Foreword: xxiii
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 4
Foolish Assumptions 4
How This Book Is Organized 4
Part I: Uncovering What Christianity’s All About 5
Part II: Exploring the Basic Principles of the Christian Faith 5
Part III: Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple: Peeking into the Christian Church 5
Part IV: Christian Living in a Postmodern World 5
Part V: The Part of Tens 6
Icons Used in This Book 6
Where to Go from Here 7
Part I: Uncovering What Christianity’s All About 9
Chapter 1: Good News in a Bad News World 11
Packing Christianity into a Nutshell 12
Going back to the beginning: People choosing, God responding 12
Understanding how Christians define their faith 13
Being forewarned of stereotypes: What Christianity is not 16
Making Sense of Christian Paradoxes 20
Understanding How the Branches of the Church Came About 21
Putting It into Perspective: Christianity in the World Today 22
Focusing on facts about the faith 22
Relating Christianity to other world faiths 23
Chapter 2: Christianity: But Is It True? 27
Defending the Faith Through Apologetics 28
Exploring Whether God Exists 28
The world appears to be intelligently designed 28
People (most, anyway) can think and reason 29
People instinctively sense right and wrong 30
Demonstrating Christianity as a Livable Faith 31
Retracing Christianity as a Historical Faith 33
Examining artifacts 33
Documenting history in the Bible 34
Chapter 3: That Amazing Stuff Called Grace 41
Defining Grace 42
Grace is a costly gift 42
Grace is undeserved 43
Grace is an unexpected surprise 45
Grace in a nutshell 46
Receiving God’s Gift of Grace: Salvation 47
Principle #1: God loves 48
Principle #2: People sin 48
Principle #3: God responds 50
Principle #4: People must choose 51
Understanding Salvation by Faith 52
Being “Born Again” 54
Dealing with Hopeless Cases 55
Last gasps for a thief 56
Within a stone’s throw of judgment 56
The original “wretch like me” 56
Part II: Exploring the Basic Principles of the Christian Faith 59
Chapter 4: Sin: Why “Do’s and Don’ts” Miss the Bigger Picture 61
Desiring to Be Different: The Original Ego Trip 61
Revisiting the Fall 62
Considering how the Fall changed everything 63
Grappling with the Definition of Sin 65
Categorizing two types of sin 65
Weighing different sins 67
Misunderstanding sin 67
Empathizing with God’s View of Sin 69
Tying in Humans’ Relation to the Fall 70
Warring with Satan (And Knowing Who You’re Fighting Against) 71
Experiencing Temptation 74
Recognizing temptation 74
Responding to tempting situations 76
Sinning After You’re “Saved” 77
Chapter 5: Jesus Christ: His Life, Ministry, and Radical Claims 79
In Brief: Introducing Jesus 79
Accounting for the early years 80
Stepping into the spotlight 82
Fulfilling his purpose 82
Looking at How Jesus Lived 83
Jesus pointed people toward himself 84
Jesus healed and cared for the down and out 85
Jesus taught his followers how to live 85
Jesus provided the ultimate example of how to live 87
Jesus changed the perspective of one’s relationship to God 88
Jesus prepared his disciples to be leaders of his Church 89
Jesus voluntarily died on the cross 90
Considering Who Jesus Claimed to Be 90
Saving People: God’s Game Plan from the Get-Go 92
Seeing sacrifices as prototypes of the real deal 93
Uncovering others’ prophecies about the Messiah 93
Considering Jesus’ prophecies for his own life and death 95
Questioning Why Jesus Was Crucified 96
Expecting the Messiah to be different 96
Feeling threatened by Jesus 97
Manipulating authority to get rid of the troublemaker 98
Peering into an Empty Tomb: Revisiting the Resurrection 99
Reviewing biblical facts 100
Explaining it away 101
Coming to a Conclusion: Was Jesus a Good Teacher or the Son of God? 103
Chapter 6: Peeking Inside God’s Diary: The Bible 105
Retracing the Bible’s Formation 106
Stage 1: Hebrews first recognized writings as sacred 108
Stage 2: Jesus and the early Church treated Old Testament writings as scripture 109
Stage 3: Jesus indicated that more scripture would come 110
Stage 4: New Testament writers recognized their writings as inspired by God 111
Stage 5: Early Church recognized New Testament writings as scripture 111
Stage 6: The Church closed the book 113
To Be or Not to Be: The Apocrypha 114
Reasons for including the Apocrypha 115
Reasons against including the Apocrypha 116
Reading the Bible Appropriately 116
Believing the Bible is inspired 117
Dealing with inconsistencies 118
Confronting contextual issues 119
Finding No Expiration Date for the Bible 121
Chapter 7: The Trinity: How 1+1+1 Equals 1 123
Introducing the Trinity 124
Considering God as a Whole 125
Qualities of God that’ll make your head spin 125
Qualities of God that humans resemble 126
Qualities of God that express his personal nature 128
Examining the Three Parts of God Individually 129
God the Father 129
God the Son 130
God the Holy Spirit 131
Understanding the Significance of the Trinity 131
The Trinity made Jesus’ sacrifice worthwhile 132
The Trinity justifies worshiping Jesus 133
Digging Up the Biblical Foundation of the Trinity 133
Picking up on hints in the Old Testament 134
Putting the pieces together in the New Testament 136
Chapter 8: The Rite Stuff: Sacraments, Ordinances, and the Christian Faith 139
Understanding the Role of Sacraments and Ordinances 140
Grasping four keys to understanding the sacraments 141
Viewing sacraments through different lenses 142
Baptizing Christians into the Faith 146
Considering the nature of baptism 147
Exploring the relationship between baptism and salvation 148
Deciding who should be baptized 149
Add one part water (But how?): Choosing a method of baptism 151
Exploring the Lord’s Supper 153
Deciphering Jesus’ explanation of the elements 154
Timing the observance of Communion 155
Being earnest regarding the Eucharist 156
Maintaining a Christlike Balance 156
Chapter 9: Heading for Home: The End Game 159
Enjoying Heaven for Eternity 159
Exploring seven ideas about a place called heaven 160
Speculating on heavenly bods 162
Being Purged of Sin in Purgatory 166
Catholics: Purgatory is part of God’s plan 166
Protestants and Orthodox Christians: Purgatory is a Colorado destination 167
Going to Hell: Considering the Underworld 168
Eternal suffering 169
Extinction of the unsaved 170
Awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ 171
Enduring Tribulation 172
Being taken up in the Rapture 172
Celebrating Jesus’ triumphant return 173
Resurrecting the dead 173
Enjoying the Millennium: Peace on earth 174
Facing final judgment 175
Frolicking around the new heaven and new earth 175
Part III: Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple: Peeking into the Christian Church 177
Chapter 10: Tradition, Tradition: The Catholic and Orthodox Churches 179
Transferring from a Nation to a Church 179
Following the deaths of the apostles: The apostolic Church 180
Expanding and governing as a single Christian Church 182
The Great Separation: Western and Eastern Churches go their own ways 184
Viewing the split today 187
The Catholic Church: From Rome to a Parish Near You 188
Understanding what it means to be Catholic 188
Examining the Catholic Church structure 196
The Orthodox Church: Restoring the Image of God in People 197
Understanding what it means to be Orthodox 197
Examining the Orthodox Church structure 202
Chapter 11: Back to the Basics: The Protestant Church 203
Exploring the Protestant Reformation 204
Urging the Church to reform 204
From reformation to separation 206
Examining Core Protestant Beliefs 210
Yielding to the Bible as the one and only authority 210
Seeing Christ as the one and only mediator 211
Being saved by grace alone and faith alone 211
Giving kudos to God alone 212
Considering all Christians as equal in God’s eyes 212
Answering the core questions 213
Breaking It Down into Denominations 213
Looking at More Protestant Labels 217
Confronting the Challenge of Modernism 219
Looking to the Future: Trends in Contemporary Protestantism 220
Chapter 12: Making Sense of Worship 223
I Worship, You Worship, We All Worship: Defining the Christian Tradition 224
Examining the Worship Service as a Whole 226
Worshiping together: Why Christians believe it’s essential 227
Deciding when to worship 228
Exploring Ways to Worship: Liturgical Versus Free Worship 229
Taking the high road with liturgy 230
Worshiping freely along the low road 231
Incorporating Music: A Call to Musical Arms 232
Leaving out the band 233
Tooting a few horns 233
Revolutionizing praise and worship music 234
Crossing Cultures with Worship 235
Part IV: Christian Living in a Postmodern World 237
Chapter 13: I’m a Christian — Now What? 239
Experiencing Spiritual Transformation 240
Fellowshipping with a Church 241
Considering why biblical Christianity says church is necessary 241
Finding a church that you can call home 242
Going One-on-One with the Lord 245
Being a Disciple 247
Living Out Your Faith 249
Seeing why faith is fundamental for a Christian 250
Clutching four keys to living out your faith 251
Boosting your faith in three (kind of) easy steps 255
Taking on a Christian Worldview 256
Viewing the ripple effect of worldviews 256
Looking at the Christian worldview 259
Bringing the Christian binoculars everywhere you go 262
Chapter 14: Being in the World but Not of It 265
Being Salt and Light for the World 266
Adding zest with salt 266
Shining truth with light 267
Living Out Christ’s Calling in Different Ways 267
Running from the world 268
Hugging the world 269
Working for the greater good 269
Walking a tightrope 270
Transforming the world 270
Delving into the Messy World of Politics and Governing 271
Looking at what the Bible says about government 271
Interpreting the Bible in regard to government: Five key understandings 273
Tossing political hot potatoes 276
Chapter 15: Tackling Thorny Issues in the Church 281
Observing Hypocrisy 281
Considering two types of hypocrites 282
Weighing hypocrisy against Christianity’s truth claims 284
Dissing Nice-Guy Thinking 286
Pointing out fundamental flaws of the Nice Guy approach 287
Finding out how to be good enough for God 289
Playing Salvation Monopoly 290
Questioning whether all roads lead to heaven 290
Understanding why Christians say Jesus is the only way 291
Accounting for people who’ve never heard of Jesus 292
Chapter 16: Taking On Tough Issues Raised in the Real World 295
Wondering Why Bad Things Happen 295
Specifying two types of evil 297
Understanding why evil exists 297
Debating Moral Relativism 299
Seeing why moral relativism is popular 299
Sizing up moral relativism from a Christian view 301
Considering Darwinism 304
Noting the difference between Darwinism and science 304
Distinguishing between two theories of evolution 306
Exploring Christian alternatives to Darwinian evolution 308
Part V: The Part of Tens 311
Chapter 17: Ten Christian Holy Days, Holidays, and Seasons 313
Lent 313
Palm Sunday 314
Maundy Thursday 315
Good Friday 316
Easter 316
Pentecost 317
National Day of Prayer 318
All Saints’ Day 319
Advent 319
Christmas 320
Chapter 18: Ten Christian Leaders You Should Know About 321
St Augustine of Hippo 321
St Francis of Assisi 322
St Thomas Aquinas 322
Martin Luther 323
William Tyndale 324
John Calvin 324
John Wesley 325
William Wilberforce 326
Dietrich Bonhoeffer 326
Alexander Solzhenitsyn 327
Chapter 19: Ten New Testament Teachings You Should Know About 329
Walking Along the “Roman Road” to Salvation 329
Listening to the Sermon on the Mount 330
Praying the Lord’s Prayer 331
Identifying with the Prodigal Son 332
Detailing the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 332
Going Out with the Great Commission 333
Appreciating Ancestors in the Hall of Faith 333
Mixing Faith with Deeds 333
Promising the Coming of the Holy Spirit 334
Suiting Up with the Armor of God 334
Appendix A: Glossary of Christian Lingo 335
Appendix B: Timeline of Christian History 347
6–0 B.C (approximate) 347
A.D 27 (approximate) 347
30 (approximate) 347
30–70 348
64–312 348
70–73 348
85–95 348
271–272 349
313 349
324 349
325 349
374–430 349
380 349
393–397 350
403–461 350
429 350
451 350
1054 350
1095–1270 351
1208 351
1382 351
1382–1415 351
1427 351
1457 352
1517 352
1525 352
1532–1534 352
1536 352
1530–1540s 353
1540 353
1609 353
1670 353
1703–1791 353
1734 354
1789 354
1793 354
1820–30s 354
1901 355
1962–1965 355
1978 355
1950–present 355
Index 357
