A Prelude to the Main Chapters

After the re-vamp ......

We now have a new "chapter" between the Introduction and Chapter 1, called the Prelude.  It is in the usual temporary spot at 

http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/prelude.pdf

It is a section extracted from Chapter 3 and fine-tuned a little to stand alone before the main chapters get underway, so it will sound familiar to you if you have previously read the draft of Chapter 3.

I won't put the pruned Chapter 3 up again, but Chapter 4 is not too far away.  Your comments and criticisms, as always, are very welcome.  

The re-vamp came about as a result of comment and criticism from you wonderful people.  Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me.

Blessings, Barry

Salvation Appeals

Sorry for the drought in posts recently.

Was out of town for a week watching grandchildren dancing in an eisteddfod, which was wonderful, but have also been revamping a couple of the earlier chapters of the book.  O the joys of writing for an unknown audience on a controversial and emotional topic !!!

Thank you so much for the feedback on the chapters that I've shown you. 

Your comments help me to think outside the mental box I occupy while I'm writing, and enable me to be more considerate of the positions that may be held by some of my potential readership.

Here's today's thought.
In evangelistic or gospel meetings, what can you remember of salvation appeals or invitations given by the preacher?
I'm guessing you haven't heard one like this.

You are forgiven.
If you've never done this before .....
I invite you to come forward and thank God for his goodness and love.

Just in case someone gets upset about such a "tactic," be ready to remind them that 2 Cor 5 : 19 says

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them.

BTW, if you do ever hear a preacher doing this, please let me know.
I would love to spend some time with him/her.

Back to the revamp.  Blessings, Barry

The Story in a Nutshell

At the beginning of Chapter 4, in a section called "The Story in a Nutshell," I have tried to paint a quick picture of the state we humans are in before introducing Jesus as the Saviour of the World.
I found this a tough task.
Would you please look at it and tell me if/how I can improve it while remaining fairly brief?
Thanks, Barry.

God created mankind in his own likeness.
He did this to produce an extension of his divine family that would be responsible to govern the earth for him.
This adventure began with Adam, and his wife Eve, in the Garden of Eden.
You can read about their story in the early chapters of Genesis, the first book in the Bible.

Although the Garden was a perfect, heavenly paradise, it provided a very sheltered life for Adam and Eve.
They could “only” experience the peace and joy of living in harmony with God under his loving care and provision.
They had no idea what the full scope of life had the potential to offer.
They certainly had no idea how well off they were as they had nothing with which to compare their idyllic lifestyle.

God provided a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the Garden knowing that given the choice, Adam and Eve would want to experience its “benefits.”
God told them to avoid this tree, so that when they did touch it, their disobedience would automatically trigger the destruction of their intimate, dependent relationship with him.
They were subsequently removed from their Garden Paradise and given the responsibility of negotiating the outside world of good and evil and providing their own food, shelter and creature comforts.

In that separated state in the outside world, Adam and Eve gave birth to our fallen, human race.
Consequently, all of us have been born into this world separated from God and with a likeness to God that is barely recognisable any more and with little or no interest in governing God's earth for him.
So we start out experiencing what life without God is like, and serving our own interests and governing our own little worlds for our own selfish ambitions.

Because God planned for all this to happen, he also planned to bring it all back into order and have his original purpose and plans achieved.
God's plan, designed before the world even began, was to save us from our God-separatedness (called death in the Bible) and from our inherited Adam-likeness.
This saving would restore us to our original, dependent relationship with God and to our ordained state of God-likeness.

And Jesus Christ, God's first born Son, was and is the key to both of these restoration projects, as we shall see in the next few pages.

Blessings, Barry