Steven Colborne's Blog, page 73

Sunday Summary | 03/06/18

Welcome to my weekly round-up of what I’ve been posting on Perfect Chaos. In this post I’ll also be sharing a few personal reflections on my life at this time, and a Question of the Week to enable me to get inside your heads (or something like that!). Let’s begin!

The Week in Review

For my Monday Music post this week I shared a song by Elvis. It’s not one of his biggest hits, but it’s a lovely performance of a moving song with great lyrics. If you missed it, you can read the post and have a listen here.

I returned on Thursday with my weekly Thursday Theology post. This week I shared a poem I’ve written which I believe captures the sentiment at the heart of my understanding of the free will problem. To read the post and poem, click here.

Lastly, I rounded off the week with my Friday Philosophy post, which this week looked at the thought of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman philosopher from antiquity. You can read about his approach to living a life of virtue by clicking here.

A Few Personal Reflections

My ‘get fit and healthy’ project is continuing to go well. I’ve lost some more weight and attended two sessions with physiotherapists this week. I’ve got a set of exercises to do aimed at strengthening weak muscles and improving my posture. It’s really good fun, I just hope I can keep up the momentum!
My troublesome neighbour seems to be very mentally unwell at the moment, and is continually shouting (mostly at his cat) and playing ridiculously loud music (only during the day, thankfully!). I’d appreciate your prayers, that God protects me, that I can remain patient and loving, and that my neighbour will stop with all the wickedness that characterises his behaviour.
I recorded an acoustic song for my music project, for which the release date is 10th June (a week today). I wasn’t very happy with it, but taking a ‘done is better than perfect’ attitude I was planning to make do and release it anyway. However, on Friday evening I was playing about with some musical ideas and by the grace of God another song started to emerge. I finished recording the song yesterday, and am really happy with it!


Question of the Week

Have you ever had to deal with noisy neighbours?

Let me know your stories in the comments!

 

Living a Virtuous Life

In today’s Friday Philosophy post we’ll be looking at the Roman statesman, philosopher, and dramatist Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who had some interesting advice to offer concerning the way in which we should live our lives.

Who Was He?

Lucius, son of Seneca the elder, was born in Cordoba in Spain, and lived from 4 BC – 65 AD. From an early age he was educated in philosophy in Rome. Various Roman emperors, including Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, plotted against his life, but he was able to escape on each occasion, and actually had a successful career as a lawyer and became very wealthy.

Seneca wrote many works, including essays, letters, and plays, and could be described as a Stoic philosopher who was a pragmatist, emphasising a practical approach to philosophy. The Stoics advocated the living of a simple life dedicated to the pursuit of virtue and reason.

What’s the Big Idea?

Expressing himself mostly via the composition of sermons offering practical advice to his readers, Seneca’s work was less theoretical philosophy and more a guide to living. Unlike the Epicureans, who pursued a hedonistic lifestyle, Seneca insisted that the only good is virtue. That’s a word that is unavoidable when studying the philosophers of antiquity, which is interesting because it’s not a word that we employ very often in modern times.

Seneca’s approach to virtue could be described thus: Do the right thing and show indifference to all else.

My Reflections

It’s interesting that many of the philosophers of antiquity spent time pondering what virtue is and how to live a virtuous life. I suppose that when considering why the term has fallen out of fashion in the West we might look to the influence of the Christian Scriptures. As Christianity flourished in the centuries following Seneca, virtue took on a whole new meaning, as for the first time we had the prescriptive teachings of Jesus, claiming to be God Himself. The New Testament writers taught us what goodness is in the eyes of God, rather than simply using rational argument to try to discern how to be virtuous.

We can look at these two different approaches to virtue – rational enquiry into how to live justly, and revelation from God concerning how to live justly, and we might see this as an evolution in thought. There is much value that the atheist philosophers of today might find in Seneca’s approach to virtue, but those of a religious inclination will always argue that virtue which is absent of divine command isn’t virtue at all.

In next week’s philosophy post, we’ll be looking at the thought of Marcus Aurelius, who as well as having a spell as Roman Emperor, also produced some writing relaying his take on Stoicism. If you’d like to ensure you never miss a post, please consider subscribing!

Choose to Follow Christ

For this week’s theology post I thought I’d do something a little different. The focus of my theology, as many of you are aware, is the sovereignty and omnipresence of God and what that means in terms of freedom of the human will. I have posted about this subject a lot in recent months, so I hope that most of you have a good idea of where I stand. If not, I have written the poem below, which expresses my feelings in a concise way.

Choose to Follow Christ

“Choose to follow Christ”

Demands the Holy Book,

But God it is whose will

Dictates the way I look.

“Choose to follow Christ”

Insists my Christian friend,

But God it is whose will

Dictates the time I spend.

“Choose to follow Christ”

Insists my Christian brother,

But God will have His way,

And I can do no other.

“Choose to follow Christ”

Demands the Christian voice,

But all I do is by God’s will;

And so I have no choice!

For a more in-depth look at the theme expressed in this poem, you’re welcome to download my essay entitled ‘An Almighty Predicament: A Discourse on the Arguments For and Against Christianity’ from the Essays page. Thank you for reading!

Crying in the Chapel

For this week’s music post I’d like to share a little gem performed by Elvis Presley.

This song was written by Artie Glenn of the 1950’s group Rhythm Riders, about which I have been able to find out very little. The song has been covered many times, with versions by Rex Allen, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bob Marley and the Wailers, to name a few.

The lyrics to the song are simple and moving, and describe the joy of a God encounter and of having one’s burden lifted by Lord through prayer. It’s a short song, so you’ve no excuse not to give it a listen!

Many thanks to Kristian of the blog Tales From the Mind of Kristian for making me aware of this song, which I hadn’t heard until a few days ago. It’s a beauty!

Sunday Summary | QOTW

I hope everyone’s having a blessed Sunday? This post is my weekly round-up of what’s been happening on the blog over the last week, plus a few personal reflections on my life at this time, and a Question of the Week to help me find out more about you. Let’s begin!

The Week in Review

To kick off the week I shared my Monday Music post, which this week was a classic song by soul legend Sam Cooke. It’s all about love! To read the post and listen to the song, click here.

On Wednesday I shared May’s Blog Spotlight post. Every month I write a post shining the spotlight on a few blogs that have been submitted to my Promote Your Blog page. To see this month’s featured blogs, click here.

I was back on Thursday with my weekly Thursday Theology post. This was a slightly longer post than usual looking at the idea of Christian salvation in relation to the free will problem. To read the post, entitled ‘Free Will and Salvation’, click here.

On Friday I shared my weekly Friday Philosophy post, which this week looked at Philo of Alexandria and his controversial take on the Jewish Scriptures, which was influenced by ancient Greek philosophy. To read about Philo, click here.

Unusually for me, I posted on Saturday as well, as I wanted to get your feedback on some changes I have been considering for the blog. Thanks so much all the fantastic thoughts and advice you shared, there was plenty of food for thought! More on that below…

A Few Personal Reflections

Having taken on board your responses to my feedback request concerning how often I should post, I’m going to attempt to stick with my current schedule moving forward. Some people suggested they would like daily posts, others suggested posting once in while would be fine, so it seems that my current schedule offers a good balance / compromise. Also, I really enjoy my current schedule. While things are busy in my life, I’ll just have to be super-organised!
My new fitness regime has been going on for about two weeks, and it’s going really well. I’ve lost weight, gained a bit of muscle

Blogging Changes

Hello friends of Perfect Chaos! This is a quick post in which I hope to solicit your feedback concerning my blogging schedule and your experience of the blog.

I have been posting four times a week, which has been wonderful. But keeping to this schedule has at times been stressful (self-imposed pressure, of course) and at the moment I’m juggling quite a lot of non-blogging-related activities that are fairly time-consuming. So I feel something needs to change.

I would like to be able to spend a bit more time reading your blogs, and interacting with you, rather than posting on my own blog so often. I get such a lot out of reading other people’s posts, and at the moment I don’t dedicate enough time to simply reading and enjoying the work of the blogging community.

Before I introduced my four-posts-a-week schedule, I was posting whenever the motivation struck, and there is obviously a lot more freedom in that approach. I’m tempted to embrace that freedom once more, but I’m keen to hear from you first. An alternative I’m considering is posting four times a month, keeping the same schedule but spreading it out.

Would you prefer me to post to a schedule or freely? What would you like to see more of, or less of, on this blog? Do you feel I post too often or not often enough? What are the things that you like about Perfect Chaos, and how can I improve?

If you have any constructive criticism (or positive feedback), now’s the time to voice your opinions, because I feel I want to take stock and reassess what I’m doing here, as we should all do periodically! This blog is important to me and I want it to be important to you too.

Thank you so much for your support – be sure to leave a comment below (or email me) with your thoughts!

Peace and blessings,

Steven

Philo of Alexandria

Welcome to this week’s Friday Philosophy post. Today we’re going to be looking at a Jewish thinker, Philo of Alexandria, who influenced later Christian thinkers with his unusual approach to the Scriptures.

Who Was He?

Philo lived c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE and was a Jew by birth and upbringing. His family was very powerful in the Jewish colony of Alexandria in Egypt. Philo’s education was not only Jewish, but also Greek; his interest in philosophy was kindled via the study of poetry, rhetoric, dialectics, and other philosophical subjects.

He is mostly remembered for his philosophical commentaries on the Jewish Scriptures. His work would go on to be used by the Christian church fathers (including Origen and Ambrose) in a variety of ways – sometimes with admiration and sometimes with disdain.

What’s the Big Idea?

According to Philo, man is first conceived in the mind of God, and then becomes a physical being with a non-physical soul. Man is subsequently situated on the borderline between the divine and the non-divine. Philo believed that the body belongs to the world, and the mind to the divine. Furthermore, he believed there are two parts to the soul, the rational and the irrational, somehow fused together by the spirit. It’s worth nothing that Philo’s philosophy was influenced by Plato and the Stoics, whose thought he attempted to incorporate into Jewish thinking.

Philo believed that the Scriptures shouldn’t be taken literally, but contained hidden meanings, which could be brought to light via philosophical exegesis and those with the patience and focus to find them.

My Reflections

I can imagine how the mixed Jewish and Greek cultural influences might have been difficult for Philo, and he seems to have spent a great deal of time attempting to reconcile the two. This is a difficult task, because the two schools of thought are in certain respects very different. For instance, the books of Moses present a creation narrative and focus on the human being’s relationship with a specific God – Yahweh – while many Greek philosophers believed in multiple gods and focused their attention on acquiring knowledge through reasoned debate. The Greeks had no concept of sacred scriptures and revelation in the way the Jews did.

I would anticipate both my Christian and Jewish readers taking issue with any unusual attempts to read meaning into the Scriptures based on philosophy that would have been alien to Moses. Arguably, the words of the Torah are inspired by God, and so have an importance and sacredness that those outside of Judeo-Christian circles should not attempt to alter in any way. It’s easy to see how, in attempting to fuse Greek and Jewish thought, Philo became a highly controversial figure in the centuries following his death.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Philo! Next Friday my philosophy series will continue with a look at a big idea by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman rhetorician. Please consider subscribing to this blog so you never miss a post. Thank you for reading!

Free Will and Salvation

Welcome to this week’s Thursday Theology post! Today I’m going to look at the heart of the gospel – the idea that we are sinners in need of salvation. Is this really true?

I don’t at all doubt that Jesus existed. I find the New Testament provides compelling evidence that Jesus was a real person, with a radical message – a message that would proceed to change the world and find billions of converts. But does the teaching of Jesus makes sense in terms of a rational view of God? Let us briefly explore this question and see what we can decipher.

My conception of God is that He is omnipresent, and in control of His creation. I find it impossible to accept that God has boundaries and that He could somehow be separate from creation. I see God as the animating force that produces all activity in creation, from the growth of plants and trees, to the movement of celestial bodies, to the beating of our hearts.

God is not spatially limited. That notion is very bizarre, as it would require us to believe there is a specific point where God’s being ends and freedom from God begins. This scenario would only make sense if God is ‘embodied’ somehow – a physical being with a form and shape. But this is not the God I believe in. I believe God is everywhere, and is pure spirit, without boundaries. “Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet”, as Alfred Tennyson once wrote.

We find scriptures that point to God’s literal omnipresence. In Colossians 1:17 the apostle Paul says “He is before all things and in Him all things hold together”. In Acts 17:28 Paul says “In Him we live and move and have our being”. John 4:24 says “God is spirit”. And to give an Old Testament example, Psalm 139:7-10 says “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

So God is everywhere, He is holding together all things, and of course must therefore be animating all things.

[image error]If God is the animator of creation, unfolding a plan for the universe by His sovereign will, then it makes no sense to argue that we are free to act independently of the will of God. God would have to be limited spatially in order for us to have free will.

Also, if we were genuinely free from God’s animating control, we would have to look for alternative explanations as to why our hearts beat, our blood circulates, our bodies digest food, why our hair and nails grow, etc. I suppose we would have to embrace the materialistic idea that our bodies are machines, powered by our brains or even our genes. But that doesn’t really sound like free will at all.

If we are not machines, and God is not controlling our bodies, how is it that all of our bodily processes are going on? Would you argue that you are controlling them? If so, how are you doing it? Please consider this deeply, and I believe you will see that it’s most logical to conclude that God is animating your body. We are not free, but are instead as ‘puppets’ in the hands of God.

If we embrace the understanding that God is sovereign over our lives, this will cause us to think differently about the Christian worldview. If God has been in control of our lives since our conception, then every action we have taken has been in accordance with the will of God. In this context, the Christian idea that we have all sinned against God seems very strange. Do I deserve punishment from God for actions that God unfolded in my life? There’s something deeply problematic about this idea.

Of course, we all experience feelings such as guilt and shame, and we do have the illusion of free will, in that we make decisions and experience emotions in relation to those decisions. But the crux of the matter is that God is in control of every decision we will ever make, and our reactions to those decisions. If anyone reading wants to deny this, let them offer an alternative explanation for our bodily processes and our growth from embryos to babies to adults, other than God. You are welcome to leave a comment with your theory.

All of this considered, it could still be the case that embracing the gospel and living a life of faithful devotion to Jesus is the only way to inherit eternal life. That could well be the way God has chosen to unfold His creation. But at least on some level, we must acknowledge that the decision is not in our hands. And if we are to be judged by God one day, He will, in a sense, be judging His own actions. This is a significant problem with the Christian worldview, the basis of which is freedom of the human will.

For a more in-depth argument concerning God’s sovereignty over all events, with a Christian response, I invite you to read my essay entitled ‘An Almighty Predicament’ which is available as a free PDF download from my Essays page.

Blog Spotlight (May 2018)

Welcome to this month’s Blog Spotlight! Every month I feature a few of the blogs that have been submitted to my Promote Your Blog page. This month I’m bringing you two Christian bloggers to check out, plus a third blog which is fascinating but defies categorisation. Show these bloggers some love!

1. Discovering the Rainbows

Hi Steven, my name is Mandy and my blog is called Discovering the Rainbows (An Invitation to Deepen your Relationship with God). I write weekday posts with a Scripture verse and a series of questions which invite and encourage people to think about who God is and the part He plays in their lives. I also publish a longer weekly post on a Friday morning about the little things in life. I am an author, writing Christian fiction and devotional material.

Here is my blog address:

https://mandyhackland.blog/

Thanks for this opportunity to share my blog. God bless you.

2. Feeding on Jesus

Hi guys! This is Jennifer from Feeding on Jesus. God spoke to me about doing this blog in a dream — His vision for it is to provide bite-sized nuggets of life-changing truth that will allure you into deeper intimacy with Jesus. Stop by and ingest some of His bread fresh from the oven!

https://jenniferarimborgo.feedingonjesus.com/

The richest of blessings to you!

Jenn

3. In Other Words

‘In Other Words’ in short is my attempt to make sense of good advice. I vigorously study philosophy, psychology, theology, art, mythology, culture, science and much more; mining for beautiful words and artworks filled with wisdom. I sincerely hope that the ideas I have gathered will be useful to others, as they are to me.

If you like it, follow it by popping in your name and email address on the site. I hope you gain something useful from your visit to ‘In Other Words’.

Liadh

http://www.inotherwords.ac

That’s a wrap! Remember, anyone is welcome to submit their blog to my Promote Your Blog page; just make sure you read the rules at the top of the page before posting. Apologies if I haven’t featured your blog yet, it’s nothing personal, and I may well do so in the future.

Thank you for reading and God bless!

Steven x

Music | Sam Cooke

As the dust settles after the royal wedding and Bishop Michael Curry’s powerful but somewhat controversial sermon, I’d like to share a song with you that I think captures something of the same sentiment Bishop Curry was preaching about.

I expect many of you will have heard this song before. The theme is very much that love is the only thing that matters in life, more than all we learn in school, more than we learn in our jobs. The song seems to be speaking of love between a man and a woman, which is of course a beautiful thing, but we should expand the message outward to what is of prime importance – the love of God!

Sam Cooke, who wrote this song, was an American singer and songwriter, considered by many to be the most important pioneer of soul music. I have to admit, soul music isn’t one of my favourite genres, but I do think this is a great song. Enjoy!