Steven Colborne's Blog, page 46

True Enlightenment

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

From the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians.

May I encourage you not to skim read the above passage, but to let every phrase speak to you in all its richness. These sayings by Paul are deeply meaningful and wonderful. Thanks be to God.

Reflections on The Shallows – The formative power of habits

I enjoyed reading these thoughtful reflections from Tsholo.

boammaaruri

Life is liturgical. We normally think of liturgy as solely residing in the religious domain and that outside religious life there are no liturgies. But once we understand that a liturgy is a practice that we participate in that forms us, shapes and moulds our dispositions and inclinations it becomes clearer that we are constantly engaged in all sorts of liturgies. Our life, our character, the substance of who we are, is shaped by the practices and habits that we repeatedly do.

Liturgies from a Christian context are practices that embody in concrete terms beliefs about how life in the kingdom of God is – to put it differently liturgies embody beliefs and visions about what constitutes the good life. Their aim is to transform us to be a particular kind of people, people with certain virtues, patterns of thought and habits that allow us to co-operate with God and…

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A Short Reflection on John 1:18

Hello again peoples. Earlier today I shared a blog post with the opening to John 1; in my opinion one of the most rich and wonderful passages in the whole of Scripture. Actually, as I was typing out the passage, I paused at verse 18 and reread it a few times, and I really absorbed the meaning of the verse like never before.

I have a Christian friend called Susan, to whom I occasionally send WhatsApp audio messages. She has been quite sick and has poor eyesight, so I send her short recordings of reflections on Scripture if I think they would be useful to her. I thought I’d share with you the 4-minute recording I sent her today about John 1:18, in case anyone following this blog finds it useful.

I don’t pretend to be fully proficient in every aspect of Biblical teaching, so I do hope I have been faithful in this recording to God’s intended meaning of the verse. You can correct me in the comments if you feel you need to, and if it comes to light that I’ve made a terrible blunder I will delete this post. I pray that the teaching would communicate to you only what is sound and truthful.

In the footnotes to Verse 18, the ESV does indicate that the phrase ‘the only God’ is sometimes translated as ‘the only One, who is God’ or ‘the only Son’, but I feel in whichever of these ways the phrase is translated, this verse still makes a striking statement about the deity of Christ and the relationship between Father and Son.

The Light Shines in the Darkness

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'”)

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

From the Gospel according to John.

Friends, everything you need to know about who Jesus is, is contained within the pages of the New Testament. While some passages may seem obscure upon first glance, the more you read, the clearer the text becomes. There is nothing better that you could do with your time than read the Bible. Thanks be to God.

NB: For a beautiful musical rendition of the passage of Scripture shared in this article, see this YouTube video.

Stress

Hello folks. I just wanted to share the fact that I’ve been feeling very stressed lately. It’s been like this for quite a while, and actually I’ve had a tendency towards stress for many years. It usually doesn’t make sense when I experience stress like this. I can grasp at this or that reason as to why — the pandemic, global events, things people have done, things I have done — sometimes I feel I understand it but often I find the reasons why I think I’m stressed are not the actual reasons. Also, sometimes the stress will suddenly disappear, and I will feel completely at peace, with no idea why. This leads me to think I’m picking up on things that other people are going through indirectly.

Perhaps it’s also linked to being a perfectionist. Though I don’t think perfectionism is in itself an explanation; perhaps a symptom of something else.

Maybe one day God will make it all make sense.

Anyway, I’m absolutely fine. Just wanted to share this; I guess it could help someone who is feeling a similar way. Peace be with you all! Amen

The Faithful Have Vanished

Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbour;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation for ever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

A Psalm of David (Psalm 12).

An Important Clarification

Hello everyone. Yesterday I shared a short Q & A with my friend Rebekah Davis, in which she talked a little about her views related to the doctrine of hell. She explained that she wholeheartedly embraces the doctrine of annihilationism.

For my personal views (which don’t entirely accord with Rebekah’s) please see the comment I posted below the article, which I have just updated to make it clearer.

The article can be found here:
https://perfectchaos.blog/2020/11/25/rebekah-davis-interview/

Thank you and kind regards,

Steven

A Short Q and A with Rebekah Davis

Hello friends! A while ago when I was wrestling with some difficult theological problems related to the doctrine of hell, a lady named Rebekah left some comments on this blog directing me to a YouTube video she had made on the subject. Being the very guarded and cautious person that I am, I was too scared of absorbing false doctrine to investigate Rebekah’s views in any real depth. However, we had a good chat in the comments, and I subsequently came to share some of Rebekah’s beliefs related to the afterlife and the way hell is depicted in Scripture.

In recent weeks, Rebekah and I have become online friends (a brother and sister in Christ), and I’m looking forward to reading Rebekah’s book entitled Bridges of Love and Understanding: How to Bring the Message of Jesus to Muslims and Everyone Else Too very soon. I invited Rebekah to answer a few questions in relation to her life and ministry, and you can read her answers below. Thanks Rebekah!

1) Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Last year I signed up for the Desert Warrior Challenge. Halfway through the race I realized something about myself: I want to do cool things, but I don’t want it to be hard. I decided to retire from hard things like the Desert Warrior Challenge — effective immediately. Other than signing up for races and dropping out in the middle, I spend my time making videos, writing, singing and playing my guitar, leading Bible study in small groups, and hanging out with my husband and two teenage boys.  

2) You run something called the Bread of Life Channel, what is this and why do you do it?

The Bread of Life Channel is a YouTube channel and website dedicated to sharing the good news about Jesus, encouraging Christians, and answering hard questions related to Christianity and the Bible. I started the Bread of Life Channel two years ago because I had a burning desire to share the good news with more people. It was also important to me to encourage other Christians with the things I have learned about God and the Bible on my journey of faith. My husband is the one who encouraged me to put these messages into videos, and I am glad I listened to him. I really love doing this!

3) I noticed that you have some quite strong views in relation to the doctrine of hell. Please could you talk about this a little?

After quite a lot of study, I came to realize that hell (as a place of unending torment) is not a concept taught in the Bible. I am passionate about sharing this information with people, because in my experience, hell causes many people to unnecessarily doubt God’s goodness and justice. Hell is a concept that prevents some people from having faith in the God of the Bible, and for others, it causes fear and makes it difficult for them to see God as a loving Father.

In my early years as a Christian, I believed in hell because I thought it was what the Bible taught (though the idea of hell filled me with dread). As I grew in my relationship with God, and started reading about annihilationism, I quietly stopped believing in hell. I was not sure how strong the case was for annihilationism, but hell did not mesh with God’s character as I knew him. When I embarked on making my first video about hell, I did not plan to come out with a strong conclusion about hell. My strong views about hell are the result of much study on the topic. A few years ago, I was a timid nonbeliever in hell; now I’m a bold nonbeliever!

4) What’s your advice for people who are struggling during the lockdown?

An atheist once asked me, “Isn’t your belief in God just to give you comfort about the afterlife? How does believing in God benefit you in this life?” I responded, “Having a relationship with God means that it is impossible to make me bored. You could sit me in a room alone and with nothing and I could have a great time, because I will have fun with God.” My advice for people who are struggling with the lockdown is to realize that there is nothing and no one more fun than God. With him, you can do more than endure the lockdown, you can enjoy it. Invite him in!

5) Where can people find out more about your ministry and connect with you?

You can check out my website breadoflifechannel.net, or look up the Bread of Life Channel on YouTube.  One of my favorite things about online ministry is that I get to connect with people all over the world.  You can send me an email at breadoflifechannel@gmail.com.  I love to hear from people.

Thank you so much Rebekah for taking the time to answer a few questions! If you would like to check out the book written by Rebekah that I mentioned in the introduction, you can find it on Amazon here. Thanks for reading everyone and peace be with you!

Please note: For my personal views in relation to the doctrine of hell, please see my comment below.

Having Peace with God

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

From the Letter of Paul to the Romans.

Do you fear the wrath of God? Be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, and you will receive the forgiveness of your sins and a new life, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in a way that is pleasing to God.

Why I have started referring to God as ‘he’ and not ‘He’

Hi everyone! In all of the books I have written, and in the majority of articles I have written on this blog to date, I have capitalised pronouns referring to deity, for instance writing ‘He’ or ‘Him’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘him’ when referring to God. I always wanted to honour and revere God when I referred to him, and so I picked up this tradition that I noticed other people and certain Bible translations practicing.

However, this year I have fallen in love with the English Standard Version of the Bible, which contains the following note in the preface:

“[It] is sometimes suggested that Bible translations should capitalize pronouns referring to deity. It has seemed best not to capitalize deity pronouns in the ESV, however, for the following reasons: first, there is nothing in the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that corresponds to such capitalization; second, the practice of capitalizing deity pronouns in English Bible translations is a recent innovation, which began only in the mid-twentieth century; and, third, such capitalization is absent from the KJV Bible and the whole stream of Bible translations that the ESV carries forward.”

The ESV Bible, published by HarperCollins, © 2001 by Crossway, (p ix).

Having read this, I feel a little ashamed by the tendency I had to capitalise the pronouns referring to deity. It makes me wonder whether those who introduced the capitalisations did so prayerfully and humbly, or whether there was a touch of bravado in their decision.

In any case, now that I understand the truth of the matter, I personally feel that the best way I can honour God in this matter moving forward is by being faithful to the original manuscripts. So that is why I am choosing to no longer capitalise pronouns referring to deity.