I should have thought about this a long time ago.

What made me think of this was Mike's online book. It's obvious Mike put a lot of effort into this book, and it has a lot of fine material. I found that my response to the book is not that I disagreed with the material so much as if I were to write a book, what he talked about is not what I would talk about.

Which led to this topic. What should we talk about?

What I'm getting at is, if you were to right a book, what would you talk about?

I'd think of things in the following terms:

1.What's the fundamental problem of man?
2.Or, bigger picture, what's the fundamental problem of the universe?
3.How does God go about solving this problem?
4.What is it that people have wrong, which a book would address?

For example, in Mike's case, one can see, in looking at his book, that obedience is of paramount importance. I would hazard a guess that Mike would say the fundamental problem of man is disobedience to the law, and God solved this problem by Christ's becoming a man, taking our sinful flesh, perfectly obeying the law, and in His death paying the price which the law demanded. This is the sort of thing I have in mind.

I'll put in my thoughts regarding these questions later.

Tom, in my book I'm basically saying we need to be with Jesus to be like Jesus. Or, as Ellen put it - "Of the Spirit Jesus said, "He shall glorify Me." The Saviour came to glorify the Father by the demonstration of His love; so the Spirit was to glorify Christ by revealing His grace to the world. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people. {DA 671.3}

It sounds like you'd rather write a book similar to The Great Controversy. Whereas, I wrote a book similar to Steps to Christ.

If I wrote a book like Steps to Christ, it would discuss the questions I asked:

1.What's the fundamental problem of man?
2.Or, bigger picture, what's the fundamental problem of the universe?
3.How does God go about solving this problem?

I can't think of writing about anything without these questions coming to the forefront. I think they're necessary to have a foundation around which to understand things.

Would you care to take a shot at them? (the questions)

1. Unlike Jesus.
2. Helping Jesus end the GC.
3. Sent Jesus.

Tom, what would you say saying differently than what Ty has written about it?

First responding to your comments, you're saying the fundamental problem of man is that he is unlike Jesus, and the fundamental problem of the universe is helping Jesus end the GC. You said that God went about solving this problem by sending Jesus.

Regarding the first answer, that man's fundamental problem is not being like Jesus, that's a good starting point. Of course, that begs the question, why isn't man like Jesus, and what should he do to become like Jesus. Comments on this?

Regarding the second point, helping Jesus end the GC isn't really a problem, right? Man not being like Jesus is a problem. But my question was really well posed, so you're answer's not too bad. What I was wanting to get at is that the issue involved is bigger than simply man's problem.

Regarding the third point, God sent Jesus, this begs the question as to how sending Jesus helps solve the problem. That is, we know from the first response that man's problem is that he isn't like Jesus, and we know from the last response that God solved this problem by sending Jesus. So that begs the question, how does the fact that God sent Jesus help man be more like Jesus?

I put in bold the two questions that came to mind, just to make it easier to see.

Regarding the Ty question, you're asking if I would say anything differently than he in regards to the three questions I asked? If this is your question, no, I wouldn't.

Regarding Ty, then the book you envision has already been written. No need to rewrite it.

1. Why isn't man like Jesus, and what should he do to become like Jesus? I recommend "On Being Like Jesus" in answer to this question.

2. How does the fact that God sent Jesus help man be more like Jesus? Same answer.

I thought you were asking if I saw something different on this subject differently than Ty. I guess that's not what you meant. There were four Gospels, right? But they didn't disagree, did they?

Even if people agree, they express things differently.

There's a question of how to organize things. I like Ty's approach very much, especially the circle of life illustration, if you're familiar with it. Ty has been a major contributor to how I think of things. But I would have my own way of organizing things.

For example, I like the idea that God will take anyone to heaven who would be happy there. This is my own idea. It wouldn't surprise me if someone else has had it, since, as Solomon said, "There's nothing new under the sun." I've not read this idea anywhere; I simply inferred it from GC 541-543. I think this would be an interesting way of organizing a discussion of the judgment. Also the atonement. Maybe some other things.

Regarding the questions I asked, I'll suggest my answers. Perhaps you'd like to contribute.

Q1.Why isn't man like Jesus, and what should he do to become like Jesus?

A.Man isn't like Jesus because he has bought into the lies of the enemy:



So the problem of man is that he has been deceived. Once this is seen, the solution is obvious: the truth must be revealed. This is what Jesus Christ did. He revealed the truth about God. Man is healed by believing this truth.

Q2. How does the fact that God sent Jesus help man be more like Jesus?

A.By beholding, one is changed, transformed into the same image. By beholding Christ, we become like Him.

As we've been talking about Ty, here's something he wrote I like very much, especially the highlighted part: