That the TrinitiarianGod is the Lord and Maker of all creation..
That God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem us. He became man by being born of the Virgin Mary who had conceived through the Holy Spirit. He is therefore both God and Man - two natures in one person.
That God sends the Holy Spirit into the world to continue His Work by sanctifying it, and helping us to live in the new creation through the death and resurrection of Christ.
INCARNATION - At a certain time in history God sent His son into the world to restore man to his former image, that is, God became man in order that we may become like God. Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, so He is both divine and human in one person.
REDEMPTION - God the Son died on the cross to redeem all of creation, and for the sin of mankind. Through His death of Cross, man now can be united with His Maker, provided that he is baptised and thus believes through faith what Christ has done for him.
ATONEMENT - This simply means that through Christ's death we are made one with God through Christ.
RESURRECTION- After Christ died on Good Friday he rose from the grave after three days, and has overcome the power of death. Christ's triumph means that we no longer have to fear death as a punishment for sin, but the gateway to eternal bliss with our Maker.
ASCENSION - After His resurrection our Lord ascended to His Father in heaven, taking with Him our manhood where He now pleads for us to His Father as our eternal High Priest.
SIN - We are all proned to sin. This is washed away at our baptism. After that cleansing we are still prone to sin, and sin we do, which is any thought, word, or action against God, our neighbour and ourselves. Some sins are termed mortal, for unless we confess them to God and seek his forgiveness, they destroy our relationship with God. Such sins are murder, adultery, fornication, etc. The seven deadly sins are: pride, covetousness, lust, jealousy, avarice, sloth or laziness, anger and gluttony. These are called "deadly" sins because from them stem all other sins. The opposite of these are humility, brotherly love, purity, generosity, diligence, gentleness and temperance. In these virtues through grace we should strive to grow to combat sin.
All sins even venial (little sins) should be confessed as soon after they are committed, as we must always remember that sin separates us from God. God's mercy is always greater than our sins, that we should always remember. God is always waiting for us to say "we are sorry" as He is ever reaching out with His forgiveness.
JUSTIFICATION and RIGHTEOUSNNESS - Our justification and righteousness are through Christ and faith in Christ. Nothing of our own merits, however good, can gain us heaven. Our works are righteous in God's sight only in so far as they are the result of the grace of Christ received by faith. We cannot be saved only by works, but without them we cannot gain heaven. Faith without works is dead. Closely linked with faith is hope, for faith is the assurance of things hoped for.
ESCHATOLOGY - THE FOUR LAST THINGS
DEATH - There are three kinds of death. The first is living in this life with dead souls, when we have banished the gracious presence of God from our lives.
Secondly, corporal death which, although it often surprises the body, first begins in this life in sicknesses and sorrows Gen.3.17; in servitude and slavery Deut. 28.36; in toil and weariness (Eccl.2.22); calamities and wants, (Deut.28.29). When death occurs it is consummate to man's day here when the body is laid "in a grave of corruption, the soul is hurried to an hell of perdition, where it remains till Death spiritual and corporal be swallowed up in Death eternal."
Thirdly, eternal Death which is the separation of body and soul at the last day. This punishment consists in a total and final separation from the gracious presence of God, and from all the joy and bliss and glory which does accompany that beautifical vision.
JUDGMENT - On that day, the second coming of Christ, we shall have to look at our Judge at the end of the world. For some this will be the first time that they have "looked" at Christ, and this is why we are urged to spend time here "to look upon Him" whilst there is time. However those who have looked and looked upon Him here will on that day "'look up and lift up their heads with joy,'" knowing that "'the day of their redemption is at hand.'"
That sentence on Judgment Day is irrevocable to either everlasting felicity in heaven or everlasting torment in hell, and so "it will be too late to seek for our oil when the bridegroom is coming". If that sentence is against us, we shall be separated from the Church triumphant. Thus we are excluded from the company of the Angels, and punished with the loss of this heavenly place and light, and instead we are cast into utter darkness, a darkness quite different from that darkness which brings the comfort of sleep and the joy of meditation in our earthy life.
HELL -"All rise with [Christ] out of their graves, but not all rise to the right hand . ... A great part rise to stand on the left, not to sit on the right hand of God." The former will suffer an insufferable and eternal punishment as well as a totall and finall separacion from the gracious presence of God.
HEAVEN - That day will come; and when it does come Christ will come and take us to Himself. He has been our EmmanueI upon earth, so He may be our Emmanuel in Heaven; He with us, and we with Him, there for ever. At the general resurrection "these thick clods of earth shall be made glittering and glorious like so many stars of light", and thus our "earthly bodies shall become spiritual bodies and these weak ignorant souls, perfectly wise, just and holy like the Angels themselves." There in heaven the faithful, resurrected to a life "of bliss and glory", can triumphantly sing "'Death is swallowed up in victory'".
ANGELOLOGY - This celestial hierarchy is constituted in a most holy order. In this hierarchy there are nine orders: Archangels, Angels, Virtues, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Cherubim, and Seraphim. They are heavenly Spirits and although wholly spiritual, they are not shadowes; although invisible, they have spirit; although immortal [and] incorruptible, yet not so immortal but that God may destroy them.
In the war in heaven the Angels that served under Michael are they that excel in strength and do the command of God in obeying the voice of his word, while the Angels that war on the Dragons side are the evil Angels. The Angels that sinned, fight for the dragon, and he is their Captain; as Christ says, The Prince of the Devils is Beelzebub.
Since then the angels' charge has been to continue their battle against the devil on our behalf as the battle in Heaven among the Angels, is come down to men on earth. Knowing his time is but short, the devil is the more fierce and his wrath kindled, as he "fights with the womans seed." Yet it not just the devil but all his throng that have to be combated. So our wrestling is chiefly with the evil spirits, but our wrestling is not done alone as the good angels succour us by leaving God's presence which is the fulness of all joy to come down to earth to minister to us, and to take charge of us and keep us from danger.
SAINTS - The saints have already run the race and won the prize long ago. Now they look on us and how well we carry ourselves. Thus we in turn should look to them, that we may carry ourselves well in the course we have undertaken. They are our inspiration to imitate. However, although the saints lived most holy lives or even experienced cruel martyrdom, they, like the angels, could never be approached as a mediator. They too needed a redeemer as they could not serve to satisfy God's justice for their sins which could only be satisfied by the death of Christ in His life and obedience. Their fervency for prayers is our comfort and strength for when we pray but faintly and have not that supply of fervency that is required in prayer, we know that God's saints pray for us with all instancy as well as their continuous praises to God.
THE CHURCH - There is one Church, representing the mystical body of Christ. Through Christ came both grace and truth. When.we are baptised we become part of this mystical body with all the other baptised. Christ meant us to be one in Him, and so our divisions are not of His devisings. For the baptised there should be "neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Unfortunately there has been sad divisions in the Church, between the East and West, and within the West at the Reformation. The English and Scanadvian Churches when they were reformed never broke the apostolic and Catholic tradition as happened with the Lutheran and Calvinist Churches.
When Vatican Council was summoned and met under Pius IX in 1870 declaring the infallability of the Pope some Catholics refused to accept this, and these have become known as "The Old Catholics". Indeed Cardinal Newman had his doubts about it too.
Yet it is in this Catholic Church that salvation and thus eternal life is assured providing that we love the Lord and live by Christ's teachings and example. The Church gave us the Canon of Scripture and tradition, both of which are important in carrying on the Gospel and maintaining the precepts of the Faith such as Baptism and the Eucharist.
SCRIPTURE - Those doctrines necessary for salvation are found in the Scriptures.The earliest bible for Christians was the Old Testament. "They believed that every scripture inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2Tim.3.15-6).
Yet many of the laws and customs of the Jews in the O.T. are not binding on Christians as Christ fulfilled the law and the prophets.
The New Testament was written by many, but perhaps none knew Christ in the flesh. It contains four Gospels with their account of the life and teaching of Christ; the Acts of the Apostles, the work of the Holy Spirit after Christ's ascension, various epistles, many of which were written by the giant of the early church, St. Paul to encourage early Christians to be faithful to their baptism in the way they lived. He also was the first theologian, especially seen in his letter to the Romans. The last book of the bible, Revelation, gives us a glimpse of the heavenly Jerusalem
TRADITION - Although not as important as Scripture for doctrinal issues, there are some aspects of our faith that have evolved through the Church's observance of them regularly such as the Marian observances. Tradition is also important in how we worship, the shape of liturgy and the divine offices.
