shorter catechism for kids
Shorter CATECHISM Questions & DEVOTIONalS
What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
What instruction book (rule) has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?
The Word of God, which is contained in the Old and New Testaments, is the only instruction book (rule) to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.
What do the Scriptures principally teach?
The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
What is God?
God is a spirit, - infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, - in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Are there more gods than one?
There is but one only, the living and true God.
How many persons are there in the Godhead?
There are three persons in the Godhead,-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
What are the decrees of God?
The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has ordained whatsoever comes to pass.
How does God execute His decrees?
God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.
What is the work of creation?
The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
How did God create man?
God created man - male and female - after His own image - in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness - with dominion over the creatures.
What are God’s works of providence?
God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.
What special act of providence did God apply to humans in the condition they were created?
When God had created humans, He entered into a covenant of life with them - with the condition of perfect obedience - forbidding them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which would bring the penalty of death.
Did our first parents continue in the condition they were created?
Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the condition they were created in, by sinning against God.
What is sin?
Sin is any lack of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the condition they were created in?
The sin whereby our first parents fell from the condition they were created in, was their eating the forbidden fruit.
Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his descendants; all mankind - descending from him by ordinary generation - sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.
Into what condition did the fall bring mankind?
The fall brought mankind into a condition of sin and misery.
What does the sinfulness of the condition humans fell into consist of?
The sinfulness of the condition humans fell into, consists of the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the lack of original righteousness, and the corruption of their whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which come from it.
What is the misery of the condition humans fell into?
All humans by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life - to death itself - and to the pains of hell forever.
Did God leave all humans to perish in the condition of sin and misery?
God has - simply out of His good will, from all eternity - elected some to everlasting life. As such, He entered into a covenant of grace with them. He did this to deliver them out of the condition of sin and misery and to bring them into a condition of salvation by a redeemer.