Avoiding Foolish Disputes

maybe "avoiding foolish disputes" means not arguing about anything with no eternal value.

Good News?

Mark 1:14-15...Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news."

Time is fulfilled. 
Jesus is referring to the time set by God for his children to become adult sons and heirs. through Jesus, all things in heaven and on earth would be brought together under one leadership. when Jesus made mention of the fulfillment of time, everyone under law was waiting for this time to come, because they would have understanding of these things (Galations 4:4; Ephesians 1:10). a contemporary way of putting it might be to say that in a world of confusion, where things do not make sense, we look forward to the time when everything will be brought into meaningful relationship under the headship of Christ.

Repent and believe. 

"Repent" comes from the root word metanoia -- meta meaning "again" and noia meaning "to think." Noia comes from a root word that has to do with cognition or thinking. So literally, "repent" simply means "to think again." But usually, given the context in which it's used in the New Testament, I'd say that "repent" has this sort of connotation: It's like, if I were on my way to see a particular movie, and I called a friend who I knew had seen it and asked, "What did you think of ____? Was it good?" And they said, "Absolutely not! It was one of the dumbest movies I've seen in a while. In fact, all the funniest parts were in the previews." Then, I'd probably respond by "repenting" of what I had originally intended to do. I'd respond by not seeing that particular movie.Now, given our understanding of the language, a good rendering of "repent" would be to "reconsider the direction you're headed." Or, in light of its typical usage in the New Testament, it means "to reconsider your entire way of living." Come to think of it, in my own life, repentance takes place fairly often. Even on a weekly basis! - Understanding God's Will (Kyle Lake)

Kingdom of God. 
salvation is, essentially, access to everything in the Kingdom of God. when Jesus said that it is "at hand", he was saying that you could have salvation now. you could experience God now.

Let me take this further: If we only have a legal-transaction understanding of salvation in which we are forgiven of our sins so we can go to heaven, then salvation essentially becomes a ticket to somewhere else. In this understanding, eternity is something that kicks in when we die. But Jesus did not teach this. Jesus said that when we believe, we have crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). God always has been and always will be. And when I enter into a relationship with God through Christ, I am connected with God now and I will be connected with God forever. For Jesus, salvation is now. - Velvet Elvis (Rob Bell)

Good news. 
does any of this sound like good news?

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news."
Edit: "The time of confusion has ended, you may now recognize yourselves as sons of God. Full life is available to you now; reconsider your ways of living and believe what I teach you."