Study Guide for "The Really Good News About God"

Trust you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends as we celebrated the birth of the Saviour, and continues today as we start a new year serving the King of kings.

Due to several other events and challenges that have consumed so much of my time, the Blog has not received any attention for quite a while.
But I have prepared a Discussion and Study Guide for "The Really Good News About God" and would be grateful to receive any feedback from you about its usefulness and possible improvements.
It is in pdf format and can be downloaded using the link http://www.ibtechservices.com.au/DandSGuide.pdf .

The pdf file you download can be viewed on screen (of course) and may be printed in three ways.
If your printer will only print on one side of a sheet of paper (non-duplex printer) then you only have one option.
Your printed copy will be 12 pages printed on 12 sheets of paper in portrait mode (your normal way of printing any document).
If your printer will print on both sides of a sheet of paper (duplex printer) then you have two more options.
You can print a 12 page A4 book containing 6 sheets of paper in portrait mode or a 12 page A5 book containing 3 sheets of paper in landscape mode.
For the 6 sheet A4 book, make sure your printer options are set for portrait mode, duplex printing and the pages are to be flipped on the long edge.
For the 3 sheet A5 book, make sure the printer options are set for portrait mode (YES, portrait mode), duplex printing and the pages are to be flipped on the short edge AND in the print page layout options in your pdf software (probably Adobe Acrobat Reader) brochure or booklet or something similar is selected.

Any comments for improvement of the Study Guide would be appreciated.

By the way, I hope to start writing the next book "The Really Good News About Jesus" soon and I will post bits and pieces of it here as I draft them, looking for feedback as happened during the first book's development. 
Several of you automatically receive an email notification when anything new appears here, but if you want to be removed from that process, please let me know so I don't bother you with my ramblings or requests for comments.

Whether you stay in or opt out, please be assured of my appreciation of your friendship and past input into my thinking and writing. 
 
Blessings Barry

The Really Good News About God is finshed and published

Hi everyone
The day has finally arrived.
"The Really Good News About God" has finally reached the finish line.
What a tortoise-like journey this has been. (Too many other good things happening in my life since retiring.)

It is available in print and as an ebook.
Paperback and Kindle versions are available at www.amazon.com by putting the ISBN or full title in the search box at the top of the page.
ISBN 9780994262738 for paperback and 9780994262714 for KIndle.

The EPUB version, the version used by all other ebook readers (except Kindle) is available from most other online book stores like iBooks, SmashWords, Barnes & Noble, etc.
The ISBN for this version is 9780994262707.
(All ISBN's are the same except for the last two digits.)
www.smashwords.com is the base distribution point for all EPUB stores and therefore my preferred spot for all non-kindle ereaders.

Thanks for all your feedback and patient support.

Now to beef up the website to back up the positions taken in the book.

Blessings, Barry

Isabel took this photo of me checking the first book on the arrival of proof copies from the printer this morning.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Last night we watched a British comedy called "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

It's the story of a group of misfit British pensioners who were enticed to retire to a hotel in India that was in very poor repair.
It didn't grab me to begin with, but it grew on me, and by the time it was finished I had been well entertained.

A quaint line often repeated by the Indian manager of the hotel went something like, 

"Everything will be all right in the end.  So if it is not all right, then it is not yet the end."

How that resonated with me as a person believing in God's plan to reconcile all of creation to Himself in the end.
Since all are not yet reconciled to God, we are definitely not yet at the end.

How beautifully true.
God still has the remainder of this age, and more ages to come, in which to complete His mission.
But complete it He will, or the Saviour of the world will have wasted His time.

Blessings, Barry

Les Miserables

This afternoon I went to see the latest release of the movie "Les Miserables" with four of my grandchildren.
I'm not a grant fan of musicals, but I so love the story line of this novel that I couldn't resist the invitation to join the expedition to the cinema.

One of my favourite lines is spoken by Valjean while speaking to Cosette, his "adopted daughter."
He says to her,
"You will learn.
Truth is given by God
To us all in our time,
In our turn."

As I read the Bible it seems clear to me that the truth 
that God exists,
that he is love and sovereign,
that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of the world and to reconcile all of us to himself,
is indeed given to all people, and in their turn.

In fact, the only difference between us (believers) and others (unbelievers) is God's timing in revealing truth.
The only thing that makes us different from others is timing.

We, the believers, the “called," the "firstfruits," are simply further along God's ordained track than the rest of His creation.
God is doing an early work in us.   It is only the timing of His grace that makes the difference.
But not only are we further along the track.  We are chosen early for a reason - to be ministers or messengers of reconciliation to all others.

Valjean in Les Mis declares a profound truth that is only seen by a few at this time.

Blessings, Barry

The Lake of Fire - post 2

Following the first Lake of Fire (LOF) post from last October .....

I have been tossing around some ideas about the Lake of Fire (Rev 20) and thought I would now toss one of them to you.

Many people, especially fire and brimstone preachers, have very firm views on what the LOF could be.  But since the book of Revelation is so chock full of symbols, what the LOF stands for will always be open to conjecture, depending on your view of God.

Those who view God as a vengeful judge see the LOF as a place of horrible torment in flames of fire for eternity.  Properly translated, "for eternity" becomes "for the ages of the ages", but that doesn't alter the ugliness of this view very much.

Those who view God with a bit more mercy than that see the LOF as a place where people are annihilated and removed from existence rather than tormented.

Those of us who view God as a loving Father and the Saviour of the world see the LOF as the place where the rebellious are purified and made ready to move into eternity in fellowship with God.

Using this last view, I am exploring some ideas on how the LOF might achieve this. Here is my latest.

Firstly, I don't think the 'fire' part is a literal fire, but a symbol representing purification or cleansing or changing of form.  Chemically, fire never destroys, it only changes the nature or form of things.  Wood in a lounge fire is never destroyed but is changed or converted to other substances like smoke, char, ash, heat, light, etc.  So fire in Rev 20 is a symbol for change or conversion of one form or nature into another.

The 'lake' part indicates the size of the operation to me - not a small fireplace, or a forge or even a commercial furnace, but a huge expanse of conversion.

I have been at this point for some time.  But today I have gone a step further in my thinking.  And would you guess what promoted this thinking?  Yes, the story of the prodigal son again.  (Boy, there is so much in this story I can write a whole book on what it has taught me.)

The younger son had such a bad attitude to his father.  He asked for his inheritance even before his father had died,  he wasted it in a way that disrespected his father, he worked in places which disrespected his father's religion, etc., etc.   Eventually he was in such a state of poverty, disgrace and torment that he came to his senses and decided to head home to his father.

Due to his own rebellion, greed and foolishness, the place where he was, the nightmare he endured and the final effect that it had on him could easily be described as a life-changing LOF experience for him.

What do you think? 

Could each person create their own mini LOF out of which they come when it has done its work of conversion?  And could all mini LOF's happening at the end of the ages collectively be the vast LOF of Rev 20 which brings everyone to bow the knee and be reconciled to God at the conclusion of the ages?

Barry

PS  The huge increase in church attendance that often occurs after disasters like cyclones, floods, droughts, terrorist  attacks, etc. shows that earthly horrors have the potential to turn thoughts to prayer, repentance and to God looking for something better.

The Lake of Fire

So what happens next?  What happens to these new 'pagan' believers as they are placed in the lake of fire? 

I'll be writing in more detail about the lake of fire in future posts, but for the purpose of following up the last post, I'll just share a story which has appeared on the internet over the years in various forms which gives some insight into this question.

I love this story as it helps me appreciate one of God's methods of making us Christ-like in our process of sanctification (sorry for the big word) and also helps me understand the references to  fire and brimstone and God's purpose in using these cleansing agents.

While reading Malachi 3, a group of women in a Bible Study were struck by the reference to God sitting as a refiner and purifier of silver.  To gain a better understanding of this verse, one of the women offered to visit a silversmith, watch him at work, and report back to the group on her observations the following week.

She called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him work, but didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.  He explained that in refining silver, he needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest in order to burn away all the impurities.

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.  The man answered that yes, not only must he sit there holding the silver, but he also had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire.  If the silver was left in the fire a moment too long, it would be injured in some way.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot sometimes, and began to see the purifying purpose in these experiences under the watchful eye of the Master Silversmith. 

The woman remained silent while she let these thoughts run their course, then asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”  He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — it is fully refined when I can see my image in it.

We were made in His image originally, and we need to be remade in that image for fellowship with Him in eternity.  He does this through the work of His Holy Spirit now, and through his judgements at the Great White Throne.

I think this story perfectly describes the purpose of the lake of fire during the last age - the age of the new heavens and earth.  It is for purifying the new believers.

Most mainstream Christians think that the lake of fire is the hell of eternal torment that they have been taught about in their churches for many years and is the final place of unending punishment for all those who do not become believers by the time they are called to leave this planet at the end of their physical lives here.

I would rather see the fire and sulphur as pictures of the cleansing and purifying processes which God undertakes to make these new believers ready for life in eternity with him. 

Actually, the lake is also called the second death, the death of all that offends God and needs to be removed from those who have not had the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit involved in their lives as we've had.

Different pieces of silver will obviously take different amounts of time in the flame to be purified, depending on how 'unpurified' they were when they were placed there, but when the lake of fire (the second death) has finally finished its work it will no longer be needed and will be destroyed as Paul promises in 1 Cor 15 : 26.

Barry