As part of ongoing training for the elders at my church, we have been reviewing the Westminster Confession of Faith along with the larger and shorter catechisms produced by the Westminster Divines. I have found the shorter catechism, in particular, very helpful as I study through (and try to memorize) the answers to the 107 questions.
This morning a thought came to me. What if I did a post on each of the questions which provides the question, the answer and some observations on how the answers speak to us today? This would require 107 posts (108 if you count this introduction).
Since the language of the original catechism is somewhat archaic, I have chosen to use a modern English version that I found at learnscripture.net. The catechism dates from the 17th Century and the English language has changed quite a bit over the last 350 years.
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My posts are not going to be primarily explanatory. Neither will they provide a lot of history or other background material on the questions. What I intend is to pursue a devotional approach to the questions. I want to answer the question, what do I do with this knowledge? How should the answers provided by these questions affect me in my day-to-day life?
We all need to keep in mind that our interaction with Scripture should be first and foremost transformational. In other words, I should be changed as I allow the knowledge to penetrate my heart and mind.
So if you are up for it, read along and add your own comment regarding your application of the answers in the catechism.
I look forward to hearing from you.