What this book is for ix Introduction 1 1 God 2 How do we know God? 3 What kind of God do we believe in? 6 But what about suffering? 7 2 Human nature and sin 10 A beautiful world often spoiled 10 What is sin? 11 3 Jesus: life and ministry 16 Who was Jesus? 16 Jesus - a window into God 22 4 Jesus: death and resurrection 26 Why Jesus' death is important 26 Why did Jesus have to die? 27 Jesus rose from the dead 29 Jesus ascended into heaven 30 5 The Holy Spirit 32 Christianity: a supernatural religion 32 The power to change 32 6 The Church 38 A worldwide community 38 The Body of Christ 39 One Church 39 Bishops, priests and deacons 41 7 The creeds 43 The Apostles' Creed 43 The Nicene Creed 45 8 The Bible 47 A powerful book 47 How to use the Bible in our lives 50 The books themselves 52 9 Living as a Christian 55 Conscience 56 Repentance and forgiveness 56 Judgement 57 God sees everything 57 A change of character 59 10 Prayer and worship 62 How do I pray? 62 Types of prayer 63 Styles of worship 65 The Christian calendar 65 A practical approach to private prayer and public worship 67 11 The sacraments 72 What is a sacrament? 72 Why seven sacraments? 73 12 Baptism 75 What happens at baptism? 76 The meaning of baptism 78 13 Confirmation 82 Standing up for what you believe 82 The origins of confirmation 83 The meaning of confirmation 83 How is a candidate prepared for confirmation? 84 What happens at a confirmation service? 84 14 The Eucharist 87 What happens at the Eucharist? 87 The meaning of the Eucharist 91 15 Marriage 94 What happens at a wedding service? 94 Marriage is about selfless love 96 'Till death us do part' 97 16 Confession 100 Saying sorry 100 What happens in confession? 102 The meaning of confession 103 17 Ordination 107 A calling 107 18 Anointing the sick 112 What happens at the anointing of the sick? 113 19 Life after death 116 What is death? 116 The Last Judgement 119 Hell 120 Heaven 120 Notes and acknowledgements 125