Everyone who has been educated knows that out in the ocean of mankind swarms a seemingly unnaproachable sea of ideas and beliefs which can seem at times to be confusing and fearful. Each ideology calls for your attention like the thunder claps of a storm at sea, and you feel confused and tossed about by the contradicting ideas that clap each other like angry waves, catching you in the middle of thier fierce controversy.

In this swirling sea of ideas, we need a solid rock on which to base our own indivisual faith: a place where we can rise out of the confusing storm and hold on to a rock-solid belief that everything within us confirms to be truth.

This new project seeks to find a way to bring organization to all the ideas and beliefs of mankind, and search for a solid rock in the midst of their storm. It is based on honest scholarship, and research and survey work on world religions, religious experience, religious conversions, and religious beliefs.

Because the author is personally convinced that the Bible is accurate and without error in any way, this book will mean to show, after an honest look at all other religions, that Biblical Christianity is different, and why it is so. It means to show how biblical Christianity is like the solid rock in a stormy, wild sea of ideas.

Major Concerns for the Project

The first concern is to show what true and biblical Christianity is and how its teachings and doctrines differ from the other religions and ideologies of the world. Second, to teach one how to tell what is real true Christianity and what is not. And third, why the author believes that Christianity, when studied above the backdrop of the world's other religions, is uniquely more believable and experientially more valuable than all the others.

The author and director of the research for the book, Rachel Vande Hei, has been studying world religions and ideologies for four years. "I first got interested in the subject when I was taking courses about different religions in undergrad school," she says. "I studied six of the world's largest and most influential religions in debth, reading their literature, researching personal testimonies from adherants and converts from the different ones, and studying their apologetics. I then wrote my thesis for my BA degree in Intercultural Studies on world beliefs and worldviews."

"One major concern I have as the author of this work is honesty and integrity when portraying the beliefs, practices, and experiences of other religions. I want to treat each religion with respect, laying aside, as it were, my bias toward my own faith, and honestly looking at the other world religions and faiths. I have prepared myself to study them in-depth, and to interview as many as I can that embrace each belief, in order to find what their experiences and explanations are, and give them a fair chance to speak for themselves. I am confidant that, though I give opportunity for each to speak on its own, in the end the uniquenesses of my own faith will still remain incomparable to the ideas and experiences of theirs. That, after all, is why I believe I owe my religion the great passion I am giving it. I don't want my life to be a waste of time on this earth. I want, as I know so many do, to spend my life believing and practicing something ultimately worthwhile for my own and the interests of those around me.

I want to show you, through a broad scope, the reason why I believe, when viewing all religions at an equal distance and treating each one with equal honesty, integrity, and respect, true and biblical Christianity will shine forth in unmatchable beauty because of its unique claims, beliefs, practices, and experiences within the sea of human ideas and beliefs."

Some concepts and practices that are being put together for the project:

• Surveys on world religions, religious experience, religious conversions, and religious beliefs. The goal is to get a certain amount completed from each ideology studied. One special concentration for these surveys is converts. Converts to and from any religion are targeted because the information they give about the reasons, influences, and the whole process of their conversion (to or from any religion) is invaluable in understanding the nature of human belief systems and how they can change. EVERYONE in every belief or ideology is invited to participate in this survey effort. Download the survey here and print it out, complete it, and send it in.
• Second, the different ideologies' writings, beliefs, and practices will be studied in depth. They will be quoted in the book as well as the Bible, using them and testimonies of subscribers to both religions to show what the different religions are, what they teach, what they require, and what they offer.

Goals for Solid Rock in a Sea of Ideas

• That Christians would understand how truly different our relationship with God is when examined over the backdrop of the world's religions. Our religion, based on a personal relationship with God made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Son, on the cross, is unique from all other world religions and ideologies. It is more logical, believable, and experientially feasible than all the other religions in the world. Its claims are greater, higher, truer, more tried and tested; and it offers more to those who embrace it than any other religion, ideology, or belief system in the world.
  
• That non-Christians would see what true, biblical Christianity is really supposed to be like, and how it is different, more unique, more feasible, and more valuable than the world's other religions.

Purposes for writing Solid Rock in a Sea of Ideas

• Because I see so many Christians struggling with grasping the reality of their faith in the face of the world's other religions.
  
• Also because I have heard a lot of people altogether, especially non-Christians say they wonder "what is truth?" amidst all the religions and each one's unique claims at truth.
  
• Because some simple folk are telling us that all religions are true, there are many ways to God, and all religions are basically the same at heart.
  
• Because some Christians are believing and teaching that Christianity is not much different than other religions, and that we should be tolerant of borrowing beliefs, doctrines, and practices from other religions because they think that, after all, "all roads lead to Rome," and "all prayers lead to God."
• Because so many things have come up out of the colorful tapestry of Christian History that contradict what true, biblical Christianity is at heart, and therefore many people have become confused and think they know what Christianity is, but it's not.

Interested? Here's how you can be involved!

• Do a Survey! It doesn't matter what religion or ideology you espouse, WE NEED YOUR HELP to make this project a reality. Take just five or ten minutes out and give us your own thoughts and experiences. The survey can even be done anonymously! Download the survey here, and return it to address enclosed. Or email us with your address and we'll send you one by mail. Maybe you know others who would like to do the survey. Please reference them to our website or share the survey with them. You'll be able to be an important part of this great project!

• Sign up to our FREE bi-monthly e-mail newsletter so you'll have the latest on what's happening for the Solid Rock in a Sea of Ideas project. We'll feature excerpts from the book, comments from interested friends like you, and excerpts from our interesting surveys. A great resource you'll want to have that will keep you updated on the book's progress and printing. Send us an email with "Subscribe Me" noted in the subject or body of the message.

• Contact Us. Give us your thoughts on this project, or some ideas and comments. We welcome your input!

Author's Own Testimony

"I chose this way (of Christ) not because I have known and tried all other ways, but because I feel there is significant proof that God is real and that every Word written in the Bible is true. Since I believe it, since I am convinced that there is a God and that He has spoken in the Bible, I feel the whole essence of it calls for me to throw my whole life into it, seriously, unrrelevantstantly, unhesitatingly, and completely.

People may ask me how I can know for sure that I wouldn't like another way better "because I haven't tried it?" All I can say is that first they are in the some predicament because they will never know if they wouldn't have liked better to have had one faith in God since childhood as I've had, without doubts.

Second, I'm very sure I would rather spend my life trusting what I've proven in my own tests to be ultimately trustworthy and wholly fulfilling, than to constantly change my beliefs because I want to 'try them all on' and 'see how they all feel.' I'm not so much concerned with "how they all feel" anyway, since I know the Bible to be true through my own experiments, tests, and scholarship, and have felt the utmost pleasure it describes while being "in the presence of the Lord."

This utmost pleasure is enough for me. Also, though sometimes the pleasure of other belief systems may appear in this life to be stronger and better than mine, I believe there is another life which lasts longer than this one, and in some way may be even more real than this. I therefore put much value on preparing for that life-and happily admit that this life would be wasted in foolish reservedness of pleasure if the next does not happen. Except for the joy set before me in heaven and the ultimate pleasure of the always-present Presence, my whole life would be a waste.

This explains the reason my whole life must be spent in one unified, purified thrust to obey, please, delight in, and grow closer to the God I've come to know who has smitten me so violently.

I shall never doubt. My beliefs, by their nature, demand my entire life, my love, my all. I give it gladly."

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