Most Australians are well aware by now of the phenomena of the ageing of the population. In the next forty years, the proportion of Australia's population that is over the age of 65 is expected to steadily double. As the Australian Bureau of Statistics puts it:
Over the next several decades, population ageing is expected to have significant implications for Australia including health, labour force participation, housing and demand for skilled labour (Productivity Commission 2005, Economic Implications of an Ageing Australia, Research Report, Canberra).
Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, published by Matthias Media, is a warm-hearted, good-humoured and challenging evangelistic book that explains how we can know about life after death, what the new creation will be like, and whether we can be sure of being part of it.
“I am 76 years old,” says the book’s author, John Chapman. "And some may think it strange that I am writing about making the most of the rest of our lives. Humanly speaking, I don't have all that much left. The average male lives for 79 years. That doesn't leave me much time.
"On the other hand, if there is life after death, if eternity is really eternity and I have the greater bulk of my life to look forward to, then that makes all the difference.
"If there is life after death, is it possible to make the most of it? Is it possible to prepare for that life, or is it totally a matter of chance? These are the questions I've tried to address in this short book."
Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life is available now through Christian bookstores or direct from Matthias Media, and uses a larger, easy-to-read type. It is inexpensively priced at $7.95 to encourage people to give away multiple copies.
Matthias Media has already had orders from people buying up bulk copies to hand out to everyone in their retirement village.
Ian Carmichael is a senior editor at Matthias Media and regularly contributes insights into new publications for Your.sydneyanglicans.net readers
