The using of CATECHISM: is an effective system of study employing questions and answers in order to arrive at concise truth. Very often when we talk about Bible truths, we say, "Well, I know that, but I'm just not able to explain it." But this is not quite the fact. We do not really know something until we are able to express it in our own words and explain it to someone else to understand. We must articulate what we believe. Catechism deals with questions and deal with answers--real ones that hit the mark and satisfy.
Salvation is a tremendous experience and it is the beginning of life in Christ. thee is no minimizing this. But after we have been BORN AGAIN, we must be DISCIPLINED. We must know what we believe and why we believe it. The very word "disciple" implies the discipline involved in continuing to learn of our new Master, a discipline which includes systematic study.
WHY THE EMPHASIS UPON FOUNDATIONS?
We are not original in our placing great importance upon the foundational doctrines of salvation. We have scriptural precedent. The writer of Hebrews recognized that there was something wrong in the lives of the people to whom he was ministering. They were not growing and developing as they shouuld. He did not scold them or bring them under condemnation; he showed them a way out. He instructed them. His words are preserved for us in his letter to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The writer is addressing a people very near and dear to his own heart. he wants them to develop in the things of the Holy Spirit so that they can be happy and enjoy life in God to the fullest. But they are not enjoying their inheritance in the Lord. he must take inventory of their lives to determine what is needed. What did he discover? He found that they were spiritually immature because of lack of disciplined study. He told them that by this time they should each be able to teach. In other wores, each believer ought to be able to communicate the gospel to others around him. but such was not the case. Instead of being in the place of maturity where they could teach and help others, they still needed all the help they could get themselves. They needed to have someone teach them again the first principles of Christian living.
In reality, the average church in America is filled with people who have been there for many years but who cannot communicate to others the most basic truths of the Gospel. If you ask them to teach a Bible Class, they horrified. They insist, "I can't do that." the reason they feel they cannot make positive contributions within and outside the church is that they have never been properly schooled, properly planted, and given a solid foundation. they have not been given systematic instruction in the primary truths of God's Word. Those who never mastered the fundamentals cannot really grasp more advanced truths. Until they have been fed milk, they can not handle the meat of the Word. Milk is fine for babies, but you cannot go through your whole life without adding to your diet. You must advance to other food. We love babies while they are babies, but if we find they are the same size at age ten we have a reason for concern. So it is spiritually. Those who fail to grow up are problems to themselves and to everyone else around them.
