In light of Peter Leithart & Ben Myers posting of their theological confessions, here are a few of my own:
I confess: I think John Calvin's Institutes & J.I. Packer's Knowing God are highly overrated.
I confess: I hope Ron Paul becomes our president. I know this probably won't happen. I like Barak Obama & Mike Huckabee but they both scare me a bit. Paul seems to be the only candidate that truly gets what America is about.
I confess: I hide the covers of my theology books when I read them on the train to work and hope no one asks me what I'm reading. When asked I struggle to come up with an explanation.
I confess: I can't get past the Caananite genocide. I can't reconcile that god of Israel with the god of Jesus Christ.
I confess: I never (hardly ever anyway) pray
I confess: I fear for the salvation of my (future) children
I confess: I was glad when Jerry Falwell died. I can't wait for Pat Robertson to do the same.
I confess: I wish I was an expert biblical archaeologist searching for the presumably thousands of lost letters of Paul, although I'm terrified at the thought of finding a new gospel.
I confess: I had a psychosomatic reaction (my heart jumped & blood rushed into my head) when I saw the headline that the supposed tomb of Jesus had been found. I know this sounds stupid now, but I didn't know this hoax had been first discovered several years ago and the headline was clearly going for a reaction. But that would've certainly destroyed my Christianity and probably my life.
I confess: The concept espoused in the popular-level book Bold Love by counselor Dan Allender and OT scholar Tremper Longman is perhaps the single most important idea in my entire life, be it theologically, politically, or in my relationships. For those of you who have never heard of it, think of Miroslav Volf's Exclusion & Embrace or Martin Buber's I and Thou.
I confess: I take comfort when I hear the guy from The Killers sing "When you can't hold on, when you can't hold on...............................Hold on."
I confess: The Amish way of life appeals to me.
I confess: I faked speaking in tongues around the age of 8 and faked being "slain in the spirit" around the age of 12. Neither was an attempt at deceit. Both were an attempt by me to take a first step of faith hoping that God would step in and take over. He didn't.
4 comments:
Keep the faith on Ron Paul. About two weeks ago I converted from the "I like him but don't think he has a chance" camp to the "I really think this can happen" camp. Up to 2% in all of the polls from 0 a couple months ago, plus the Iowa event this weekend and Q2 fundraising numbers in a couple weeks. Pat Buchanan was 6% in the polls a week before the NH primary in '96 and won it, shooting up to 21% right afterwards. This can be done.
Wow, amazingly confessional! Some of it hit close to home in a humbling and uncomfortable way. Interesting stuff.
Blessings,
Bryan L
Conor,
It's good to hear that encouraging news. I really think he is what America needs right now. I don't agree with him on everything. But I think he's critically important for America right now.
Bryan,
Thanks for stopping by. Some of what I wrote even surprised me which made in a really good exercise. I went to check out your blog and found out I couldn't leave comments there. So here was going to be my comment on your Fee quote:
It's definitely a timely quote from Fee considering the penal substitutionary debates going around in the blogosphere lately. The phrase that is potentially packed with so much meaning is simply, "Christ died for our sins." I looked up the word "for" in the dictionary and even in the English I was overwhelmed by the variety of what him dying for us might have meant. I'm going to be posting on this soon. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
Wow. I also think Calvin's Institutes and Packer's Knowing God are overrated. Determinism stinks.
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