MARS SETTLEMENT BIBLE STUDY

Workbook is Saints and Sojourners Bible Survey.  Permission to copy is found on http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights

EVERYONE BEGINS WITH ONE GROUP TONIGHT.  Then, take the worksheet and your workbook home and complete the rest of the group's activities.  This will give us the framework for our classes for the rest of the year.

GROUP 1: You have signed up with a group to settle on Mars.  When you arrive you discover there is already a colony there with people you know nothing about.

1.	Make a list of what you think your group needs.

2.	List possible arguments that might come up in your group.

3.	List possible arguments that might come up with the new neighbors.

4.	See your workbook and read "The Conquest of the Land" on page 38 and answer questions 1-4.  Read "Christians and the Question of War" on page 39 and answer the last question on page 39.

GROUP 2: Your group has been settled on Mars for some time now.  You have been selected as the committee who will write up the laws.

1.	Write up what you think these laws should say.

2.	Review Exodus 20:1-20.  Which of your laws are the same?  Which of your laws are different and why?

3.	Read in your workbook pages 32-33: "Not just my parents' faith, my faith"; answer questions 1-3.

GROUP 3: Your group has received the laws for the settlement on Mars to follow.

1.	What leaders will interpret and enforce the laws?

2.	How will these leaders be selected?

3.	When leaders die and times change, what will keep the society stable (from collapsing into civil wars, no jobs, etc.)?

4.	Read in your workbook pages 42-43 and answer the questions on page 43.

GROUP 4: You are the descendants of those long ago first settlers on Mars.  Your society has had its ups and downs tied to how its leaders acted.

1.	What are some of the weaknesses of leaders that can cause problems?

2.	What is the right response to corrupt leaders?

3.	How can people with weaknesses still be useful as leaders?

Read King David, Not a perfect King and do Crossword Puzzle on page 44

GROUP 5: You are the people who want to make the society better than it already is.  There is already a government and laws and people have places to live and work and learn.  You are the people who are the new generations committee to create a just and fair society.

1.	Make your recommendations and write up a bill of rights for your just and fair society.

All citizens of our Mars colony have the rights to:

2.	Read in your workbook "Justice and Where There's Injustice" on pages 48-49 and answer questions (end with "true worship of God is always linked to acts of justice towards others")

GROUP 6: There are enemies (forces, things, people who want to destroy you/your group) in your life as colony on Mars.

1.	List what you think might be some of these enemies.

2.	What are some ways you could deal with these enemies?

3.	What gives you hope in the face of enemies?

4.	Read in Workbook page 49 and answer questions 1-4: "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times" and answer questions 1-4 and read in workbook page 61: "New Images of Hope" 1, 2, 3, 5 on page 61.

Submitted by St. John's Lutheran Church, Spring Valley, WI