Lesson 9 The Third Article - The Visible Church, Forgiveness, Resurrection, Eternal Life Questions 173-193

A. Carefully read and think about Questions 173-193 in the Small Catechism

B. Write down at least 5 Important Things that you discovered in your reading 1.

C. Agree-Disagree Questions: Read and think about each of the following Agree-Disagree statements. Answer each statement and write a brief reason to support the answer you gave.

___ 1. Believers in Christ will be found wherever people gather and make use of the Gospel in the forms of the Word and Sacraments.

___ 2. We call local gatherings of people around the means of grace “visible churches”.

___ 3. It is possible that some people who belong to a visible church may not be true believers in Christ.

___ 4. God wants us to actively participate in a visible church even if that church teaches things that are false and violate the Bible’s teachings.

____ 5. As long as a person is a member of a visible Christian church, he does not have to attend worship services.

___ 6. When God forgives sins, He pays 50% of the cost of removing those wrongs and their damage so that it does not interfere with His relationship with the sinner.

___ 7. The reason God forgives people is that He sees some potential goodness that He can bring out of that person.

___ 8. God forgives people mostly on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done to redeem them and partly on what they have done to help themselves.

___ 9. When God justifies sinners, He declares them innocent of all their sins.

___ 10. A person can enjoy the benefit of God’s verdict of “not guilty of sin” only if he believes God’s promise of pardon through Jesus Christ.

___ 11. On the Last Day, God will raise to life only believers in Christ who have died.

___ 12. Because of reincarnation, people live multiple earthly lives.

___ 13. In the Final Judgment, God will give believers glorified bodies and He will give unbelievers horrified bodies.

___ 14. Eternal life begins for a person in this world and never ends.

___ 15. Eternal life involves enjoying all the blessings that Jesus Chris has won for us and having most of our earthly sorrows erased from our memories.

D. Reflection Questions

What does God want me to do if I discover that my church is not faithfully teaching and practicing God’s Word?
Why does forgiveness for a sin always have to be a free and freely given gift?
Describe three ways in which your life in heaven will be better than your life on earth?

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