Teens · About 15 minutes

Family Bible Time: Justice, Mercy, and Competing Political Accounts

This week we are revisiting Violence, Pacifism, and Just-War Reasoning. Keep the discussion anchored in Matthew 5:38-48; Romans 12:14-21; 13:1-7 and the big idea: Serious Christian traditions differ over force, requiring honest study rather than assuming one political instinct is self-evidently biblical.

Connect
Read
Understand
Play
Respond

Step 1 of 5 · about 2 minutes

Connect

Recall where Justice, Mercy, and Competing Political Accounts fits in the Bible story.

The 15-minute flow

2 min
Connect
Recall where Justice, Mercy, and Competing Political Accounts fits in the Bible story.
5 min
Read
Read selected portions of Matthew 5:38-48; Romans 12:14-21; 13:1-7.
3 min
Understand
Ask what the passage directly says and what meaning follows from it.
3 min
Play
Use the Justice, Mercy, and Competing Political Accounts Claim Audit orally or on paper.
2 min
Respond
Choose one voluntary response and pray together.

Talk about it

What happened or what was taught?
What does this show us about God, Jesus, or faithful life?
What is one response we can practise?

This week

Action: Choose one concrete response consistent with this lesson’s formation focus: study.

Prayer: Thank God for what is clear in the passage; ask for wisdom to respond faithfully without claiming more than the text supports.

Note for parents: Represent pacifist and just-war reasoning fairly before stating the local framework.

Print the parent guide