The Apostle Paul explains in I Thessalonians 5:21 that Christians are to "examine everything carefully." We are to examine ideas—test and prove all things—discerning which ideas are true from the vast array of possibilities flowing from society. Paul then tells us to hold fast what is good. Starting Points is designed as an introductory world view course, which gives simple, step-by-step instructions teaching you to reason from the Biblical world view. It uses leading questions that help you to apply your knowledge and understanding of the Biblical world view by examining and evaluating ideas from movies and books. And it offers many opportunities that encourage you to embrace ideas that are consistent with the Biblical world view. Those three words—examining, evaluating, and embracing—form the focus of Starting Points. Although it can certainly be adapted, the course is designed to be used over a thirty-six week period. It breaks the year up into five sections, three planned for nine weeks, one for six weeks, and one for three:
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Building the Biblical World View
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Indentifying Literature Based Upon the Biblical World View
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Speaking the Biblical World View into the Culture
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Founding of a Nation Based Upon the Biblical Worldview
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Worldviews of the Western World
Each week involves reading sections from the books below and answering questions, defining terms and thinking about what has been said and what you believe. Starting Points is designed as a consumable workbook, and plenty of space is left for each student to record their answers and thoughts.
Recommended Books and Videos:
(listed in the order they are first used, but you'll usually need several of these at once)
Used primarily in the first section, weeks 1-9...
Used in the second section, weeks 10-18...
Used in the third section, weeks 19-27...
Used in the fourth section, weeks 28-33...
The fifth section, weeks 34-36, does not really cover any new material, focusing rather on review and catch up.
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