Steven Colborne's Blog, page 88

Dealing with Evil

Those of you who read Sunday’s post will recall that I’m experiencing a difficult situation with a neighbour at the moment. It’s been consuming a lot of my energy and it’s hard to see a way forward, such is the troubling attitude of the person.

I have been asking God for help and He graciously directed me to several passages from the Psalms, where we read King David crying out to God for help against the oppression of his enemies. Reading these passages brought me great comfort.

Do not put your trust in princes,

in mortals, in whom there is no help.

When their breath departs,

they return to the earth;

on that very day their plans perish.

(Psalm 146:3-4)

Deliver me, O LORD, from evildoers;

protect me from those who are violent,

who plan evil things in their minds

and stir up wars continually.

(Psalm 140:1-2)

The LORD sets the prisoners free;

the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

the LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD watches over the strangers;

he upholds the orphan and the widow,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

(Psalm 146:7b-9)

People have all kinds of advice to offer when you’re going through a seemingly impossible situation. Their advice is based on their experience and their limited understanding of what you’re going through (of course it must be this way, we shouldn’t expect otherwise).

But I am convinced that by far the most useful help anyone can give is to pray for you, because it is God who holds the solution to the problem. It’s not a simple case of fighting back, or being stronger, or making a complaint, or saying the right thing. When we are faced with great evil, and can’t see a way out, our only hope is Almighty God.

Thank you so much for your prayers xx

Prayer Request (sorry!)

I thank God for my accommodation, which is just perfect in so many ways. I have lived here for about three years now and the time has flown by, which I think is a sign that things have been going really well. I live in a house divided into three flats (I’m in the middle with one person above and one person below). I live near the centre of a town with great transport connections and amenities. It’s got everything I need. I’m so grateful.

However, right now I need your prayers!

To cut a long story short, my accommodation is connected to the mental health system in South London, and I am only living here because I am under the auspices of the Community Mental Health Team. My last spell in hospital was more than four years ago, but when I was discharged, I went into what is known as ‘supported accommodation’ (which basically means there is a charity who help out with any issues that arise, and the rent is more affordable than it would be otherwise).

I believe the guy in the flat above me (let’s call him X) has been here for about twenty years. I knew almost immediately that he was going to be a difficult neighbour when I heard him physically fighting with his son on the stairs and threatening to ‘knock him out’. He freely speaks in profanity, tells lies, shouts loudly to himself, and breaks many of the rules of his tenancy (for instance by keeping a cat and smoking illegal substances).

I have tried really hard to be a friendly neighbour to X. I try to be loving towards him at all times and encourage him, shake his hand, give him a pat on the back, pray for him, and I always ask how he’s doing while at the same time keeping some psychological distance (i.e. by not going into his flat nor allowing him into mine).

In recent weeks there is one issue that has been a real challenge. X plays his music really loudly in the afternoons – so loudly that you can hear it down the street (he often leaves a window open which doesn’t help). There is enough separation between our flats that in my flat I don’t hear his music very loudly, though it is still distracting. My main problem is that it’s very antisocial in terms of others who live on our road and the many people who come to the front door of the house for deliveries, etc. One delivery man told me that he felt uncomfortable coming to our front door because of the loud music, and I always feel I have to apologise to any visitors.

I have politely asked X on four occasions to turn the music down, and every time he has met me with the same response. He says, ‘If it’s too loud, bang on my door and tell me to turn in down’. I know, however, that if I did this, it would be confrontational and he would almost certainly react aggressively. I told him “I’m not an aggressive person, and in any case I’m asking you now so why do I need to knock on your door?” But he dismissed my logic.

After weeks of frustration, I bumped into X on the street the other day and after a reasonably polite conversation I thought I’d try a slightly different approach. I mentioned the music again, but this time said what I hadn’t said before, which is that I don’t want to have to make a complaint. He immediately turned on me and said now I was causing trouble, and he walked off muttering and swearing. That was about two weeks ago and I haven’t seen him since. The loud music has continued.

I’m grateful that X doesn’t play music at night. It’s generally between about 1pm and 6pm. Still, it’s difficult to concentrate during that time, and I have to schedule my days to accommodate that noisy period in the middle of the day.

I’m worried that next time I bump into X he is going to be aggressive with me, verbally and perhaps even physically, as it certainly feels as though our relationship has been soured. I do kind of regret suggesting I might have to make a complaint, and feel that perhaps I should have just kept counting my blessings and put up with the noise. But it was getting so frustrating and oppressive that I felt I needed to do something.

Undoubtedly, X can be very nasty. I believe he may have been in prison and is used to handling confrontation with violence and aggression. He’s certainly a bullying character (I could give various examples of this that I have witnessed). The situation now is very volatile and I’m afraid that he could attack me if I say something that even slightly provokes him.

Please pray that God will bless this situation and bring a swift and happy resolution. Please pray for my protection and for X to experience a change of heart. Please pray for a breakthrough and a miracle that will bring peace.

Thank you SO much! X

Gender and Sexuality

Attitudes towards gender and sexuality have been changing at a drastic pace in societies around the world in recent years. This is very challenging for Christians, who generally believe there is something sacred about maleness and femaleness, and that gender fluidity is not something that is healthy, or approved of by God.

In my own research on this subject I recently came across a great resource that I would like to recommend to anyone who has in interest in this area. The resource is Issue 03 of Primer, a magazine published twice a year, which focuses on a different area of doctrine in each issue.

Here’s a one-minute video explaining why Primer exists:

The issue I purchased is entitled True to Form and subtitled ‘Gender and Sexuality’. It is about 80 pages long and features contributions from authors, a surgeon, and several ministers. There are seven main articles, each looking at gender and sexuality from a different perspective, either historical, medical, theological, or pastoral.

For more information about the ‘Gender and Sexuality’ issue of Primer, click this link.

To purchase the issue, click here.

Primer is published by the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches in the UK, but worldwide delivery is available – you can choose your country during the checkout process and postage will be calculated.

The Creative Process

Embarking on a new creative project is both exciting and daunting. Normally, the excitement for a project comes at the very beginning, and at the very end. The daunting bit comes in the middle. At the beginning we develop a vision, brainstorm ideas, set a timeline, and buzz with all the possibilities. At the end we receive a sense of fulfilment, relief, and closure. But how do we deal with the ‘filling in the sandwich’; the hard slog in the middle part of the project?

Here are three things that really help me to stay happy when I’m working on a long-term creative project.

1.  Set mini-goals

I maintain a ‘things-to-do’ list every day, and I make sure that I don’t make the list too long or too short. Normally 5-10 items is about right. I make sure I factor in work on my projects, but also exercise and relaxing activities as well as necessary chores. If you’ve got an iPhone, the Notes app is great for doing this, and thanks to iCloud your notes will sync with your other Apple devices, for editing anywhere. No doubt there are Android equivalents; you’re welcome to leave a comment with your favourite.

2. Declutter

I try to end each day with an empty inbox and no pending notifications on my phone. That gives me a real sense of satisfaction and helps me to sleep more peacefully. Sounds impossible? Then you’re probably subscribed to too many mailing lists or have downloaded too many apps. Have a clear-out! Rather than being on every social site, pick two or three that are most relevant to your project and master them. In your email client (Gmail for me), consider creating filters so your emails automatically go into folders. As a blogger I find this especially helpful, as all the new posts from blogs I follow go into one folder. I can then dedicate time to catching up with all my favourite blogs in one go, while dealing with all my personal emails separately.

3. Schedule quiet time

Try to take half an hour each day when you’re doing absolutely nothing but sitting quietly and thinking (perhaps with a cup of tea in hand). Turn your phone off, close your laptop, and enjoy the peace of having no distractions. It’s wonderfully refreshing just to savour the peace and count your blessings. It helps keep everything in perspective.

PerfectChaos.org is primarily a theology and music blog, so you won’t find me writing motivational posts like this very often. But I hope these tips are helpful. How do you keep motivated in the middle of a project? Leave a comment below!

New Song Out Now

Today is launch day! You can now listen to the first song released as part of my new music project. For all the details of the project, go here. To listen to the song, entitled ‘Running for the Bus’, visit my Bandcamp page here.

The song will be available for one month only from today (10/10/2017). I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, you can purchase the song for £1.

Listen to ‘Running for the Bus’ now!

My New Music Project

Greetings, dear ones! Today I am announcing the details of my new music project, entitled The T.E.N. Project. You can find out all about it on my newly created Music page here on Perfect Chaos, which you can access via perfectchaos.org/music.

Here’s a condensed overview of the project:

TEN new songs to be recorded in my home studio
TEN months, one song to be recorded each month
The TENTH of the month will be the release date for each new song
The initials T.E.N. will be used for the album title, which will be decided via a competition
The first song will be released on 10th October 2017

For all the details, including how you can enter the competition to decide the album title, be sure to check out my Music page. Also, I’ve set up a page over on Facebook called Steven Colborne Music, so consider ‘Liking’ that page if you’re a regular Facebooker.

Your support and encouragement will be really appreciated throughout this project. I will publish a blog post on release day each month so if you’re following this blog you will receive an email as each new song is released. You can listen for free!

Love to all my followers, I appreciate you.

Blessings, Steven x

P.S. I will continue to blog about theology

The Logos as a Person

In my last post I looked at an interesting way of understanding what it means for the person of Jesus to have been the ‘Word’ or ‘Logos’ from eternity past, as is indicated in the opening of the Gospel according to John. Today, I want to expand upon the same topic, and will again be quoting David Pawson and his excellent Bible commentary.

We saw in yesterday’s post that the word ‘logos’ can be translated as ‘the reason why’. So in John’s gospel, when the author says ‘In the beginning was the Word [logos]’ he was saying ‘In the beginning was the reason why’. So Jesus is ‘the reason why’ God created the universe.

This turns the eternal Jesus into a kind of abstract concept. But Christians talk about Jesus as being an eternal person. While seeing the eternal Jesus as ‘the reason why’ seems helpful and easy to understand, the phrase doesn’t actually encapsulate the personhood of Christ.

So how are we to understand the personhood of Jesus prior to the Incarnation?

Let’s see what Pawson has to say in respect of this problem:

The word [logos] has another phase in its history too, this time across the Mediterranean Sea from Ephesus in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria had a school which combined Greek and Hebrew thinking, in part because there were many dispersed Jews living in the city. This school, or university, was the location for the translation of the Old Testament into Greek by 70 scholars known as the ‘Septuagint’ or ‘LXX’. One of the Jews involved was a professor called Philo. In seeking to interpret Hebrew thinking into Greek, Professor Philo seized on the word Logos and said that the Logos was not to be spoken of as ‘it’ but as ‘he’. He was ‘personifying’ the Logos, rather in the way that in Proverbs wisdom is personified as a woman.

‘Unlocking the Bible’ by David Pawson (William Collins 2015, p903)

So we see from this snippet of history the origins of the personification of the logos. It seems that when Philo used the term ‘he’ to refer to the pre-incarnate Jesus, this is a figure of speech, rather than pointing to a physical embodied person. The analogy of wisdom personified in the book of Hebrews is helpful, as surely wisdom in reality doesn’t have a physical form.

So we might conclude that the pre-incarnate Jesus was a person, but only figuratively so.

Perhaps you have something to add which might help illuminate the difficult concept of Jesus existing as an eternal person? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Jesus as Logos

The writer of the book of John opens his gospel with some very well-known words. These words have been used by theologians as evidence that Jesus has existed eternally, alongside God the Father and God the Holy Spirit:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

(John 1:1-5 NKJV)

I have found this to be a difficult passage to fully comprehend, and I think many Christians would agree that it’s somewhat mysterious. When I think about Jesus, I picture in my mind a human form, and I’m not easily able to equate that human form with the ‘Word’ of John’s Gospel. What exactly is this ‘Word’ that was with God in the beginning, and how can that Word possibly be the same thing as the embodied Christ who lived in human form?

I came across an interesting passage today in a book I’m reading which has helped me to understand this mystery a little more clearly. I will quote the passage below, and then make a few brief comments to round off the post. Please note that the word ‘Logos’ is the original Greek term that has been translated into our Bibles as ‘Word’ in John 1.

A little history will help explain why John chose to call Jesus the Logos. This concept had particular meaning in Ephesus, where John was writing. Six hundred years before there lived in Ephesus a man called Heraclitus, acknowledged as the founder of science. He believed in the necessity of scientific enquiry, probing the natural world, asking how and why things were the way they were. Was it merely chance? Were we in a chaotic universe or was there an order?

He looked for patterns or ‘laws’ to see if he could deduce some logic behind the operations of the natural world. He used the word logos to stand for ‘the reason why’, the purpose behind what took place. When he looked at life (bios) he looked for the logos; when he studied the weather (meteor) he sought the logos. This concept now appears in our words for the study of different areas of science: biology, meteorology, geology, psychology, sociology, etc.

So Heraclitus said that the logos is ‘the reason why’. Every branch of science is looking for the logos, the reason why things are as they are. John, realizing that Jesus is the ultimate reason ‘why’ everything happened, took up this idea and called Jesus the logos, ‘the Word’. The whole universe was made for him. He was the Logos before there was anyone else to communicate with. That is the reason why we are here. It is all going to be summed up with him. He is the ‘Reason Why’.

‘Unlocking the Bible’ by David Pawson (William Collins 2015, p902)

It may be the case that it’s impossible for human beings to envisage what an eternal Jesus looks like, but this passage certainly provides an explanation which makes the concept a little easier to understand. Pawson takes the focus off Jesus’ embodied form, and onto what could be described as an abstract concept.

If you found Pawson’s elucidations helpful, I will be continuing with this theme in my next blog post, so please consider subscribing if you’d like to follow the discussion.

A New Dimension

Today I want to talk about something that I’ve not written about in a very long time – making music. In some posts I’ve mentioned worship songs I love, lyrics I’ve been drawn to, and poetry that has moved me deeply, but I’ve not talked about the longing I’ve had in recent years to write and record songs.

Music has always been a big part of my life. As a kid my parents inflicted guitar lessons upon me (!), and I reluctantly learned to play classical guitar and took grades. I did enjoy playing when I got into it, but a lot of the time it just felt like a chore. I had a few different guitar teachers and also took drum lessons, and opted to study music at A-Level (that’s 11th and 12th Grade for my American readers).

My passion for music exploded when I was in my teens. I got a job in a local music shop selling guitars and other musical instruments, and started to play electric guitar for the first time. It wasn’t long before I was collaborating with my peers in school, and writing and performing songs in a rock band.

Writing music was a wonderful process for me, allowing me to be creative and work on projects that gave me a sense of excitement and fulfilment. The band I eventually formed with a couple of school friends was called Marconi’s Voodoo, and we developed a loyal local following, won a competition in a heavy metal magazine, and even went on a UK tour.

I went on to study Commercial Music at university, which allowed me to pursue my various passions (essay writing, music writing, recording, law, sociology, etc) in an academic setting. I graduated with a 1st class degree, which was a wonderful blessing, and the potential for musical collaborations both during the course and after graduation allowed me to grow and flourish as a musician.

Just a few days after graduation, my mother passed away after a gruelling battle with cancer, and the experience of my mother’s suffering as well as the loss I felt when she left this world left me reeling. What followed was years of turbulent mental health, but also a shift in focus in my life from music to spirituality. Although I had landed an excellent first job working in online promotion in the music industry, suddenly there were things that were more important to me than living for sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

I lived a kind of ‘double life’ for the next few years. My passion for music continued, and in my spare time I was writing and recording with the rock band and also managing a friend’s band, outside of all of the commitments of my job in the music industry. But at the same time my interest in philosophy, religion, and spirituality was developing. During my mother’s illness she had been investigating different paths to healing, and this ignited my own interest in the deep issues at the heart of the human condition.

Space won’t allow me to go into details here about all the things I learned about God and spirituality in the years that followed (I wrote a book for that purpose), but music has taken a back seat in my life as I have focused all of my energies on seeking spiritual truth, learning about the God/world relationship, studying philosophy and religion, and trying to work out what this grand mystery of life is really about.

All of this is to say that today I want to make an announcement of sorts. Although I’ve continued to play guitar sporadically and record the odd musical idea on my phone, it’s been a long time since music was a major focus in my life. But that is about to change. Let me take you on a little visual journey and you’ll see what I mean…

Selling my sofa, coffee table, and armchair:

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I’ve been trying to sell or give away a few pieces of furniture, with the main aim of freeing up space in my flat. To be honest, despite the furniture being in pretty good second-hand condition, it’s been a real struggle to generate interest, despite posting the items on Gumtree, Freegle, Freecycle, and Facebook Marketplace, to name but a few!

The coffee table went yesterday and I have had some interest in the other items, but am still looking for a new home for the sofa and armchair. So things are pretty cluttered in my flat right now, not least because I recently had a rather substantial delivery…

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Have I given the game away?! This little lot took a bite out of my wallet but I shopped around for bargains and found some really good quality gear at very reasonable prices. I’m on a low income but I do have a bit of money in savings, thanks to a generous gift that was bequeathed to me when my Aunt passed away. So thank you Aunt Jane, for making these purchases possible!

But what to do with all this gear? Well, I spent yesterday on my hands and knees trying to assemble a flat pack desk that I bought from Argos. I normally enjoy a bit of DIY but didn’t particularly enjoy kneeling on the edge of a piece of wood (eek!), and trying to do all the two-man aspects of this assembly on my own. I could have asked for help, but nah, I thought, I’ll manage!

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A few hours later and I had the wretched thing on its knees instead, and it finally did what I was telling it to do! Here’s the finished result:

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Now you have to bear in mind that I live in a relatively small flat with very little space to spare, so making use of this corner of my bedroom was a must.

Yesterday evening and today I have been getting everything set up and plugged in, and so it is with great pleasure that I can now unveil the conclusion of this little project, or the first phase of it at least. So here it is, my home studio setup:

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I’m not going to give too much away about what I’m planning to record, but I will say that I’ve received a lot of inspiration recently and have plenty of ideas that I’m looking forward to working on over the Autumn / Winter seasons.

So there we have it. I’m finally back in the game of music making and am really excited about it. I’m planning to keep blogging about theological matters, and music for the time being will be a side-project, although my experience in recording studios has taught me that making music really does suck away the hours so I could well go into hibernation for short periods of time in the coming months.

Thank you mum and dad for all those guitar lessons when I was little. I pray that God will help me to create some beautiful music that glorifies Him and helps me to grow as a musician and as a person.

The Confusion of Calvinism

I’m subscribed to the Desiring God mailing list and I often read John Piper answering questions about Christian doctrine from curious believers. While I don’t think that peddling the term ‘Christian Hedonism’ is necessarily helpful, I appreciate Piper’s lengthy ministry, his biblical knowledge, and the insights he gives on theological subjects.

This week I read an interesting post on Piper’s website entitled Does God Control All Things All The Time. Aha! I thought. This is right up my street. I was genuinely interested to read what Piper had to say about this question which cuts into the heart of Christian theology.

As I read through the article I found myself in almost total agreement. I do agree with a lot of what Calvinists like Piper have to say about God’s sovereignty. But just as Piper was concluding, he made a statement that I think highlights why I could not ultimately describe myself as a Calvinist:

God’s sovereignty does not diminish our accountability.

Alarm bells immediately started ringing in my mind and my heart sank as I read these words, which represent a confusion that is at the heart of Calvinist thinking. Earlier in the article, Piper had made another statement along the same lines:

Even in situations where God is permitting, He is permitting by design.

Are you able to see the contradiction that exists in both of these quoted statements? You see, Calvinists want to strongly state God’s sovereignty and insist that salvation is solely a work of God. But the trouble is, we only need to be ‘saved’ because of rebellion against God, and this rebellion implies freedom of the human will.

Without God’s sovereignty, Calvinism doesn’t make sense, but with God’s sovereignty, Christianity doesn’t make sense.

It’s simple. If we are free to sin, then God is not in control of our lives, and so we cannot call Him sovereign. If we are not free to sin, and our lives are under God’s control, then the need for salvation, and therefore the whole Christian gospel, evaporates.

Calvinists would have to deny what I affirm, which is that we are merely puppets in the hands of God. I believe all of creation is part of God – He is omnipresent – and this is what true sovereignty means. We have to be able to affirm this truth about God and then deal with the implications for our theology, which are far-reaching, and which I have discussed at length in my paper entitled An Almighty Predicament.

What’s your understanding of this predicament? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.