Donald Lingerfelt

The Next Step: Continuing Your Basic Education in Christianity Donald Lingerfelt

This book is set out in three parts: questions and answers, Reformation thought, and an essay on why we can trust the Bible to be the work of God.  The first part, questions and answers, delves into the basic questions of Christianity.  What the Bible say about life, how we should live and what the Bible teaches about the big questions.  The second part teaches about the Reformation and what the Reformers believed.  Why did they rebel against the established church and start their own organizations?  What were some of the details of their theology?  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

          The third part is about the scripture itself.  Why is the Bible reliable?  Why should we believe what it says?  Can we rely on it to inform us about what God has to tell us?  These questions have plagued mankind for millennia. Fortunately, we can rely on the Bible and this chapter gives us the logical reasoning used to prove why the Bible alone is the word of God.

          The book is built on the Reformed model of theology, which puts the Bible in the primary position of authority.  Unlike many other theological models which use some church's political ideas, the book teaches only what the Bible teaches. The Bible is taken as a whole document, not in bits and pieces or out of context.  The book assumes that the entire Bible is the work of God and cross-references its teaching by scripture, giving citations from both Old and New Testaments. 

          The text of scripture is quoted extensively with cross references where the reader can follow along with the book and verify each doctrine as it is being taught.  Because the book was originally intended to be used as a youth group study and it can be used for small or large group Bible study.