About the Book

"The Really Good News About God" discusses the God of the Bible and his gracious, all-inclusive plans for his creation.

It will surprise and delight those who might think that

• God doesn't exist; or
• God is a kind, white-bearded old man who lives, somewhat disinterestedly, somewhere out there; or
• God is a mean-spirited judge keeping score of our sins and waiting to use them to consign us to an eternity in a fiery hell.

"The Really Good News About God" is a popular edition paperback and ebook that presents a lay-person's introduction to Christian Universalism, rather than a theological or philosophical argument for that position.
It shows how the Bible reveals a God of unfailing love and extravagant grace with a wonderful plan to include all of us, good and bad alike eventually, in his eternal family.

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The book has a prologue and seven chapters.

• The Prologue is an invitation to imagine our world as a theatrical stage production.
• Chapter One discusses God’s extravagant love as the motivating factor for all that he does.
• Chapter Two explores God’s sovereignty – his ability to do whatever he decides and to fully achieve his purpose for his creation.
• Chapter Three describes this purpose, and the plans God has to achieve it.
• Chapter Four examines the role that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, plays in achieving God’s purpose.
• Chapter Five investigates judgement and punishment, and shows how God uses these in his plans for restoring the creation to its original intended position and condition.
• Chapter Six uses the metaphor of a perfect parent to draw the conclusion that God really has good news for all of us.
• Chapter Seven discusses how special we are and how we might respond to knowing this really good news about God.

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"The Really Good News About God" is written in an informal, conversational style - not weighed down by theological or religious terminology - yet addresses some of the deep questions most of us wrestle with at some point in our lives.

• Who am I?
• Why am I?
• What is life?
• What is death?
• Is there a God?
• Does life on this planet have any purpose?

If you're at all interested in God's plan for the world, and your part in it, "The Really Good News About God" is an easy and refreshing read and a good place to start exploring these questions.

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The basis of the book is what I call "God's Biblical Plan".
Below is a "summary" statement using about 40 texts to demonstrate that God's plan to reconcile all of his creation runs right through the New Testament. (There are also hints of that plan in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), but I haven't included them here.)

In the beginning God ...
created all things (Genesis 1) and all (these) created things are to be reconciled to himself (Colossians 1 : 16 - 20), because all things are from him, through him and to him (Romans 11 : 36).
For this to be so, God must be in the restoration business (Acts 3 : 21). In fact, he promises to make all things new (Revelation 21 : 5).

God's plan is unchanging (Hebrews 6 : 17), his love, kindness and mercy are also unchanging, even towards his enemies (Luke 6 : 27 - 36), and his patience allows everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3 : 9), reflecting his desire for all people to be saved and to know the truth (1 Timothy 2 : 4). Indeed, he has allowed us all to be stubborn and disobedient so that he can have mercy on us all (Romans 11 : 32).

God appointed his Son, Jesus Christ, ...
to be the heir of all things (Hebrews 1 : 2), placing all things under his control (Ephesians 1 : 22), and to all of them he will give eternal life (John 17 : 2), through the giving of himself as a ransom for all people (1 Timothy 2 : 6), so that all people will see God's salvation (Luke 3 : 6).

Jesus, knowing that God had given him authority over all things (John 3 : 35 and John 13 : 3), promised to draw all people to himself (John 12 : 32), and lose none of them (John 6 : 37 - 39). However, if any of them does stray, he will go after them until he finds them (Luke 15 : 4).

Jesus came so that all people should come to belief (John 1 : 7 and 9) ensuring that the world would be saved through him (John 3 : 17) - his grace bringing salvation to the world (Titus 2 : 11) by taking away the world's sin (John 1 : 29 and 1 John 2 : 2).
As Jesus said, "I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12 : 47), and he did this by destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3 : 8), destroying death and bringing life and immortality through the gospel (2 Timothy 1 : 10).

So, not only has sin been dealt with (Hebrews 9 : 26), but Jesus gave his life for the life of the world as well (John 6 : 33 and 51). Yes, every descendant of Adam who has inherited death from him will become a descendant of Christ and will therefore inherit life from him (1 Corinthians 15 : 22).

Jesus completes his work when all things have submitted to him (Philippians 2 : 10 and 11), and he hands over his kingdom to God so that God becomes everything to everyone (1 Corinthians 15 : 24 - 28).

Consequently, ...
we can be assured that God will bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Ephesians 1 : 10), having brought justification and life to all people (Romans 5 : 18), that assurance being confirmed by the knowledge that God's gifts and call are irrevocable (Romans 11 : 29).

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"The Really Good News About God" by Barry Tattersall is now available in various formats for purchase, each with its own ISBN, or a pdf version can be downloaded here.

ISBN for Paperback is 978-0-9942627-3-8; for Kindle is 978-0-9942627-1-4; for EPUB (the version used by Apple and all ebook readers except Kindle) is 978-0-9942627-0-7.
All ISBN's are the same except for the last two digits.

Paperbacks can be purchased from Koorong (koorong.com.au), Amazon (amazon.com), Barnes and Noble (barnesandnoble.com), and other online stores.
Kindle version can only be downloaded from Amazon.
EPUB version can be downloaded from Koorong, Smashwords (www.smashwords.com) and other online stores.

You may also obtain a copy from the author and enquire about bulk purchases for Study Groups or Church Libraries by emailing goodnews at ibtechservices dot com dot au.