The following Q&As are from an early draft of the New Methodist Catechism.
Question 1. Why did God make you?
Answer. I was made to be happy in God, and I will be restless until I find my rest in him.
Q. 2. What prevents you from finding your happiness in God?
A. Sin prevents me from finding my happiness in God and always leads to misery, both now and in the life to come.
Q. 3. What has God given to direct us to salvation from sin, and happiness in him?
A. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which are the Word of God, contain all things necessary to salvation and have been given by God to direct us to happiness in him.
Q. 4. Where is the good news of God’s Word summarized?
A. The good news of God’s Word is summarized in the apostolic teaching, passed down to us in the Apostles’ Creed, which contains the three articles of our universal and undisputed Christian faith: God the Father and our creation; the Son of God and our redemption; the Holy Spirit and our new life in the church.
Q. 5. How many gods are there?
A. There is only one true and living God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible.
Q. 6. How many persons are there in God?
A. There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are of one substance, power, and eternity. And this is the catholic faith: that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.
Q. 7. How did God make all things?
A. God made all things out of nothing, by the word of his power, through his Son and Spirit, and all very good.
Q. 8. How did God create human beings?
A. God created human beings male and female, with body and soul, after his own image—in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness—with dominion over the creatures.
Q. 9. Does God abandon his creation to chance or fortune?
A. God does not abandon us to chance or fortune but sustains and governs all his creatures, and all their actions, by his most holy, wise, and powerful providence, yet not in such a way as to violate human freedom or make God the author of evil.
Q. 10. If God created all things very good, why is the world full of evil?
A. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, freely chose to sin against God, and fell from the holiness and happiness in which they were created, plunging the human race into sin, death, and misery.