The man who lives in the Swiss Alps is probably not terribly impressed when he visits North America and strolls through the Adirondacks or the Smokies. The woman who has spent her life snorkeling along the Great Barrier Reef is probably not too enthusiastic about snorkeling off the East Coast of Canada. The person who has grown up on the beaches of Maui is probably not going to break the bank to vacation on the beaches of Lake Superior. There is nothing wrong with the Adirondacks or the Smokies, nothing wrong with the East Coast of Canada or the beaches of the Great Lakes. It’s just that they are not nearly as good, not nearly as impressive, not nearly as awe-inspiring as the alternatives.

It does us good at times to ponder heaven, to ponder the future God has promised to those who love him. He has promised that we will be with him forever in a new heaven and a new earth—a re-creation of this world in which all sin and sorrow, all pain and danger will have been removed. Here we will live out the purpose for which God created us—to spread out over the earth and enjoy it with him and for him.
As we make the pilgrimage from here to there, as we endure this long journey, we expect that it will be difficult. We expect that we will experience the consequences that have come with mankind’s fall into sin. We expect that we will endure sickness, bereavement, persecution, chastisements, and so many other forms of suffering. This is all inevitable in a world like this one.
While we do not wish to suffer, we must be confident that God always has purposes in it. And one of these purposes is undoubtedly to prepare us for what is to come, to shift our hearts from earth to heaven, from what is temporal to what is eternal. The sorrows here prepare us for the glories there. And this makes me wonder: wouldn’t it be the ones who suffer most on earth who are best prepared to enjoy heaven? Wouldn’t it be the ones who were deprived of so much here who will be most satisfied there?
Just think of the wonder of a stroll in the garden for those who were long confined to the sick room, a hike in the mountains for those who spent their lives in a wheelchair, a place in God’s mansion for those who lived in nothing more than a hut.
Imagine the music of the heavenly choir to those who ears were deaf, the splendor of the New Jerusalem to those whose eyes were blind, the joy of crying out praise to those whose lips were mute.
Imagine never hearing a sound for your entire earthly existence only to have the heavenly choir as the first notes to ever reach your ear. Imagine never seeing anything on this side of the grave, only to have the face of Jesus be the first sight that ever meets your eye. Imagine never being able to form a word here only to have your tongue loosened in Christ’s presence so the first words you ever speak are an expression of love to him.
Surely it’s not the man who lived in fine palaces who will be most amazed by the streets of gold, but the man who lived in poverty. Surely it’s not the woman who enjoyed fine dining every day of her life who will be most satisfied by the heavenly feasts, but the woman who lived in deprivation. Surely it’s not the person who traveled to the four corners of the earth who will be most satisfied to explore the wonders of God’s creation, but the person who was unable to leave his hometown, or perhaps unable to leave his bed.
Those who were lonely in this world will marvel at the joy of fellowship, those who were abused in this world will be satisfied to experience perfect safety, those who were estranged in this world will rejoice to know full acceptance. The one who had so many loved ones taken from her arms will be most satisfied to know that pain and death and sorrow and sighing shall be no more.
We know that heaven will be a wonder for all who are admitted, a place of perfect peace and perfect satisfaction for all who enter its gates. But surely heaven will be a greater wonder still for those whose joys were fewest, whose sorrows were deepest, whose earth was most distant from heaven.

It can be difficult to know how to tell others about our Christian convictions. It can be difficult to know the best way to tell others about what we believe and why we believe it. And while I am sure this has always been the case, there are new challenges that come with the seismic shifts we’ve seen in Western culture over the past decade or two—shifts that have carried us into what is increasingly obviously a post-Christian West in which our religious convictions are now a social liability far more than an asset.

I am often asked for recommendations on books that someone can hand to an unbeliever, a skeptic, or a religious wanderer—books that may help persuade them to come to the Christian faith. I generally recommend Keller’s The Reason for God because of the way he engages intellectually with the modern mind, but now I’m glad to also be able to recommend a newer option: Rory Shiner and Peter Orr’s The World Next Door: A Short Guide to the Christian Faith. This book, they say, “is our best shot at commending the Christian message to our friends. It’s driven by the universal human instinct to increase the joy of finding a good thing by sharing it with others. We both think we’ve found a good thing—the best thing—in finding God through Jesus. We want to share it.”
Shiner is a pastor in Perth, Australia while Orr is a Northern Irish professor who now teaches New Testament in Sydney. Shiner was raised in a Christian home while Peter was not. Yet both have come to the Christian faith and both are now eager to share it with their friends and family members. This book is their best attempt to do so.
They take an interesting angle on an evangelistic work by framing it around the Apostle’s Creed, the most widely accepted summary of Christian truth. This creed “is associated with baptism and the entry of new converts into the faith. We figure the creed will keep us on the straight and narrow, tethering us to an account of the faith that is briskly orthodox and historically grounded…” The creed also allows them to do more than talk about the Christian faith—it forces them to share exactly what its primary claims are. It forces them to deal immediately and unashamedly with matters Christians may shy away from as they talk to unbelievers—God as Creator, Jesus born of a virgin, the triunity of God, and so on.
Where they begin, though, is with demons. Yes, demons. They begin by telling of Jesus’ confrontation with a demon-possessed man, explaining how it opens up an understanding of the unseen world—the world the biblical writers described as existing above and below us. Why would they begin here? “Francis Schaeffer, a Christian thinker from the mid-20th century, apparently used to give his first talk on angels when addressing university students. When asked why, he explained that when he spoke about God and sin, people heard him to be speaking about morality. But when he spoke about angels, people understood he was speaking about spiritual truths. About a bigger reality, about transcendent truths. That’s what we want to talk about, too.”
This is clever, I think, because it immediately confronts the reader with the reality that the Christian faith is not merely a way to live or a system of morality, but something far bigger, far broader, far more all-encompassing. “The Christian faith is less like an object in the world, whose existence is accepted by some and denied by others, and more like a pair of glasses through which you look at the rest of life, the universe, and everything.”
And so they lead the reader through the Creed, phrase by phrase. They discuss the being and nature of God and tell of his creative power; they introduce Jesus as God and man, as incarnated and virgin-born, as crucified and buried, as resurrected, reigning, and returning; they tell of the Holy Spirit and his ongoing work in this world. In other words, they lead the reader through the most essential claims of Christianity.
While I am obviously not a skeptic of the faith, and while I have not yet had opportunity to hand this book to one, I do believe its approach is helpful and will prove effective. I admire the authors for not running away from even the most offensive of Christianity’s claims and from its most difficult doctrines. I admire them for wanting to share their own enthusiasm for the God who has met them and saved them. And I admire them for remaining engaging and winsome all the while. “Christianity’s explanatory power, bracing beauty, and sheer otherness are some of the best things about it. It ends up making our modern, secular, materialistic Western view of life look a bit, well, dull. There are all sorts of good reasons to become a Christian, some of them very serious. But one of the more surprising reasons is that being a Christian is actually really interesting and, in its own way, fun.” I couldn’t agree more and it’s my hope that many people read The World Next Door and come to embrace the faith it describes.

Buy from Amazon

Many years ago, Aileen and I made the decision to enroll our children in the local public school. This was a decision we made as carefully and thoughtfully as we knew how to at the time (which was way back in the early 2000s). We decided we would take the approach of “a child at a time, a year at a time, a school at a time.” But even as we kept options open, we never felt the need to change course. Neither did our kids. A lot of time has gone by and two of our children have graduated those public schools while the third has completed as far as tenth grade.

After Nick wrapped up his high school education, I did a little interview with him. I wanted to hear about this experience, whether he felt public schooling had been good or bad, wise or foolish, and what he intended to do if the Lord granted him children. You can read that here. I recently asked Abby the same questions because I wanted to her take on it as well. In both cases I really encouraged them to be as honest as possible without any fear of offending their parents. Here are Abby’s unedited answers.
What do you think were the benefits of being in public school?
I think that one of the main benefits to public schooling is that I learned very early in my life about the brokenness of the world and about the people who are living apart from the Lord. I was still young enough that I saw what was going on around me and I could return home and talk to my parents and older brother about it who would explain the brokenness to me and point me back to Christ. As I explain a bit later on, seeing this brokenness is a large part of my testimony. 
Another benefit is that I learned how to be friends with non-believers very early on in my life. I started public school in junior kindergarten and continued all the way until I graduated high school. I was around unbelievers constantly, and most of my friends were not Christians. While this also proved to be a challenge, it allowed me to learn how to be a loving friend to them, and also provided me opportunities to share my beliefs (looking back I wish I had taken more of these opportunities). Now that I have graduated high school and moved out of the area, I still have some of those friendships and can still minister to my unbelieving friends as we continue to get older. 
Are there ways in which you think public school may have harmed you or otherwise been a negative force or influence?
I don’t think public school harmed me. However, I do think there were negatives to my experience. The negative influence of public school came more from the people I was around than public schooling itself. I knew what I believed and by God’s grace I was not swayed. However, being in the world and being around so many people who were living unrepentantly in sin weighed heavily on my heart. By the time I graduated highschool I was ready to be in a Christian environment, surrounded by believers. However, through this I learned how to pray for, serve and love those unbelievers in my life. 
Did you find it hard to be a Christian in public school?
Yes and no. For the most part I did not find it terribly difficult, especially when I was younger. Most of my peers did not care about my religion. I grew up in a very multicultural area so a lot of people identified themselves with one religion or another and I was just another one of the religious kids. However, I think it was more difficult as I got older. There was the pressure to be and live like everyone else. Being around unbelievers constantly and hearing about their sin weighed heavily on my heart. It was also hard when I was expected to complete assignments or read material that I did not agree with. I found that most of the difficulty came from teachers and the pressure to agree with what they were teaching even when I knew I did not. 
Did you feel pressure to conform to a non-Christian standard?
Yes. I think that the pressure I felt came the most often from the teachers I had throughout the years and less from my peers (although I did experience this as well). When I was younger (young elementary school age) this pressure was less intense. The older I got the more of this pressure I felt. Multiple times there were assignments I was expected to complete, books I was supposed to read or movies I was told to watch that were thoroughly against what I believed. Specifically in classes like Canadian Law and English class. I was expected to debate or write papers defending subjects that I disagreed with. I was expected to agree. This is where I found the most pressure to conform to a non-Christian standard. Not agreeing could have serious consequences and I felt the pressure to conform heavily. 
In terms of my peers, I found that they for the most part, did not care much about what I believed. I did have to choose my friends carefully however, and I lost a lot of them as we continued to get older and found we had less and less in common. While they did not understand, they did not pressure me to do things that went against what I believed. However, as I started to get older and my opinions and beliefs on major issues (abortion and discussions of sexuality) differed so fundamentally from many of my friends, these pressured increased. I found myself avoiding the subjects more often than not. Avoiding subjects like this is where I think I found myself succumbing to pressure the most amongst my peers. 
Do you feel like your faith would be stronger if you had been homeschooled or Christian schooled?
No. I think that the Lord used public schooling and the experiences I had during my time there to show me the brokenness of the world. A large part of my testimony includes seeing the way that the Christians in my life were living their lives dependent on the Lord, and in contrast, watching the non-Christians that I had grown up with fall deeper and deeper into sin while at the same time becoming more and more miserable. I think that seeing this contrast first hand every day strengthened my faith, and it made me realize that I wanted no part of the world that my friends were living in. I also had to learn how to trust the Lord with my friends. 
Are there ways in which you think homeschooling or Christian schooling would have been a more positive experience for you?
I do not feel like public schooling was an overall negative experience for me. However, had I been homeschooled or Christian schooled it could have potentially saved me from being influenced by some friends who I should not have been influenced by. It could have also allowed me to avoid some of the heaviness on my heart from being around and hearing about unrepentant sin so constantly. I do not think that the negatives I experienced in the public school system outweighed the positives I walked away with. 
As much as you can put yourself in our shoes, would you have made the same decision?
I think that I would have made the same decision as you. I do not feel as though public school was an overall negative experience for me. The world has changed since I first started my education. Through public school, I learned a lot and it is a huge part of my testimony. In his kindness the Lord used it to show me my own sinfulness and His grace. He also used it to show me the sinfulness of the world. As I said earlier I think the positives I walked away with far outweigh the negatives I experienced and I’m glad I went through the public school system. 
As much as you can project into an uncertain future, how do you think you’re likely to educate your own children? 
I think that in answering this question it is important to know just how much the world has changed since I started my public school education. Schools have become much more liberal and much less tolerant than they were when I was in them. If I could have my children repeat the experience I had in public school I believe I would send them into the public school system. However, with the way the world seems to be moving and what I know of that’s being taught in schools now, I would be more hesitant to send my children, especially little ones into them as I believe they would have a much different experience than my own. I think I would be more comfortable sending my older kids into public schools however. I believe I would lean more toward a Christian school education where I could be more confident in the teaching they were receiving and the peers they would have.
OK, back to Tim so I can wrap up as I did last time. I guess the big question at the end is this: If Aileen and I had to begin again, would we choose the public schools or would we instead go with one of the alternatives? To be honest, we just don’t know and we can’t put ourselves back in that situation. But we agree with what Abby said at the end—some key cultural factors have changed between then and now. Regardless, we gratefully acknowledge God’s hand of blessing on the decision we did make while also acknowledging that same hand of blessing would have been upon us whichever path we chose. We’re so deeply grateful to Him.