Becoming a Renissance Christian

Are you a Renissance Christian? It was a question posed to me by a man named Kenneth Samples in a podcast by Reasons to Believe. Before this podcast, I had never heard of such an idea. It completely changed my life. So much that I wanted others to be aware of what was said in this podcast.

One of the beautiful things about Christianity is that we are called to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. In this post, I will mainly talk about loving God with our mind. Now comes the question, how many of us love God with our mind and what does that mean? According the bible, any truth that is discovered is God's truth. We live in an age where our minds are being challenged on a daily basis. How can one love God with our mind if it's being challenged by outside thoughts.

We need to allow God to use the works of others to help transform us into Christians that know what and why we believe. In this day and age christian ideas are always being challenged and as followers of Christ we need to engage our mind in the teachings of Jesus but also those that have put serious thought and effort in life and its questions. That's right Christians, I'm challenging you to read books outside the bible. Books that affirm what you believe books that will help understand why you believe.

There are 3 main reasons that one should study how to defend their faith. I will touch on these very briefly:

1. Our culture of skeptics. As I've stated above, we, as Christians, are being challenged almost daily.
2. Strengthing the believer. Learning why you believe will make you more confident in what you believe.
3. Winning the Unbeliever. Though you won't "argue" someone into Christianity. You may have answers to their questions.

Now that we have the "why" let's get to the "how"!

Kenneth Samples offers 12 tips to help you become a "Renaissance Christian". But before I get into the tips I want to recommend a book, titled "How to Read A Book" by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. This book will help you with your understanding of informational books.

1. Take inventory of time spent entertaining your-self. Learn what you actually do with your free time
2. Make the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom a daily priority.
3. Set short term and long term reading goals.
4. Read Classics of western civilization.
5. Read theological/philosophical classics.
6. Read contemporary works in theology/philosophy.
7. Read works that prepare you for evangelism and apologetics that include worldview analysis
8. Keep up with current events and evaluate them through the lens of the Christian worldview.
9. Recognize the limits of radio and TV for gaining information.
10. Get enrolled into classes that challenge your thinking.
11. Learn a new language.
12. On vacations and outings, go to a place of learning.

Now you have the reasons and and the tools to start Learning. I pray that who ever is reading this will be challenged to start pursuing knowledge and wisdom.