Where to Begin?

1. Hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Hear it, believe it, and accept him as your Lord and Savior. And read good books about fundamental Christian beliefs, such as:
• Basic Christianity by John Stott
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
2. Read the Bible - At first, simply read the Bible to get to know the Bible stories. The Bible as a whole tells a single story of God's plan, execution, and fulfillment of salvation for humanity through Jesus Christ, but there are many interesting stories within that story. So read the Bible to get to know what's in the Bible. If you want to check your familiarity with the Bible, check out my other post Bible Survey to see if you can pass the test Seminary students take.
3. Study the Bible - Once you are familiar with the Bible and want to know more, get on a study plan. There are many ways/methods to study the Bible, so choose your method and stick to it. You can take classes offered by either a seminary or your church as well. Some books helpful to my study (before I went to seminary) were:
• Understanding the Bible by John Stott
• How to Study the Bible by John MacArthur
• New Bible Commentary from IVP Academic
  
4. Study Theology - Don't let the word theology scare you. The word theology only means "the study of the nature of God and religious belief." And if you are a Christian, you already know about God and have religious beliefs. So why not refine them? Here are good places to start:
   
1. Examine Historical Creeds, Confessions, Catechisms - Find out what your spiritual forefathers have believed and died for. Some of good starting points are:
• The Apostle's Creed (AD 390)
• The Belgic Confession (AD 1561)
• Heidelberg Catechism (AD 1563)
And if your church belongs to a denomination, it should have a set of doctrinal standards. For an example, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. So if your church belongs to a denomination, look up the Book of Church Order and find out what beliefs your church body adheres to.
2. Study Systematic Theology - Systematic theology “[organizes] thematically the various dimensions and emphases of Scripture and in particular to show their inter-relatedness as they communicate the word of God”^[1]. It will help you to organize your beliefs and allow you to explain your beliefs logically. In other words, it will allow you to do the task Apostle Peter talked about: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15, NIV)." A couple books that helped me to get started on Systematic Theology study are:
• Systematic Theology Study Guide from Zondervan
  
• Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume by Herman Bavinck
  

[1] New Dictionary of Theology.