Steven Colborne's Blog, page 52

When a person says, ‘I’m bored’, what do they really mean?

For many years now I have felt an aversion to ever describing myself as ‘bored’. For the purpose of helping myself to understand why this is, I decided to write this blog post looking in depth at what the phenomenon of boredom is.

It’s strange that while I personally never describe myself as bored, I do not find anything irritating or upsetting in other people using the term — it just seems honest and natural. Why do I see myself as different?

I think my fear of using the term stems from my understanding of God. It somehow feels to me as though I am insulting God, who has provided my life circumstances, if I describe myself as bored. It feels like a lack of appreciation for God. And I suppose this demonstrates that I love or perhaps fear God, and would never want Him to be unhappy with me.

It’s difficult because when I experience the feelings others describe as boredom, but I resist communicating those feelings to others, this creates a kind of suffering for me, because I am not expressing how I truly feel. Nevertheless, this seems preferable to describing myself as bored to others, because if I did so I would be elevating my relationship with my friend above my relationship with God, which I would never want to do, because God should always come first.

This may seem like a case of over-thinking and over-analysis, and perhaps it is, but thinking about and analysing things can lead to a greater feeling of understanding, which can be liberating (thank you, philosophy!).

But what exactly is boredom, in psychological terms? It would seem to be a state of disillusionment and frustration with one’s circumstances. It is not ever the fact in normal everyday life that there is ‘nothing to do’, so we should never describe our situation in that way. Instead of there being nothing to do, it would be more truthful to say we are experiencing fear that the things we imagine we could be doing are either too difficult, because they will cause us discomfort (such as a gym workout, for instance) or are possible, but would likely not be satisfying (like doing the washing up).

Perhaps we find ‘chores’ ‘boring’ because they are unnatural. The boredom we experience is a kind of wish that we had more freedom and liberty to do as we please. Maybe our cave-dwelling ancestors never experienced boredom, because they were connected to the endless beauty and variety of the natural world. It could never be boring to pick an apple from a tree and eat it, could it? But it could be boring to prepare a roast dinner for six people! So maybe boredom is a feature of the civilised world, and reflects the fact that being ‘civilised’ often makes life more difficult.

I believe boredom is also bound up with the concept of making short-term sacrifices for the purpose of long-term gain. For instance, if I don’t wash the dishes now, they will pile up, and the more they pile-up, the more my frustration will increase. The more my frustration increases, the more I would see the task ahead as ‘boring’. Boredom and frustration are very closely connected.

I would like to end by sharing a tip which I have found to be very helpful, and I know others who I have shared it with have found it to be very helpful too. When it comes to the time I need to clean my home, I set a timer on my phone for 20 minutes, and then I do what I describe as a ‘cleaning blitz’ and get as much done as I can before the alarm goes off. When the alarm sounds, I allow myself to stop, and usually find I have made great progress with the cleaning with minimal frustration. This approach to cleaning makes the task much less daunting.

I hope that, in a time when people are confined to their homes for long periods due to coronavirus lockdown, these reflections on boredom have been helpful, or at least entertaining.

Do you feel comfortable describing yourself as bored? And how would you feel about setting a timer to help you do the household chores? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you for reading!

(Image by Anastasia Gepp from Pixabay)

Would you help me out?

Hello friends! Those of you who have written a book understand the importance of online reviews. I wish it weren’t the case, but a lot of people make their purchasing decisions on the basis of the number of stars and the number of reviews a book has.

Therefore, if you’ve read either of the two books below, please would you take just a couple of minutes to leave a review on Amazon? Even if you only have time to write a few words, it would still be a huge help.

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I gave away this book as a free download a few weeks ago, but it’s now for sale on Amazon. If you read either the free or the paid version, please leave a review by clicking this link which should take you to the relevant page on your country’s Amazon store. You just need to scroll down a little to find the ‘leave a review’ link. Thank you so much!

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I would also really appreciate reviews of God’s Grand Game which I know many of you have read. To be directed to the relevant page on your country’s Amazon store, click this link. Very much appreciated!

I hate asking for reviews! If you like, leave a comment and let me know if you left a review so I can thank you!

Wishing you all a blessed rest of the week!

Steven

What Motivates a World Leader?

It’s interesting to consider what causes a person to wish to be a head of state and world leader. One might consider positive motivations, such as having the intention to create a more compassionate society, and then negative motivations, such as fear of confrontation and physical harm.

It’s interesting when someone moves from the world of finance, which can be a very aggressive industry where people are continually fighting with one another for dominance and greater wealth, into politics, where the motivation should be to create a fairer society.

My suspicion with some world leaders is that they aspire to positions of power because they are afraid of being harmed by other people, and being in a position of leadership affords them a kind of security, because they get to command the country’s forces rather than being subject to them.

So, being a world leader can be motivated by fear – the wish to escape physical or emotional harm caused by others.

We must be compassionate about this. No single person is responsible for an entire country’s politics or political system. Cultures emerge over a period of decades, and life is multi-faceted, so there are lots of things to consider — economic, personal, political, to name a few.

But we need people who are world leaders to be compassionate. When their actions are motivated by fear, this can lead them to be very unkind, perhaps ordering for people to be tortured and starting wars and this kind of thing. It is very sad and frightening when a person’s own fear is so strong that they feel the urge to harm others in terrible ways to protect their own sense of freedom.

The comfort I personally find is in knowing that God is control. Nothing that any world leader does is outside of the will of God. This is the perspective that I elaborate upon in my book God’s Grand Game, and I hope that one day some people in positions of power will read the book, because if they come to understand that God is in control of all things, they may feel less afraid of what their fellow man can do to them, and more concerned about their relationship with God, which is ultimately the most important aspect of every human life.

New Website for Authors

A few days ago, it occurred to me just how far I have come on my author journey. I remember that when I wrote my first book The Philosophy of a Mad Man back in 2012, I posted on Facebook confidently describing the book as “the only book I will ever write”. Eight books later and I’m amused by the way God is endlessly creative in defying our expectations.

I’m not a full-time author yet, but a few weeks ago I had a vision of a moment in the future — of what my life might be like if I am able to make a living as a result of all my writing and publishing and promoting. I began to see a career as a self-publishing author as a realistic possibility. The trigger for this was a promotion I recently ran which resulted in my book God’s Grand Game selling over 1000 copies in a single day. That blew my mind!

I know that as a community of writers and bloggers, many of you reading this have the same kind of enthusiasm that I have when it comes to writing. That’s one of the reasons why I recently had the idea that I would like to share everything I’ve learned from my author journey so far, and to be part of a community of authors who share ideas and help one another to remain enthused about the possibility of making a living with their writing.

That thought, coupled with the fact that I’ve been doing a lot of web design this year, gave me the idea of creating a website where I share everything that has and hasn’t worked for me as an author, and where I can encourage people to share their own experience with self-publishing as well.

I’m very excited to show you the website I have brought to life as a result of all of the above considerations. I designed the website from scratch and it’s self-hosted (i.e. not hosted on WordPress.com like Perfect Chaos is). The website is pretty much finished, although it could do with a round of proofreading and I will likely be adding more pages from time to time as my career and the publishing industry evolve.

It’s more of a static website and less of a chronological blog than Perfect Chaos, but people can still subscribe and I will send out occasional updates when new content is added to the site or if there’s anything else particularly important to share. I’m excited for you to take a look!

Click here to visit AuthorEpiphany.com!

After you’ve read the ‘Welcome’ page and taken a look around the website, I would love for you to engage by leaving a ‘Like’ or a comment if you do indeed like what you see and read. If you have any questions or feedback, you can also email me; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks, as ever, for your interest in my life and work, and I look forward to welcoming you into the Author Epiphany community!

My New Website: AuthorEpiphany.com

A few days ago, it occurred to me just how far I have come on my author journey. I remember when I wrote my first book The Philosophy of a Mad Man I posted on Facebook describing the book as “the only book I will ever write”. Eight books later and I’m amused by the way God is endlessly creative in the ways He defies our expectations.

I’m not a full-time author yet, but a few weeks ago I had a vision of a moment in the future — of what my life might be like if I was successful with all my writing and publishing and promoting. I began to see a career as an author as a realistic possibility. The trigger for this was a promotion I recently ran which resulted in my book God’s Grand Game selling over 1000 copies in a single day. That blew my mind!

The thing is, I’m not at all ambitious in the sense of wanting to be a New York Times bestseller or anything like that. I couldn’t care less about wealth and I generally avoid anything that could lead to any kind of fame. I do want the ideas expressed in my books and on my blog to resonate with people — that’s the only reason why I do what I do — but I want to focus on personal engagement with like-minded people and building friendships, rather than aspiring to some vision of fame and fortune. If I have enough money so that I can eat, wear some clothes, pay my rent, read books, and listen to great music, then I consider myself abundantly blessed.

I know that as a community of writers and bloggers, many of you reading this have the same kind of enthusiasm that I have when it comes to writing. That’s one of the reasons why I recently had the idea that I would like to share everything I’ve learned from my author journey so far, and to be part of a community of authors who share ideas and help one another to remain enthused about the possibility of making a living with their writing.

That thought, coupled with the fact that I’ve been doing a lot of web design this year, gave me the idea of creating a website where I share everything that has and hasn’t worked for me as an author, and where I can encourage people to share their own experience with self-publishing as well. This is not something I could do here on Perfect Chaos, because this will forever remain a philosophy and theology blog rather than a blog about publishing and author success (I have dabbled in writing those kinds of articles here from time to time and was once told off by a reader for my blog being confusingly diverse. And rightly so, it did used to be!)

But that’s more than enough preamble. I’m very excited to show you the website I have brought to life as a result of all of the above considerations. I designed the website from scratch and it’s self-hosted (i.e. not hosted on WordPress.com like Perfect Chaos is). The website is pretty much finished, although it could do with a round of proofreading and I will likely be adding more pages in the future. It’s more of a static website and less of a chronological blog than Perfect Chaos, but people can still subscribe and I will send out occasional updates when new content is added to the site or if there’s anything else particularly important to share.

Click here to visit the website!

After you’ve read the ‘Welcome’ page and taken a look around the website, I would love for you to engage by leaving a ‘Like’ or a comment if you do indeed like what you see and read. You can also subscribe to the site in the same way as you would subscribe to a regular WordPress.com blog. If you have any questions or feedback, you can also email me; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks, as ever, for your interest in my life and work, and I look forward to welcoming you into the Author Epiphany community!

Imagining Pluralistic Religion

Imagine how your spiritual life would look if you loved every person (both friend and stranger) unconditionally, rather than with the condition that they must alter their beliefs to accord with your own worldview if they are to meet with acceptance within your community.

Imagine a spiritual life where your religious activities are not motivated by the fear of hell (a doctrine which undeniably paints a picture of God as a cruel monster), but by a desire to understand the ways in which your neighbour experiences suffering and to try to help ease their suffering.

Imagine a church where people of all faith backgrounds feel welcome because they all have something vital in common: a belief that in reality – in accordance with what is actually true – there is only one God. This God is not the exclusive property of Christians, or Muslims, or Jews, or anyone else. He has, in reality, created every person in accordance with His will and intends for them to believe precisely what they believe at any given moment in time, because He is sovereignly unfolding all the events of their lives.

Imagine if church was about debating the moral, theological, social, and technological issues of our time, and if part of the role of the church was to help shape the future of humankind in a way that would eventually lead to the alleviation of poverty and conflict.

Imagine a church community where everyone is encouraged to learn more about other faith groups through discussions, debates, and social activities that are truly inclusive. Imagine valuing every person you meet in this community and trying to understand them through the lens of their own beliefs, rather than feeling you must persuade them to conform to your beliefs.

Are you willing to consider that for every scripture you can quote in defence of your religion, your neighbour, who has a different religious understanding, can quote a scripture from their religion which is equally compelling to them? Or would you be so arrogant as to suggest that you are absolutely right, and they are absolutely wrong?

Imagine a worship band with a Muslim on bass, a Christian on guitar, a Hindu on drums, and a Sikh on vocals. Imagine if these band members could compose a worship song together that they all felt was God-glorifying, because it reflected certain universal truths about God, rather than particular doctrinal differences.

Imagine if Christians studied the Qur’an and Muslims studied the New Testament; not with the intention of converting one another, but with the intention of understanding one another. Imagine if your guru – your spiritual mentor – was someone from an entirely different cultural and religious background to your own.

Imagine if you could appreciate the vision I am presenting here without regarding it as idealistic or naive, but instead embracing it as a realistic possibility. Imagine if in response to this article you didn’t feel anger or fear, but felt excited and inspired by the possibility of getting to know your brothers and sisters from other cultures and understanding what it is that motivates them and makes them so devoted to their particular faith.

Imagine the possibilities that would be open to us if our spiritual lives weren’t focused on defending our interpretation of particular doctrines, but were instead focused on extending unconditional love to all people.

(Image by shekharchopra85 from Pixabay)

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God’s Sovereignty vs The Christian Gospel

There is comfort in knowing the past could not have unfolded in any other way. If you are plagued by guilt over something you have done, you can rest assured that you could not have acted differently. Regret stems from a belief in free will, but such a belief reflects a misunderstanding concerning the nature of God and His absolute sovereignty over all events.

Christians will find what I’m saying hard to accept, of course, other than perhaps those Christians who might try (and fail, I would argue) to understand God’s absolute sovereignty as compatible with human free will. The arguments of Molinists, open theists, compatibilists, and some Calvinists, all attempt to defend such a position. By all means, examine their arguments and test your conscience against them, for it is noble to seek out Truth until one is convinced one has found it.

Accepting God’s absolute sovereignty isn’t easy for the individual who has read the Bible. Speaking personally, there is a conflict I experience due to feeling a great attraction to the teachings of Jesus, yet also knowing that because we don’t have free will, many central Christian doctrines don’t make sense. This tension, this conflict, is the troubling aspect of understanding God’s absolute sovereignty. It is terrifying to call into question Christian doctrine due to the sheer power of the words of Jesus, who described Himself as “The way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), not to mention the fearful prospect of God’s supposed wrath against unbelievers (see this article for the relevant scriptures).

There is a conflict. It’s unavoidable. Some days I feel more drawn to faith in Jesus and other days I feel more convinced that Christianity doesn’t make sense. On the one hand, I know that we do not have free will, but on the other hand, I find I cannot abandon the Christian Scriptures. To emphasise God’s sovereignty is comforting in one way, but troubling in another way, and to emphasise the Christian gospel is comforting in one way, but troubling in another way. This is the persistent dilemma I face.

Having felt this tension for quite a few years, I am starting to believe it cannot be resolved. There is no longer much point in arguing about it. The arguments on both sides of the debate are clear to me, and I have explored and discussed them to the point of exhaustion.

I continue to pray about the predicament, however, begging God for mercy in relation to it. I know for certain that God is all-powerful and has the ability to inflict terrible suffering on us all, if He wills to do so. I have prayed hard and repeatedly for God to ground me in the Truth, whatever it is, and to enlighten me if there’s something I’m misunderstanding. But the tension persists.

The only way in which I have been able to find some solace in relation to this predicament is by considering how irrational it would be for God to punish human beings for things they have done, when God has been entirely in control of everything they have ever done, which I am convinced is the Truth. And yet, this perspective calls into question the Gospel, and we are back to the same predicament all over again.

I think that the impossibility of resolving this dilemma is perhaps a key reason why Christianity has had such an enduring impact on humankind over the last two thousand years. There is a kind of power in the uncertainty — while theological problems persist, we will always feel we must grapple with them, and if they cannot be resolved, then they will continue to be discussed, because the desire to find peace of mind and security is something human beings always seem to feel.

The fundamentalist Christian might see the predicament as very black and white — you’re either with Jesus or you’re against him. The more liberal Christian may emphasise God’s love over God’s desire to punish, and therefore feel drawn towards Universalism — the idea that all human beings will eventually be ‘saved’.

To be clear, the debate is not between divine sovereignty and human free will — I have satisfactorily resolved that one. The debate is between God’s absolute sovereignty and the truth of the Christian gospel, which is a much harder problem to resolve.

I always find it disconcerting when a person comes down hard on one side of this debate at the expense of the other, because there is clearly a logic behind both viewpoints. To ‘pick a side’ in the debate is to cause conflict — those theologians who define themselves in relation to one or the other viewpoint are necessarily denying some aspect of Truth, and this must be a struggle that weighs heavily on their conscience.

Personally, I don’t wish to be one of those people who comes down on one side of the debate at the expense of the other. To do so would be an act of hostility towards some of my fellow human beings, and for the time being at least, I choose the grace of ambivalence over the egotism of tribalism.

How about you?

I have opened comments for this post, but if you do wish to comment, please do so in a kind and respectful way. I am planning to post on this blog once a week from now on, every Thursday afternoon. You can subscribe if you’d like to receive email notifications for new posts. Thank you for reading!

Upcoming Book Releases

Hello, friends. I’m excited to share with you the news that I have two books scheduled for release in the coming weeks. They are both quite large books and for the last week I have been immersed in editing, formatting, designing, drinking too much Tango, converting, uploading, and all of that self-publishing jazz. When I get an idea in my head I’m like flipping Elon Musk, I just cannot rest until I’ve launched my metaphorical rocket out into the cosmos. The eye strain that I am experiencing as I type this at 1:30am bears testament to this.

Now I hate myself because I opened this blog post with a long paragraph, which in my overly paranoid mind probably means no one has read it and everyone is unsubscribing. But I digress.

I have put together PDFs introducing each new book so you can have some idea of what to expect. And here they are…

The first book is entitled The God Articles.

The second book is entitled A Collection of Essays by Steven Colborne.

If it wasn’t obvious, you need to click the links above to view PDF files with more information about the books.

☞ Call for reviewers!

A Conversation with Sandra

What follows is a made-up dialogue between myself and my fictional Christian friend, ‘Sandra’. I hope that after reading it you will understand my predicament surrounding the Christian faith a little more clearly.

Sandra:

I’ve got to be honest with you, Steven. I’ve felt myself backsliding recently. I don’t read the Bible as much as I used to and I’ve only been to church once in the last two months. The thing is, I feel so depressed without God.

Steven:

I can understand your frustration. However, the reality of God is that He doesn’t come and go, so you mustn’t use that phrase ‘without God’. Just as God was in control of your life when you were devotedly reading the Bible, He is still in control of your life now, only in a different way. The guilt that you feel is also from God – it’s just a different mode of mind under His control. So rest assured that everything you’re going through is part of God’s will for your life.

Sandra:

Well, thanks Steven. That is a comforting thought. But what makes you think God is in control of every area of my life? Are you saying I don’t have free will? I couldn’t accept that, because the Bible describes me as a fallen sinner in need of salvation. I have walked away from God, and that is why I’m hurting.

Steven:

I appreciate that you’re hurting right now, but you might find some consolation by looking at things in a slightly different way. I would like to ask you to reflect deeply on two questions: What is God? and Where is God?

When I deeply considered the answers to these questions myself, I realised that God must be pure spirit without boundaries. It didn’t make sense to me that there could be limits to the extent of God’s being, as when I examined my own consciousness, I intuited that it was something free from any kind of form or container. If there are no limits to my own consciousness, that means that there is only one consciousness. I equate that one consciousness with God.

Sandra:

It sounds to me as though you’re saying you are God!

Steven:

Well, I believe there is a sense in which my consciousness is the same as God’s consciousness, that’s true. However, my consciousness is experienced through the vessel of the body and its five senses, whereas God has no such limitations, and I believe He is most likely aware of all that exists, all of the time. So there is a distinction between creaturely consciousness and God consciousness. We experience things in the human dimension of reality, while God experiences things in a more deep and vibrant way in the ultimate dimension.

Sandra:

How can you claim to know what God experiences?

Steven:

I cannot, for sure. But what gave me confidence in this perspective was firstly examining my own consciousness and its apparent boundlessness, and also an experience I had when meditating deeply some years ago, when I felt my bodily form dissolve into a feeling of expansive bliss. The blissful feeling was one of a far greater wholeness and completeness than I have ever experienced in my regular waking state, and so this led me to speculate that God experiences this kind of blissful awareness at all times.

Sandra:

But that was just an experience you had. How is it linked to God?

Steven:

I would refer once again to my understanding of consciousness as being boundless. The boundlessness of existence means that everything that exists is a part of God. So there is a sense in which I believe God is my ‘higher self’. If I were to die right now, or meditate deeply, I might once again connect with the deeper awareness and pure bliss that I believe is the essence of God.

Sandra:

You seem to be describing God as an impersonal feeling. The Bible teaches that God is personal. What would you have to say about that?

Steven:

I believe God is personal, in that He is able to give creatures a feeling of separateness from Him and communicate with them directly by talking to their minds. He can make us feel isolated and identified with our human bodies and He can also talk to us as though He is a separate being. Again, this is because we are experiencing things through the senses.

Think of it this way. God is the great ‘I AM’. He is all that exists. Think of Him like an infinitely large oak tree, and think of us as the branches on the tree. God’s life force flows through the whole tree, but each branch has a kind of independent existence, even though really it is part of the tree. It’s an imperfect analogy, but I believe it captures something of our relationship with God.

Sandra:

So we’re simultaneously part of God but also experience things in a different way to Him?

Steven:

Yes, I think so. We could describe all of our activities as having a primary and secondary cause. Everything we do is orchestrated by God in the divine dimension, but we feel we are doing things ourselves in the human dimension. God is the primary cause, and we are the secondary cause. The important point is that there is no freedom in the secondary cause, because our actions are 100% under the control of the primary cause, which is God.

Sandra:

You believe I am 100% under God’s control?

Steven:

Yes, and I believe you intuitively know this. When you pray a prayer along the lines of “God, please let my job interview go well” or “Lord, please bless my marriage”, you are implicitly acknowledging that God is controlling the events of your life. If this wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t make sense to pray in such a way.

Sandra:

Actually, I believe God isn’t in control of everything, but He can and does intervene sometimes.

Steven:

I appreciate that Christians often describe things in such a way. However, the omnipresence of God means that in reality, there is no room for free will. For there to be free will there would have to be separateness from God, but as I have already explained, I don’t believe God’s being has boundaries.

I notice that you haven’t denied that you pray in a way that implicitly acknowledges God is controlling and unfolding all of the events of your life.

Sandra:

Well, I’ll think about that. But can’t God be omnipresent and we still have free will?

Steven:

No. The two ideas are logically contradictory. For anyone to act freely they would have to not be under God’s control, but if everything that exists is contained within God, it logically follows that everything that exists must be under God’s control.

Sandra:

I’m sorry, I can’t accept this. The Bible says I’m a sinner in need of salvation. The Bible is the Word of God. Do you think you know better than God?

Steven:

All I do is try to be honest. I appreciate that the Christian gospel is very compelling. It compelled me to get baptised, and it compelled me to go out on the streets and evangelise. But during my time as a Christian I was never able to honestly resolve the free will predicament, because I believe it is an area of Christian theology which does not make sense.

Sandra:

Couldn’t it be you that’s incorrect, rather than the Bible?

Steven:

The Bible can be understood and interpreted in very many different ways, which is evidenced by the existence of multiple different denominations and schools of thought within Christianity. Christians have been disagreeing with one another for two thousand years. So it’s difficult to sweepingly say whether the Bible is ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’.

Sandra:

Christians only disagree because human beings are imperfect. The Word of God is not imperfect, it is perfect.

Steven:

Well, in response to that argument, we have to look at hermeneutics, the way things come to have meaning. If you think about it, the contents of the Bible is lines and curly symbols impressed upon a white background. Lines and curly symbols upon a white background do not contain inherent meaning. What makes the written word meaningful is God bringing meaning to our minds as we read and reflect. Any single sentence can potentially be read and interpreted in an infinite number of ways.

Sandra:

So the Bible could mean anything? I disagree. Words are symbols that communicate.

Steven:

Have you considered the way in which words communicate? I don’t wish to repeat myself, but let me offer an analogy. Have you ever had the experience of looking at the clouds in the sky, and seeing the form of a creature or an object? Then a few moments later you can see the same cloud formation as though it is a completely different and unrelated object. You can playfully imagine that the clouds are like paintings of different creatures or objects.

Sandra:

Yes, but you’re talking about clouds, I’m talking about the Word of God.

Steven:

In terms of my hermeneutic, there is no difference. Just as clouds do not contain intrinsic meaning, neither do the lines and curly symbols on a page. The way we understand something depends on God bringing a particular understanding to our awareness, and there are no limits to the way in which God might do this.

Sandra:

So you think I could look at a cat and see a dog?

Steven:

Yes, I think that it’s entirely possible for you to look at a cat and think ‘dog’. I have tried a similar thought experiment, which I described and elaborated upon in my book The Philosophy of a Mad Man.

Sandra:

Why are you always plugging your books endlessly!?

Steven:

Because I believe they represent an important contribution to the fields of philosophy and theology.

Sandra:

Well, I believe Jesus over you any day. Jesus is God, you’re just a human who calls himself a philosopher, which I think is a bit arrogant, actually.

Steven:

I respect your desire to honour God and live in accordance with Biblical theology. The Christian Scriptures are incredibly compelling, as is evidenced by their persistence over the last two millennia.

Sandra:

Exactly, two thousand years of the Christian faith must mean Christianity is the true religion of God.

Steven:

I don’t accept that argument. Just because something persists for a long time doesn’t make it true. It means it’s appealing in some way, but not necessarily true.

Sandra:

How do you know that what you’re saying is ‘true’?

Steven:

I just talk and write honestly. That is all that I do.

Sandra:

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life!

Steven:

Billions of people have a different understanding of Jesus, but I agree that the way in which Jesus spoke as presented in the New Testament is incredibly compelling.

Sandra:

You just need to read the Bible more, surround yourself with God’s people, get planted in a good church, pray honestly, and God will keep you in His Kingdom and give you eternal life.

Steven:

I wish it were so easy to dismiss the inconsistencies and apparent problems contained within Christian doctrine, but I find they are ever present in my mind, and to deny them would be like living a lie.

Sandra:

Living a lie? Jesus is the TRUTH!

Steven:

It is a difficult predicament. How can I be a Christian when, to me at least, the central doctrines and tenets of the Christian faith don’t make sense?

Sandra:

The devil is liar! You’re being deceived.

Steven:

Well, I would have to refer you back to my understanding that God is in control of everything that happens. If the devil exists, the devil is also under God’s control. I don’t believe I have any free choice about what I think and write, because I don’t believe I have free will.

Sandra:

You’re being unbiblical again.

Steven:

I’m just speaking honestly.

Sandra:

You are choosing to abandon the Christian faith.

Steven:

I’m simply speaking honestly about those areas of Christian doctrine which don’t make sense to me. Have you heard of Pascal’s Wager? Pascal put forth the idea that the wisest way to live is as a Christian, because if Christianity is true, the penalty for those who deny Christ is everlasting suffering, but if you become a Christian and Christianity is untrue, you have lost relatively little.

Sandra:

Exactly. It makes much more sense to be a Christian.

Steven:

From a certain perspective, it does. But there are also other perspectives which billions of people have, and also, when I have tried to live a committed Christian life in spite of my problems with Christian doctrine, I found it was almost impossible, as these problems were relevant to every church service, every house group meeting, every coffee with my Christian friends, and so on.

Sandra:

So you think you know better than Jesus?

Steven:

I honestly think that central Christian doctrines don’t make sense. I believe God has given me the understanding that I have, that God is writing these words through me, and that God is the omnipresent creator, sustainer, and animator of all that exists.

Sandra:

Well then you’re a heathen and you’re going to hell.

Steven:

I hope that’s not true. I would find it strange if God were to subject people to everlasting torment when they have done nothing freely to deserve such torment.

Sandra:

But you’re denying Jesus, therefore you are dead in your sins, and so you do deserve hell.

Steven:

It’s possible that there are other ways of looking at existence, and while I find the teaching of Jesus very compelling, I sometimes wonder whether Christianity might just be part of a bigger picture. I mean, two thousand years of Christian history might seem like a lot, but there are much older religions, and eternity is an incredibly long time and I would suggest than maybe in a few million or billion years God might be playing a different game.

Sandra:

You think this is a game?

Steven:

Only in the sense that I believe God is playfully unfolding all events in existence, and I believe He takes great pleasure in doing so.

Sandra:

The Bible says that God is angry at you because of your sin.

Steven:

Actually, I’m glad you mentioned that, because that gets right to the heart of my problems with Christianity. If we really had free will, then the idea of rebellion against God could potentially make sense. But in reality, I believe everything that happens does so by God’s will, and therefore we don’t freely ‘sin’. Everything that we have ever done has been willed and directed by God, therefore the doctrines of sin, salvation, and judgement, make little sense.

Sandra:

Then we must have free will.

Steven:

I’m convinced that we don’t, for the reasons I’ve stated. Are you freely beating your heart? Are you freely circulating your blood? Are you freely digesting your food? Are you freely creating your emotions? If you are freely doing all of these things, how are you doing them?

Sandra:

My brain controls my bodily processes.

Steven:

What is causing your brain to control your bodily processes?

Sandra:

My subconscious, I guess.

Steven:

What exactly is your subconscious?

Sandra:

It’s the things my brain is doing that I’m not aware of.

Steven:

What is causing your brain to do those things?

Sandra:

My brain just does them, I suppose.

Steven:

Your brain ‘just does them’?

Sandra:

Hmmm. Well, I suppose there must be some cause of my brain activity.

Steven:

Yes, there must. The way I see it, is that it is a scientific myth that human experience and human consciousness are somehow the result of brain machines. It’s obvious to me that God is animating all of the processes that we experience as part of our living state. This all ties into my arguments against free will. I wrote an article entitled “What is Causing Our Thoughts?” in which I explained that the idea that our thoughts are under the control of some kind of brain machine is absurd. I believe the truth is that our thoughts are brought about spontaneously by an animating force, which is God.

Sandra:

Now you’re describing us as puppets, and I can’t accept that.

Steven:

Puppetry is a very good analogy for what I believe is the truth. Why can’t you accept it?

Sandra:

I’m not a robot!

Steven:

You’re the one who was suggesting you are a kind of robot powered by your brain. I don’t think we are robots at all, but we are certainly like puppets.

Sandra:

Okay, I need a break. But I’m not giving up on Jesus.

Steven:

As you wish. I respect your desire to follow Jesus, and I understand it very well. But out of curiosity, are you able to understand my arguments, and do you think they are valid?

God is the Cause of Both ‘Evil’ and ‘Sin’

For today’s post in my Praise and Prose series, I’d like to discuss how our use of language might change in order to reflect the truth that God is in control of everything that happens which Christians (and people of other faiths) describe as ‘sin’ and ‘evil’.

First, I will present a series of scriptures from the Bible that reflect the fact that God is in control of both ‘evil’ and ‘sin’ and I will then make a few relevant points in relation to our use of language.

But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
(Exodus 7:3-4)

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
(Lamentations 3:38)

When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?
(Amos 3:6)

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
(Isaiah 45:7)

Now the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.
(1 Samuel 16:14)

And if a prophet is deceived into giving a message, it is because I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet. I will lift my fist against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel.
(Ezekiel 14:9)

The first passage I quoted was Exodus 7:3-4. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, but subsequently punishes the Egyptians for actions He has caused. The fact that God hardens people’s hearts is an indication that He is in control of those aspects of our lives which the Bible describes as transgressions. But if God has caused them, are they really transgressions?

We could try to come to an understanding of how it’s possible to believe in the Christian worldview and that God is in control of our transgressions. But how are we to make sense of sin, judgement, and salvation, if we do not freely transgress, and if all of our transgressions are brought about by God?

In my book God’s Grand Game I spend a chapter discussing what I call ‘modes of mind’. One of the modes of mind that God sometimes gives people manifests as a feeling that they are acting freely, even though in reality they are merely puppets in God’s hands. The reason why I use the word ‘game’ in my book’s title is because this word reflects the playful nature of God giving us the illusion of free will, when in reality we are not free.

According to what I have just stated, our sins could be a part of God’s grand game. This is the only way I can make sense of the scriptures that I have quoted in relation to Christianity. But I must note that most Christians insist that we sin freely, and their whole worldview rests on this idea. They do not believe God is in control of their sins at all.

The scriptures I have quoted indicate that God is sovereign over all events, which I believe is the absolute Truth. So perhaps we should stop saying prayers that indicate satan is in control of certain thoughts and behaviours, when really God is in control of all our thoughts and behaviours.

It’s possible that within the grand game, satan exists, and is playing out a role in which he can be seen to influence our lives. But we should not deny the reality that anything satan does is really under God’s control. A way of praying that would be true to reality would be one that denies satan’s free will and acknowledges God’s sovereignty over all events.

So, instead of saying a prayer such as, “Lord, bind satan!”, we might instead say, “Lord, use this difficult situation which you have caused in order to bring peace and joy”. Instead of praying for “the enemy” to be defeated, we should ask God to restore peace and healing where God has caused suffering and strife.

There is no such thing as a sin committed freely, because God is in sovereign control of all events. So, instead of praying for forgiveness, we might instead ask God to help us make sense of those experiences which He has caused in relation to which we may feel guilty. We might speak about our lives as though they are stories directed by God, rather than as though they are a constant battle against sins which we freely commit.

I hope this blog post has given readers some food for thought. I realise many Christians could find this post uncomfortable and provocative, so I have closed comments in line with my comments policy. Thank you for reading and God bless you.

(Photo by Michel Paz on Unsplash)