St Mary's Church, Dymock

Welcome to Modulo 1, which explores the first part of the Bible's Old Testament to explain why we need Christianity. It explores how God made himself known to humanity, gave us Laws for living together in a society and made an agreement with the early people that if they would accept him as their God and obey his Laws then he would protect them (The 'Old Covenant'), and shows us the consequence of our breaking those Laws.
.
Those accounts form the basis from which Christianity grew, and explains the reason why God came to earth himself in the human form of Jesus Christ (To make amends for our disobedience of his Laws).
.
Finally, questions are provided to help us compare their behaviour in those days with our own behaviour today, are we any different?
.
If you've completed the previous Module 0, you can skip Module 1/1, as it covers the same basics as Module 0, and go directly to Module 1/2 instead.

• 1/0: Introduction (this page)
• 1/1: Reviewing the Basics
• 1/2: God Makes Himself Known
• 1/3: Freed For Service
• 1/4: Covenant Agreed
• 1/5: General Rules for Life
• 1/6: God Keeps His Promise
  .
  
• God sent many messengers (called prophets) to remind the early people of their agreement, but they (and we) can’t keep God’s Laws well enough, which separates us from God, just like a naughty child is separated from their parents.(Return to Big Picture Menu)

We ask, who is God - does he exist? and look at the evidence. Then ask what's he like? and how do we find out?
(Return to top)

• This is a summary of Module 0, so we all have a common understanding and firm foundation to move on from.
  (Return to Top)

Using the first six books of the Old Testament, this Module explores in some detail how God made himself known to a righteous but childless man named Abraham, follows his fortunes and those of his immediate descendants as they become slaves in Egypt.

• God promised Abraham he would have many dependents if he would start out for a land God would only reveal later.
  (Return to Top)

Through Moses, the greatest of the old prophets, God sends plagues to force the Egyptian King (called Pharaoh) to release the Hebrew people he'd made into slaves.
(Return to top)

• They escaped through the sea and started walking towards the land God had promised to Abraham.
  (Return to Top)

God gave them basic Laws for living life well (The Ten Commandment) and made an agreement with them (The Old Covenant) to be their God and protect them if they would obey his Laws.

• Those Laws still form the basis of Christian life today, so its relevant to explore them and how they, and we, find it impossible to obey them.
  (Return to Top)

As well as the Ten Commandments, God, gave them dozens of other Laws covering the basics of life together in society, including how to worship, what's good and bad to eat, personal hygiene, society's relationships, etc.

• These three books describe those Laws, as well as continuing the account of their journey and misfortunes.
  (Return to Top)

After the death of Moses, Joshua becomes leader. Several battles with the local tribes followed, before Joshua led the people across the river Jordan into the land promised to Abraham and settled the people in areas allocated according to their tribe.
(Return to top)

• The Old Testament has many more books, which give further examples of God’s relationship with his people, as well as providing poems, etc to enrich our life.
  .
  
• However, we leave them here and go instead in Module 2 to look at what God did about our inability to keep his Laws.
  (Return to Top)