Category: Religious Education (Catholic) 9

RS 9: Cinderella Man Reflection 2

Answer two of the following questions.  Your answers for both questions must be a minimum of five to ten or sentences.   Place your response in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.  The rubric on the right titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

The purpose of marriage is the mutual growth in holiness of the man and woman. From the movie, we see that Jimmy and Mae’s marriage was a true covenant (pledge) of love.

1)  Talk about some of the key scenes in the film that express the meaning of Jimmy and Mae’s marriage. What did their marriage mean to them in times of plenty and in times of want?

2)  How did Jimmy and Mae show their respect for one another? How did their covenant of love and respect grow over the duration of the film? What challenges did their covenant or pledge to one another have to meet so that the Braddock could stay a family?

3)  What were Jimmy and Mae’s beliefs about their family, their children? What did you think about the scene in which Jimmy has to take his son to return the salami he has stolen? What did the scene tell us about Jimmy’s moral character and his relationship with his son/children?

RS 9: Cinderella Man Reflection 1

Answer two of the following questions.  Your answers for both questions must be a minimum of five to ten or sentences.   Place your response in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.  The rubric on the right titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

Cinderella Man portrays a man who loved his family and would do anything for them—and Boxing is how he achieved the purpose of his life.

1)   Why did Jimmy Braddock struggle with his faith? What made him turn away from prayer and worship? Do you think he began to doubt God? Did a sense of failure have anything to do with it? Why?
2)  If you had been in Braddock’s wife, Mae’s place, would you have said anything different to encourage Jimmy in the practice of his faith? Do you think Mae showed wisdom in how she talked to Jimmy about faith and going to church? Why or why not?
3)  raddock had many qualities that could be viewed as truly religious or a man of faith.  Identify three of these qualities.

RS 9: A Walk to Remember Assignment

Answer ALL of the following questions.  Your answer for question #1 should be two or three sentences.  Your answer for questions #2, 3, and 4  must be five to ten or more sentences long.  Answer it in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me. Since this is an assignment and more effort is expected, it is worth much more than a reflection.  The rubric on the right titled, Movie Assignment Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

1)  If you were to boil the message of this movie down to one sentence, what would it be?  Write a sentence or two explaining what scenes in the movie led you to this conclusion.
2)  Which of the main characters surprised you the most?  Explain why.

3)  Landon obviously had a “wall” up as far as his dad was concerned.  Eventually, Landon forgives his dad and thanks him for what he did for Jamie.  How might this “wall” have blocked Landon’s faith and experiencing God?  This movie clearly illustrates the power of love.  Describe one scene in the movie that showed how love brought about change.  Did the change brought about by love happen because the character(s) were open to God’s love?  Explain. 1 John 4:8 says Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Could this be God bringing about changes in the characters as they opened themselves up to God’s love? Why or why not?

4)  What does the movie, A Walk to Remember,  say about faith and love, and their affects on people?  Support your response with examples from the movie.  What types of love were portrayed in the movie? Click on this link to learn about the different  Types of love.

RS 9 Reflection 3: A Walk to Remember

Answer the following two questions.  Your answers for both questions must be a minimum of five to ten or sentences.   Place your response in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.  The rubric on the right titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

1)  Eric, Landon’s friend, says, “This girl’s changed you, and you don’t even know it.” What changes in Landon did you notice in the movie?  Identify at least 3 specific changes you noticed and explain at least one of the scenes in the movie that show the change.  How do you explain these changes in Landon?
2)  Jamie tells Landon, “I don’t think getting out (of town) is the problem.  It’s figuring out what you want to do when you get there”. Will “getting out of here” solve problems?  Explain.  What is Jamie really trying to say?

RS 9 Reflection 2: A Walk to Remember

Answer the following two questions.  Your answers for both questions must be a minimum of five to ten or sentences.  Answer it in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.  The rubric on the right titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

1)  Jamie says in the movie, “Maybe God has a bigger plan for me than I have for myself”.  (a)  Is this an example of faith?  Explain.  Your  explanation should include an explanation of your understanding of faith.  (b)  Do you think God has a plan for you?  Why or why not?
2)  Jamie describes her faith in God as ”the center of everything”. In another scene, after Landon tells Jamie that he loves her, she says, “I don’t need reason to be angry at God”. It is obvious that her faith in God is very important to her, and being a Christian is what defines her as a person.  (a) Explain what she means by “center of everything”.  Support your response with examples from the movie.  (b) Why do you think people, like Jamie,  have such a strong faith? (c) How does having a strong faith benefit a person?  Use examples from the movie to support your answer.

RS 9 Reflection 1: A Walk to Remember

Answer the following two questions.  Your answer must be five to ten or more sentences long.  Place your answer it in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.  The rubric on the right titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

1)  A group of friends were partying on Saturday night, and then in church the next morning.  Is this hypocritical?  Explain why or why not.
2)  Describe TWO  examples from the movie that illustrate unholy behaviour, that is, behaviours that show disrespect.  Also explain the results of these behaviours. Did they bring the people involved happiness or unhappiness. Support your answers with examples from the movie.  Were the people better off as a result of the unholy behaviours, or were they worse off.  Explain.

Turning it over to God (This is What Faith is) Story

Read the following story about trusting (having faith) in God totally. It is an excerpt from a book titled Those who Trust in the Lord Shall not be Disappointed. Then address the questions below.

Our car was stolen out from under our carport, and we had no theft insurance. With everyone thinking it was too late, including the Sheriff Department, this was a real temptation to be disappointed. It was a fact that the car was gone, and after two weeks the officers were insistent that it was already in Mexico.
Serious thefts were going on all around us—saddles, horses, horse trailers… There were all kinds of emotions involved to contend with—especially the fear of thinking, “if this could happen to us, what else could happen?” But fears, reasoning and doubt thoughts have to be stopped because they always precede and open the door to disappointment.

I can remember the night that Jack and I discussed the situation and finally came to the conclusion that there can be no “what ifs” with the Lord. We determined that night that even though it looked to be too late, we were going to trust God to work it out. We prayed and asked God to forgive and convict whoever had taken the car, and we chose to forgive them according to the Word.

One week later a young man turned himself in, saying that he had stolen a car and a company pickup. He was brought to our house where he confessed to us, “I’ve stolen all my life, but this is the first time I have ever felt guilty.”

He couldn’t remember exactly where he had left our car since he was stumbling drunk that night, but he did recall that it was left on a rodeo grounds. After doing some investigating, we found that a little community called Elm Grove, located about fifteen miles from Brownwood, had a rodeo the weekend before. And sure enough, there on the rodeo grounds was our ’64 black Chevrolet Impala Sports Coupe, without a dent or a scratch on it. The only thing that we could find changed was that it had a full tank of gas in place of the almost empty tank when it was taken!  Stolen Car story

This is claimed by the authors to be a true story.  Do you believe stories like this occur?  Do you believe that totally trusting God with a “problem” will be taken care of by God, as in the story above?  If you do, explain how this story might help your faith.  If you do not believe it, then explain how the events of the story could happen without God.  Your response needs to be 5 – 10 sentences. You must be convincing in your arguments.  The rubic titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to assess your comments.  Type your response in the comment spot below.

“To look out at this kind of creation and?not believe in God is to me impossible”. – Astronaut John Glenn, first man to step on the moon.

Is Faith Beneficial?

Read the following and then send me your response to the question in the comment space.

Koenig H.G, et al. 1998. The relationship between religious activities and blood pressure in older adults. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 28: 189-213.

The relationship between religious activities and blood pressure was examined in 6-year prospective study of 4,000 older adults. Among subjects who attended religious services once a week or more and prayed or studied the Bible once a day or more, the likelihood of diastolic hypertension was 40 percent lower than among those who attended services and prayed less often (p<.0001, after controlling for age, sex, race, smoking, chronic illness and body mass index).

Tully J, Viner RM, Coen PG, Stuart JM, Zambon M, Peckham C, Booth C, Klein N, Kaczmarski E, Booy R. 2006. Risk and Protective Factors for Meningococcal Disease in Adolescents: Matched Cohort Study. BMJ 332: 445-450.

A study of meningococcal disease in adolescents in the UK showed that religious observance was as effective as meningococcal vaccination for preventing meningococcal disease.

Palmer, R. F., D. Katerndahl, and J. Morgan-Kidd. 2004. A Randomized Trial of the Effects of Remote Intercessory Prayer: Interactions with Personal Beliefs on Problem-Specific Outcomes and Functional Status. J. Alt. Compl. Med. 10: 438-448.

A randomized clinical trial found a significant reduction in the amount of pain in the intercessory prayer group compared to controls. In addition, the amount of concern for baseline problems at follow-up was significantly lower in the prayer group when the subject initially believed that the problem could be resolved. Those who did not believe that their problem could be resolved did not differ from controls. Better physical functioning was observed in the prayer group for those with a higher belief in prayer. However, better mental health scores were observed in the control group with lower belief in prayer scores.

In the comment space below, explain your reaction to these studies.  Do you believe it?  If you do, clearly explain why you do?  If you don’t, clearly explain why you don’t.  How do you explain such results published in internationally recognized science journals? Your response needs to be 5 – 10 sentences.  The rubric called, reflection rubric, on the right will be used to assess your response.

“To look out at this kind of creation and?not believe in God is to me impossible”. – Astronaut John Glenn, first man to step on the moon