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Sunday Summary | QOTW

Welcome to this week’s summary post. Every Sunday I provide a quick recap of my blog posts from the last week, some personal reflections on what God is doing in my life at this time, and a Question of the Week, so I can a learn a little more about you. Let’s begin!

The Week in Review

For my Monday Music post this week I introduced a rare Johnny Cash song that sheds light on the struggle he had with Christianity. You can learn about the song and listen here.

In my Thursday Theology post this week I shared my theory of what it is that causes thoughts to arise in our minds. While that might not sound like theology, if you read the post, you’ll see that it is! You can read the piece and add your comments here.

To round off the week I published my Friday Philosophy post, in which I offered a brief look at the Roman lawyer and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero and his incredibly influential translation work. You can read all about him here.

A Few Personal Reflections

This week has probably been my healthiest yet (in my entire life!). My new fitness routine is off to a great start, and I managed to keep to my calorie and exercise goals for the week. I’m really enjoying eating more consciously / healthily, I just have to hope and pray I can keep it up! Thank you for all your health tips!
Some of you may know that I’ve been having problems with a neighbour. He has been acting seriously crazy this last week, and I’d appreciate your prayers that he would be set free from whatever evil spirit is influencing him. Also for my protection! And please know I am keeping all of you in my prayers.
Who watched the royal wedding yesterday? I found it really quite moving, and it was such a beautiful day for the celebrations. It was interesting to see the mix of American and British culture, but the event has left me with a burning question that I’d love to ask you all…


Question of the Week

What did you think of the sermon by Bishop Michael Curry?

Let me know in the comment below!

 

Philosophy in Politics

Welcome to this week’s Friday Philosophy post! Today we move from Greece to Rome and look at the work of Marcus Tullius Cicero, who lived from 106-43 BC, only decades before the birth of Jesus.

Who Was He?

For most of his working life, Cicero was an esteemed politician and lawyer. However, upon his retirement, he had time to immerse himself in philosophy, and he took to studying the Greek schools of thought and translating many of their major works into Latin. The majority of Cicero’s own philosophy which we have is from the last two years of his life, and comprises a mixture of scepticism in relation to the theory of knowledge and stoicism in relation to ethics.

What’s the Big Idea?

Cicero is not noted as having contributed much in the way of original ideas to the history of thought, but nevertheless his works had a major influence on the philosophers and theologians who followed him (for instance, Augustine quoted him liberally).

The fact that Cicero is still remembered today is testament to his labours in the area of translation, and so we might pay tribute to him for the way he developed the Latin language to include many philosophical terms that are still in use today. For instance, the popular philosophical terms a priori (meaning knowledge independent of experience) and a posteriori (meaning knowledge derived from experience) have come down to us from Cicero.

My Reflections

Of all the schools of Greek philosophical thought, Cicero was most drawn to Scepticism. This makes sense when we consider he spent most of his life in politics, as a big part of political office is weighing the perspectives of various parties (or should be!).

The use of philosophy in politics endures to today, and we might consider that implicit behind every political decision, there is a worldview or philosophical perspective. I’m not saying Cicero is solely responsible for the use of philosophy in politics, but he certainly seems to have played a major role in bringing philosophical arguments, and philosophical language, into the political sphere.

In next week’s philosophy post we’ll be looking at Philo of Alexandria, who was a major figure in Hellenistic Jewish philosophy. If you’d like to follow this series and receive an email every time I publish a new post, please consider subscribing. Thank you for reading!

What is Causing our Thoughts?

Let us examine closely what thought is, and let us try to decipher what it is that causes thoughts to arise in our minds.

It is clear that when we think, there is a movement within consciousness that we are aware of. An impression in the mind seems to arise out of nothing. That impression might be a word or a sentence, or an image, or something more obscure.

An interesting point to note about thought is that it appears to be spontaneous. If you are asked to think of a fruit, for instance, then one fruit rather than another will pop into your awareness quite spontaneously (try it!). You might think ‘apple’ or ‘watermelon’ without having any particular reason for thinking of the fruit you chose. It is not necessary for you to have had an apple for breakfast, or have seen a watermelon in your local store earlier that day, for you to think of those particular fruits.

It seems that we never know what our next thought will be. If I asked you to tell me what you will be thinking about in a minute’s time, or in an hour’s time, you will have no idea. We do not plan our thoughts; they arise spontaneously.

One argument for this might be that our thoughts are always linked to our needs, drives, and desires. Therefore I might start thinking about lunch because a feeling of hunger has arisen in my body. I might start thinking about going out to a club because of a sexual urge. And in a more complex way, I might think I need to do some study because I want to achieve good grades, which will get me a good job, which will secure me a steady income, so I don’t have to worry about food and shelter in the future.

But the above explanations, which link thoughts to desires, fail to explain the often random nature of thought. Why does the theme tune to a TV show I haven’t seen for years suddenly enter my mind while I am out taking a walk? Why, when asked to name any city in the world, do I choose Prague rather than Moscow?

It doesn’t seem that we can argue that we are in control of our thoughts, so we must look for other reasons to explain why thoughts arise. I think there are only two possible explanations; either our thoughts must be determined by prior events, or they are being brought into existence by a power operating in the present moment, which is God.

Creative thought is an obvious example of how thoughts are not determined by prior events. It would be absurd if the thoughts that a composer thinks while writing a piece of music could be explained by evolution, or some kind of ‘Big Bang’ event, or childhood experiences. Seeing our present moment thoughts as the result of the past simply doesn’t make sense.

The random, unpredictable, and spontaneous nature of thought means that there is only one feasible explanation for why thoughts arise. There must be a power that is control in the present moment, bringing our thoughts into and out of existence. That power is God.

Of course, it is not just thoughts that happen spontaneously. If we observe the unfolding of events within our consciousness we can see that everything is happening spontaneously. Our hearts are beating spontaneously, our hair is growing spontaneously, we walk along without thinking how we walk, and we think without knowing how we think. The reason why all these things happen spontaneously is because God is doing them.

The fact that God is controlling our thoughts has very important implications for both philosophy and science. The philosophy of mind, for instance, is useless if it neglects God. Neuroscientists and other scientists have for many years been examining the human brain in order to try to understand thought. Their investigations are largely misguided, because thought neither originates, nor finds expression, in the brain. It is people who think, rather than brains, and they do so by the power of God.

The above article is a modified extract from my book Ultimate Truth: God Beyond Religion. For more info or to buy the book, click here. If you enjoyed this post please consider sharing it, and/or subscribing to this blog. Thank you for reading!

Books

I thought this was rather beautiful!

Project: Breakthrough

Pick up a book.

Look at it. But don’t open it.

It’ll have a blurb, a spine, a cover photo.

It’ll proclaim its name. Tell you who authored it.

Tell you who published it. Maybe even tell you what people think of it.

But do you know this book yet?

Do you look at it, fondly, and remember the time you spent lost within its pages?

Are there moments spent together preserved within its pages – a drop of tea here, are stray hair there?

A book may be plain to look at on a shelf.

It may be pretty. Look expensive. Look old and worn.

But books weren’t made to sit on a shelf.

Books aren’t made to be compared by their covers.

A books true power lies within those covers.

It’s beauty lies in the hours you spend, swept away by the wonder of the world within.

And…

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Johnny Cash and Faith

Welcome to this week’s Monday Music post. Today I’d like to share a lesser-known song by a very well-known musician. Most people have heard the music of Johnny Cash, but you may not know much about the religious beliefs and spiritual life behind this famous artist. The beautiful song I’m sharing captures something of Cash’s struggle with faith.

Cash was raised as a Southern Baptist and was baptised in 1944 as a teenager. He was a devout Christian, but no doubt fame and money impacted his faith and threw up challenges along his spiritual journey. While researching this article, I was surprised to learn that Cash wrote a Christian novel, entitled Man in White in 1984.

I have always found Cash’s music to be enthralling, since I went into a music shop and bought my first ever record, which was Ring of Fire by Cash. I bought the song on cassette after attending a circus event where the music was being played – for whatever reason that song moved me and stuck in my mind. It was a kind of musical awakening for me, at a very young age.

I hope you enjoy the song I’m sharing today, which is quite a rare recording from Cash. It’s actually a cover version, originally written by country musician Billy Joel Shaver, but we can imagine how this song might have chimed with Cash’s personal beliefs and faith journey. Here’s the song, which is entitled If I Give My Soul.

Sunday Summary | QOTW

Hi friends! And to my American readers, Happy Mother’s Day! We celebrate it in March here in the UK. I hope all the mums (or moms) reading in the US have an amazing day

This post is a round-up of what’s been happening on the blog this week, plus a few brief personal reflections on my life at this time, and a Question of the Week to allow me to get to know you all a little better. Let’s dive right in!

The Week in Review

It was a busy week on Perfect Chaos! For my Monday Music post I shared a beautiful song by Bethel Music worship leader Steffany Gretzinger. If you missed it and would like to listen to a beautiful worship song, the post is here.

On Tuesday I decided to do something a little different. I wanted to let my new followers know a bit more about me, so I shared 10 bitesize facts about my life and background. Thanks so much for the great response to the post! You can read it here.

Normally I write a theology post on Thursdays, but this week I published my theology post a day early – on Wednesday – because Thursday was the release day for my new song (see the next paragraph). My theology post introduced a podcast conversation between atheists Sam Harris and Bart Ehrman, with a video response from James White. If that whets your appetite you can find the post here.

On Thursday I shared song number eight of my ten-song experimental music project. The new song, entitled ‘In Israel’ is a tribute to God’s chosen people and the holy city of Jerusalem. You can read the post, and watch a lyric video for the song, here.

As usual I closed the week with a Friday Philosophy post, and I really enjoyed researching and writing this one! We looked at Diogenes of Sinope, an ancient Greek philosopher with a novel approach to life and philosophy. You can read the post here.

A Few Personal Reflections

This week has been unusually busy in terms of the number of times I’ve posted. In the coming week I’ll be posting less often as I have a busy week of appointments. I’ll try to stick to my posting schedule though.
I’ve felt compelled over the last few days to really focus on my health. I’m going to be starting a new fitness regime with the goal of losing some weight, building a bit of muscle, and improving my diet. I’ve downloaded an app that will (God-willing) help me to stay on track!
I’d appreciate prayers for the coming week as it’s going to be busy and I’ll be seeing several doctors for physical and mental health reviews. Please know that every Sunday I spend some quality time in prayer, and I always reach out to God on behalf of my blog followers, asking for His blessing over your lives in the coming week

A Radical Philosopher

In today’s Friday Philosophy post we’ll be taking a brief look at the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. We’ll learn about his radical approach to philosophy – an approach which had a marked influence on the Cynics and Stoics who followed him.

Who Was He?

Born in Sinope, an Ionian colony, some time around 400 BC, Diogenes was a philosopher who adopted a vagrant lifestyle in rebellion against the civic life of his day. He was a contemporary of Aristotle, but is notable for embracing a very practical approach to philosophy in stark contrast to the metaphysical pondering that those attending Plato’s academy were accustomed to.

What’s the Big Idea?

Diogenes believed that one’s life should be lived as an example to others, and that civilisation is antithetical to happiness. He survived by begging and fulfilled his natural urges in public (I won’t go into details!), believing, for instance, that if it’s okay to eat in private it’s okay to eat in the marketplace – an activity which was frowned upon in his culture.

Diogenes had nothing but disdain for the abstract philosophy of Plato, believing instead that one’s worldview should be lived out rather than merely speculated upon. He shunned the aristocratic way of life, instead living in a very basic way, wearing few clothes and sleeping rough in a large clay jar in the marketplace.

My Reflections

I feel that Diogenes was very brave to live in the way he did. His rebellion in some respects reminds me of the radical commands of Jesus and the Christian life we read about in the book of Acts, where the ways of the world are rejected in favour of living a radical lifestyle. The major difference, of course, is that with Jesus the underlying message is clearly spiritual, whereas Diogenes appears to have been taking a philosophical or even political stance. Jesus’ focus is on the world to come, and the kingdom of heaven, whereas Diogenes’ philosophy was very much focused on earthly living.

By living out his philosophy Diogenes encapsulated an important principle – that beliefs and lifestyle are not opposing things but should be in harmony with one another. All too often we see intellectuals living in a kind of bubble, while at the other extreme we see cults emerging in which people are so swept away by a certain lifestyle that they lose sense and reason in relation to what they are doing. I would argue that balance between these two extremes is desirable for a healthy spiritual life.

Next week we’ll be moving on from ancient Greek philosophy and looking at a big idea from the Roman politician and thinker, Marcus Tullius Cicero. If you’re interested in following this series, please consider subscribing. Thank you for reading!

Listen to my New Single!

Today sees the release of Song 8 of my ten-song experimental music project. My new single is titled ‘In Israel’ and is a tribute to God’s chosen people and the holy city of Jerusalem. The song features a rocky groove overlaid with wah guitar, and a chorus that I hope is stirring and memorable.

The lyric video to the song is embedded below. The song will be available to buy from Bandcamp (here) for the next month, before it is taken down to make way for Song 9. I’m planning to release an album featuring all the songs from the project before the end of the 2018. You can read all about the T.E.N. Project on my music page.

I hope you enjoy the song, and if you do, feel free to hit the like button and leave a comment! God bless and happy listening

Sam Harris & Bart Ehrman

I’m bringing you this week’s theology post a day early, as tomorrow is release day for my new single so I’ll be posting about that instead of my usual Thursday Theology post.

Today I want to direct you to a fascinating discussion between two well-known atheists who are presenting arguments on a variety of matters related to Christianity and the reliability of the Bible. I will embed that discussion below, and then follow it up with a video response from Christian scholar James White.

I believe we can all learn a lot from these two videos, regardless of our beliefs. My Christian followers may think, “Why would I want to spend two hours listening to two atheists criticising the Bible?” but my answer would be that if you’re at all interested in apologetics (that is, defending the Christian faith), then these two discussions will add to your understanding and therefore your armoury.

This first video is an interview with Bart Ehrman on the Sam Harris ‘Waking Up’ podcast.

The second video I’d like to share, in the interest of balance, is a response to the Harris / Ehrman discussion by Calvinist Christian scholar James White. I have skipped the first part of this video (you’ll see it starts at 7.24) as prior to that White is discussing an unrelated subject.

What did you think of the arguments? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. For posts every week related to theology, Christianity, apologetics, and more, please consider subscribing to this blog.

Who Am I? | 10 Fun Facts

Today, a bit of fun. Many of you don’t know much about me, so inspired by a fellow blogger who wrote a similar post today, I thought I’d share 10 bite-sized insights into who I am.

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1) I’m a proud Brit