If you have read my beliefs page, or, the book project history, then you have a good grasp of how this all came about. I have spent my life reading and studying the Bible. I questioned, explored, researched and continued to read as I described in the beliefs statement. During that process I accumulated a mountain of materials. Most of it is mine but there are hundreds of pages from others as well. I have always been concerned about the need to be teaching God's word as all Christians should but did not have the proper vehicle to do so. Then the Internet came along and after quite a few years have been learning to use it for more than games and social chat.
The Bible is the most loved, hated and feared book in the world. It is also the most neglected, even by those who claim to know and love it the best. I am a firm believer in accepting and teaching God's word for what it says, not what I want to hear. I believe in teaching what folks need to hear, not what necessarily makes them happy. The Bible can be profoundly uplifting and horribly terrifying at the same time. Properly read, taught and obeyed, it leads to contentment that words cannot describe.
In preparation of the textbook on the Bible and the need to be more active in teaching, I gathered up my materials and began designing a website that would do one thing - present God's word as is. This is a companion site for my book that will provide supplemental materials that I either could not include in the book or did not have the technical expertise at the present time to do correctly. The compromise was to create a site and add the additional material here in the form of study aids.
I have a large amount of content that still has to be converted from drawings, typewritten pages and hundreds of pages on yellow notebook pads. That takes time and so the additions that I have on hand at present are barely a start. There is more to come.
I wanted to provide a site that would be a reference for someone who needed information in a basic form that they can then take and adapt for the particular circumstance they are in. Whether you are studying the Bible for the first time, are an ardent reader, preacher etc. I hope that there will be something you can use. Some of the materials are in PDF format and have been locked to prevent changing the content. Those are printable and you can save them for later use and probably circumvent the security if you want or need to. I have not been able to master the art of scripting out downloadable content so that is still in the works hence the conversion of some graphics files to PDF as well.
Ultimately this site is the byproduct of the book project that began in 1986 and is now being presented for your study and enjoyment. I have listed some things that I think will be helpful on the Links and Resources page. The Gospel plan of salvation is clearly spelled out following the link on the Home page so there will be no doubt about what I teach on the basic question of how a person becomes a Christian to begin with. The book summaries are those that I have adapted from the text book. They are simple renditions of what you will find in the Bible but I expect that you will continue to investigate and add to them as you learn. Explore the menus. I have placed a link to my sitemap on the Home page in the introductory paragraph. My contact page will allow you to send me a note and let me know how things are and if there is something that is not working. I have no idea what response this site will receive so my ability to respond will depend on availability and volume.
I will have to say that this site would not be possible without the great folks at Lynda.com. In just a few months I went from knowing very little about html, css, java script and related technologies to putting together a working website that actually can entertain visitors. I also want to thank Mike H. for letting me borrow his java script that made the contact page possible. There are a number of other folks who over the years have encouraged me and given me feedback on what I have been working on and am thankful for the help. I also have to thank Jule Miller and Texas A. Stevens for the Visualized Bible Study Series which since I was young has inspired me and helped shape my approach in teaching the scriptures.
I want to get to Heaven. Christ and God's words are the only way that we will get there and so I dedicate this site to our joint venture of learning and reaching that goal. Thanks for reading and please visit again!
God Bless - TLC