Garth's Catechism

• Does not give the answers, provides a process for asking the right questions.
• Is not a talisman against evil, but a means of support when bad things happen.
• The opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty.
• One cannot prove the existence of God, that’s why one needs faith.
• Belief is not intellectual knowledge, it is a spiritual gift.
• There is only one God, but there are many approaches to conceiving him.
• One cannot know God, but one can believe he exists.
• God is in all things and of all creation.
• Heaven is not a place but a state of grace.
• The Kingdom of God is not a place in time or space.
• Prayer is not a shopping list, it is conversation with God.
• God does not need our thanks and praise, it is we who need to give it.
• Sin is anything that separates us from the Love of God.
• Hell is not a place but being separated from God. We create our own hells.
• Faith is granted to individuals but it is lived out in the communion of all believers.
• We meet God in the person of his saints, our fellow believers.
• We cannot earn God’s grace, it is freely given.
• We cannot buy God’s grace through good works or deeds, but our response to redemption will prompt us to express God’s love through acts of love of our own.
• Confession implies regret and a will to turn away from past sins.
• Repentance means turning away from sin, forgiveness means wiping the slate clean, it is not a license to return to former behaviours and do it again.
• Lutherans believe, they are not saved in a one-time act but experience a growing conviction of the Love of God.
• God does not punish us for sinful behaviour, but neither does he proof us from the consequences of our acts and those of our fellow human beings and the forces of nature that surround us.
• Bad things happen to good people, being Christian does not guarantee good health, wealth, or happiness.
• God does not punish our sins, we do that ourselves; nor does he reward good, goodness is its own reward.
• Holding a grudge hurts only the person who poisons his spirit with that hate.
• The Ten Commandments and the Law are a guide for communal living. Breaking them does not constitute sin, sin is what breaking them does to the individual who transgresses them. It is not the act itself that is sinful, it is the intent. Even good things can be done with sinful intent.
• Evil is not incarnate, it is an absence of God’s Love.
• Nothing in creation is inherently evil, evil occurs when good things are put to bad uses.
• Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, an expression of God’s Saving Grace. He is one with God and has existed throughout eternity.
• We express our experience of God’s Love in terms of the Holy Spirit. We are imbued with it in Baptism, Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Some experience God’s Spirit in dreams and others through the appearance of Angels.
• We term that part of us that experiences God as our Soul. It inhabits ever pore of our being and animates our person. We experience it in our fellow beings through their aura, that which animates every living creature. Some extend that to include even inanimate objects
• We can experience God’s Love, but only another human being can express it through healing touch.