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2am prayer

Light of the world,

You came into the darkness, but the darkness could not overcome you.

In the tumult of night and dreams filled with anxiety, we look to you
Because even the darkness is not dark to you.

Wherever we make our bed, you are there,
And when we awake, you are still with us.

Loving Father, we thank you that you are not fleeting or absent,
But you are mighty an powerful, and faithful to all you have promised.
And you declare:

"Never will I leave you,
Never will I forsake you"

We trust in you, righteous Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, we trust also in you. The one for whom and through whom all things were made,
Who calmed the storm
Who forgave the guilty
Who raised the dead
Who brought God to the outcasts
Who restored the unfaithful to friendship
Who came to set free all those who were held in slavery by fear all their lives
Who destroyed the power of death,
And all the works of the evil one.

We give you honour and praise, and rejoice that you do not despise us in our weakness
But you delight in us, for you made us
And you always live to intercede for us
You are our brother and you have shared in our trials and weakness.

We bring before you all those enslaved by sin, and crippled by guilt
And we ask that you cleanse them, strengthen them, forgive them, and purify them from all unrighteousness.

O Lord, you will not snuff out a smouldering wick,
Or crush a bruised reed,
And you are willing to make us clean.
We thank you that you forgive our sin, and redeem our lives.

We pray for those facing terror, doubt and anxiety,
And we ask that you lift them up
And that the peace of God will keep their heart and their mind set on you,
For you are faithful, and you have promised

"I will cover you with my feathers,
       and under my wings you will find refuge;
       my faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 

 You will not fear the terror of night,
       nor the arrow that flies by day"

We look to you to deliver us from all fear, and all the power of the Evil One.

Lord Jesus, you have made the Father known to us and promised that you will continue to make him known.

Holy Spirit, we ask you to continue to make known to us the mystery of the Godhead, that we might know Him as we are already known and loved by Him.

Let it be so, Heavenly Father,

For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
Forever and ever.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Are you a heretic?

Many moons ago, I spent a few hours creating a quiz entitled What's Your Theological Worldview? It became rather popular and to date it has been taken over 70,000 times.

At one stage I was getting 30 or 40 e-mails a day, many of which raised a lot of important questions ranging from the sensible (Why weren't the Eastern Orthodox included?) to the stupid (This quiz is too Christian. I am an atheist and am offended there are no atheist questions.)

Unfortunately due to the way that Quizfarm works, I am able to receive e-mails but I cannot reply to any of them because I have no way of finding out what the e-mail address of the sender is, so if you've ever e-mailed me after a taking one of the quizzes, please accept my apologies for never having replied.

Before I introduce an all-new quiz, here are the most frequent questions I was asked:

1. The questions are too biased. Why?

In order to get a good result, it is necessary to emphasise the extremes and distinctives between different groups who may normally have lots of things in common. This might make some of the questions appear to be leading or too biased. I do have own theological slant too though :)

2. What's the difference between a classic liberal and a modern liberal?

Many things. By a classic liberal I had in mind men like Schleiermacher and Co. If you answered strongly on questions that placed inner feeling higher than ideas about revelation and rational doctrine you'll have scored highly on classic liberalism. When I said 'modern liberals' I have in mind the likes of J D Crossan, Marcus Borg and even (horror) J S Spong. In the quiz this group was identified by a greater historical scepticism towards scripture, and a rejection of ideas like the divinity and miracles of Christ. If you are a classic liberal, read Karl Barth. If you still think the primary source of divine revelation is in your inner feelings and sense of God's presence, read Ludwig Feuerbach, and then read Karl Barth again.

3. Can I use the quiz for my class/youth group/church?

Yes. It is in the public domain and can be used for any purpose you want. If you enjoyed it and found it useful, a little credit would be nice, but you don't have to.

4. Why did you leave out Eastern Orthodoxy?

I wish I hadn't, but I miscalculated and there weren't enough slots left to have Eastern Orthodoxy in the quiz once I'd finished it. Please forgive me.

Anyway, I've constructed a new quiz entitled Are You A Heretic? It looks at all the major heresies in church history (note that not believing in Biblical inerrancy isn't one of them) and also the Council of Chalcedon. Take it and let me know how you got on.

Christus Victor part 3

In the last few weeks I've been blogging a series based on the book Christus Victor, which looks at the history of Christian beliefs about the atonement. In part 1 we looked at the 'classic' view of the atonement expressed as a triumph over the evil powers that enslave the world, and in part 2 we looked specifically at the theology of Irenaeus. Part 3 will consider the patristic period which will see the continued development of the classic idea of the atonement and also the begins of the western model of atonement.

If we look at the creeds, the greatest fruits of all the labours of the the Fathers, there is actually remarkably little to be said about the nature of the atonement itself. The Fathers are of course on the whole more concerned with the question of who Jesus is, rather than detailed theologies of the cross. That is not to say they had nothing to say on the atonement however, but crucially the church never agreed that one particular model of the atonement would be the hallmark of orthodoxy, which is one reason (amongst others) that I've strongly disagreed with those who have sought to call into question people's faith (including my own) because they do not subscribe to one particular doctrine of the atonement, especially one that (as we have seen, and shall see) did not arise until quite late on in church doctrine., but I digress.

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