On the Home Straight

Hi Everyone
Sorry for the lack of contact and news recently.
But here is the latest.

The manuscript for the book is complete and I am trying to find an editor, as everyone tells me an editor is essential for a work to be published.

My present schedule is to get the editing done, then format the manuscript for publishing as an ebook, then format and publish as a print book.  I hope to get this done before the end of the year, but that may be optimistic as I am discovering that the journey between writing the manuscript and publication is challenging, a bit hazardous, and can be quite costly (especially by some routes).

After that, I plan to overhaul this blog site and start blogging again on subjects under-pinning the topics covered in the book (more like mini Bible Studies).

In the meantime, I have prepared a website to accompany the book, which is located at www.ibtechservices.com.au (our old business domain).

Please have a look at it for me and give it a good, solid road test.
I have tested it with the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer, but nothing else.  If you have an earlier version of these or any version of Opera or Safari please check it out in these for me.

Any comments, positive or negative, will be most gratefully received, and please report back to me any links or menu items that don't work as they should.

Will talk again soon.
Blessings, Barry

Addition to Chapter 7 of The Really Good News About God

Hi Everyone
It's a long time since I added anything to the blog - I have been totally consumed with finishing and editing the book, and building its companion website.
I have made several changes during the editing stage - mostly small things prompted by your feedback, copy editing changes and the like.
However, I have added a new piece (below) to pages 168 and 169 of the pdf I sent to my reviewers to expand the way Choice Three could be actioned by the reader.
Please have a read and suggest any improvements for me (within a couple of days).

(Page 168)

So here's my question.

What are you going to do with the gift of faith that God has given you?

What are you going to do now that you know and believe that ….

God genuinely and unconditionally loves you,

Jesus has dealt with your sins,

God has completely forgiven you, holds nothing against you, and

has opened the door for you to enjoy life in union with Jesus forever.

Remember the Bible says that …..

There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.

[ Romans 8 : 1 GNT ]

(Page 169)

Well, you have quite a few options.

First, you could totally ignore what you now know and what you have come to believe.

That will leave you exactly where you are, living the same life you have been living up till now.

Second, you could say, “That's good news. I think I'll sit on that for a while and see how I feel about it next week.”

Thirdly, you could say, “Wowweeee, how good is that? Thank you God for doing all that for me.”

You could then accept God's invitation to live in union with Jesus Christ, the One who paid for your sins, and learn to follow his way of life.

If this third one is your choice, then here are some suggestions for what you might do next.

• Seek out a Christian church in your locality that believes and teaches what you have now discovered about God and his plans, and become involved in its life and mission. (It doesn’t matter what denomination it is, nor what label is above its front door.)
• If you can’t find a church which teaches a God of unconditional love and supreme sovereignty, and a Saviour who will be 100% successful in his mission, then try to find one that will allow you to freely believe and talk about these things and still be fully involved in its life and mission. (I belong to a church like that. Several of us believe as you now do, but some don’t. However, everyone is accepted and acceptable, and we enjoy a great unity and freedom which embraces our diversity and respects people at all stages of life’s faith journey.)
• If you don’t feel brave enough to begin this search on your own, find someone you know who is also serious about being a Christ-follower and ask them to explore the church scene with you.
• If you can’t find someone to accompany you, ask God to bring someone like that into your life. (I found a someone like that at a local hotel. God has his people everywhere.)
• If you wish, you may write to me at goodnews@ibtechservices.com.au and I could share some hints about exploring your church landscape with you.
  
  
    

Any comments please? 
Blessings Barry

Chapter 6

Hi Everyone.
Have just finished the first draft of Chapter Six and have hidden it in the usual spot at http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/c6.pdf.  Please have a read and feedback your comments.
I received some really helpful suggestions and feedback for the last two chapters I posted, so please keep them coming.
You should now have received .....
Preface, Introduction, Prelude and Chapters 1 - 7

So now after 4 years, the first draft of the book is completed.  And because it has taken so long, it will need a fair bit of editing as my writing style has probably changed over the time, my understanding of some of the theological concepts keeps developing, and, because I have written each chapter "in isolation" from the other chapters, will have to check the linkages between them.

I have also been working on a website to support the book and researching my publishing options.

Anyway, that's the news at the moment,
Please attack Chapter Six for me. I really appreciate it.

Blessings, Barry

Chapter 7

Hi Everyone
I've just finished my first draft of Chapter 7 (the last chapter) and posted it at the usual spot at 
http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/C7.pdf.
It is a Postlude to the main chapters, and is related to the Prelude that came before Chapter 1.

I've jumped over Chapter 6, as I didn't have enough of my resources around me while on holidays at Withcott to write it, but I'll get on to that one next.

Please offer me your comments, criticisms, suggestions for improvements of Chapter 7 during the next couple of weeks.

Thanks.
Blessings, Barry.

Chapter 5

Hi Everyone

After over 12 months of distractions and other challenges, I returned to my book this week. I am in Withcott where temperatures have been in the mid 40's for several days and my back has been at its worst.

So with tolerance levels at a minimum, I have taken to finishing chapter 5 with a savage aggressive streak. I have deleted over half the original content by removing repetitive thoughts, "unnecessary" explanations and theological arguments mounted to support my story-line.  After all, my target audience is the un-churched (and hopefully some ex-churched) so theological arguments would be of little value.

The draft for this chapter is hiding in the usual spot at http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/C5.pdf.  Please read it critically when you get the chance and feedback your thoughts, criticisms, suggestions for improvement, etc., no matter how large or small.  I'll leave it posted up there until the end of January, but your feedback will be most welcome any time before or after that date.

Blessings, Barry