Following several interesting weeks where I have been asked by several friends about what it is (that is what it means) to be a Christian it has prompted me give some thought to how I answer this question.
How does somebody find out about Christianity?...
As Carson in his book "The God Who Is There" explains... They may decide to do a brief survey of the history of the Christian church, or they may decide to analyze what Christians in various parts of the world believe, but ultimately the best way to find out about Christianity is to examine it's foundational documents of which there are 66. These documents were written over a period of 1,500 years in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. So the Bibles that we read today are translations of what was first written in these languages. The 66 documents vary in length, form and literature genre, some are letters, some oracles, others poetry, laments, genealogies, some are written in what is called 'apocalyptic' style using astonishing symbolism that we are not familiar with in the 21st century. These foundational documents make up "the Book" (the Bible). Christians (of which I am one) insist that God reveals himself to us in these documents.
There was a time not all that long ago that people in the Western world knew the bible, they may not have believed in the Bible but they had read it and had a relatively (to today's standard anyway) good understanding of it. That day has passed and if we were to stand on the streets of the communities in which we live many will have little or often no idea of how the bible fits together.
So I would urge you whether you are an atheist, agnostic, christian or of another faith to read and study the 66 foundational documents of the Christian faith for yourself.
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