IrContent

I admit it, some people annoy me. Even Christians. And I am sure that in many cases the annoyance goes both ways. But I take issue with the common response that essentially says, “Well, you better learn to like them because you’ll spend forever with them in heaven!” This response, pious sounding as it is, neglects to take into consideration at least two very important facts.The first is that in Heaven we won’t be irritating anymore. Whether the irritation comes from some defect in my character or someone else’s is immaterial to this fact. In Heaven our sanctification will be complete - there won’t be any more defects to cause annoyance. Thus, the fact that someone is irritating now really says nothing about what they will be like in Heaven. So it is a non-sequitur to imply that I had better get used to someone’s caustic personality because I will have to be exposed to it for eternity.

Second, if Thomas Aquinas and others are correct, eternal life in Heaven will be spent face to face with God Himself. In the face of infinite beauty, goodness, power, love, etc. I doubt we will care who happens to be standing next to us.

So, in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people (including ourselves) annoyance will arise - even among Christians. It will be better for our character to overcome this irritation, of course, but we need not do so out of fear that Heaven for us will be everlasting aggravation if we don’t.

I have been teaching through a New Testament Survey class and have become impressed by my utter ignorance on the topic. You’d think after being a Bible believer for over 15 years that I would know the Bible better than I do. Of course I was told to get to know the Bible when I became a Christian, but no one ever really gave me a good plan for doing so. Further, other topics seem to be very useful to learn before digging in to the Word. After a discussion on the subject I decided I needed to think this through a bit and here is what I have come up with so far.

For someone to be a well-educated Christian I think that at least the following areas (assuming a decent general education) need to be covered:

• Logic
• Philosophy
• Apologetics
• Systematic Theology
• Church History
• The Bible

The best order for learning these topics is difficult to decide for each one can affect the others. It might seem that going for Bible knowledge first would be the best, but how one understands what is written in the Bible will be largely determined by what they already think about other things. Thus, I think that critical thinking and philosophy and perhaps even some theology really should come first.

Perhaps the best idea would be to begin with a good Bible reading program in conjunction with these other subjects in their order.

THE BIBLE

When it comes to the Bible I never tell anyone to “just start at the beginning.” This might seem the best way to read a book, but the Bible is not a book - it is a library, a collection of books. And as far as I can tell there is nothing particularly spiritual about reading all of them in order, in fact it might even be confusing. I think a better reading plan would be to cover the main things first and then fill in the details later. So I would recommend first reading Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Malachi, Matthew, John, Acts, Romans, and Revelation. This would give a good historical overview of the OT and a good theological overview of the NT. Before any of this though, one should do a basic survey of each book (when we look at a Bible we should not only see it as the library that it is, but we should know “which book we are picking up” before we start reading), and learn a good methodology for reading them.

LOGIC

Being able to think properly is necessary to properly understand anything, thus it is a good idea to learn basic logic or critical thinking early on. The skills developed in this topic will aid in anything one does - from reading Scripture to watching commercials.

PHILOSOPHY

One’s philosophy informs one’s theology to such an extent that many do not even notice that this is the case. It is difficult to escape one’s basic worldview about reality, so we need to make sure that world view is correct. Philosophy teaches us about different world views, and lets us evaluate our basic presuppositions that will drive our further learning.

APOLOGETICS

Apologetics concerns why one believes what they believe. It is generally more basic than theology and thus serves as a good bridge between philosophy and theology. Classical apologetics uses classical philosophy to prove classical theology, so again I would learn that material before branching out.

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY

Theology concerns what one believes. Many times believers form opinions about different doctrines without realizing how much one belief affects another. But in order to be coherent one’s entire system must work together. Systematic theology a sort of process of ordering one’s beliefs about different topics so that they all make sense together. It is sort of an overview of belief. It would be best, at first, to learn one’s own tradition - others can be explored later.

CHURCH HISTORY

Once one knows why they believe what they believe it is a good idea to see how beliefs have been formed throughout the Church’s history. Again, a basic overview is best at first to understand the major movements, and to see how the historical forces have shaped what we take for granted today.

SO NOW WHAT?

The best way to accomplish all this would be to take classes at a good school (gratuitous plug: www.SES.edu). But if someone just wants to get going on this all is not lost. The following is a list of books that would give one a good overview of each topic (I have included two per topic - some to cover two areas under one topic or to give both a beginner and advanced treatment of the topic):

The Bible:

• Old / New Testament Survey by Paul Benware
• Living By The Book by Howard Hendricks

Logic:

• Critical Thinking (virtually any textbook)
• Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft.

Philosophy:

• Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
• An Introduction to Philosophy by Daniel Sullivan

Apologetics:

• Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
• I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

Systematic Theology:

• Basic Theology by Charles Ryrie
• A Summa of the Summa by Thomas Aquinas (Peter Kreeft ed.)

Church History:

• Church History In Plain Language by Bruce Shelley
• Our Legacy: The History of Christian Doctrine by John Hannah

I just found out something that is pretty sad. A friend of mine who is a server at a major restaurant chain told me that Christians are known for being cheap and not leaving good tips. Worse, she told me they sometimes leave tracts instead of tips. If this is you or someone you know please read on . . .

First off, servers are paid less than $3/hr. because customers are expected to make up for the low wages in tips. It sucks, I hate it, it’s a scam, but that’s the way it is and I think most everyone knows it (or at least knows that tips are expected). So if you go to a restaurant and don’t leave a legitimate tip you are not hurting the establishment, you are basically stealing from your server.Second, having a reputation for leaving bad tips not only makes servers not want to work the Sunday afternoon crowd - but it makes them more fully appreciate the good tippers. Know who has that reputation? The drinkers - alcohol is a server’s best friend. So now the repuation of the church is lower than that of drunks. Well done guys!

Third, once you have established yourself as lower than a drunkard and a thief what do you think will happen if you leave a tract behind? Can you say “hypocrite”??? How do you know who needs a tract in the first place? What if the server is already a believer? Should they wear a name badge that says “Already Saved - Please Tip” on it? And how do you think it affects their witness at work when “their people” come in, screw the servers over assuming they are all going to hell? (Whether or not this picture is accurate is not at issue here - the point is the perception.)

The moral of the story is this - if you’re a Christian who refuses to tip well do us all a favor by staying home on Sundays and saving your tracts for when you feel less selfish. If you do want to leave a tract leave a tip that is better than average (20% is a good starting point) and make sure they know you appreciate them with a little note or something (this lets them know the tract is not there due to you judging them unworthy of heaven). Tracting instead of tipping is not pious, it is pathetic - let’s turn this thing around!

The weekend of May 19th the Da Vinci Code movie opens. It is a movie based on a book that wears heresy and blasphemy as a badge of honor (see review). What can we as Christians do in response to the release of this anti-christian movie? Brian Godawa forwarded me an email from a Christian screenwriter in Hollywood. I highly recommend this strategy regarding the Da Vinci Code (as well as printing out my free DaVinci Code tract to hand out after the show!). CHOICE 1: We can ignore the movie.

The problem with this option: The box office is a ballot box and the only people whose votes are counted are those who buy tickets. And the ballot box closes on the Sunday of opening weekend. If you stay home, you have lost your chance to make your vote heard. You have thrown your vote away, and from Hollywood’s point of view, you don’t count. By staying home, you do nothing to shape the decision-making process regarding what movies will make it to the big screen.

CHOICE 2: We can protest the movie.

The problem with this option: It doesn’t work - in fact, it backfires. “Any publicity is good publicity.” Protests not only fuel the box office, they make Christians look like idiots. And again, protests and boycotts do nothing to help shape the decisions being made right now about what movies Hollywood will make in the next few years. (Or they convince Hollywood to make *more* movies that will provoke Christians to protest, which will drive the box office up.)

CHOICE 3: We can argue against the movie.

The problem with this option: No one cares because “it’s just a movie.” They think they know what we’re going to say already. We’ll lose most of these discussions anyway, no matter how prepared we are, because the power of the story will trump the power of facts. And, once again, rational discussion of history does nothing to affect Hollywood’s choices regarding what movies to make.

BEST CHOICE: We can go to the movies!

Just go to another movie.Use your vote. Don’t throw it away. Let’s rock the box office in a way no one expects - by using the only vote Hollywood recognizes: ticket sales. For example, the major studio movie scheduled for release to compete against DaVinci Code is the animated feature Over the Hedge (from DreamWorks - the makers of Shrek and Madagascar). The trailers look fun, and you can take your kids. And your friends. And their friends.

Mark your calendars now: May 19th or 20th . . . no later than Sunday, May 21st (that’s the day the “ballot box” closes) go to the theater and cast your vote against DaVinci Code. Then hand out tracts afterward.