Steven Colborne's Blog, page 29

A Book You Need to Read!

I’m delighted to inform you that my new book titled Christianity, Islam, and the One True God is out now and available from all leading retailers.

The best way to learn about what you can expect from the book is to read the book description on your retailer website of choice.

I use a website called GeniusLink to make ‘choice pages’ for all my books. These are simple pages that contain retailer links. When you click a link on a choice page you should be automatically directed to your local country’s store for whichever retailer you select.

To view the choice page for the book, click here.

The book is available in eBook, paperback, and hardcover editions. I’m extremely happy with the end result and I very much hope some of you will feel enticed to read it!

Editing Work Opportunity

In a recent article, I shared details of my upcoming book release, titled Christianity, Islam, and the One True God. The book is nearly finished — it is currently at the editing stage.

As many of you know, my financial situation at the moment is very strained and as such I cannot afford to pay the usual fees for a professional editor. But I wanted to ask whether anyone reading this would be interested in copy editing and/or proofreading the book?

You would need to have excellent written English skills and good attention to detail, have some experience of editing and proofreading, and have some availability to do the work in the next couple of months. In return, I will do what I can to thank you, including paying a small fee, giving you a mention in the book, and I’ll happily write an article promoting your work or services on this blog. You will also get a free finished paperback copy of the book once it’s been published.

I really hope this offer appeals to someone. If you’re interested in working with me on this, please send me an email via the Contact page or leave a comment below. You can read a little more about the book and see the artwork on the Books page. I plan to do a lot of promotional work to support the release, so if you’re a budding editor it could be a useful book to have in your portfolio.

I look forward to hearing from anyone who is interested!

Coming Soon…

Regular readers of my blog will know that I come from a Christian background, but that reading the Qur’an a couple of years ago had a life-changing impact on me. Since 2020, I have been exploring Islamic theology and am now passionate about trying to understand how the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) fit together and should be properly understood.

I’m happy to share today that I’m in the closing stages of writing a book about the relationship between Christianity and Islam, written in light of my high view of the sovereignty of God, which has been the subject of many of my books and articles to date. This new book is currently at the editing stage and I hope to release it later this year.

I already have artwork for the book, which was finalised yesterday with the help of a friend’s very constructive input. I’m happy to share the cover with you below.

I’m considering undertaking a blog tour for this book, which essentially means that I will offer free advance copies of the book to fellow bloggers who would like to write a review around the time of publication. I did a blog tour for my book God’s Grand Game which was very successful, and because I regard this new book as a fairly major release, I’m planning to put together a comprehensive promotional campaign, including a blog tour (if there’s interest).

If you’d be interested in receiving a review copy of the book when it’s finished and would like to participate in a blog tour, please send me an email via the Contact page, or express your interest in the comments below. I’m very excited about this release, and I see it as my most important contribution to the field of philosophical theology since I published God’s Grand Game.

Life Update: Coping Strategies

Hello, friends of the blog. In today’s post, I wanted to give you an update on my life circumstances. Many of you have been following my journey towards being on the verge of homelessness. Some of you have been praying for me, and some of you have generously donated to help with my living costs, emergency accommodation, and the debt I am in. I thought it would be conscientious to keep you updated, seeing as you have offered me so much kind and helpful support.

About a week ago, I made the difficult decision to return to the flat. My finances were in a pretty dire state, although being featured on the Be That Somebody channel on TikTok led to some very generous donations from strangers that were an amazing help. It gave me a bit of breathing space knowing that I could afford to stay in cheap hotels for a few more nights as and when necessary. If you’re reading this and you did donate, I want you to know that every donation has made a huge difference and has been a great support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Since I’ve been back at the flat, I have been focused on making the most of a difficult situation. A friend of mine encouraged me to try to focus entirely on my own thoughts and actions and try to ignore the behaviour of my neighbour as much as possible. I had already been doing this to some extent, but my friend’s advice prompted me to refocus a little. I spent some time writing a series of affirmations which I read every day, and I have been practicing some mindfulness and grounding exercises every day as well.

I have employed certain coping strategies that are really helping. As well as the grounding exercises and affirmations, I have managed to quit smoking completely and switch to vaping. This has improved my frame of mind a lot. I also have other coping strategies, such as taking a shower when I’m feeling anxious and giving myself small mood boosts when I’m feeling low, whether it be a can of Coke, a bar of chocolate, or a cup of spicy chai. I know that some of these habits aren’t entirely healthy, but I have been under so much stress that I have afforded myself a little slack in this regard. I am not overweight and I do still try to exercise regularly.

I’ve been trying to stay positive and count my blessings at all times, as well as keeping busy working on projects that distract me and make me feel less concerned about the behaviour of others. It’s not always easy, but it’s going pretty well. I have managed to finish writing another short book. It’s actually a book I wrote a few years ago as a ‘lead magnet’ when I was building an email list, but I have revised and updated it, reformatted it, and updated the cover art. The book is very short, around 55 pages in length, but I’m pleased with the finished product and I stayed up all last night going through the process of publishing the book, which will be available in paperback and eBook formats exclusively through Amazon. If you’re interested, you can view the book on Amazon here.

One thing that has really lifted my mood is that yesterday I ran a free book promotion for God’s Grand Game with FreeBooksy. The book was downloaded around 1000 times just yesterday, which is a way higher number of downloads than I was expecting. I’m so thankful for this. I have decided to put my work-in-progress book Divine Justice on hold for the time being because it’s the kind of book that requires a great deal of research and concentration and with my accommodation circumstances being as they are it is difficult for me to be productive with such things. As I’m self-publishing, there is no pressure or deadline for the book, so I can revisit the project in the future, God willing.

I have a medical review tomorrow at the hospital which I’m a little anxious about. The health service in the UK (as well as the social housing system) is very strained, and I have been waiting for two months for this doctor’s appointment. Although I have made some notes in relation to things I want to discuss in the meeting, I don’t have a great relationship with the doctor I’m seeing because he is quite anti-religious and tends to focus exclusively on medication as mental health treatment rather than talking therapies and other ways to improve wellbeing. There is a shortage of doctors on the team, and I’ve been told I cannot see anyone else, so I will just hope and pray it goes well.

At the present time, I see myself staying in this accommodation, because there is no alternative available that would necessarily improve things. It’s a case of societal and systemic issues, and while I could pursue trying to find alternative housing, or sleep rough, it’s highly likely that I could end up in even worse circumstances than I’m in currently. Prayers for things to go well here, as well as for my medical appointment tomorrow, would be very much appreciated.

I pray that you will all have a wonderful week ahead, filled with unexpected blessings and breakthroughs, as well as pleasant surprises. And above all, I wish you an abundance of peace. God bless you!

Great Resources for eBook Lovers!

Do you own a Kindle or another eReader? Or do you read eBooks on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet? If your answer to either of these questions is ‘yes’, then this article is for you!

As an independent author continually looking to reach new readers with my books, I listen to and read about a lot of content related to book promotion and marketing. A lot of the strategies that I hear about aren’t a good fit for my books, because I write in quite a niche genre (philosophical theology), but I do sometimes come across marketing ideas that I find very useful and relevant to my work.

The most successful strategy that I’ve discovered for promoting books as an independent author is running a Featured Deal with BookBub. BookBub is a platform that offers free or discounted books to a very large email list of millions of readers, and as an author you can pay to have your book featured. As well as inclusion in BookBub’s email newsletters, a Featured Deal also gives authors a prominent spot on BookBub’s website. It’s not cheap to participate, and the editors are highly selective about which books they feature, but if you do apply and get chosen, it can boost the profile and sales of your book enormously. There are different email lists for different genres, and my books fit into the ‘Religion and Spirituality’ list very nicely!

I wanted to recommend BookBub not only to authors, but also to readers. For readers, you can choose the genres you are interested in and you will receive regular emails showcasing discounted books in your chosen genres on a weekly basis. A lot of very popular traditionally published books are featured, as well as books by independent authors. It’s a great way to discover new reads if you’re on a tight budget. Featured books are often available not only on Amazon Kindle, but also Apple Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Rakuten Kobo, and Google Play.

The other resources that I want to highlight to both authors and readers today are FreeBooksy and BargainBooksy. Their business model is very similar to BookBub. As an author you can pay to have your book featured in their newsletters, and as a reader you can sign up to the newsletters to receive a selection of free eBooks (FreeBooksy) or discounted eBooks (BargainBooksy) directly to your inbox. The mailing list for these two sites is nowhere near as big as BookBub’s mailing list, but it is still sizeable, and the company behind these two sites — Written Word Media — are very professional in the way they go about doing things. As with BookBub, you can choose specific genres of interest, and (lucky for me) these sites also have a religion and spirituality newsletter.

So, the moral of the story is that if you’re an author looking to promote your eBooks, check out these websites! And if you’re a reader looking for discounted and bargain eBooks, sign up to these newsletters! I currently have my book God’s Grand Game being featured by FreeBooksy (today only), and my book An Almighty Predicament is being featured by BargainBooksy tomorrow. It’s the first time I’ve used these sites for promotional purposes, so it’s a bit of an experiment, but I’ve heard great things from established indie authors, so, we’ll see!

Happy eBook reading!

God Both Causes and Punishes Sin

Christians and other people of faith often struggle to reconcile divine sovereignty with human free will. This predicament has been a key focus for me ever since I started writing about philosophical theology around two decades ago. I have discussed extensively (both on this blog and in my books) the very high view of the sovereignty of God that I hold. This can be a difficult idea for some to grasp, but I believe God’s attribute of omnipresence leaves no room for human freedom at all.

To deny God’s omnipresence would be to limit God in certain ways. One would have to posit that God has a limited reach in existence, perhaps being embodied somehow, or operating in a separate dimension or on a separate plain to human beings. But this is not the God I believe in. I believe God is everywhere and unbounded. It makes sense to me that there are no limits or restrictions to the being of God; He is boundless and therefore there is not a single atom anywhere in existence that is not part of the being of God. When a tree grows, God is growing the tree; when my heart beats, God is beating my heart. When I pray, I do so knowing that God is fully in control of all my life circumstances.

We can see creation, from this perspective, as contained within the being of God. There is no physical barrier where the being of God ends and freedom from God begins, because God’s presence is unbounded. It logically follows from this understanding that everything in existence is under God’s control and that there is no free will. Instead, all creatures are rather like puppets that are animated by God.

In the major Abrahamic religions we find the idea of human sin. How are we to make sense of the idea of sin if what I have argued in the preceding paragraphs is true and God is omnipresent and in control of everything that happens? Well, we would have to view sin as part of God’s plan. Indeed, everything that happens, including all sin and suffering, is part of the way God unfolds the grand story of His creation.

Does this mean that we aren’t responsible for our sins? We can answer this question on two different levels. In the God dimension of reality, He is in control of all our thoughts, words, and deeds, so God is the author and cause of all sin. This is the ultimate truth. But as part of the game of life, God gives us certain modes of mind which cause us to believe that we are acting freely, and within this game, God does hold us accountable for our actions, if the Abrahamic religions are to be believed.

Within the framework of God’s sovereignty over all events, divine judgement is a curious thing. This is because God both causes our sinful actions, and subsequently punishes them. The Abrahamic religions present a view of a future resurrection from the dead and a day of judgement when our deeds will be accounted for by God and we will be rewarded with either paradise or hell.

A natural question that follows from this is why would God send people to hell when they have not freely sinned and God has caused all their sin? I believe the answer to this question is that it is not necessary for there to be free will in order for God to administer justice. He can punish or reward human beings for the sins or good deeds that He has caused them to participate in by His sovereign power.

According to the Qur’an, our good and bad deeds will be weighed up by God on judgement day, and no one will be wronged in the slightest. Those people who God has caused to do very wicked things will suffer punishment, and those who God has caused to do an abundance of good deeds will have the reward of paradise. There is no injustice in this, despite our lack of free will.

Of course, whether we are admitted into paradise or hell is no objective matter — divine judgement depends on the subjectivity and free will of God. It’s possible that we might strive to do good deeds for our entire life, but that God will (for whatever reason) feel that hell is a more appropriate destination for us. God’s freedom means that He can do whatever He pleases, and the administration of justice is entirely within His control. God is not limited by moral constraints.

God may well choose to ultimately be merciful to all sentient beings. As He is a being who is perfectly self-sufficient, this would make sense to me. But there is no guarantee of this; God can punish or reward in any way He chooses, for as long as He chooses, and for whatever reason He chooses. The absolute sovereignty of God is both a wonderful and a frightening thing.

For a more in-depth discussion of the themes of this article, I invite you to read my book God’s Grand Game: Divine Sovereignty and the Cosmic Playground, which is currently available for free as an eBook on Amazon Kindle and from all other popular digital retailers. Paperback and hardcover versions are also available from Amazon. To see a retailer choice page for the book, click here.

Does Blogging Have a Future?

Is blogging still relevant in 2022? I have been blogging regularly since 2012 and have noticed a lot of changes since then. I realise I wasn’t especially early to the party, and some people have been blogging a fair while longer, but the recent tendency has been for content creators to move towards video as technology has made this better and easier. In an age of YouTube, TikTok, and smartphones with the capability to record high quality video, is blogging a dying art?

I don’t know if any of you have come across a certain stigma associated with blogging. Often when I meet people and want to share that I have a blog, I hold back. This is because I think bloggers have a reputation for being mediocre, and most blogs aren’t tended to with the kind of effort and attention to detail that makes them a joy to read. There are many exceptions, of course, but there are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of blogs out there with just a few posts, very few if any pages, not much design flair, and not much to entice potential readers.

I’m disheartened that blogging isn’t always taken seriously. A blog is the perfect platform for non-fiction authors to share their thoughts and build an audience for their work. Not all of us want to make video content, or create a podcast, either because we are introverted, or simply prefer to express our thoughts using the written word. I think the written word will remain important even in a TikTok age, because we’re all still taught how to write in school, and of course the fact that God sends human beings Scriptures in writing demonstrates that the written word is a hugely important part God’s plan and the way His creation operates.

WordPress has undergone a lot of changes recently. With the Gutenberg editor mixing things up in an (in my view) overly complicated and messy way, it’s clear that those behind the WordPress.com platform are trying to keep blogging relevant and advanced technologically. It’s still the case that nearly a third of the Internet consists of people who blog either using WordPress.com or WordPress.org, the latter of which offers people the means by which they can self-host their blogs. There are so many blogs out there, but is it a serious case of quantity over quality?

I have experimented with Substack on two occasions. Substack is a platform that allows writers to produce a regular newsletter in exchange for a paid subscription. So someone might charge $7 a month, for instance, to allow access to their newsletter. It’s a great business model, and some people are making good money doing this. WordPress have taken notice and have introduced ways in which we can do something similar — in fact, there are many ways to earn money through WordPress now, just take a look at the ‘Earn’ page in your blog’s settings to explore them.

But how many people are making money from their WordPress blogs? Podcasters and YouTubers often make quite a bit of their income from advertisements or sponsorships, but I know of few bloggers who are making any money at all via these avenues. In my understanding, making money from a WordPress.com blog is close to impossible. It’s partly because despite what WordPress claim, the search engine optimisation of our blogs isn’t great, so we don’t get as much traffic as we would need from search engines in order to make advertising on our blogs a viable option for generating an income, even if we are producing great content.

In my view, the main benefit of WordPress is for people who write in a particular niche to meet like-minded people and network. The tagging and Reader functionality makes it possible to locate people who have similar interests to us and connect with them. My blog, for example, is a small community of people who enjoy discussing subjects related to philosophical theology. I doubt there will ever be millions of people who share this interest, but it is a passion I share with a good number of other bloggers whose blogs I follow and enjoy reading and engaging with, and they with mine.

I would argue that for independent authors, having an active blog is still highly desirable. You really have to put the work in though, and as I have argued in a recent post, finding ways to promote one’s blog is just as important as writing great articles when it comes to connecting with people and reaching an audience. I don’t think I will ever make money as a blogger, but I have certainly reached a large number of people with my books through my blog. If I didn’t have a blog, it’s unlikely many people would have discovered my books and bought or downloaded them. I also love using my blog as a testing ground for ideas which eventually turn into books, so that’s another great reason to keep blogging in 2022 and into the future.

I’m interested to throw a couple of questions out to you: Do you know any bloggers who are making a living from blog-related activities? If you do, please leave a link to their blog/s in the comments below so we can all take a look. Also, what are your favourite blogs with a substantial following, and why do you think they are popular? Again, please leave a comment with a link. Thanks for reading!

Exercise Addiction vs Fear of the Lord

Hello, friends. Something a little different today. I have been reflecting on the way in which some people get addicted to exercise. I think that often the driving force behind working out is to make oneself strong. And don’t get me wrong, exercise is important for our physical and mental health and our sense of wellbeing. But I think there can be a downside to excessive exercise, which stems from a false motivation based on neglect of the teaching of Scripture.

When we come out of the gym after a good workout, we feel solid and pumped up. But I wonder how many people who devote themselves to this kind of exercise are motivated by fear? Is the thinking that if I work out enough, I will be strong enough to fight off anyone who might attack me? We should consider such motivations in light of Scripture. How many times is working out mentioned in the Bible, or the Qur’an? I would hazard a guess and say it’s very few. Why is this? Because for people of faith, our protection comes not from our physical strength, but from God Himself.

We need only consider the story of David and Goliath to understand that the person who is victorious in battle is the one who has God on his side, not the person who has put in the most reps at the gym. Also, I think it’s wise to recall the teaching of Jesus, that we should be meek and we should love our enemies; we should turn the other cheek in physical confrontation, not seek to overpower other people.

It can seem counter-cultural in our society to not care too much about our physical strength. It has become an obsession for so many. And by all means, go to the gym, go running, and play sports. But do so for the sake of enjoyment and health, not because it will necessarily protect you. Be mindful of the fact that your true strength comes from God — He is the one who fights our battles.

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34:14

Free Book Announcement

Greetings, dear ones! This is just a quick update concerning the books I have written. To those who have been following my blog for years, this may not be of interest, and I suppose this is more for my new and recent followers.

I have around 15 books available that I have written, all with themes of philosophical theology. The content ranges from reflections on Christian doctrine, to arguments for the existence of God, to a memoir recalling my spiritual journey, to an introduction to the Qur’an, and more.

I make some or all of my books available for free periodically to allow readers an easy way into my catalogue of writings. Currently none of my books are free, except that I have just made my chief philosophical work God’s Grand Game: Divine Sovereignty and the Cosmic Playground available for free as an eBook from Amazon and all other popular digital retailers. The book has been purchased or downloaded over 2000 times and as such is my most popular book to date. To view a retailer choice page for the book, click here.

I do promote God’s Grand Game quite regularly, because of all my books I believe it contains the best insights related to the perspective I have developed through studying Christianity and other religions for the last 20 years. My mental health journey has also impacted my worldview, and this is discussed in the book. For a full overview of the contents of the book, you can read the product description on the book’s page at your digital retailer of choice, via this link. The product description pages also contain some review snippets to hopefully entice you further!

To all of my Christian readers, I hope you are feeling refreshed after the Easter holidays. In my part of London I witnessed a procession on Easter Friday and I know that my father, who is a Christian, has been celebrating Eastertide. May God be merciful to us and guide us all closer to what is true.

For further information about all my books, you can visit my Books page. I hope you will find my work to be accessible, interesting, and stimulating. Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

You Always Have God

Friends come and go, they let you down, you let them down. Families fragment and relationships break up. People close to you get sick and pass away. Sometimes, no one can relate to your thoughts, so you keep them to yourself. You try to be strong, to persevere, but you are desperately lonely and don’t know where to turn.

You take comfort in small mood boosts, a can of Coke, a cigarette, a stroll in the sunshine, and you are grateful for these things. But you wonder whether God will send someone who can be there for you, who sees you, relates to you, comforts you.

You take some comfort knowing that prophets of old suffered and felt lonely and rejected. It comforts you because you know how they got through their challenges. They were forced to trust in God alone, and for those of us who believe, we must do the same. God is the only faithful friend you have, and the only faithful friend you need.

Thanks be to God.