Beliefs – Catalina Lutheran Church

We Believe:

There is only one God.
The One God has revealed Himself in Three Persons, namely Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
All religions attempt to worship the One God in Three Persons, but that the only true worship is that which God has revealed.

Original Sin is an inborn, contagious, hereditary disease that infects all humans from the moment of conception.
In other words: all people sin because they are conceived as sinners.

The Second Person of God took on man’s nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
That Jesus, born of Mary, is both true God and true Man.
That this same Jesus as God/Man died; descended into Hell; rose from the dead; ascended into heaven; will return openly on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead.

That no human may obtain blessed eternal life through his or her own actions, words, works, or life.
Blessed everlasting life is only received through the forgiveness of sins, a free gift of God to all mankind given through the death of Jesus.
When one hears and believes the reality of the death of Jesus for himself/herself, such person is truly forgiven and made right with God.

God established the Office of the Holy Ministry – the Good News of the saving death and resurrection of Jesus – and the Sacraments – the mysteries of God given by Jesus’ Word with both His command and blessed promises.
The Third Person of God, the Holy Spirit, produces faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the Good News of Jesus.

Good works are necessary. True faith produces good works from those who believe in the Good News of God.
Those who are being saved do good because of God’s work in us. These works do not add to, nor subtract from, the forgiveness and eternal life God gives by grace, through faith in Jesus.

There is only one, holy Christian Church that will last forever.
The Church is the assembly of the holy ones of God in which God’s Word – the Law that shows our sin, and the Gospel that shows our Savior – is taught in purity; and where His Sacraments (mysteries) are rightly administered.
There are many false Christians in the churches: hypocrites and even open sinners may be found in any given assembly. Nonetheless, even if such a person were to administer the Sacraments, the mysteries will still work and sustain faith, for it is the Word of God which gives them life, not the people who administer them.

The true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are genuinely present in, with and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.
That the Holy Meal is for sorrowing sinners in need of forgiveness; for those who believe all Jesus’ words concerning His Supper; for those who trust that His touch will heal them and strengthen them to eternal life.