Category: Catechisms

The forgiveness of our sins

December 14, 2025

All of us sin. This is a sad reality of living in this fallen world. We do or say things we do not want to do. We also do not do the things we know are right and helpful to others and ourselves. How then, does God deal with our sins?

The book “To be a Christian” has some great thoughts on page 52…

  1. What are sins?
    Sins are intentions, acts, or failures to act that arise out of my corrupted human nature and fall short of conformity to God’s revealed will. (Psalm 53; Isaiah 59:1–15; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23; James 4:17; 1 John 3:4–10)
  2. How does God respond to human sin?
    All sin is opposed to the righteousness of God and is therefore subject to God’s holy condemnation; yet God in his mercy offers me forgiveness and salvation from sin through his Son, Jesus Christ, the only Savior. (Psalm 130; Isaiah 1:2–4; Micah 7:18–19; John 3:17–21; Romans 1:18–2:4; 3:24–26; 5:6–10)
  3. How does God forgive your sins?
    By virtue of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, in which I put my trust, God sets aside my sins, accepts me, and adopts me as his child and heir in Jesus Christ. Loving me as his child, he forgives my sins whenever I turn to him in repentance and faith. (Leviticus 26:40–45; Psalm 78:35–39; Matthew 26:27–28; Luke 15:11–32; 2 Co­rinthians 5:16–21; Galatians 4:1–7)
  4. How should you respond to God’s forgiveness?
    Trusting in God’s continual forgiveness, I should live in continual thanks, praise, and obedience to him; and as I have been loved and forgiven by God, so I should love and forgive those who sin against me. (Psalm 51:7–17; Isaiah 44:21–23; Matthew 6:12; 18:21–35; Ephesians 4:32)

I find this really comforting to know that even though I sin, God is willing and able to forgive me because of what Jesus has done for me.

Jesus is my Lord

October 23, 2025

Here is a simple explanation of what it means to have Jesus as our Lord. It is taken from the book, “To be a Christian” (Catechism #52)

What do you mean when you call Jesus Christ “Lord”?

I acknowledge Jesus’ divine authority over the Church and all creation, over all societies and their leaders, and over every aspect of my life, both public and private. I surrender my entire life to him and seek to live in a way that pleases him. (Daniel 7:13–14; Mat­ thew 7:21–23; Luke 9:23–26; Ephesians 1:15–23; Colossians 1:16–18)

Reading outside your tradition

April 4, 2025

One of the things Bible college did was teach me to read outside my church tradition. By this I mean do not just read things that are written by people in your denomination.

The Bible college I attended had lecturers from across the Christian traditions. We had people from evangelical, pentecostal, orthodox and even catholic churches as lecturers. Most were open to tell us which tradition they came from, some would not tell us. They wanted us to try and guess during the semester.

I found this really helpful in understanding what people and various churches taught. I think it made me more open to learn and to help me solidify some of my own beliefs. It also showed me that we have way more in common than differences.

For one of my theology units we used the textbook “The Mosaic of Christian Belief” by Roger E. Olsen. It took a topic and broke it down as follows for example on creation…

  1. Issues and polarities of christian beliefs about creation.
  2. The consensus christian beliefs about creation.
  3. Alternates to the christian consensus about creation.
  4. Diverse christian beliefs about creation.
  5. A unitive christian view on creation.

Looking at topics from this perspective gave us a broad overview of what christians believe today about an issue and positions held down through the ages.

Since finishing Bible college I have continued this habit. Last year I read a number of books from the Catholic tradition, this year I am reading more Anglican books and catechisms.

Some might think of this as not helpful or even a little bit “dangerous”, but I do it through the lens of Bible college and being well formed in my beliefs. I can eat the meat and spit out the bones as they say.

Being open to other traditions has helped me to read the early church fathers, read the catholic and anglican catechisms, read about the lives of the Saints, and about praying with the catholic rosary and anglican prayer beads.

Reading from other traditions has helped me grow in my faith. Not only do I understand different positions a little bit more, but I have learned and incorporated new things in to my personal faith.

Your new life in Christ

April 2, 2025

The Bible tells us to forget not the benefits that God gives us in our relationship with Him (Psalm 133:1-5). What then do we gain from our new life in Christ?

Catechism number 15 lets us know…

What does God grant in your new life in Christ?

God grants me reconciliation with him (2 Corinthians 5:17–19), forgiveness of my sins (Colossians 1:13–14), union with him in Christ (Romans 6:3–5), adoption into his family (Galatians 4:4–7), citizenship in his kingdom (Ephesians 2:19–21; Philippians 3:20), new life in the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4–5), and the promise of eternal life ( John 3:16; 1 John 5:12).

(Source: To be a Christian #15)

A simple discipleship idea

March 21, 2025

I was thinking about the discipleship process recently and reflecting on simple tools that we can use.

One idea was to encourage people to do one question a day (or a few a week) from the “To be a Christian” catechism book. This book is in question and short answer format. It also has Bible passages.

Here is an example from question 2…

What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the good news that God loves the world and offers salvation from sin through his Son, Jesus Christ. (Psalm 103:1–13; Isaiah 53:4–5; John 3:16–17; 1 Corinthians 15:1–5)

I really like this simple format. It is straight to the point and you can read the passages afterwards. It will give you a quick thought to reflect on during the day.

I could imagine doing this with a small group of people and getting together once a week to read the question and the passages and to talk about it.

I can see this would have been really handy when I was a Pastor discipling our young people.

If you are interested, I downloaded a free PDF copy from here, and then purchased a hard back copy from Koorong.com here.