David Arns

David Arns was raised in church, but didn't start actually serving the Lord until his sophomore year of high school, in 1972. Being of a rather analytical turn of mind, he was delighted to see that there is a Biblical mandate for all Christians to be analytical: I Thessalonians 5:21 (NIV) says "Test everything. Hold on to the good." That, coupled with Paul's exhortation to teach what "the Holy Ghost teaches," not depending on man's wisdom (I Corinthians 2:11-14), and the commendation of the Bereans, who "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11), pretty much define Dave's life, in the spiritual realm, as well as the natural realm. In the mid-1970s, Dave heard a sermon in which he was exhorted to "know WHAT you believe and WHY you believe it," and he has been trying to put that into practice ever since. He has been known to abandon long-held beliefs when someone showed him that they were incompatible with Scripture; that attitude seems to be necessary if we want to continue to grow in the Lord.

The "Thoughts On" Series of Books

Dave's current project is the "Thoughts On" series of books. The phrase "Thoughts On" is deliberately ambiguous, because it is meaningful and accurate either way you interpret it. First, it indicates where the seeds of the whole series came from: they were from a large list of informal Bible studies Dave had put together for his own interest and edification as a result of his "Thoughts On" various topics that occurred to him during his quiet times with the Lord. And second, it indicates one of Dave's goals as a teacher: to persuade people to turn their "Thoughts On" and consider logically what God has said in His word, and how it is very much to our benefit to take heed to what He says.

When reading The Chronicles of Narnia to his son Matthew when he was little, Dave came across the Professor's exasperated musing: "'Logic!' said the Professor half to himself. 'Why don't they teach logic at these schools?'" Oh, did that ring true with him! Many are the times Dave has heard a preacher or Bible teacher make a statement from the pulpit, and the crowd responds with a hearty "Amen!" Dave looks around astonished, thinking, "That statement's not true! I can think of three Scriptures off the top of my head that refute it!" And he just grieves for the complacency evident in most Christians; there is so much with which God wants to bless them, and they miss out because so often they don't seek the Lord to see what He says on a certain matter, and they don't check the Bible to verify statements they hear.

So, Dear Reader, please turn your Thoughts On. . . :)