A Catechism Recap

As any of you who check in on our site regularly may have noticed, we’ve gotten behind in posting our regular increments of the Catechism. For the very best of reasons, as any of you who received our most recent ministry update know, we have found ourselves swamped at truthXchange as amazing opportunity after amazing opportunity has come our way.  I feel, at times, as though accomplishing one task well means letting four others drop behind and confess that it is at my hands, therefore, that the blog has dropped so far behind on Catechism.  My apologies!

So, by way of reintroducing the Catechism series, I will use this space to re-cap, in sequential order, the questions and answers we have shared so far.  And please, let us know as this progresses, whether this basic and systematic layout of the two worldviews of Oneism and Twoism in this manner is helpful to you.  We’d love to hear your feedback.

Without further ado, I re-submit to you “Oneism and Twoism, A Worldview Catechism”

Reality

1.      What do Christians believe about reality?

Reality is two. There is God, and there is the world he made. There is a Creator and a creation. They are not the same. This is twoism.

2.      What is the lie that challenges that belief?

Reality is one. There are many beings, but all are part of the same universe. The world is itself divine. There is no Creator and nothing outside of this universe. This belief is called “monism”, which is a fancy way of saying “oneism.”

The Truth

3.      How many truths are there?

There is only one truth—or, more precisely, one “system” of truth. There are many facets of truth, and there are many things that are true; but there aren’t multiple truths and realities out there. There is only one, and that truth is Christianity.

4.      How do we know the truth about the world and life and everything?

Ultimately, all that we can know that is true has been revealed by God in one way or another.

5.      How does God reveal truth?

God reveals truth in two ways: by creating and by speaking. Theologians call these “natural” and “special” revelation.

6.      How does God reveal truth by creating?

God is true, so he puts truth in everything he makes. We can learn ordinary truths about the way the world works just by looking around us. We can also learn truths about good and evil and even about God himself because of the way he has made our minds and the way he has made the world around us.

7.      What do we know about good and evil from creation?

We all have a basic sense of right and wrong, which is supported by what we observe in the world around us. God’s basic moral law is available to everyone, even those who have not heard God’s laws as he explains them in his Word.

8.      What do we know about God from creation?

We know that he exists without having been created, that he is eternally powerful, that he is divine, that he has created the universe, and that he is distinct from what he has created. (See Romans 1:20)

In other words, we know just by looking at the universe around us that someone other than it and greater than it must have made it. We do not need to be scientists or theologians to know this, and we do not need anyone to tell us. On a deep level, all of us know.

9.      Can we know everything about God through creation?

Hardly! There is much about God that he only reveals in his Word, more that we will not know until we see him face to face, and much that we will never fully know. Still, we know enough by nature to be condemned if we do not acknowledge him as we ought.