Catechism for Young Children

A catechism adapting the Westminster Shorter Catechism written by Joseph Engles in 1840 (Fully titled: ‘Catechism for Young Children: Being an Introduction to the Shorter Catechism’). This document was created for use with very young children, for whom the Shorter Catechism would be too opaque, simplifying many of the ideas and language. We re-adapt this catechism for the same purpose using modern English phrasology. Additionally, several questions (126, 127, 129 and 130) are given two adaptations: one for Baptists and one for Presbyterians.

Question 1

Question: Who made you?

Answer: God.

Question 2

Question: What else did God make?

Answer: God made everything.

Question 3

Question: Why did God make you and everything?

Answer: For his own glory.

Question 4

Question: How can you glorify God?

Answer: By loving him and doing what he commands.

Question 5

Question: Why should you to glorify God?

Answer: Because he made me and takes care of me.

Question 6

Question: Is there more than one god?

Answer: There is only one God.

Question 7

Question: How many persons does this one God exist in?

Answer: This one God exists in three persons.

Question 8

Question: Who are they?

Answer: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Question 9

Question: What is God?

Answer: God is a spirit and does not have a body like men.

Question 10

Question: Where is God?

Answer: God is everywhere.

Question 11

Question: Can you see God?

Answer: No; I cannot see God, but He always sees me.

Question 12

Question: Does God know everything?

Answer: Yes; nothing is hidden from God.

Question 13

Question: Can God do anything?

Answer: Yes; God does everything He wills.

Question 14

Question: Where do you learn how to love and obey God?

Answer: In the Bible alone.

Question 15

Question: Who wrote the Bible?

Answer: Holy men as they were taught by the Holy Spirit.

Question 16

Question: Who were our first parents?

Answer: Adam and Eve.

Question 17

Question: What were our first parents made of?

Answer: God made the body of Adam out of dust, and formed Eve from the body of Adam.

Question 18

Question: What did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?

Answer: He gave them souls that could never die.

Question 19

Question: Do you have a soul as well as a body?

Answer: Yes; I have a soul that can never die.

Question 20

Question: How do you know that you have a soul?

Answer: Because the Bible tells me so.

Question 21

Question: What condition did God make Adam and Eve in?

Answer: He made them holy and happy.

Question 22

Question: What is a covenant?

Answer: A promise between two or more people.

Question 23

Question: What covenant did God make with Adam?

Answer: The covenant of works.

Question 24

Question: What did Adam need to do under the covenant of works?

Answer: To obey God perfectly.

Question 25

Question: What did God promise in the covenant of works?

Answer: To reward Adam with life if he obeyed God

Question 26

Question: What did God threaten in the covenant of works?

Answer: To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed God.

Question 27

Question: Did Adam keep the covenant of works?

Answer: No; he sinned against God.

Question 28

Question: What is Sin?

Answer: Sin is not conforming to, or transgressing God’s law.

Question 29

Question: What does it mean to not conform to God’s law?

Answer: To not be or not do what God requires.

Question 30

Question: What does it mean to transgress God’s law?

Answer: To do what God forbids.

Question 31

Question: What was the sin of our first parents?

Answer: Eating the forbidden fruit.

Question 32

Question: Who tempted them to this sin?

Answer: The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.

Question 33

Question: What happened to our first parents because they sinned?

Answer: Instead of being holy and happy, they became sinful and sad.

Question 34

Question: Did Adam only represent himself in the covenant of works?

Answer: No; he also represented all his children.

Question 35

Question: What is the result of Adam’s sin for everyone?

Answer: Everyone is born in a state of sin and sadness.

Question 36

Question: What do we call the sin we inherit from Adam?

Answer: Original sin.

Question 37

Question: What do we deserve for each of our sins?

Answer: The wrath and curse of God.

Question 38

Question: Can anyone live with God while they have this sinful nature?

Answer: No; our hearts must be changed before we can live with God.

Question 39

Question: What do we call this change of heart?

Answer: Regeneration.

Question 40

Question: Who can change a sinner’s heart?

Answer: Only the Holy Spirit.

Question 41

Question: Can anyone be saved through the covenant of works?

Answer: No one can be saved through the covenant of works.

Question 42

Question: Why can no one be saved through the covenant of works?

Answer: It condemns everyone because everyone has broken it.

Question 43

Question: What covenant did God the Father make with Christ, His eternal Son?

Answer: The covenant of grace.

Question 44

Question: Who did Christ represent in the covenant of grace?

Answer: His elect people.

Question 45

Question: What did Christ agree to do in the covenant of grace?

Answer: To keep the whole law for His people, and to make atonement for their sins.

Question 46

Question: Did our Lord Jesus Christ keep the whole of God’s Law?

Answer: Yes; He was holy and blameless in everything.

Question 47

Question: What does it mean to make atonement for sins?

Answer: Christ satisfied divine justice by suffering and dying in the place of sinners.

Question 48

Question: How can the Son of God suffer and die?

Answer: He became a man so that he could obey and suffer as a human.

Question 49

Question: What did God the Father agree to do in the covenant of grace?

Answer: To justify and sanctify those Christ would die for.

Question 50

Question: What is justification?

Answer: It is God forgiving sinners and treating them as if they had never sinned.

Question 51

Question: What is sanctification?

Answer: It is God making sinners holy in thought and action.

Question 52

Question: Who did Christ obey and suffer for?

Answer: Everyone the Father had given him.

Question 53

Question: What kind of life did Christ live on earth?

Answer: A life of poverty and suffering.

Question 54

Question: What kind of death did Christ die?

Answer: A painful and shameful death on the cross.

Question 55

Question: Who will be saved?

Answer: Only those who repent of their sins, believe in Christ, and lead holy lives.

Question 56

Question: What does it mean to repent?

Answer: To be sorry for sin, to hate sin, and to forsake sin because it displeases to God.

Question 57

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 58

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 59

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 60

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 61

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 62

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 63

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 64

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 65

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 66

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 67

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 68

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 69

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 70

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 71

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 72

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 73

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 74

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 75

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 76

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 78

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 79

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 80

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 81

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 82

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 83

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 84

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 85

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 86

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 87

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 88

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 89

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 90

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 91

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 92

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 93

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 94

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 95

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 96

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 97

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 98

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 99

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 100

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 101

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 102

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 103

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 104

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 105

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 106

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 107

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 108

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 109

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 110

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 111

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 112

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 113

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 114

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 115

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 116

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 117

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 118

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 119

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 120

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 121

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 122

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 123

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 124

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 125

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 126

Baptist

Question: What sign is used in baptism?

Answer: Immersing in water.

Presbyterian

Question: What sign is used in baptism?

Answer: Washing with water.

Question 127

Baptist

Question: What does this signify?

Answer: Union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection

Presbyterian

Question: What does this signify?

Answer: That we are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ.

Question 128

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 129

Baptist

Question: Who should be baptized?

Answer: Everyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Christ for their salvation.

Presbyterian

Question: Who should be baptized?

Answer: Believers and their children.

Question 130

Baptist

Question: Should babies be baptized?

Answer: No; because they cannot repent of sin, nor trust in Christ for their salvation.

Presbyterian

Question: Should babies be baptized?

Answer: Yes; because they have a sinful nature and need a Savior.

Question 131

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 132

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 133

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 134

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 135

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 136

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 137

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 138

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 139

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 140

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 141

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 142

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 143

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 144

**Question: **

*Answer: *

Question 145

**Question: **

*Answer: *