Shorter Catechisms News Today

When Martin Luther translated the Bible, the great Reformer chose to include the Apocrypha but didn’t like it. He called these books apocryphal, that is, texts of dubious origin, and disqualified by their very nature from being part of the Holy Scriptures. This very fact serves as a proper introduction to those books called the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha is not the Word of God, and, thus, not to be read as such, and not to be trusted for faith and life. However it does provide some value to...

Hebrew-speaking Israeli believers must independently shape their own understanding of Scripture, directly with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Sacrament of Penance (or Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession) is one of the seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholic Church doctrine states that the Sacrament of Penance was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ through his disciples in order to bring about spiritual healing for the wounded soul. While we sometimes think of penance as a directed or voluntary act to demonstrate one’s true repentance (with practical, spiritual or devotional works), that is only one p...