Apologetics 101Sample

Ideas

Our culture floods our senses with ideas—advertisements, programming, conversations, text messages. All this noise can seem like random, neutral bits of information, but if we look more closely, we realize that every bit of information contains proposals about how the world works.

The ideas communicated might be true or false, but they are not neutral. They have the power, for better or worse, to change how we see the world. Over time, patterns emerge that hold certain ideas together and conform our lives to values and ways of living. The ideas we encounter may be complex, but they are not random.

We are influenced, even if only with tiny nudges, by this information. The average person makes a few big decisions every day (Should I study for this test?) and ten thousand to twenty thousand small ones (Should I eat the chips first or the sandwich?). Taken together, that which influences our decisions affects the way we live and possibly even the direction of our lives.

Overwhelmed, many “tune out” and believe whatever they’re told. History tells how unthinking people become the victims of ideas. A characteristic of those in the rising generation, however is their dissatisfaction with the “That’s just the way it is, so stop asking questions” approach to tough questions. They crave meaning and know they must go beyond seeing the world in “bits and pieces,” as Francis Schaeffer put it, to seeing the big picture.

What we need is a map. Maps provide clear mental models of the terrain we must navigate. A good map shows where the various towns, roads, and landmarks are situated in relation to one another. An “ideas map” would describe the contours of the world of thought and help us navigate the information we encounter. The more accurate our map, the more we’ll understand. On the map of life, there are five major landmarks—five questions we must ask and answer whether we want to or not.

Obviously, mastering the world of ideas is a complex undertaking. I think of this every time I visit the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. “The Bod” is one of the world’s great libraries and the repository of more than eleven million books and artifacts. As you imagine Oxford’s majestic spires, recall the apostle Paul’s statement “Take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). How many thoughts are in all those books? How could a person possibly master them all?

Thoughtful people have always felt overwhelmed by how much there is to know. Even King Solomon said, “Of making many books there is no end” (Eccles. 12:12). Think how many more books have been written in the centuries and millennia since he said that! Today the world of ideas is more complex than ever. Which ideas should we take seriously? Which should we dismiss as frivolous, incoherent, or patently ridiculous? And which should we actively oppose as dangerous?