When you disagree with me, you are quite welcome to write letters to Christianity Today explaining why I am a heretic and heathen. (Please be sure to send me a copy as well, for I enjoy learning about the lines in the sand that people draw.) Any movement as vital and growing as Evangelical Christianity is bound to have members with strong opinions of what is right and wrong – especially when a key purpose of the movement is to help people understand right and wrong.

This book is a beginner’s book on Evangelical Christianity. It is not intended as a theological treatise – I’ll write that some other time. In other words, I am not attempting to mix the precise shade of yellow that is sunlight at 4 pm on the afternoon of June the fifth after a light rainstorm. No, I’ve walked into the paint store and simply grabbed a bright “sunny” yellow that most people would agree is a reasonable representation of sunshine for an amateur artist.  I’ll let the perfectionists and the theologians argue over the precise shade for that rainy afternoon.

In the same way, I’ve tried to lay out for the beginner some of the debates that occur within Evangelical Christianity and between Evangelicals and other groups, for that is a good way to understand us. If you are new to Evangelical Christianity, please keep in mind that we all agree that “yellow” is the color of sunshine – just not exactly which yellow. We all affirm Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior – we often emphasize different aspects of Him in our worship and ministry.

Perhaps the one weakest point of our movement is our failure to follow the point that Paul makes in Chapter 14 of Romans, that disputes over minor theological points confuse and cause despair in the new Christian. For the chapter is not just about the holding or not holding of feast days, and it is not limited to clean or unclean food discussion, but applies the principles of Grace and brotherly love to all of life and reminds us that these principles trump the law of Moses. In particular, verses 12 and 13 are very, very important.

• Brian Boley

February 14, 2007