The Children at St Peter's are encouraged to ask some of the 'Big Questions' they have regarding Faith and Spirituality, and they would love to receive  your response! We invite you to respond to the question below, on the understanding that your name and contact details will remain confidential to the school, and will not be shared to third parties.

Click on the image to watch Faith in the Nexus Childrens' Animation

An animation about the spiritual flourishing of young people. Download the report on which it is based here http://nicer.org.uk/. This animation was made by Ministory - see: http://ministory.co.uk/nexus/. The music is licensed to Ministory.

Our starting point for discussions on big question is what the children perceive and what the family and faith community believes.  We use these questions as a way to promote Catholic teaching.  To support discussions in school and at home YOUCAT for Kids is an extremely useful resource.

How did Jesus come back to life?

I think the holy spirit made Jesus come back to life.  I feel the holy spirit breathed into him and this brought him to back to life.

Jesus was brought back to life by God on the third day after he was buried after he was crucified.  

He died without sin - he was innocent - sin means we die as the consequence of sin if we don't live forever - Jesus without sin died but because his soul was clear of sin - he came back to life and promised we will too if we believe in him.

One of the thieves recognised Jesus as saviour and was forgiven his sins.  Jesus said to him "Today you will be with me in Paradise".  The other thieves taunted Jesus.  We can't be sure what happened when he died as the Gospels do not say - but I'd rather be the first thief and accept Jesus as my saviour.

Jesus came back to life in everyone's smile, in every flower in every sunbeam for us for us to enjoy.

Love defeated death.

The thief who said sorry to Jesus went to heaven because Jesus forgave him and he said sorry.

YEAR R'S QUESTIONS

Answers from a Governor and a parent

What does God look like?

When I was little, I used to think God looked like an old man with a long grey beard. Now I believe that Jesus is the closest I can get to understanding what God the Father may look like. This is my favourite image of Jesus, but other people will see Jesus differently to me.

I believe that God may look slightly different for everyone. I can imagine what Jesus looks like, because there are pictures and statues of him all around school, around church, in books and on the TV… but even though Jesus and God are the same person, I believe that God doesn’t look like a human at all. To me, God can be seen everywhere if you look. Sometimes, I see rays of light shining out of clouds, and I believe that is God showing himself to me, showing that he is around. Sometimes I see Rainbows, and when I do, it reminds me that God is there protecting us all

Where does God live?

God is everywhere, so although He lives in heaven, He also lives in our hearts (if we invite Him in) and in the hearts of others.

I Believe that God lives EVERYWHERE! He lives wherever we are, wherever our families are.. watching over us all and keeping us safe.

Responses from Year R and 1 children

YEAR 6'S QUESTIONS

Answers from a Governor and a parent

What is life like after death?

This is a difficult question and I often wonder this myself. However, Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. (John 11:25-26)

So this means believing in Jesus and following his teachings gives us hope of a heavenly life after death. The Bible tells us that in Heaven: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

For me then life after death with God will remove any pain or upset and will be where love and peace is all around.

This is a great question! I believe it is different for everyone. For those of us that have followed God’s will, it is paradise ... a place where everyone is happy, surrounded by love and support. For those that have chosen to live a life of sin, I believe that they may go to the same place, but are not surrounded by love and support, not in their version of paradise … but I think they see all of those having fun without them, and it upsets them because they cant be part of it. Is this Heaven and Hell?

When we die does our spirit go to heaven or does it roam the Earth?

I don’t believe that our spirit roams the earth. I know some Christians believe that our spirit after death goes straight to heaven. However, I believe that when we die we meet God face to face.

If I were to meet someone very special on earth face to face, (like my favourite celebrity) I would get myself ready to meet them, possibly get a new outfit, get my hair done, tidy my home (if they were coming for a visit). I would go out of my way to be ready!

God is far greater than anyone famous we could meet so I believe when I die my soul will go to purgatory (for me this is a place of preparation to meet God). Through the place or process of purgatory, my soul will be prepared so I can meet God.

I believe that when we die, we join God and loved ones who have died before us in Heaven.

How do you get chosen to go to heaven or hell?

I believe Jesus is our judge and when He was asked who goes to Heaven with Him – He told the parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25:31 -46)

Here He explains just as a shepherd separates his sheep and goats, so Jesus will judge us worthy of Heaven (represented by the sheep in His parable) and those heading towards hell (represented by the goats in His parable).

Those for Heaven are people who reach out to help others in their need. In looking after others by being kind, thoughtful, caring etc these people are doing Jesus’ work and giving to Him.

Those for hell are people who knowingly reject, neglect, ignore the needs of others. They don’t care about others and in doing this they reject Jesus’ teachings and reject Him.

In the Bible, Jesus said "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" To me, I think that this means that your goal is to focus on being Rich with money, rather than “rich in faith”, then you wont get into Heaven. Those who go to Heaven will follow God’s teachings and example.. they will try to focus on being a Good person, being someone who is looking out for  others, who is trying their best to be helpful, loving and kind. For those who choose to ignore God’s words, and decide to be selfish, nasty, unhelpful or enjoy seeing others being sad, then they may not get to enjoy heaven. All that I know is that I am glad that I don’t have to make the decision as to who goes to heaven or not.. Only God can decide that.

Does the Bible tell the truth?

I believe the Bible tells us the truth about God; who He is; What He does; How we should engage with Him and how we should worship Him.

I also believe the Bible is God Inspired, rather than God dictated. In other words, I believe that God influenced the authors in the content they wrote, but I don’t believe Him gave them every single word of the text. So sometimes we get the truth through the eyes of different authors.

I believe that the Bible is sometimes difficult to understand as it is a library of books written in different styles (poetry, prayer, songs, historical accounts) at different times and for different people, so although we can read it on our own and get meaning from it, the Church has a wealth of understanding about the Bible and helps us better understand the truth within it.   

This is a great question! I believe that the Bible must be true, as it is the Word of God. But I don’t believe all of the stories that get told necessarily happened. We all learn in different ways. Some of us learn through being practical and doing things for ourselves. We learn from our successes and learn from our failures… others learn through being told scientifically why things happen, and others learn through stories, as it helps them to decide the meaning behind them. Jesus used to use stories (also called parables) to teach his disciples about God; Good and Evil; and to try and teach them how to live a Christian life. The story of Noah’s Ark doesn’t make much sense to me, as I would question how all of the animals of the world managed to get onto a boat and survive without eating each other.. however the story of Noah’s Ark reminds me that the evil of my Sins can be washed away, and that I am able to live a better life if I trust in God (very much like baptism.) It also tells me that God is there to protect me and look out for me, and that if I trust in God, I will be saved.

So Yes.. I believe that the Bible tells the truth, but I don’t believe everything in the Bible actually happened!