Three Reasons to Catechise (and a model for 2023)

For every doctrinal truth, a competing heresy is planted. The Bible declares the deity of Christ whilst the major religions and cults of the world insist Jesus is not God. The Bible teaches the uniqueness of man whilst evolutionism teaches that we descend from ape-like creatures. The Bible says marriage is a lifelong covenant before a holy God, whilst the world insists vows have less importance than a mobile-phone contract. Find a biblical truth and you will find a lie crouching nearby.

True Christian education is intentional and one excellent way to intentionally teach children the tenets of the Christian faith is by catechism. A catechism is a memorised question followed by a memorised response. It comes from the Greek word katēkhesis which means ‘to instruct orally’ (cf. Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; 1 Corinthians 14:19).

 

The reason catechism is so effective is that it makes use of that period in time when children are extremely competent at memorisation whilst they still lack understanding. When we train our children to memorise critical doctrines, we do not expect them to fully grasp what they are learning. Rather, we are helping them commit to memory truth that they will come to understand and apply as they mature.

 

Truth impacts in concentric circles, and if we are diligent to train our children in the truth, we have reason to hope that truth’s influence will be felt even at a distance:

 

‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)

This verse is not a promise but rather a truism. Generally, when people are trained as doctors, they go on to become doctors. When they are trained as teachers, they go on to become teachers. In the same way, when a child is trained as a Christian, he generally goes on to believe the doctrines he was taught. Even those who become prodigals very often come to the faith later on due to the training in the truth that they experienced when they were young.

Conversely, those who are not trained in the truth generally do not go on to believe the truth when they are old. The books of Judges cited the example of the people of Israel, who were not taught by their fathers the works of the Lord nor of his mighty deeds:

 

‘And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel.’ (Judges 2:10)

 

God will never leave himself without a witness and the true church will never fade nor perish. Nevertheless, God has a means by which he accomplishes the propagation and preservation of the church from one generation to the next. David writes, ‘One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts’ (Psalm 145:4). Those of us who are true believers in Christ have a responsibility to teach the next generation the truths and tenets of the Christian faith.

At this particular point in UK history, we can witness first-hand how those in public leadership of the Church of England have very publicly abandoned sound doctrine in approving the blessing of same-sex unions. Yet faithful believers may rest in the certain knowledge that God, who sowed the first seeds of the gospel in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15) four thousand years before he sent his son to die, will be faithful to preserve sound doctrine so that it endures from generation to generation through those churches that remain faithful to God’s word and those parents who are faithful to instruct children in their own homes.

 

Our nation is so devoid of truth and lost in lies that it not longer presumes to know the difference between male and female. Surely, we live amongst a people like the Ninevites of old who ‘do not know their left hand from their right’ (Jonah 4: 11). In the absence of truth, ‘normative’ thinking these days is an utter perversion of biblical thinking.

God often allows a nation to reap the consequences of its own sinfulness, and the fact that Christians have forgotten the truth (or do not have the courage to speak it) means that a nation that has abandoned the truth is given over to all manner of lusts and sins (Romans 1) James writes: ‘The desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.’ (James 1:15).

 

Nevertheless, we can call to mind those times in history where gospel truth has impacted the nations. The Puritans were devoted to the truth of God’s word and founded schools and universities. Wilberforce, a man of tiny stature and giant impact was a devout Christian who succeeded in having the abolition bill passed into law. He was also the main instigator behind ‘The Reformation of Manners’. It is also said that by means of George Whitefield’s powerful preaching, our nation was saved from the same kind of Revolution that occurred in France.

 

Different ages spawn different biblical errors and with 2023 in mind, my husband has compiled a short catechism to confront some of the false teaching of these times:

 

1. Q: Who made you?

A: God made me (Genesis 1:27).

 

2. Q: What else did God make?

A: God made all things supernaturally by the power of his Word in six 24-hour days (Genesis 1:1-2:3; Exodus 20:11).

 

3. Q: How did God make mankind?

A: God made mankind supernaturally and immediately on day six of creation week. (Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:7, 22).

 

4. Q: Who was the first man?

A: Adam, he was supernaturally and uniquely made from the dust of the ground. (Genesis 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:45).

 

5. Q: Who was the first woman?

A: Eve, she was built from Adam’s rib and her creation was supernatural and immediate. (Genesis 2:22; 3:20).

 

6. Q: What is marriage?

A: Marriage is the joining of one naturally born man and one naturally born woman in a single, exclusive, lifelong covenantal union as described in Scripture (Proverbs 2:17; Matthew 19:4-6).

 

7. Q: What is a man?

A: A man is bodily a male as attested in Scripture and confirmed by modern genetics as XY (Genesis 2:21-22).

 

8. What is a woman?

A: A woman is bodily female as attested in Scripture and confirmed by modern genetics as XX (Genesis 2:23).

 

9. Q: Are humans unique?

A: Yes; they are made in the image of God unlike any other creature (Genesis 1:27).

 

10. Q: When does human life begin?

A: Human life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13)

 

11. Q: Are there many races of people?

A: No; there is only one race of mankind—the human race (Acts 17:26).

 

William Gurnall writes that ‘A preacher should not apologise for preaching the same truth over and over.’ He describes how boundary lines left untended become forgotten and future generations will never know where borders to a piece of land once stood. In the same way, where doctrine is badly taught or barely taught it will be destroyed by the weeds of untruth and forgotten by the next generation. Like the man who preserves his borders, we parents are particularly positioned to mark out truth in our children’s lives and to teach it again and again and again.

 

‘Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.’ (Psalm 86:11)