Hi Everyone
Thanks so much for your feedback from the Preface and Introduction.
I have now posted Chapter 1 for you to read and review for me.
It is at http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/C1.pdf
Some of it will be familiar to you if you've been reading the blogsite regularly.
And that will be true for other chapters as well.
The blogsite is used by me to try out ideas on you and get your feedback in small bits before those bits become parts of a chapter.
So your candid feedback is always appreciated on the blogsite as well as the on draft chapters that are now being posted at ncable.net.au.
I am hoping to get the draft of Chapter 2 ready for you to review by the end of the month.
But life is so busy when you've retired ;-) ...... but that's my aim.
Thanks again.
Blessings, Barry
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
You can start reading the book - at last !
Hi Everyone.
After writing for non-Christians,and then re-writing for Christians, and then re-writing for the non-churched and ex-churched, I have decided to write for all of these groups together and hope that whoever reads the book will find themselves engaged by it.
So, after lots of fiddling around, I am ready to give you the draft manuscript of the book, bit by bit, and ask for your earnest and honest critiques in the hope that it will be finished its "peer review" by Christmas (you are the peers) and I can look at publishing it and completing the website early next year.
Let me know if you have any difficulty getting either of these and I will email you a separate copy.
My plan is to put each draft chapter up at similar locations every two weeks or so, beginning with Chapter1 in mid September. I will let you know when each draft reaches its destination through this blog site.
Thank you for your love and patience.
I will really appreciate your corrections, criticism and suggestions as you review each piece that is posted.
Blessings, Barry.
After writing for non-Christians,and then re-writing for Christians, and then re-writing for the non-churched and ex-churched, I have decided to write for all of these groups together and hope that whoever reads the book will find themselves engaged by it.
So, after lots of fiddling around, I am ready to give you the draft manuscript of the book, bit by bit, and ask for your earnest and honest critiques in the hope that it will be finished its "peer review" by Christmas (you are the peers) and I can look at publishing it and completing the website early next year.
The preface is available at
http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/preface.pdf
and the introduction at
http://users.ncable.net.au/~barrytatt/introduction.pdf
Let me know if you have any difficulty getting either of these and I will email you a separate copy.
My plan is to put each draft chapter up at similar locations every two weeks or so, beginning with Chapter1 in mid September. I will let you know when each draft reaches its destination through this blog site.
Thank you for your love and patience.
I will really appreciate your corrections, criticism and suggestions as you review each piece that is posted.
Blessings, Barry.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Law of Gravitation
(Haven't decided whether to put this into Chapter 1 - "God Loves Us" or into Chapter 4 - "Jesus is the Saviour of the World". As always your opinions, views, criticisms are most welcome.)
I enjoy reading science.
Although my science degree (from 50 years ago) is in Physics, I like to keep in touch with where mankind is up to in appreciating and understanding God's wonderful creation in other areas as well - like chemistry, biology, geology and astronomy.
So please indulge me and let me digress a little to talk some science.
Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation states that any two objects exert a gravitational force of attraction on each other.
The direction of that force is from the centre of one object to the centre of the other.
The size of the force is determined by the size of the objects and their distance apart.
For any two particular objects the force on one is the same as the force on the other, but the effect of that force will be more visible on the smaller object.
Let me illustrate by considering the earth and me.
We attract each other with a force of about 800 “force units” (in the metric measurement system).
If I step off the top of a building, remove the “obstacle” between me and the earth, this force causes us to come together quite rapidly.
But which one of us does the moving?
The force of 800 force units is not enough to get the earth moving towards me, but it sure moves me towards the earth.
So, small objects will move towards, and may eventually collide with, large objects because the force of attraction between them gets the smaller one moving more easily.
So why this digression?
I knew you'd be wondering by now.
I see the law of love working in the same way as the law of gravitation.
They are both universal laws put in place by God - one in the physical realm and one in the spiritual.
In the universal law of love, God is the big object and mankind is the small one.
There is a love force of attraction between God and us whose direction is from the centre or heart of God to our centres or hearts.
That force is always acting so that when obstacles between us and God are reduced or removed, we will start moving towards God - and will eventually meet him, be united with him.
Jesus referred to this when he said that he would draw all people to himself.
It might take a while, it might need lots of obstacles to be removed, maybe reduced bit by bit, but eventually all people will meet him and be united with him.
Love to hear from you on this (or anything else for that matter) Barry
Friday, August 12, 2011
Evolution is Deadly
In Chapter Four of THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT GOD I talk about Jesus being the Saviour of the world.
In discussing this, I assume the position that sin is a fact and that a Saviour is therefore necessary.
My recent thinking about atheism and evolution have made me realise that a growing proportion of people do not make these assumptions.
Why not?
The TV vision of the recent London riots and associated criminality alone should give everyone a clue that sin is rampant in our world.
Yet, many are still blind to its existence or its relevance to their lives.
One of the reasons for this, I believe, is the growing saturation of our secondary science curricula and media presentations with evolutionary indoctrination.
Here's a simple example.
In our monthly RACV magazine, a medical doctor writes a column on some aspect of public health.
In this month's edition, he was promoting the health virtues associated with swimming and began the column entitled "In the Swim" with "Once we were fish and then most of us stopped swimming."
No wonder hordes of us believe the evolutionary story is true.
Even many Christians think that evolution is only a side issue and can be believed alongside their basic Christian beliefs.
But consider this .....
If evolution is true then
there was no Adam and Eve created by God,
there was no original sin in the Garden,
there is no need for a Saviour,
there is no need to be reconciled to God.
And being unreconciled to God is the definition of death - no life ..... in the kingdom.
But Christian faith leads to life, life in the kingdom age, so how can these two positions be compatible?
I am going to try to work this in to Chapter 4 in some way - not as a major point but as a passing comment to get readers to think a bit about this area while they are reading about Jesus being the Saviour of the world.
Any comments good people?
Barry
In discussing this, I assume the position that sin is a fact and that a Saviour is therefore necessary.
My recent thinking about atheism and evolution have made me realise that a growing proportion of people do not make these assumptions.
Why not?
The TV vision of the recent London riots and associated criminality alone should give everyone a clue that sin is rampant in our world.
Yet, many are still blind to its existence or its relevance to their lives.
One of the reasons for this, I believe, is the growing saturation of our secondary science curricula and media presentations with evolutionary indoctrination.
Here's a simple example.
In our monthly RACV magazine, a medical doctor writes a column on some aspect of public health.
In this month's edition, he was promoting the health virtues associated with swimming and began the column entitled "In the Swim" with "Once we were fish and then most of us stopped swimming."
No wonder hordes of us believe the evolutionary story is true.
Even many Christians think that evolution is only a side issue and can be believed alongside their basic Christian beliefs.
But consider this .....
If evolution is true then
there was no Adam and Eve created by God,
there was no original sin in the Garden,
there is no need for a Saviour,
there is no need to be reconciled to God.
And being unreconciled to God is the definition of death - no life ..... in the kingdom.
But Christian faith leads to life, life in the kingdom age, so how can these two positions be compatible?
I am going to try to work this in to Chapter 4 in some way - not as a major point but as a passing comment to get readers to think a bit about this area while they are reading about Jesus being the Saviour of the world.
Any comments good people?
Barry
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Atheism is Stupid
In Chapter Two of THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT GOD (my working title for the upcoming book) I talk about the sovereignty of God, how God is in total control of everything.
In discussing this, I assume the position that God does in fact exist.
Although I don't want to get into a debate on the existence of God in this book, I thought I might use the theme of this chapter to point out the stupidity of atheism, and a couple of consequences of holding such a position.
Atheism is considered to be a non-religious position, the non-belief in a God or deity.
But atheists generally are very committed to TWO religions, two belief systems of their own.
A cursory reading of evolutionary literature quickly demonstrates that the theory of evolution is a belief system which is held with more passion than most Christians hold to their belief system.
Although it is promoted as a science, the theory of evolution is certainly not a science as it cannot be even demonstrated experimentally, let alone proven by scientific practice.
And humanism is the second religion of atheists, the belief system that promotes humanity as the sovereign deity and only saviour of this planet.
I find it interesting that these two religions oppose each other yet are held by the same people.
Let me illustrate.
Evolution says that we all appeared as a result of natural, random processes.
So our minds, our most prized possessions, are controlled by physical laws, and our thoughts, feelings and emotions are just the result of chemical reactions. (see comment below)
We can't take credit for anything we do or think or feel or decide.
These all happen the way they do because of the way we are, the way we have evolved.
We are no more in control of ourselves or of our behaviors than is a cog in a wheel or a rock on a hill.
We just do what is consistent with the way we happened to end up in the evolutionary process.
Humanism, on the other hand, says that we have the capacity and brilliance to determine and control the future of mankind, including solving all its problems..
That's aiming a bit high for a cog or a rock, don't you think?
If we follow the atheism/evolution connection further we would also come to some other interesting, but demeaning, conclusions.
Since no-one is responsible for who they are or for what they can do, all behaviour is just part of the package we have become.
A loving hug is the same as an act of murder; the skilled person is exactly the same as the unskilled - all are the result of random, undirected processes over which we had or have no control.
Everyone is just doing what they are made to do, what they "just have to do" because of who they have become.
What meaning is there in a life explained by an atheist or evolutionist?
None.
We are just robots doing what the particular mix of physical and chemical bits that was our lot determine we should do.
No wonder people brought up on a diet of atheism/evolution have no hope, see no future, see no purpose in life.
How could they?
Guys and Gals, I would be very interested to get some solid feedback on this blog.
Talk to me please.
Barry
In discussing this, I assume the position that God does in fact exist.
Although I don't want to get into a debate on the existence of God in this book, I thought I might use the theme of this chapter to point out the stupidity of atheism, and a couple of consequences of holding such a position.
Atheism is considered to be a non-religious position, the non-belief in a God or deity.
But atheists generally are very committed to TWO religions, two belief systems of their own.
A cursory reading of evolutionary literature quickly demonstrates that the theory of evolution is a belief system which is held with more passion than most Christians hold to their belief system.
Although it is promoted as a science, the theory of evolution is certainly not a science as it cannot be even demonstrated experimentally, let alone proven by scientific practice.
And humanism is the second religion of atheists, the belief system that promotes humanity as the sovereign deity and only saviour of this planet.
I find it interesting that these two religions oppose each other yet are held by the same people.
Let me illustrate.
Evolution says that we all appeared as a result of natural, random processes.
So our minds, our most prized possessions, are controlled by physical laws, and our thoughts, feelings and emotions are just the result of chemical reactions. (see comment below)
We can't take credit for anything we do or think or feel or decide.
These all happen the way they do because of the way we are, the way we have evolved.
We are no more in control of ourselves or of our behaviors than is a cog in a wheel or a rock on a hill.
We just do what is consistent with the way we happened to end up in the evolutionary process.
Humanism, on the other hand, says that we have the capacity and brilliance to determine and control the future of mankind, including solving all its problems..
That's aiming a bit high for a cog or a rock, don't you think?
If we follow the atheism/evolution connection further we would also come to some other interesting, but demeaning, conclusions.
Since no-one is responsible for who they are or for what they can do, all behaviour is just part of the package we have become.
A loving hug is the same as an act of murder; the skilled person is exactly the same as the unskilled - all are the result of random, undirected processes over which we had or have no control.
Everyone is just doing what they are made to do, what they "just have to do" because of who they have become.
What meaning is there in a life explained by an atheist or evolutionist?
None.
We are just robots doing what the particular mix of physical and chemical bits that was our lot determine we should do.
No wonder people brought up on a diet of atheism/evolution have no hope, see no future, see no purpose in life.
How could they?
Guys and Gals, I would be very interested to get some solid feedback on this blog.
Talk to me please.
Barry
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
'ere Cum Da Judge
Crime is rampant in our society and we are pleased to see criminals apprehended and dealt with appropriately.
Our motives in seeing this happen are mixed.
Some of us want criminals taken off the streets, some want revenge, some want justice, some want criminals rehabilitated and restored to society, and some want a cocktail of several of these.
Let's see what happens.
A crime is committed, the alleged offender is apprehended and brought to trial.
Evidence is presented and the judge makes his decision.
If the accused is found to be innocent, he is set free and continues life in the community.
If the accused is found to be guilty, he is taken away and given a suitable punishment.
Now what happens to this guilty offender?
He is first of all taken away - removed from society.
This frees the community from his offensive behaviour and influence, which is beneficial, both for the community and for the criminal.
The community no longer has to suffer the consequences of his actions and the criminal is prevented from getting deeper into a life of crime which will have even more severe consequences.
Secondly, the criminal is punished.
Although many people see this punishment as revenge or justice, so that the offended members of society are avenged for their loss and heartache, it is much more than that.
The punishment is also designed to rid him of his anti-social behaviour and attitudes, so that eventually he can re-enter society as a changed person and make a positive contribution to the life of the community.
I appreciate this doesn't always happen, but surely that's the plan.
Indeed it's the same plan God uses.
Jesus is the Judge and the court convenes at the Great White Throne.
Evidence is presented of the life story of each person.
Those found guilty at this judgement will be taken to be changed of their behaviours and attitudes so they can be reinstated into God's kingdom.
The Bible describes this process like a lake of fire which God uses to purify and change the hearts and behaviours of those who have not had those changes made by the Holy Spirit previously.
Eventually all will be changed, by the Holy Spirit or the lake of fire, and made fit to enter eternity at the end of the ages.
What we attempt to do with our legal systems on earth, God does perfectly in the heavens.
All of us, no matter how wicked or rebellious or immoral, will be rehabilitated and reinstated in the family of God. We will all live in fellowship and harmony with God and with the rest of his family in eternity.
How will the lake of fire do its work?
I have no idea, but I would like to think it will work much like the pig pen worked for the prodigal son in the story Jesus told (as recorded in Luke 15).
The prodigal in his remote and horrid circumstances realised that even his father's employees were far better off than he was, and decided to go home, be reconciled to his father and offer to work for him.
What he knew of his father, his love and his father's household drew him back to his father.
Those found rebellious and unreconciled to God at the Great White Throne judgement will eventually realise that even the least in God's kingdom are far better off than they are and will decide to go home, be reconciled to God and offer to serve him.
God's love, demonstrated so vividly on the cross, will eventually “compel” everyone to be reconciled to God.
All the world's prodigals from all generations and ages will eventually want to be reconciled to the Father and so God's plan for the universe will be achieved.
Jesus will then have completed his mission as “the Saviour of the world” and will have drawn all people to him as he promised he would.
Blessings, Barry
Our motives in seeing this happen are mixed.
Some of us want criminals taken off the streets, some want revenge, some want justice, some want criminals rehabilitated and restored to society, and some want a cocktail of several of these.
Let's see what happens.
A crime is committed, the alleged offender is apprehended and brought to trial.
Evidence is presented and the judge makes his decision.
If the accused is found to be innocent, he is set free and continues life in the community.
If the accused is found to be guilty, he is taken away and given a suitable punishment.
Now what happens to this guilty offender?
He is first of all taken away - removed from society.
This frees the community from his offensive behaviour and influence, which is beneficial, both for the community and for the criminal.
The community no longer has to suffer the consequences of his actions and the criminal is prevented from getting deeper into a life of crime which will have even more severe consequences.
Secondly, the criminal is punished.
Although many people see this punishment as revenge or justice, so that the offended members of society are avenged for their loss and heartache, it is much more than that.
The punishment is also designed to rid him of his anti-social behaviour and attitudes, so that eventually he can re-enter society as a changed person and make a positive contribution to the life of the community.
I appreciate this doesn't always happen, but surely that's the plan.
Indeed it's the same plan God uses.
Jesus is the Judge and the court convenes at the Great White Throne.
Evidence is presented of the life story of each person.
Those found guilty at this judgement will be taken to be changed of their behaviours and attitudes so they can be reinstated into God's kingdom.
The Bible describes this process like a lake of fire which God uses to purify and change the hearts and behaviours of those who have not had those changes made by the Holy Spirit previously.
Eventually all will be changed, by the Holy Spirit or the lake of fire, and made fit to enter eternity at the end of the ages.
What we attempt to do with our legal systems on earth, God does perfectly in the heavens.
All of us, no matter how wicked or rebellious or immoral, will be rehabilitated and reinstated in the family of God. We will all live in fellowship and harmony with God and with the rest of his family in eternity.
How will the lake of fire do its work?
I have no idea, but I would like to think it will work much like the pig pen worked for the prodigal son in the story Jesus told (as recorded in Luke 15).
The prodigal in his remote and horrid circumstances realised that even his father's employees were far better off than he was, and decided to go home, be reconciled to his father and offer to work for him.
What he knew of his father, his love and his father's household drew him back to his father.
Those found rebellious and unreconciled to God at the Great White Throne judgement will eventually realise that even the least in God's kingdom are far better off than they are and will decide to go home, be reconciled to God and offer to serve him.
God's love, demonstrated so vividly on the cross, will eventually “compel” everyone to be reconciled to God.
All the world's prodigals from all generations and ages will eventually want to be reconciled to the Father and so God's plan for the universe will be achieved.
Jesus will then have completed his mission as “the Saviour of the world” and will have drawn all people to him as he promised he would.
Blessings, Barry
Friday, June 17, 2011
Recent Progress - book, web and blog
Hi Everyone.
As you will have seen I haven't posted anything for quite a while.
Sorry for the delay.
Have been on holidays in NT and had some family opportunities to pursue.
Have been engaged in some interesting discussions by email and face-to-face with non-Christians, calvinists and other Christians, which has been envigorating and relevant to the subject of the book, but has not added anything to it. Indeed, I have used material from the book drafts in these discussions to advantage.
And I will be going to QLD soon for several weeks.
Nevertheless the book is progressing, as is the website to accompany it.
Have now decided the book has to be readable by anyone, so I have cut it down tremendously and am putting the 'meatier' discussions (theological and philosophical) on the website for those who want to pursue them.
Most chapters are drafted, but I probably won't get the chance to tidy them up and make them available to you until after I return home in early August.
Blessings to you all.
Will catch up with some of you on my QLD travels soon.
Barry.
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