Steven Colborne's Blog, page 10

Subjective Morality and Judgement Day

I write as a deep-thinking person who has only imperfect knowledge but who is devoted to God and loves Truth. I hope the thoughts below are helpful.

In a Universe where God is in sovereign control of the unfolding of all events down to the smallest detail, there can be no free will. Why, then, does God send Scriptures warning of His plan for judgement? If there is no free will (because all will is God’s will) how are we to make sense of the Day of Reckoning and the reward and punishment of human beings which God has assured us is coming?

Whatever deeds I do, it is God doing them through me. So if my sinful deeds are part of the will of God and directed by Him, why will He hold me to account for them and potentially punish me for them on Judgement Day?

In my understanding, the entirety of creation is from God, of God, and for God. He has total freedom to do whatever He will. The Universe is His playground and He manoeuvres the chess pieces around the board as He pleases. If God says in the Qur’an that the judgement is His binding promise and that good deeds are the means by which we will enter paradise, then we would be wise to take heed.

However, I think it’s interesting to consider whether we can ever have assurance that we are bound for paradise and not hell. You see, any action of a human being can be interpreted in countless different ways, morally speaking. Take, for example, the action of picking up some litter from the ground. It could be interpreted as a good deed because one is looking after the environment. But if the litter is dirty, it could soil one’s hands, potentially making one unclean in a way which could cause a hazard to others (because of the risk of infection and such). In clearing the ground of litter with one’s bare hands, is one doing a good deed or being reckless? I suppose you could say it would just be a matter of washing one’s hands afterwards. But is that not a waste of precious water?

I hope you can see the point I am attempting to make. It seems to me that just as important as our actions is the way God interprets those actions. It’s true that God knows the intentions of our hearts (indeed, He is the cause of our intentions) and this is surely part of the picture. But we have to acknowledge the freedom of God to judge in any way He chooses; goodness and evil are determined by the subjective will of God. One may spend their whole life thinking they are doing good deeds, but can we ever be sure that God will not interpret our deeds as evil on Judgment Day? I don’t think we can, and I suppose we have to accept and live with this uncertainty.

It all comes back to the absolute freedom and sovereignty of God. As puppets of His will we never really have any power; God has all power at all times. The best we can do is study His revelations and prayerfully try to follow His guidance. But we will only wish to do so, and we will only be successful, if He wills. This is the stark reality we must accept. My hope is that God will ultimately be merciful to all sentient beings, because the prospect of hell is frightening beyond words.

Brief Personal Update

It’s been a few weeks since I posted. Sadly, I attempted to end my life and have spent the last four weeks recovering in hospital. I am doing well now although coming to terms with everything I experienced both in the weeks before I self-harmed and during my time in intensive care is a challenge. My sister and father have been absolutely amazing.

If any of you have had near-death experiences you are welcome to email me, I might find it comforting to chat with you about some of what happened. I am so grateful to God that I am recovering well and every day I still appreciate the goodness and mercy that He continually shows. I did experience some quite intense suffering but the fact that I’m sat here typing this and feeling happy is a mercy for which I am so thankful.

I may write a longer post elaborating soon, but for now I will sign off and thank you for your time. Peace be with you and God bless you.

God is Waiting to Hear From You

The best prayer you can offer up to God is one that acknowledges He is in control of everything that happens. He is the controller and animator of all creatures. Scriptures give instruction, but it is ultimately up to God whether or not we feel a yearning to read the Scriptures and follow Him.

God leads some people to a path of devotion to Him and others into sin and disobedience. But He wants you to know that the time to turn to Him is now. God periodically sends judgement on communities that ignore Him, sometimes destroying them entirely. So do all that you can to ensure you are in right standing with God while there is still time.

The surest spiritual path is devotion to God alone. He is most forgiving and merciful and always ready to receive repentance. Even if you have to make changes in your life in order to follow God, it is worth it. Human life is fleeting and passes by in the blink of an eye, then we will all be resurrected to face judgement and either enjoy the bliss of paradise or suffer excruciating burning in the fire of hell.

There is never a guarantee that God will send a person to paradise (God always has total control and total freedom). But putting Him first and seeking His will for your life through prayer seems to me to be a very good starting point. So say a prayer to God today, acknowledge His sovereignty over all things, repent and be thankful, and ask Him to guide you in a way that pleases Him.

Is God Three Persons?

On one level, all that exists is God. Creation is contained ‘within’ God and therefore it would be true to say that God is one person. However, there is a sense in which God inhabits and animates all creatures. If God chooses to animate a human being with certain modes of mind that reflect His personhood, then it could be argued that at such a time God is two persons.

I have always struggled with the distinction between God the Father and the Holy Spirit in Christianity, because I feel the Most High God is pure Spirit (actually, I don’t believe He can be described in words, but pure Spirit is the best I can do).

God can of course create lesser gods, but in the Abrahamic religions He commands these not to be worshiped. All worship should always be directed towards the One True God, whether in His purest form (what I hesitantly called ‘pure Spirit’ above) or if He is animating a body (which Christians believe He did while Jesus was living on Earth).

According to the Qur’an, God does not have a son, and the Qur’an is understood by Muslims to be the direct Word of God (His actual speech to us). Idolatry is considered a very serious offence in Islam and this is something that it’s important for Christians to consider when they worship Jesus as God. It seems to me to be sensible to worship God alone, whether as the omnipresent Spirit that directs all activity in creation, or as a human being or other creature which He chooses to inhabit.

Of course, there is a sense in which we are all expressions of God, because He dwells in every creature. I find it fascinating that whenever two human beings are holding a conversation, this is (in a sense) God conversing with God.

The whole Universe is a cosmic playground under God’s control. When we hold onto an awareness of the fact that God is everywhere and animating every creature, life takes on a different colour.

Taking a Break

At the beginning of the year, God told me that 2023 was going to be a year of rest and a year of joy for me. Despite this, I have been doing a lot both in my local community and online to promote my books. But I think it’s time to stop with all the promotion and let go and let God, as they say. There is some writing I want to do around my vision of starting a multi-faith church in London, but that will take some time.

Even though I might not be posting on here very often in the coming months, I hope that I will continue to reach new people with my books and articles. The world is in great need of insightful philosophy which has the potential to influence a better future for our planet and I hope that my writing will play a part in doing that.

If you’re new to my work, there are two of my books which I usually recommend to people as my most valuable contributions to the world of philosophical theology: God’s Grand Game: Divine Sovereignty and the Cosmic Playground and Christianity, Islam, and the One True God. I also invite you to read my book An Almighty Predicament: A Discourse on the Arguments For and Against Christianity, which is available for free as an eBook. You can view all my books here.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been a regular reader of this blog and I’m especially grateful if you have purchased one of my books. I hope you have been enriched by the writing I have shared. May God bless you all.

Four Truths About God

1. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

God takes us all on a journey. Some people find meaning in their careers and in the temptations of money and family, other people are awakened to the reality of God and live their lives in devotion to Him. Those who find God, and live in fear and awe of His power and might, have embarked upon the wisest path, Scripture tells us.

2. The Lord’s strength is made perfect in our weakness

So often we are tempted to rely on our own strength when navigating the journey of life. However, the only true strength comes from and belongs to God, so when we are mindful of Him and acknowledge His awesome power and our own frailty, we are on the surest footing.

3. The Lord is in control of all things, always

God’s being is boundless and His control extends to every atom in existence. The Universe is God’s playground and He is fully in control of the unfolding of all events. It is a mistake to believe that we are free to act independently of the will of God, but this doesn’t mean we aren’t held to account by God for our actions.

4. The Lord does whatever He will

We can learn so much about God by taking heed of the revelations He has sent down to human beings. A phrase that is repeated often in the Qur’an is ‘God does whatever He will’. God has total sovereignty and is free to act in any way He pleases in every moment of creation. It’s not the case that the past determines the future — the present is all there is and God is unfolding a plan in the eternal present moment, which He pervades and animates.

For further reflections on the nature, attributes, and activity of God, please feel free to browse my books.

Letting Go of Anger

In reality, there is one God, sovereign over the entirety of creation, unfolding His masterplan for Planet Earth and all other planets.

As part of God’s activity on Earth, the human beings He has created experience a broad range of emotions, and these emotions are a defining characteristic of relationship, both relationship among creatures and relationship with God.

One of the hardest emotions to deal with is anger. Anger can cause resentment, which if unexpressed can lead to sickness. But if we are able to hold onto our awareness of God, and if we understand His creation with the right perspective, we should be able to let go of anger and resentment and find peace and healing.

You see, whenever you are angry at someone, you are really angry at God, for every human being is a manifestation of the activity of God. When understood in this light, there is never any reason to hold onto anger, because the thing that made you angry was meant to happen – it was part of God’s will.

Living with an awareness that God is in control brings a certain freedom from the past. This is not to belittle the importance of history, it just puts events in their right perspective.

If you can acknowledge that whatever made you angry happened for a reason, you can say a simple prayer to God – of acceptance, repentance, and gratitude – and in His mercy, God may release you from the past and enable you to live freely again in His glorious present.

Thanks be to God, whose majesty is magnificent – He is truly worthy of all praise, glory, and honour. Amen.

It’s Not a Competition

I think that in all walks of life, human beings have a tendency to fall into the temptation of competing with one another. It’s deeply ingrained in capitalist ideology. However, there is a much richer way of looking at life.

The apostle Paul wrote that we are all members of one body. Each member has a purpose, but all members are required in order for the body to function correctly. We wouldn’t normally look at our bodies and say, “My eye is superior to my ear” or “My feet are superior to my hands”. The body needs every member in order to function effectively.

We can broaden the metaphor out and consider society as a whole. Each person has something unique to contribute, and the one who sweeps the streets is just as important as the one who sits in Parliament. We are all members of a society that has one overarching role: to serve God and to be obedient to His direction, as revealed in the sacred Scriptures.

Existence is owned, controlled, and animated by God. The only reason why human beings were created is to worship and glorify God. Of course, our service to God manifests in different ways, but we should never lose sight of the fact that God is in control of all things and that we have no purpose apart from Him.

In our pursuit to find security in life, we often strive to earn more and more money, and we can lose sight of the bigger picture in the process. It is the acknowledgement that we are servants of God that unifies the members of a society, and when we view our work as service to God, this relaxes our tendency to compete with one another and enables us to live in accordance with our true purpose.

How Seldom we are Thankful

Have you ever thanked God for beating your heart? All day every day, God is attending to your every heartbeat and your every breath. He circulates blood throughout your body continually in order that you may move around and enjoy His creation. He blinks your eyelids all day every day, enabling you to have vision so you can observe the trees, the sky, and the stars.

God has crafted your tongue and your tastebuds so you can enjoy delicious food and drink which He provides for you every day, every week, every month, every year. And He has made your ears so that you can enjoy the sound of the rain and the beautiful music He has created.

You are not a machine powered by a brain, you are a creature animated by a living God. He wants us to be mindful of Him, to be good to one another, to enjoy His creation and to be thankful for His abundant blessings.

Have you neglected to thank God today? Take a moment to say sorry, He is always ready to accept repentance.

Personal Update (31st May 2023)

It’s Wednesday evening. The last few days have been really eventful in ways I would find difficult to explain. God has been teaching me things and giving me experiences I had not anticipated. God does whatever He will. Even though He has told me I no longer need to worry about sin, I have realised that I still wish to live a pure and godly life. This seems sensible because I truly fear God’s power and His freedom to reward or punish as He pleases.

There must be good reasons why God gives instruction to flee from sin. And besides, worship is truly the highest joy on Earth, and God revealed in the Qur’an that He created jinn and mankind only to worship Him. So I plan to pursue my dream of establishing a multi-faith church, and while I needn’t fear the guilt associated with sin, I will try to live in accordance with the moral instruction of God as revealed in Scripture.

I suppose my decision is in line with Pascal’s Wager — knowing that God is all-powerful and that there will be a day of judgement, and on that Day God can choose to do whatever He will, it makes sense for me to try to be as godly in my conduct as possible, even if it makes no difference. After all, the whole purpose of Judgement Day is for justice to be done, and while the administration of justice is subject to the free will of God, my prayer is that He will allow me to live in such a way as that on that Day I will be saved and forgiven.

We have all sinned, but God is most forgiving and merciful. He is always ready to accept repentance.

“I’m here to worship You. That’s all I want to do.”