Steven Colborne's Blog, page 63

Does God Have Foreknowledge?

Greetings, all! This week’s video in my Deep Thoughts About God series looks at the question of foreknowledge. Does God have knowledge of future events? If so, what does this tell us about God’s nature? These are some of the questions covered in the video. It’s a short video this week, but I hope you find it thought provoking.

If you enjoyed the video, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel and ring the notification bell to receive an alert each time I post a new video. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you soon!

Debunking the Law of Attraction

Hi friends! If you’re interested in spirituality to any extent, it’s likely that you’ve come across people speaking about the “law of attraction”. In this post, I’ll be offering some thoughts about this phenomenon and explaining why I believe the idea makes mistaken assumptions about the nature of reality.

What is the Law of Attraction?

Back in 2006, a book entitled The Secret was released. The book was an accompaniment to a film of the same name, and brought the idea of the law of attraction to a mainstream audience. To give you some idea of the impact of the book and film, the book has been translated into thirty different languages and sold over 50 million copies.

The idea promulgated by the book and film can be concisely expressed as follows:

As your thought radiates out, it attracts the energy and frequencies of like thoughts, like objects, and even like people, and draws those things back to you.

(https://www.thesecret.tv/law-of-attraction/)

It’s easy to see why the idea has had such a huge impact. It is a tremendously empowering concept, making the individual feel they have control over what happens in their lives, and by extension providing the liberating feeling that it’s possible to have whatever you want in life, if you can only control your thoughts in the correct manner.

Why is the Law of Attraction such a popular idea?

The idea has cemented itself deeply in the new age spiritual movement, and you only need to do a search on social media to see this for yourself. To offer one example, I recently saw someone on Instagram claiming that they manifested themself a new bike within a week, purely via the power of positive thinking.

When people don’t believe in God, there is necessarily a great deal of mystery to existence. This feeling of mystery leaves people vulnerable to embracing any idea that seems to make sense of reality, however strange and outlandish the idea might be. This is the reason why cults are able to prosper — and many do within the new age spiritual movement — because uncertainty about our place in the grand scheme of things leaves people vulnerable to ideological manipulation.

I believe the reason why The Secret has been so successful is that it taps into that deep sense of mystery, providing an explanation for how reality works that can be enticing and reassuring.

So What’s Wrong with the Law of Attraction?

In a word, the problem with the idea is that it is godless. Spiritual seekers get very excited when they experience synchronicity in their lives, as this would seem to be evidence that they have some mastery over the law of attraction. However, despite regularly asking ‘the universe’ for things, ‘the universe’ is not considered by these people to be a personal being in the way God is understood to be in the Abrahamic religions, for instance.

The problem with seeing the universe as an object in this way is that it doesn’t really explain anything. To really understand why synchronicitous events happen in our lives, we need to understand that an omnipresent and personal God exists, and that this God is unfolding all events in creation. When we understand this, it solves the problem which The Secret begins to tap into but doesn’t really solve in a deep and satisfying way.

Why Believe in God?

Of course, if someone has had no revelation of the reality of God, they may feel they have no good grounds to believe such a being exists. God doesn’t reveal Himself to everyone all of the time, but instead employs a kind of veil over the minds of many, which prevents them from being aware of Him. But when He does reveal Himself, He does so in very tangible ways, like speaking directly to the minds of human beings and working miracles.

Conclusion

To really understand why events in the universe unfold in the way they do, we need to focus on God. Even if someone is convinced that the law of attraction works, the bigger question of why it works remains. The answer to the problem of why any events occur within the created universe is that a living and personal God exists, and He is actively controlling everything that happens in the eternal present moment.

If you’re reading this and the idea of God’s existence seems unlikely to you, why not pray for Him to reveal Himself to you? What have you got to lose? If there is no God, then you’ve wasted only a prayer, but if there is a God (and God chooses to reveal Himself to you), then you will have at last found a solution to life’s biggest mysteries in a way that is much more satisfying than the vague and partial solution offered by books such as The Secret.

Of course, once you know God exists, there is the further question of what kind of God He is — the Christian God, the Muslim God, a Hindu God, or some other God? Well, I might be able to help you with that predicament. Click here to see how.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s post. If you did, please consider following this blog to receive an email every time I publish a new post. Do you believe in the law of attraction? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you for reading!

Determinism and the Nature of God

Welcome to this week’s episode of my Deep Thoughts About God series. In today’s video, we’ll look briefly at a few of the different types of determinism, considering whether the events that we experience in the present moment can be attributed to a series of physical processes that started with some kind of ‘Big Bang’ event, or whether God has a role in the continued unfolding of the universe.

I hope that you enjoyed watching the video. What are your thoughts concerning determinism and the nature of God? Feel free to leave a comment over on YouTube, and drop a ‘Like’ below if you found this topic interesting.

If you’d like to see new videos in this series as soon as they are released, simply subscribe to my YouTube channel (here) and hit the bell icon.

The book mentioned in the video, God’s Grand Game, can be purchased here.

In next week’s video we’ll look at a topic which is very much related to determinism, which is the question of whether or not God has foreknowledge of the events that unfold within creation. Thank you for reading/watching, and I’ll see you again soon.

When is Enough, Enough?

I think we’re all concerned with how to be as happy as possible. For many followers of this blog, happiness is found in spiritual contentment, not necessarily living an easy life here on earth, but living with the expectation of happiness in the life to come. Others, who aren’t necessarily convinced there is an afterlife, will be more focused on achieving happiness in this life via lifestyle choices and a steady income, for instance.

Even those who find happiness in the promise of heaven try to take steps to limit suffering on a day-to-day basis, whether it be by keeping fit, eating well, or nurturing friendships and relationships. Most readers of this blog live in societies where earning money is essential for being able to sustain oneself with even the basics, such as food and shelter, and regardless of our beliefs we all have to think about these things to some extent.

In a recent blog post, I explained with passion why I am often frustrated with society’s idea of success, and I questioned the capitalist drive to always be earning more, and to keep growing in money, success, and influence. This idea is so pervasive, but it seems to me that it often leads to lives that become increasingly stressful and less fulfilling.

One of my favourite YouTube channels is run by an American minimalist named Matt D’Avella. Matt is best known for making the documentary ‘Minimalism’, which some of you may have seen. He has a podcast these days where he interviews people who have creative approaches concerning how to live a meaningful life.

In Matt’s latest video, released today, he interviewed a man named Paul Jarvis, who has written a book entitled ‘Company of One’, which I haven’t read but seems to be about questioning society’s norms when it comes to scaling up, earning more, and working harder. In the video, Paul is wonderfully honest as he describes why focusing on honouring existing relationships can be a much wiser idea than always seeking to scale up and grow.

I found the video incredibly helpful and reassuring, as I’ve been thinking about these things a lot recently in terms of my own ambitions and the way I organise my time, finances, and life in general. I’ve embedded the video below, and I would encourage you to watch it, as whatever your beliefs I think you’ll find the content really interesting.

What did you think of the video? The comments are open (below), and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the conversation between Matt and Paul. Feel free to share any insights of your own in relation to the pursuit of happiness and the question of when enough is enough.

Finally, this would be a good opportunity to mention that I have written an eBook about the pursuit of happiness which all new subscribers to my email list have the option of receiving as a free PDF download. Just click here and enter your email address, and you’ll get a link to download the eBook. Thank you for reading!

God in Inanimate Objects

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying my Deep Thoughts About God video series so far. Actually, as I type this, I’ve just finished doing some more filming for the series. Getting my living room ready for filming takes quite a bit of time (as does the filming itself), so it’s always a big relief when I’m done for the day!

This week’s video looks at the way in which God relates to inanimate objects. I want the video to speak for itself, so I won’t say too much, except that I hope it will make you think deeply, and perhaps differently, about God’s relationship with the created world.

I hope you enjoyed the video. As I wrote about in this post, I recently made the difficult decision to close comments for most posts on Perfect Chaos for the time being, but if you’d like to comment on this video you are welcome to do some over on YouTube (link below), or you can drop me an email if you prefer (see my Contact page for details).

Next week’s video will be looking at different types of determinism, and how they relate to my philosophical perspective. Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’d like to see new videos as soon as they go live, or simply stay subscribed here on Perfect Chaos as I share each new video here as well.

My YouTube Channel:

https://youtube.com/c/stevencolborne

That’s all for today. Please hit the ‘Like’ button below if you enjoyed this week’s video, and if you’re interested in the book that accompanies this video series, you can find out how to buy a copy by clicking here. God bless you, thank you for reading/watching, and I’ll see you again soon!

Big Change to the Blog (Please Read!)

Hi everyone! I started this blog in 2012 and have been posting consistently ever since. I have written over 400 posts, and have always tried to engage in the comments so as to create a vibrant space for discussion around the big questions of faith, philosophy, and theology. There have been some truly wonderful discussions over the years.

While interacting with people in the comments has been interesting, productive, and fun, it can also be very stressful. As a sensitive person, I do find I am often troubled by some of the less friendly and thoughtful comments posted here (you don’t necessarily see them because I delete many of them). I’m finding that these days I dread reading the comments. Even though 80% are friendly and positive, there are a percentage which are hurtful and unkind. It’s especially difficult for me as a blogger who has unorthodox views which are challenging to many people, as when people feel their beliefs are threatened they can often be quite unkind.

I’m trying to be mindful about the amount of negativity I let into my life, so I can be a happier person. With this in mind, I’ve decided I will be closing comments for most of the posts on Perfect Chaos. This has been a difficult decision, because many of you who comment have become good friends, and I love hearing from you. I’ve experienced so much kindness from the blogging community here on WordPress. But I know that those of you who are my blogging friends would want me to be happy, and I’m sure you’ll understand why I feel I need to do this.

I would love to stay in contact with those of you who enjoy my work, and I feel the best way to do this is via social media and email (links at the bottom of this post). I am posting regularly on Instagram these days, and am also fairly active on Facebook and Twitter. Then there’s my YouTube channel, where I am currently uploading weekly videos (the comments on YouTube will remain open for the time being at least).

I’ve had a very long spiritual journey seeking after Truth, and that journey has involved a great deal of interaction with spiritually-inclined people both online and offline. I’ve reached a place now where I feel I have a solid worldview and understanding of my life’s purpose, so I am less interested in getting involved in debates than I used to be, as I feel I have moved on from a learning phase in my life to more of a teaching phase. It’s true that we’re always learning, but I’m finding I’m generally coming across the same questions and challenges that I have already responded to many times, and although I am a very patient person, I find this quite exhausting. For instance, people are continually trying to convert me to Christianity, and while I understand the kind motivation behind their efforts, it pains me that I have to go through the same process of explaining and justifying my philosophical perspective again and again.

I will be continuing to post on Perfect Chaos for the foreseeable future. I’ve settled into a routine of posting twice a week; once with a post that features the latest video in my Deep Thoughts About God series (every Thursday), and one other post that is either a reflection on a philosophical or theological issue, or a more personal life update (on the weekend). Two posts a week seems to be a good balance for me.

My intention with this blog has never been to get into arguments with people whose beliefs I don’t agree with. I have always been intent on sharing the insights God has given me into philosophical and theological issues, with the hope of helping people go deeper in their own spiritual journeys. If people don’t find affinity with what I share, that doesn’t bother me, I’m just thankful that God has brought me through a whole lot of trials to a place where I feel I have found answers to all the big questions that have troubled me in the past. I love sharing the insights I have gained, as they have helped me so much that I want to help other spiritual seekers in return. That’s the motivation behind all of my writing.

Thanks again for all your support and interest in my work. Please be sure to stay in touch with me — there are so many ways we can keep in contact:

Social Media

https://instagram.com/stevencolborne

https://twitter.com/stevencolborne

https://facebook.com/StevenColborneAuthor

https://facebook.com/StevenColborneMusic

https://linkedin.com/in/stevencolborne

YouTube

https://youtube.com/c/stevencolborne

My personal website

https://stevencolborne.com

Email

steven@perfectchaos.org

I will, of course, be continuing to read the blogs to which I am subscribed, and seeking out interesting new blogs to follow. I’m not planning to quit WordPress or anything like that.

I think that’s all for today. Hit the ‘Like’ button so I know you’ve read this post, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you again soon!

God’s Sovereignty and the Bible

I’ve been spending some time thinking about how free will relates to the Bible, and in this post I’d like to present an argument claiming that it’s not possible to describe the Bible as the Word of God and at the same time maintain that we have free will — an idea at the heart of the Christian faith. I will lay out my argument in five points.

1) Many Christians consider the Bible to be the infallible Word of God, useful for doctrine, teaching, rebuking, training in righteousness, etc (see 2 Timothy 3:16).

2) But much of the Bible (both the Old Testament and New Testament) is describing real-life historical events. For instance, God guiding the Israelites to the Promised Land in the Old Testament, the crucifixion of Christ in the New Testament, and countless other examples, of course. Few Christians would deny that the narratives recorded in the Bible represent the unfolding of God’s plan for creation.

3) If the Bible is indeed God’s narrative, then the events described in Scripture must have been brought about by God, otherwise Scripture could not be considered authoritative and infallible. If the events recorded in the Bible were not brought about by the will of God, it would be illogical to describe the Bible as ‘God-breathed’ and ‘God’s Word’ — on the contrary, the Bible would have to be understood as merely human reflections on events which may or may not have happened. To say God inspired the Bible, but not the events described in the Bible, would be incongruous. If the Bible is inspired by God, then God must have willed the events described therein.

4) But if the events described in the Bible are brought about by God, then there is no room for free will in them. If there is no free will, key Christian ideas such as sin, judgment, the fall, the atonement, and salvation, don’t make sense, because these ideas depend on the notion that we freely sin.

5) If God is sovereign over the events recorded in the Bible (events unfolding over a period of thousands of years) then it would logically follow that God is sovereign over all events throughout the entirety of history. If God is sovereign over all the events of history, then clearly, there is no free will, and the logic of the Christian worldview must be called into question.

I hope you were able to follow the argument I have presented here. I have closed comments for this post because I’m not looking to get into discussions or arguments in relation to the points presented here (I have done that exhaustively elsewhere), I just want readers to consider the argument and decide for themselves whether or not what I’ve said is true. Feel free to hit the ‘Like’ button if this post got you thinking, and you can always email me via the Contact page if you would like to. Thank you for reading!

Relevant articles on this blog:

Compatibilism

The Confusion of Calvinism

Molinism Refuted

Connect with me on social media:

https://instagram.com/stevencolborne

https://twitter.com/stevencolborne

https://facebook.com/StevenColborneAuthor

https://youtube.com/c/stevencolborne

Visit my newly relaunched personal website:

https://stevencolborne.com

What Are God’s Attributes?

Greetings from London! I hope you’ve been enjoying my Deep Thoughts About God video series so far. Today I’m returning with the third instalment in the series, in which I describe God’s attributes (as far as I feel able to speak about them) and also explain why I believe God doesn’t reveal His nature to us completely during our lives on Earth.

I hope you enjoyed the video! Do you think my description of God’s attributes is fair and truthful? Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.

In the next video in the series I’ll be talking about the unusual but nevertheless very interesting philosophical topic of God’s relationship with inanimate objects. The video will look at the following question: If God is omnipresent and boundless, does this mean He is actively holding objects in existence, or can objects exist without involvement from God? Stay tuned if this interests you!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and thank you for watching this week’s video. Remember, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here, and if you’d like to purchase a copy of the book that accompanies this video series, click here.

Til next time!

Do I Have the Spirit of God?

Good day, friends! In this post I’d like to tell you about a recent Twitter engagement I had that is philosophically very interesting. It’s on the subject of whether it’s possible for true Christians to renounce their faith, and the related issue of whether the spirit of God resides in all people or only born again Christians.

In case you don’t know me very well, I should first say that I have had a very deep experience with the Christian faith. During a spell in psychiatric hospital in 2008, I read the Bible for the first time and was profoundly moved by what I read. I became acutely aware of the reality of God, was praying and reading and writing out Scripture constantly, and after I was discharged from hospital I embarked on a journey into Christian spirituality, which involved time in Catholic, Anglican, and Evangelical Protestant churches.

During my time in hospital I had surrendered everything to Jesus, and I reaffirmed my commitment to give my life to Jesus in a Hillsong Church London service a few weeks after I had been discharged from hospital and was living back in the community. I was completely living for Jesus, praying for friends and strangers on the street, attending house groups, reading the Bible every day, and studying Philosophy and Religion at a Christian college in London.

Regular readers of this blog will know that in the years that followed I had spells where I was a very passionate and evangelical Christian, and spells where I questioned the core doctrines of the faith on a deep level. I got baptised in a Baptist church (it seemed to me that would be the proper place to do it!), but also spent time writing my book Ultimate Truth: God Beyond Religion in which I talked about the reasons why I feel many aspects of Christianity are irrational and nonsensical. If you’re a Christian reading this, I want you to know that it was not without great fear of God and reverence for Jesus that I questioned the Christian faith — the struggle happened on my knees and over many years. Those of you who have read my essay ‘An Almighty Predicament’ (available as a free PDF download here) will understand the core issues that I was wrestling with.

I reached a point where my concerns about the logic of Christianity were too great for me to continue in the faith, and so I settled into the incredibly difficult role of understanding myself to be a kind of ‘post-Christian’ person who nevertheless is an ardent theist, fervent about serving God, desirous to worship Him, who prays every day, says grace at meal times, and does so with the agonising loneliness that comes from the fact that there are very few people in a similar position.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I’d like to say a few things today in response to some Twitter comments I received this week. When I mentioned on Twitter that I am no longer a Christian, several commenters chimed in to seemingly question whether such a thing is even possible.

Here are the comments quoted directly:

How can someone who has the Spirit of God/Jesus in them get rid of Him and become an unbeliever?

— Mateo a (@Mateoa46367582) May 16, 2019

If that happens, you were never a believer in the first place. A true Saint will “P”ersevere in the faith until the end.

— Tim (@livinggenesis) May 17, 2019

The implication that is evident from these comments is that it is impossible for a believer to leave the faith. I’d like to now explain why I think this is highly illogical.

What is the spirit of God? Having pondered deeply on this question, I came to the realisation that God is omnipresent. This being so, when you look around the room you are in, you must know that God is present in every part of the room, including every cell of your body (that’s what omnipresence means, if you think about it). Therefore, the spirit of God is animating all activity in existence, including all the manifestations related to human beings, including our thoughts and actions.

If what I’ve said in the preceding paragraph is true, it would be illogical to argue that the spirit of God is in some people and not others. To argue this would be to deny God’s omnipresence, and in order to deny God’s omnipresence, we would have to place boundaries and limitations on His being, which is theologically highly problematic.

In reality, the spirit of God dwells in all men. And also in all other creatures, and also in all inanimate objects. I am completely convinced of this, for the reasons given above.

God still speaks to me today, in a very real way. I still feel His presence when I pray and worship Him, I still know that He is unfolding my life with great care and attention to detail, and I still know that (if the phrase means anything) God’s spirit dwells within me.

I really think that Tim and Mateo’s comments demonstrate shallowness of thought, and are representative of the kind of blind indoctrination that is sadly characteristic of too many Christians. I hope that Tim and Mateo will at least think through the issues and arguments I have presented in this article, and if they fail to see the logic, I don’t mind at all — there is no reasoning with some people! But I wish them well, and am grateful that they provoked me to write this post.

If you’re interested in exploring the issues raised in this article in more depth, my latest book entitled God’s Grand Game presents a comprehensive overview of my philosophy. It is my hope that many people will consider the ideas presented in that book with an open mind, and I believe that if they do, light will be shed on many problematic areas of the Christian faith. Thank you for reading!

The Cosmic Animator

Hi everyone! Today I’m delighted to bring you the second instalment in my Deep Thoughts About God video series. If you missed episode one, you can read last week’s post and watch the first video — entitled ‘How Do I Know God Exists?’ — by clicking here.

This week’s video is relatively short and snappy, and introduces the idea that God is animating all activity in existence, in the microcosm and the macrocosm — from the beating of our hearts to the orbits of the planets. The video is designed to encourage readers to think deeply about God’s involvement in the created universe.

I hope you enjoyed this episode! The ideas touched upon briefly in this video will be explored in more depth in the coming weeks. What are your thoughts on my perspective that God is animating all activity in existence? Feel free to leave a comment below.

If you’d like to follow along with this series, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel to be notified as soon as new videos are released. If you’d prefer not to subscribe over on YouTube, not to worry, I’ll be posting each new video in the series here on Perfect Chaos every Thursday.

Finally, just a reminder that this video series is being made to accompany my latest book, titled God’s Grand Game, which you can find out all about by clicking here. Thank you for your interest in my work, God bless you, and I’ll see you next time!