Steven Colborne's Blog, page 80
February 25, 2018
Blog Updates | Week Review
The work of a blogger is never complete! And that’s one of the things that is so wonderful about blogging (and being creative in general) – we’re always growing and learning. This week I discovered some things I can do with my theme that I didn’t even know were possible, and I tackled some housekeeping issues with the blog that have been loitering in the back of my mind for some time.
Changes I’ve made this week:
Added a Top Menu (at the very top of the page)
Added a Social Media Menu (top right)
Reorganised Categories (in the right sidebar)
Added an Audio Widget (also in the right sidebar)
I realise these changes are going to make the homepage look a little ‘busier’ at first, but I’m hoping you’ll easily adjust to the changes. I’m not going to do a Facebook and endlessly add new boxes and features so that visiting my blog becomes really confusing. I expect the changes I’ve made to make navigation and engagement easier.
This Week’s Posts
I was a little anxious about posting this week’s Thursday Theology post, as I knew it would lead to impassioned discussions among my fellow theologians and Christian friends over the free will issue. Nevertheless, I’m glad to keep expressing those aspects of the Christian worldview that I struggle to accept and believe, and I’m grateful to everyone who encourages me to voice my beliefs, and to everyone who thinks deeply about the problems I raise.
On Friday I posted my first Friday Philosophy post, entitled ‘Is Everything Made of Water?’ and was grateful for the warm response that post received. Next Friday the series will continue with a look at a big idea by Pythagoras, and don’t worry, I won’t be getting mathematical on you as maths isn’t exactly my area of expertise!
My Week in Review
It’s been a truly wonderful week, by God’s grace. I was happy and motivated every day and managed to get a lot done. I even went swimming, which always feels like a chore but is great exercise and very refreshing. I’ve given up Coca-Cola completely, and have stopped sweetening my hot drinks with sugar, these dietary changes being made partly to acknowledge the Lenten season and partly for health reasons.
There has been no news on whether I will be able to get an Assured Tenancy Agreement for my present accommodation, but after much prayer I remain convinced that God wants me to stay here and so I’m trying to ignore the practical uncertainties, trust God, remain prayerful, and focus my attention on living well.
Oh, and I spent a big part of the week recording song six of my T.E.N. Project. I’m really excited about this one; I feel as though it’s the best of the project so far. I had no idea what it would sound like when I started to put the song together, but it all came together well and is sounding absolutely rocking. Release date is 10th March!
Be assured that you’re in my prayers – every Sunday I spend some quality time on my knees to the Lord reaching out to Him on behalf of my friends, family, acquaintances, and followers. I wish you all a wonderful week and thank you so much for reading, I appreciate you!
Blog Update | Week Review
The work of a blogger is never complete! And that’s one of the things that is so wonderful about blogging (and being creative in general) – we’re always growing and learning. This week I discovered some things I can do with my theme that I didn’t even know were possible, and I tackled some housekeeping issues with the blog that have been loitering in the back of my mind for some time.
Changes I’ve made this week:
Added a Top Menu (at the very top of the page)
Added a Social Media Menu (top right)
Reorganised Categories (in the right sidebar)
Added an Audio Widget (also in the right sidebar)
I realise these changes are going to make the homepage look a little ‘busier’ at first, but I’m hoping you’ll easily adjust to the changes. I’m not going to do a Facebook and endlessly add new boxes and features so that visiting my blog becomes really confusing. I expect the changes I’ve made to make navigation and engagement easier.
This Week’s Posts
I was a little anxious about posting this week’s Thursday Theology post, as I knew it would lead to impassioned discussions among my fellow theologians and Christian friends over the free will issue. Nevertheless, I’m glad to keep expressing those aspects of the Christian worldview that I struggle to accept and believe, and I’m grateful to everyone who encourages me to voice my beliefs, and to everyone who thinks deeply about the problems I raise.
On Friday I posted my first Friday Philosophy post, entitled ‘Is Everything Made of Water?’ and was grateful for the warm response that post received. Next Friday the series will continue with a look at a big idea by Pythagoras, and don’t worry, I won’t be getting mathematical on you as maths isn’t exactly my area of expertise!
My Week in Review
It’s been a truly wonderful week, by God’s grace. I was happy and motivated every day and managed to get a lot done. I even went swimming, which always feels like a chore but is great exercise and very refreshing. I’ve given up Coca-Cola completely, and have stopped sweetening my hot drinks with sugar, these dietary changes being made partly to acknowledge the Lenten season and partly for health reasons.
There has been no news on whether I will be able to get an Assured Tenancy Agreement for my present accommodation, but after much prayer I remain convinced that God wants me to stay here and so I’m trying to ignore the practical uncertainties, trust God, remain prayerful, and focus my attention on living well.
Oh, and I spent a big part of the week recording song six of my T.E.N. Project. I’m really excited about this one; I feel as though it’s the best of the project so far. I had no idea what it would sound like when I started to put the song together, but it all came together well and is sounding absolutely rocking. Release date is 10th March!
Be assured that you’re in my prayers – every Sunday I spend some quality time on my knees to the Lord reaching out to Him on behalf of my friends, family, acquaintances, and followers. I wish you all a wonderful week and thank you so much for reading, I appreciate you!
February 23, 2018
Is Everything Made of Water?
Excuse the bizarre title and bear with me; it’ll make sense in a minute. This is my first Friday Philosophy post, and each week I’m going to be looking at a key idea from a renowned philosopher. We’ll start back in 620BC, which was the approximate birth date of Thales of Miletus, an ancient Greek philosopher considered by many to be the founder of natural science.
Who Was He?
Thales came from the seaport of Miletus in Ionia, which is modern-day Turkey. He is a presocratic philosopher, which as you may be aware is the name given to philosophers who were philosophising before Socrates. We don’t have any of Thales’ writing, but he is referenced in works by Aristotle and Herodotus which is how we know about his thinking.
What’s the Big Idea?
Thales is regarded as the founder of natural science because of the way he speculated about the natural world, and specifically about water. He deduced that because water can be heated to form vapour and frozen to form ice – it can take the form of a solid, a liquid, or a gas – it is therefore the substance underlying all matter in creation. That may not totally make sense to our modern minds, but we can appreciate the depth of insight.
My Reflections
The idea that there is a single underlying principle or substance to the universe is quite profound. It’s interesting that Thales also believed that the mind of the world is God and that God pervades all things. His speculations about the natural world led him to adopt these theological positions despite the fact that he was more interested in investigating nature than appealing to the Homeric gods of his contemporaries.
I do believe Thales was onto something. I believe in the omnipresence of God, and that God is both transcendent (beyond) and imminent (within) creation. Perhaps Thales was among the first men on Earth to consider the principle of God’s imminence – an idea that many philosophers and spiritual thinkers have arrived at, including the Apostle Paul, who said of God, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Next week we’ll be looking at a big idea by another presocratic philosopher, Pythagoras. If you’d like to receive an email for each new post, please consider subscribing. Thank you for reading!
February 22, 2018
Primary and Secondary Causes
The extent to which we are free to act independently of the will of God is a central concern in Christian theology. I have recently been listening to some Calvinists really struggling to defend a position that to me makes no sense – that God is in control of our lives and yet we have free will.
I stumbled upon a discussion where a Calvinist was trying to explain the so-called free will paradox in terms of primary and secondary causes. I’ll let you read what this person had to say on the matter, and will offer a few comments in response.
Though God is the primary cause, of things, he is not the direct agent of things. He works in a secondary cause according to its nature and properties. When a dog barks, God has decreed that the dog bark at that moment, and works in the dog to have it bark. He doesn’t have it meow, or chirp, because it is in the nature of a dog to bark. He created the dog with properties such that it barks. So, he works with things according to their nature. But his “working in the dog” is such that the dog’s action is from itself, of it’s own volition, and properly ascribed to the dog. So when a dog barks, we can say that it is both from God, and from the dog, but is performed only by the dog. God doesn’t bark, the dog barks. [bold added]
While I believe it’s appropriate and logical to make a distinction between primary and secondary causes, I would simply point out that the existence of secondary causes doesn’t in any way negate the control of God. To say that God is working in the dog to have it bark and at the same time that the bark happens by the dogs own volition, is a blatant contradiction. If the primary cause of the bark is God, then God is causing the bark, there are no two ways about it.
The reason why this is important is that central Christian ideas such as the fall of man, sin, judgment, salvation, etc, only make sense in a world where we have freedom to act independently of the will of God. For example, if we don’t have free will, this means God is the author of all of those choices we make for which He will subsequently judge us. I hope you can see why this is illogical.
It’s obvious to me that an omnipresent God is necessarily in control of every aspect of His creation. As God is boundless, there can be no freedom from God, as His presence extends to every atom in existence. The fact that God is in control of His creation should cause us to rethink the way we understand the central doctrines of Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions.
Related post: God’s Grand Game
Related essay: An Almighty Predicament
February 19, 2018
New Blogging Schedule
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you’re well-rested and looking forward to a joyful and productive week. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see what gets posted in the wonderful world of WordPress this week.
In this post I just wanted to let you know what to expect in terms of my posting on this blog in the coming weeks and months. I’m going to try out a schedule, writing four short posts each week on set days. Here’s the plan:
Monday Music
A short post offering a piece of music to inspire you, move you, or motivate you at the start of the week. I will mix up the genres but keep the quality high!
Thursday Theology
A reflection on a topic linked to theology. This will mostly be Christian theology but I will also look at insights from other religions.
Friday Philosophy
Every Friday I will look at a different philosopher and will offer a concise reflection on something meaningful and interesting that they have contributed.
Sunday Summary
A recap of my week. This will be a more personal post focusing on what I’ve been up to during the week and any prayer requests or praise reports that I feel I’d like to share.
This schedule may be interrupted occasionally, particularly around the release of my music. I’m committed to releasing a new song on the 10th of each month, so if that falls outside of a Music Monday (the odds are rather high), I might have to do a little juggling. I also like to review books, so will try to fit in a review once in a while. But I’ll do my best to stick to the schedule and will let you know if anything changes.
What are your thoughts on blogging schedules? Do you have a set plan concerning when you post, and does it work for you? Let me know in comments below. God bless you!
February 18, 2018
Sunday Reflections
At the beginning of the week I had a couple of really low days. I felt the stress of various practical problems weighing me down and my sleep pattern was somewhat disturbed, which wasn’t helping. But I remained prayerful, and by God’s grace I emerged out of this depression in the middle of the week and have been on top form since.
I managed to re-record my blog intro video (top right of the homepage). It’s pretty much the same, except the light isn’t annoyingly reflecting off my glasses and there isn’t a big old lightbulb photobombing the shot. I’ve also reorganised the content on the homepage so it shows 12 posts rather than 36, saving you all a great deal of scrolling. And I’ve done some other ‘blog housekeeping’ bits and bobs, like updating my About page, and my widgets. Kind of a Spring clean before Spring.
I’m grateful to currently be reading what I think is possibly the best novel I’ve ever read – Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. I’ve actually found myself becoming quite emotionally involved with the characters in the story, a sure sign of a great novel and something that rarely happens to me. If you’re at all interested in mental health, or just love a great novel, I’d highly recommend it.
Looking ahead I’m going to be focusing on my music project next week and recording song six of my T.E.N. project. I was messing around on my guitar yesterday and have a few ideas for how the song might take shape. If you missed my last single ‘Speak Life’ you can listen to it on the Music page.
Later today I will be spending some quality time in prayer, and will lift up all my blog followers to God and ask Him to bless you and inspire you and motivate you in the coming week. My prayer request for this week is that God would give me wisdom regarding how to proceed with work and accommodation. I’m facing some uncertainty in these areas so please pray for me, for a clear way forward, if you get a chance.
I’ll sign off now but I want to leave you with a song that I’ve been listening to on repeat this week and that I think you’re going to love. It’s by Jonathan Ogden, who’s a fellow Englishman and has been blessed with a gift for creating gentle but powerful Christian music. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
February 16, 2018
The Simple Life
An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
“How long did it take you to catch them?” The American asked.
“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.
“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.
“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”
“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then, señor?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”
“Millions, señor? Then what?”
The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”
The above story was written by Heinrich Böll and I discovered it on the Patches of Godlight blog. I think it’s a beautiful piece that captures something of the insanity of the capitalist dream. God bless you dear friends and thank you for reading!
February 15, 2018
Blog Spotlight (Feb 2018)
Many more people have submitted their blogs to my Promote Your Blog page over the last few weeks, so as usual, it’s a difficult choice deciding who to shine the spotlight on. If you’re not featured this month please don’t take it personally; there’s every chance you’ll be featured in the coming months.
This month I decided to focus on new blogs, to give a leg up to those who are just starting out on their blogging journey. So please encourage these bloggers by visiting their blogs and interacting with them, maybe offering some words of encouragement and advice if you’re a more seasoned blogger 
February 12, 2018
What is ‘God’s Decree’?
The decree of God is a notion I’ve found puzzling since I first heard it while watching Calvinists discussing theology on YouTube. I simply didn’t understand the term. To me, a decree is a kind of command or order. But this didn’t seem to be the meaning of the term conveyed by Calvinists when using it in a theological context.
With my curiosity piqued, I decided to do a little research, a summary of which I’ll recount below. Then I’d like to open this one up to my readers to get your insights, if you would be so kind…
God has been working for thousands of years on His plan or decree of redemption for mankind, particularly those who submit to God in repentance and faith.
Okay, this is helpful. So God’s decree is just a way of describing the Gospel. Or is it broader than that? Perhaps God’s decree is His plan for humankind. Or actually, is it broader still? Does it mean His eternal plan for the entirety of creation?
The Decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to His will, whereby He has foreordained whatever comes to pass.
I understand by this that God’s decree is His plan for the entirety of existence throughout all eternity. So is the word ‘decree’ just a synonym for ‘purpose’?
The decree of God is His purpose or determination with respect to future things. We have used the singular number as Scripture does (Rom 8:28, Eph 3:11), because there was only one act of His infinite mind about future things.
Romans 8:28 talks of God’s ‘purpose’ and Ephesians 3:11 talks of God’s ‘eternal purpose’, providing further evidence that we’re honing in on the meaning of the term under investigation.
It’s worth noting that Calvinists talk about God’s decree (singular) rather than decrees (plural). I found this confusing as well. If we take the literal meaning of decree (order or command) then it’s somewhat illogical to apply this to God (what would it mean to speak of God’s single eternal command? The plural ‘decrees’ – commands – would make more sense). So again the point is that ‘decree’ is being used by Calvinists in a non-literal sense.
So my conclusion, based on this (admittedly, limited) research, is that when Calvinists talk about God’s decree it’s just a fancy way of say His ‘plan’ or ‘purpose’. The word ‘decree’ isn’t used often in Scripture in the context of God’s plan or purpose, which I think is why I felt somewhat frustrated and confused hearing the term used by Calvinists in this non-literal and not necessarily intuitive way.
Got something to add? Feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!
February 10, 2018
Listen to my New Single
Another month has whizzed by and today is release day for song five of the T.E.N. Project (my ten song experimental music project). I’m excited to share my new single with you!
This song features lyrics that describe the various aspects of spiritual vitality, backed with a pulsating melodic bass line and rolling drums. I hope you like it, and if you do, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and giving the video the all-important thumbs up. God bless and enjoy!
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