Inspired by Peter Leithart, Ben Myers has invited us to post some ‘theological confessions’. Judging by the huge response, there’s obviously a lot of need for confession around. I’ve been trying to resist, but OK … I give in.

1. I confess that although my confession in Jesus’ lordship seems way too important to be part of this confession, there is no place in which such a confession is anything less than entirely proper.
2. I confess that sometimes I think that all the problems in the world would go away if people (not me of course, but those other people) could just read and take in (just about) everything that Forsyth says.
3. I confess that I prefer Wittenberg to Rome, I prefer Geneva to Wittenberg, and I prefer a good fishing spot more than them all.
4. I confess that reading books about prayer is almost as hard as actually praying.
5. I confess that Barth’s Dogmatics gets better as he warms up.
6. I confess that although I’m stimulated by the Torrance’s reading of Calvin (and Barth), I’m unconvinced that they are always telling us the truth about the two blokes (i.e. are always faithful interpreters).
7. I confess that I was fairly serious when I asked recently whether or not PhD theses on Barth ought to be discouraged for a wee bit. (I am not implying here that we ought to neglect the bloke).
8. I confess that that I’m glad that there’s only three in the Godhead because my maths is useless and the doctrine is hard enough to understand, let alone live in.
9. I confess that the US version of The Office is better than the UK version. I sub-confess that as an Aussie I never thought I would say this about anything American.
10. I confess that American Football is the most boring game on the planet. The fact that it is enjoyed by so many morons is both the greatest single simultaneous evidence for the doctrine of total depravity and common grace.
11. I confess that I’m glad that the fire accompanying the open theist debates seems to have died down.
12. I confess that sometimes I wish Beza had never heard of Calvin.
13. I confess that I feel far too stupid to be doing a PhD.
14. I confess that bad coffee and bad shoes are not better than no coffee and no shoes.
15. I confess that there may be one or two people who disagree with #14, particularly those who actually don’t own a pair of shoes.
16. I confess that (with Sean) I am one of the few Baptists that still think that studying Greek ought be a mandatory part of training for the pastoral ministry of word and sacrament.
17. I confess that (following on from above) I am something of a hypocrite and that I wish had stuck at my Greek and Hebrew more than I do.
18. I confess that Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) was onto something when she said that ‘Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense’. If only she had known about the great joys and distractions of blogging!
19. I confess that theology happens best not in the academy nor on blogs but in the local Church and its proclamation which it exists to serve.
20. I confess that I always enjoy reading a good fiction book with a cup of tea.
21. I confess that I don’t understand the objections to ‘double-predestination’ by those non- Barthians who imply that ‘single predestination’ seems so much more gracious.
22. I confess that the Gospel is still good news to the poor.
    
23. I confess that I find it hard to trust teetotallers.
24. I confess that I am genuinely grieved at the dearth of contemporary hymns on the atonement.
25. I confess that I learn more theology in an hour with Dostoevsky than in an hour with almost any other theologian.
    
26. I confess that I’m pleased that sinful bloggers have decided to exercise their bondaged will’s and ignore Ben‘s invitation that these confessions concern themselves with ‘a list of intellectual confessions’.
27. I confess that I have prayed that some of the brilliant Barthian theologians around might start to do some serious bible exegetical work when doing their theology.
28. I confess that I have prayed that some of the brilliant non-Barthian theologians around might start to do some serious bible exegetical work when doing their theology.
29. I confess that I’ve enjoyed Byron’s confessions the most of all.
30. I confess that Christianity stands or falls with its preaching.

BTW: some have been asking – even confessing – that they don’t know what a ‘meme’ is. The answer is here.