A. Choosing (what version?)
For most internationals (except university and post-grad students), a simplified translation of the Bible is best. The NIV may be suitable for students who have reached an advanced level of English (roughly corresponding with British university entry level). Otherwise, think about using one of the following:
Advantages
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Hindus.
What is our aim as we engage further with our Hindu friends? Is it to find common ground and ways of living together in our divided society? Is it to persuade them to change their religion and be converted? Here are some suggested goals:
To seek to know the true and living God along with our Hindu friends which includes respecting their search for God and sharing with them our experience of God, so that they will also experience God’s love, grace, peace, forgiveness and justice shown to us all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This combination of receiving (learning about, and respecting their search for God) and giving (sharing what we have experienced) reflects the example of Jesus himself. He condemned false religion, pride and selfishness. But he commended the faith of outsiders like Roman soldiers and Gentile women as they were drawn to him (see Matthew 8 v 5-13; 15 v 21-28). At the same time he invited them to focus their faith still further on him, so that through him they would find their place in the “kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8 v 11). His life, teaching, death and resurrection opened the way to eternal life, under God’s perfect rule.... continue reading
Turn your back on Christ or watch your children die.
That’s the choice your brothers and sisters, if you’re a Christian, are being given in ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria, today. Children are dying because their families stay loyal to Christ. This is real. Right now.
And that is why God’s judgment is not just a truth we have to acknowledge because the Bible says it. It is not a truth that we must explain away, smooth over and get past as quickly as possible so we can talk about love and forgiveness.
Because “all this”, as Paul puts it to a church suffering serious persecution for your faith, “is evidence that God’s judgment is right” (2 Thessalonians 1 v 5). God’s judgment is not merely real, but right. It is good, and we should celebrate it.... continue reading
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Atheists.
I grew up in a wonderfully loving family in France, near Paris. My dad was a mathematician and computer scientist, and my mother “religiously” devoted herself to the well-being and education of her children. All in all, I was pretty happy with my life, and in a thoroughly secular culture.
On holiday, I met a girl from New York, who believed in God—an intellectual suicide by my standards. We started dating, and my new goal in life was to explain to her why all this was untenable, so that she could put this nonsense behind her, and we could be together without her misconceptions standing in the way. So I started thinking about the whole thing. What good reason was there to think God exists, and what good reason was there to think atheism was true instead?... continue reading
1. Emotions ebook just £4.99 till midday Thursday
Get the ebook version of Emotions by Graham Beynon for just £4.99!
2. Be Yourself in Prayer
Five ways to be yourself in prayer from Desiring God.
3. Preaching Matters: Sitting at Jesus’ Feet and Listening
Another video in the Preaching Matters series from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.
4. How to Listen to Sermons
A post on "practical helps for listening to sermons".
5. The Good Book Company YouTube Channel
Have you visited our YouTube Channel? Full of our latest trailers, free video resources, interviews and more.
6. And finally...
Our video of the week, ‘Introducing The Good Book for Children’:
Found something that you think should make it on to the On to a Good Thing round-up? Send it to: ontoagoodthing@thegoodbook.co.uk
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Atheists.
One of our key principles I want to impress upon readers is that we want to give people the word of God—that means the Bible.
I like to challenge some of my atheist/agnostic friends as to what kind of agnostic they are. I point out that there is intelligent agnosticism and that there is dumb agnosticism. In order to explain the difference, I ask them to imagine that I am sitting in my living room, watching Barcelona vs. Real Madrid in the European Cup Final.
The doorbell rings and it’s a complete stranger who asks me: “Do you know your house is on fire?”. I reply that I don’t know. I am agnostic about it. A dumb agnostic in that situation says: “I don’t know and I don’t care”. An intelligent agnostic says: “I don’t know, but it’s a pretty big deal if my house burns down, especially with me in it, so even though I don’t know you, and I am more than a little suspicious of you, I will go and investigate”. Likewise, you can encourage your atheist/agnostic friends to investigate. Perhaps by reading a book you give them, perhaps by going to something like Christianity Explored or Alpha, or perhaps by simply going to church with you.... continue reading
Christians have a wonderful message to tell the world. As the angel said at the birth of Jesus, it is “good news that will cause great joy, for all the people” (Luke 2 v 10). But at times we have been slow to take that message of forgiveness and new life to others.
Sometimes it’s because we have become distracted. There are so many things that can push the need to tell others from its central place in our calling as individuals and churches. We get wrapped up in our own church issues, problems and politics. Or we get sidetracked by the very real needs of our broken and hurting world, and expend our energies on dealing with the symptoms rather than the cause.... continue reading
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 16:5-8
It's a busy time of year. It's an incredibly busy time of year for us here at The Good Book Company. And we would really appreciate your prayers over the next week or so.
We're going to be running 8 big bookstalls at 8 events across England and Wales in towns from Cwmbran to Southampton and London to Manchester. And there are going to be some brilliant deals along the way ...
We're going to be launching fantastic new books like A Man's Greatest Challenge, Purity is Possible as well as Engaging with Hindus and Engaging with Atheists.... continue reading
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