Beliefs and Teachings

• Trinity

  Christians worship only one God who exists as three persons - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who are all equal and all eternal
• Reasons Christians worship only one God

  • It is the teaching of the Bible
  • Jesus taught that there is only one God
  • God's Unity is the teaching of the magisterium, the creeds and the Catechism
• Believing in God the Father

  • A Christian's relationship with God should be like a child's relationship with its father
  • God has a continuing relationship of love and care with his creation
  • God will provide for and protect his people because he is 'our Father'
• Believing in God the Son

  • Jesus is God who has become a human being
  • Christians can worship Jesus because he is God
  • Jesus was conceived by the action of the Holy Spirit (the virgin birth)
• Believing in God the Holy Spirit

  • The means by which God communicates with humans
  • Inspired the Bible
  • The means by which God helps the Church preserve and explain Christ's teachings
  • The means by which all the sacraments of the Church put believers into communion with Christ
• How the Trinity is reflected in worship and belief

  • Every Mass beginning with a welcome in the name of the Trinity
  • Worshippers stating their belief in the Trinity in the Nicene Creed in the Mass
  • The Trinity is the main belief of the Nicene Creed
  • Belief in God the Holy Spirit helps Christians understand the presence of God in the world
• How belief in the Trinity is reflected in the life of a Catholic today

  • Praying to the Father, through the Son, in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit gives Catholics the spiritual sense of God as 'beyond us, with us and in us'
  • The Trinity gives Catholics the sense that God is active and present in the world as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
  • The Trinity teaches Catholics they must work together to bring God's love into the world, just as the persons of the Holy Trinity work together to bring God's love into the world
• Sources of wisdom and authority


  • The Catechism says that the Trinity is a holy mystery central to the Christian faith
  • The Nicene Creed states that the Trinity is one God experienced as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
  • The Catechism says that belief in only one God is the basis of Christianity
• Catechism

  The official teaching of the Catholic Church
• Creed

  Statement of Christian beliefs
• Magisterium

  The Pope and bishops interpreting the Bible and tradition for Catholics today
• Nicene Creed

  Statement of Christian belief accepted by most Christians
• Sacraments

  Outward signs of an inward blessing through which invisible grace is given to a person
• Catechism


  The official teaching of the Catholic Church
• Trinity


  One God experienced as God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
• The Trinity is the main belief of the Nicene Creed
• The Trinity shows that God is beyond us, with us, and in us
• Trinity seen in the Bible

  1. In Genesis, God the Father speaks the word to create the world and the Holy Spirit hovers over creation

  2. In the New Testament, Jesus's final words were to baptize the disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

  3. In the gospel accounts of Jesus's baptism, the Holy Spirit descended and God the Father says this is his son
• Heresies like adoptionism and Arianism go against the Trinity
• Isaiah 59 states that God's word and the Holy Spirit were sent to create and guide human creation
• Creation


  • God is the creator, omnipotent, omni-benevolent, and eternal
  • Fundamentalist Protestants believe Genesis is factually correct and don't accept the Big Bang or evolution
  • Liberal Protestants believe Genesis is people's words, not God's, and do accept the Big Bang and evolution
• Dominion


  Power and authority over earth given to humans by God
• Stewardship


  Humans should look after the earth so it can be passed on to future generations, not exploited, and treated fairly
• Humanists believe in science and that people need to care for the planet, while some atheists believe people should use the world how they want
• Incarnation


  Where God became human as Jesus, who had a virgin birth and was fully human and fully divine
• Paschal mystery


  1. The Last Supper

  2. The Garden of Gethsemane

  3. The trials

  4. The crucifixion

  5. The resurrection and ascension
• Salvation


  The removal of sins, where Jesus offered himself for our salvation and promises Christians resurrection and ascension into heaven
• Original sin


  Where humans from Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, washed away at baptism
• Personal sin


  The consequences of sinning from humans' own actions, which separates a person from God
• Grace


  Undeserved mercy from God that gives strength to be good and holy, received through sacraments and special gifts
• Evangelical Protestants believe if you don't confess faith in Jesus, you can't be saved from sin
• Eschatology


  Beliefs about the final judgement and life after death, where those perfectly purified go to heaven, those with unforgiven sins go through purgatory, and the very evil go to hell
• Atheists don't believe in purgatory because it's based on heaven, which they don't believe in
• Evangelical Protestants believe on final judgement day, born-again Christians will go to heaven and everyone else will go to hell
• In St. John's Gospel, Lazarus was raised from the dead