RE Catholic Christianity Beliefs

• Monotheistic faith


  Christians believe there is only one God
• Trinity


  Christians believe God is one, but also Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Nicene Creed: 'We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty...We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God...begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father...We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.'
• The Trinity is a unity.

  Teachings in Old and

  New Testament show

  there is only one God.

  God’s unity was taught

  by Jesus as the

  greatest

  commandment.

  God is omnipotent- only

  if God is a unity can

  God be all powerful.
• The father-child

  relationship known in

  human life should

  reflect a Christian’s

  relationship with God.

  God creates human life

  like a father does- God

  does not abandon his

  creation, but has a

  relationship of love

  and care with his

  creation.
• Jesus is God

  incarnated- in Jesus,

  God has become a

  human being and so, he

  experiences everything

  that we humans

  experience in our daily

  lives.

  God the Son was both

  fully human and fully

  divine.

  Christians worship

  Jesus because he is

  God and the second

  person of the Trinity.

  Only God’s son could

  institute (establish)

  the sacrifice of the

  Mass which is carried

  out through the all the

  ages of the Church.
• The Holy Spirit is the

  means by which God

  communicates with

  humans, revealing God’s

  presence in the world.

  The Holy Spirit

  inspired the writing of

  the Bible.

  The Holy Spirit is the

  means by which God

  assists the Church in

  its task of preserving

  the Apostolic Tradition

  and in helping the

  magisterium to

  formulate teaching.

  The Holy Spirit

  enables Catholic to live

  lives pleasing to God.
• How trinity is reflected in worship


  The Sign of the Cross- at the beginning and end of prayers, and

  when entering a Church for Mass, at the final dismissal in Mass,

  and the other sacraments. Often the last verse of a hymn invokes God as Trinity. In the Nicene Creed said at Mass each Sunday.
• How Trinity is reflected in belief


  God the Father helps Christians to understand the power and creativity and his care for the

  world and its people.

  God the Son helps Christians to understand the love of God in action.

  The Holy Spirit helps us to understand the presence of God in the world.
• Overview of creation

  God created the world in 6 days, and

  rested on the seventh day.

  Creates by Word: “Let there be light.”

  God pre-exists the universe.

  God is transcendent / more remote.

  Shows God’s power (omnipotence). Humans are made in God’s image.
• Catholics believe Genesis 2

  A more detailed account of day 6
• Genesis 2


  • Focuses on the Creation of Humans
  • God's intimate relationship with them (he speaks and interacts with them)
• God 'breathed' (spirit) life into


  Adam & Eve
• Genesis 2


  • Complementary separation of men and women
• God


  A benevolent creator
• God provides Adam and Eve with a beautiful paradise with trees, plants
• God creates Adam and Eve as free


  Leads to 'The Fall': Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge which God forbid them and when they eat the fruit, they sin and so sin enters the world which leads to suffering
• Adam and Eve


  Placed in charge of the rest of creation (stewardship)
• God


  Anthropomorphic (Human qualities)
• Creationism


  Approach 1 to the divergent understandings of Creation
• Creationists


  • Believe that God is responsible for the creation of the Universe and everything inside it
  • Believe in a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis e.g. they believe it is historically accurate and factually true
  • Believe in a 7 day Creation and that God created all species in their present form
  • Dispute the age of the Universe and the theory of evolution
• Science and Religion in the understanding of creationism


  Will be in conflict
• Approach 2: Theistic approach

  Genesis is to be interpreted symbolically. The

  Catholic Church suggests that Genesis was

  never intended as a historical or scientific

  book and accepts the Big Bang and Evolution.

  Genesis is about God’s creative power and

  love for humans.

  God is CREATOR (Gen 1:1); OMNIPOTENT

  (Gen 1:9); BENEVOLENT (Gen 1:4); ETERNAL

  (John 1:1)

  Science answers the how questions, whereas

  religion answers the why questions.
• Incarnation


  When God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ
• The Incarnation is the en-fleshment of God in humanity
• Catholicism is not a set of rules and teachings to be followed, but rather an invitation into relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ
• Event of the Incarnation


  1. Annunciation

  2. Angel Gabriel appears to Mary

  3. Mary conceives a child through the power of the Holy Spirit
• Virgin Birth


  Birth of Jesus from Mary
• John's gospel: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.'
• God has become man in Jesus Christ, shown clearly throughout the Bible
• Jesus Christ


  Fully human, and fully divine at the same time
• Because Jesus is fully human and fully divine


  He can do and say only things that God can e.g. forgiving sins, casting out demons, raising people from the dead
• Incarnation


  God made himself known to us in a unique way so that Jesus could show us what God is like and invite us into a sharing in the divine life primarily through teaching us how to live and saving us from our sins on the Cross
• Incarnation


  • Makes God accessible to human beings
  • God is infinite, transcendent, and non-material-through being made manifest in human form, we can begin to come closer to the divine reality of God
• Incarnation


  Essential link in the chain for our salvation from sin- without God entering our human world, we would not be able to have a full relationship with him and have the hope of entering heaven
• God came to live among people as a human
• Jesus


  Can understand humanity and its problems and can identify with their suffering
• Paschal Mystery


  Jesus Christ's Passion, death, resurrection and ascension which have achieved eternal salvation for us
• Without the Paschal Mystery events, we would not be redeemed nor saved from eternal damnation</b>
• Paschal


  Means 'Passover', originates from the Jewish festival commemorating the Israelites being led across the desert to freedom in the Promised Land by Moses