Steven Colborne is BA (Honors) graduate
with a PostGrad Certificate in Philosophy and Religion.
. he has written extensively on the problem of
divine sovereignty versus human free will;
eg, Colborne [p24] believes that
"God creates impressions in our consciousness
as we read and reflect."
. Colborne[p33] has a list of Judaism verses
where the prophets believe that our god
influences both men and nature
to create both good and trouble.
[Isaiah 45:7; Lamentations 3:37-38; Job 42: 2;
Isaiah 46:9-10; Proverbs 16:4]
. you could say our free will is obvious,
but why do you want --what you want?
because the god influences your emotions!
. the only way you could really have free will
is to decide to be reasonable and follow a code
instead of following your emotions.
. yet the Bible and the Qur'an will also
deny that the god is to blame
because it is using a devil to test you,
or you have the ability to resist the god's influence,
so you can only blame yourself.
. the Qur'an (Surah 4:85, 26:28) agrees that
our god controls all the actions and the roles
(suggesting your prayers for mercy could stop anything?)
but Surah 12:52 denies the god "guides" deceptive betrayers.
. so, what does the god do with all that control?
I believe it is ensuring competition and war
for enhancing technology and survival skills;
and, the god's highest priority is creating
exactly what seems to exist:
an infinite diversity of experience.
. Colborne has a background in christianity,
and has read Bart Ehrman's book "Misquoting Jesus".
. perhaps referring to that book he said
some claim that the christian scriptures have been
corrupted -- in a conspiracy to make a god of Jesus.
. he points out that there are many references
to the divinity of Jesus,
but all I could see were many references to
Jesus being magical and he being of the opinion
that his magic power came from Our Father,
and from the god's intention to use Jesus as prophet.
. history is full of magical beings;
magic is no proof you are the Only Son of God.
. when Jesus said he and the Father are "in" each other,
that could simply mean they respect each others' requests.
. Colborne has a blog, "perfect chaos".
eg, in a 2022.10.4 article
"Does Worshiping Jesus Lead to Hell?"
he laments the Qur'an[Surah 4:116] states:
the god doesn't forgive worship of others
even as christians worship prophet Jesus.
(while authoring this 2021 book,
he was under the impression that
the Qur'an's god would forgive anything
if you would promise to do well going forward,
and that christians were regarded as
"People of the Book" who would
"fare well on the day of judgement".)
. in the 2021 book, despite believing
the Qur'an is a beautiful book about our god,
he sees Qur'anic culture as promoting Arab culture
while at the same time "the Qur'an discusses
how different communities have their own messengers,
and each community can learn the same truths
from their specific messenger."
. where does it say that?
. I was under the impression that Muslims believe
their prophet is the final messenger
meaning former prophets such as Jesus are respected,
but there is no reason for a future messenger
because the perfected message has already been sent.
. that, of course, applies only to our own planet;
each planet would need its own messenger
both now and in the future.
. in the chapter on predestination [p41],
where "your free will" is decided in advance;
he shows where the Qur'an believes mainly that
the god records everything that has been,
rather than everything about the future.
. Qur'an(Surah 9:36) says predestination was involved
in deciding things like the number of months in a year
but that doesn't contradict the idea of free will.
. the Qur'an [Surah 4: 171] denies Trinity theory
where the christians claim that our god is
one substance residing in
3 separate persons or personalities
{Our Father the creator, Jesus, Holy Spirit}.
. Colborne[p51] and I agree with the Qur'an's
unitarianism, where the idea of Jesus being eternal like the god,
is really a baseless claim, since he was born
with no mention of being reincarnated eternally.
. also notice that
some of the New Testament [Matthew 26:39,42]
has Jesus begging the Father god for mercy,
-- is he begging himself for mercy?
if Jesus is another form of the god,
why doesn't he have god-like control?
. when Jesus was in the mind of Paul saying
"you are blinded by me until you repent"
wasn't that just the god pretending to be Jesus?
. why make a distinction between
the god and the Holy Spirit?
did they have separate wills too,
like Jesus and the Father held?
. they are said to be part of the same substance
but they are just 3 evidences of supernatural power;
the god can empower Jesus with magic
without the Jesus being a form of the god.
. Islam was designed to compete with
militant invasive Christianity;
and, the prophet of Islam was saying,
"you christians have a lot of good theory
but you are wrong about the Trinity."
. so it's not a surprise that the Qur'an
believes just like the christians do
about the afterlife happening by way of
a Resurrection on Judgement day
sending everyone to Heaven or Hell.
. Colborne seriously believes that
the fact that half the planet believes this
makes it "very likely indeed".
. what makes a popular belief likely
is the quality of evidence they have;
and this belief depends upon the opinion of
2 prophets, claiming to know the future.
. let's remember that
Jesus credibility was destroyed when
he assumed a fig tree would have fruit
and then angrily destroyed it when it did not.
[Mark 11:12-]
. so that leaves everyone's belief
dependent upon just one messenger.
. you can say you trust Islam's prophet
and the god who sent him,
but don't say popularity is to be trusted;
that is just madness or sarcasm.
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
