The First Person We Believe 1 Holy Trinity - 2

Experience 2 Make a list of 10 things you believe. Examples… Do you believe the sun will rise tomorrow morning? Do you believe you will have enough food for tomorrow? Do you believe the friends you have now you will always have? Do you believe that you are likeable? Do you believe that Jesus died and rose FOR YOU? Do you believe that God will save you for eternity? What else do you believe? And RANK ORDER your beliefs.

Discussion & reflection: 3 We believe… Who are “we?” What does it mean to believe in God?

Discussion & reflection: 4 What if someone said that lots of people believing the same thing doesn’t make it right? A lot of people thought the earth was flat. Did that make the earth flat? A lot of people thought slavery was good. Did that make slavery good? Many others say your are stupid and lazy or bright and certain to succeed. Does what they say make it happen?

Discussion & reflection: 5 Ireneaus. (2 nd Century ) Although the church is dispersed throughout the world, even to the ends of the earth, it has received this common faith from the apostles and their disciples…The church believes these doctrines as if it had only one soul and one heart, and it proclaims them and hands them on in perfect harmony, as if it spoke with only one voice.” How do you explain the Church believing the same faith over 2,000 years, in many different languages and cultures?

Discussion & reflection: 6 What if someone said to us that our faith tradition is only human made? Athanasius (298-2 May 373) Let us see what the tradition, doctrine and faith of the universal church was from the very beginning, what the Lord handed on, what the apostles preaches and what the Fathers have preserved. The church is founded on this faith, and if anyone goes beyond its bounds, he no longer has the right to call himself a Christian.

Discussion & reflection: 7 Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. This gives us (baptized) a common birthday. But not with those who are not baptized. This is our birthday! The Church is the people of God. It is you and me (hopefully). It is all true Christians of every time and place.

Discussion & reflection: 8 What if someone said, “It ain’t necessarily so! Augustine (13 Nov August 430, Algeria) Christ our mediator, having spoken what he thought was sufficient first by the prophet and then by his own lips and afterwards by the apostles, has also produced the Scripture that is called canonical. This has paramount authority, and we assent to it in all matters of which we ought not to be ignorant …

Discussion & reflection: 9 What if someone gave us a lovely theory about why there is no god? Athengoras (ca , Greece) We have the prophets as witness of the things we understand and believe. Men like Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets declared things about God and the things of God. It would be irrational of us to disbelieve God’s Spirit and accept mere human opinions instead, for God moved the mouths of the prophets as if they were musical instruments.

Discussion & reflection: 10 What if someone called us silly because we can’t prove God? St. Basil the Great ( Jan 379, Turkey)Let faith in the teachings about God prevail – faith and not proof. This is the faith that leads the mind toward assent more than rational arguments do, the faith that is born not of mathematical necessities but from the inner workings of the Holy Spirit.

Discussion & reflection: 11 What if someone said the Old Testament only refers to a different people, a long time ago, who didn’t understand as much as we do today? Tertullian (c Tunisia) The apostle Paul was guided by the same Spirit as the author of Genesis was, and the same is true of all the Scriptures.

Discussion & reflection: 12 What if someone says the Bible teaches us that God loves everyone, just the way we are? It is true God love us…but He hates our sin which hurts us. Some people say we don’t need to change if God love us as we are. Hegemonius (4 th Century) Those who set up some new teaching have a way of twisting the Scriptures to make them fit whatever it is they want them to say…Therefore a disciple of Christ should accept no new teaching beyond what has once been committed to us by the apostles.

Written reflection Name: Date: 13 What was most important to you in today’s lesson?