we will go through some answers together.

Really well done.

Let's go through some of your answers together.

So let's start with situation ethics.

You can pick up another coloured pen and mark your own answers.

So situation ethics would mostly agree because it would be seen as the most loving thing to do for the greatest number of people.

This is because it cures diseases for millions of people.

So medical testing might be the most loving thing to do because it could save hundreds or thousands of people's lives.

Sanctity of life.

Sanctity of life would agree because animal testing would allow humans' lives to be saved.

Sanctity of life believes that human life is more valuable than animal life, and therefore this would be justified.

So remember, sanctity of life says human life is valuable because it is created by God in God's image.

It does not apply to animals.

So therefore it would agree with medical testing, if it could save human life.

And finally, stewardship would mostly allow this to happen as it could be argued that this is a responsible way to look after the world, ensuring that animals are used to protect humans.

Stewardship treats animals well, but would acknowledge that human life is more valuable.

So this one is important and it's slightly trickier.

Remember, stewardship is a biblical approach.

It's from the Bible, and it does believe in treating animals well, of course it does, they're part of God's creation, but it's still considers humans to be more valuable, which means that if animals are being used in a sensible way, that respects them, then it's okay.

They would however want to take steps to ensure that animals are not suffering as much as possible.

So I would like you now, to do the same thing for cosmetic testing.

So pause the video here and have a go at writing a small paragraph for each of these about their approach to cosmetic testing.

So situation ethics would agree or disagree because, so exactly the same idea as you did with medical testing and then resume the video once you have finished.

Really well done.

Let's go through some of these answers together.

So let's start with situation ethics.

Remember, cosmetic testing is using animals to test beauty products.

Situation ethics would mostly disagree with cosmetic testing because it is not the most loving thing to do for everyone.

It could be argued that testing cosmetics is not necessary and it's not worth animal suffering.

So as you can see here, situation ethics doesn't really have a clear response to this, but it doesn't agree with pointless animal testing.

Sanctity of life would largely disagree with this, as cosmetic testing does not affect human life.

Testing cosmetics on animals would not save human life, and therefore is not worthwhile.

So again, sanctity of life is all about saving human life, but actually testing cosmetics doesn't really do that.

And finally, stewardship would definitely disagree with cosmetic testing.

This is because it argues that humans should care for the world, including animals.

Testing cosmetics on animals does not seem a worthwhile cause to inflict harm on animals.

So while the other two are slightly more in the middle, stewardship would say no way, this is not a responsible way to look after God's creation.

It should not be done.

So if you need to pause the video here or rewind and take down any of these key points, then please do that in your other coloured pen.

Really well done on all your work in this exercise.

If you would like to share any of the work you have done in today's lesson with Oak National, please do ask a parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and tag @OakNational or #LearnwithOak.

Thank you so much for joining in today's lesson and you are now all experts on Christian ethics, I am sure.

And so really, really well done.

And please do have a go at the summary quiz to see what you have learned.

It has been great having you with us today and please do join again soon.