Didactic' Isn't a Prehistoric Bird by Bruce Atchison

I'm attempting something I've never done before. Instead of writing another memoir, I'm working on a didactic book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Since I've never written an instructive book previously, I feel somewhat intimidated at the size of this project.

Writing a paperback about who goes to heaven, from a biblical view, is an awesome chore. Since it's so important, I don't want to be like the people who add or subtract from the scriptures.

Look at the warning in Revelation 22:18 and 19 (BBE). "For I say to every man to whose ears have come the words of this prophet's book, If any man makes an addition to them, God will put on him the punishments which are in this book: And if any man takes away from the words of this book, God will take away from him his part in the tree of life and the holy town, even the things which are in this book."

I'd much rather take Paul's advice when studying and writing about the Word of God. We read in 2 Timothy 2:15 (BBE), "Let it be your care to get the approval of God, as a workman who has no cause for shame, giving the true word in the right way."

Additionally, I realize that sticking strictly to what Holy Scripture says and making sure I interpret it God's way is no easy task. Look at what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:12 (BBE). "And further, my son, take note of this: of the making of books there is no end, and much learning is a weariness to the flesh."

Knowing this daunting truth, I still work to the best of my ability. Revelation 22:12 (BBE) encourages me through the weariness. "See, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man the outcome of his works."

And thanks to trailing-edge technology and the gracious gifts of friends, I have the tools to study the scriptures. Dan, my brother in Christ, gave me a CD-ROM with the QuickVerse program on it. With that, I can find any word or phrase in the King James Version.

But the program won't work on computers with 32-bit or 64-bit processors. That's why I'm so glad the Radway library gave me their cast-off desktop PC with Windows XP on it. Better still, it can run older programs which new computers won't. I can carry on for years with this wonderful software.

Best of all, I can copy and paste verses from both the King James and Bible in Basic English versions, thanks to another old program called Bible Seeker. I downloaded it for free, a price I quite enjoy paying.

"He That Hath An Ear, Let Him Hear" - Bruce Atchison

On my Bruce Atchison's books page a few years ago, I've mentioned the day that I was thrown out of a vacation Bible school because I couldn't read the microscopic print in the Bibles that the pastor handed out to us students. His callous action deeply hurt me. I had a keen interest in Christianity but my poor vision and lack of proper magnifying glasses thwarted my attempts to read sacred scripture.

When I did acquire a large print New Testament and a decent magnifying glass, I eagerly read it from cover to cover. Not only did I read what people formerly read to me but I learned much. One fact which touched me deeply was that many of the apostle Paul's letters were written in prison. I felt thrilled that I could finally read for myself what these early saints wrote. I began thinking of these people as friends rather than distant historical figures after reading their epistles.

I took a Bible correspondence course in 1979 and bought a large print King James version of the scriptures. As I rested between patrols while on guard duty at the bank, I read through the entire Old and New Testaments. The course also filled in the background regarding the culture and history of the Middle East. All those strange sacrifices that I'd formerly heard about began to make sense as I studied the Word.

Through friends, I heard the scriptures on cassette tapes. These were nice but I wasn't able to pinpoint individual verses as the numbers were left out of the reading. Though I enjoyed listening to God's Word, something was missing.

Bible Seeker, a free downloadable program from Lockette.com filled in the missing connection between hearing and reading scriptures. It let me not only read verses but copy and paste them into documents. Many of the scriptures quoted in how I Was Razed, my memoir of how God led me out of a cult and into the truth, were copied from Bible Seeker. Additionally, the program helped me learn the spelling of names and terms used in God's Word. If I didn't understand something, I could easily proceed letter by letter or word by word so I could get the gist of the passage. Better yet, Bible Seeker's functions are screen reader-friendly, allowing sight-impaired folks like me to study the Bible for free.



Bruce Atchison is a legally-blind freelance writer as well as the author of How I Was Razed, Deliverance from Jericho, and When a Man Loves a Rabbit. He lives in a small Alberta hamlet with his house rabbit, Deborah.