Linkathon!

Martin Luther's Disciple says:

Let’s add a Christian link. Today is the commemoration of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession – June 25 1530 – without a doubt the most influential document of the Reformation (before arguments, at least the Lutheran Reformation.)

Presented to the Emperor Charles V it was the Lutheran answer to the charges Lutherans were not Christians as understood by The Pope. The Pope’s folks followed up through the Emperor with their own action – the Confutation Pontificia on Aug 3, 1530, which cause the Lutheran reply, The Apology (defense) of the Augsburg Confession, which went far in the new Lutheran world but led Rome to call the Council of Trent to deal with these start up Lutherans, including the several canons which pronounced anathemas on those who would hold to justification by faith alone.

So today we celebrate … at least some of us do. Linkathon worthy 🙂

http://bookofconcord.org/augsburgconfession.php

Nathan Priddis says:

The porn article is excellent.

This articulates a feeling I had in the 90’s. I felt increasingly isolated as I grew older. Youth was behind me and what was left, was little more then oppressing responsibilities. I realized my life was largely out of my ability to control.

I turned towards male church relationships to fill an emptyness, but this immediately collided with a newly recognized reality. For lack of a better definition, I will call it Sexual Relativity. (a shameless plagerism of Einstein)

This felt like men’s groups portrayed Christian maleness as a variable state of porn consumption.
-So, a Sat men’s gathering might discuss this weekend’s deck project or yardwork.
-Followed by a group…how are you doing? This question then humorously burned into by brain as…did you or did you not peruse pics of breast roughly the size of Ethiopia this week?

The problems I felt at this point where many., starting with a sense of emptyness in daily Christian life. A basic fact of humanity is we are complication, and multifaceted. If christianity selects sex as its primary identity for men, what sort of faith is this?

If I randomly click on Christianpost twenty years later, I expect to see sex, or something related to reproduction in the headlines. We have the entire Heavens and the Earth, but the fixation of our faith is genital related?

JoelG says:

Erunner that is fantastic.

Ironically it’s been Christians who see God differently than I do who are hardest for me to not resent. I avoid them like the plague, at least in the context of a Christian small group gathering. I wouldn’t say that they “sinned” against me. But they angered and upset me. I’d then “run away” from God and hide in my resentment until I couldn’t stand not being in communion with God.

I’ve got a lot of work to do in that area. But Im finding it helpful to simply talk to God about those things rather than hiding and stewing in resentment.

This life is a long learning process of learning to forgive and love unconditionally. If I’m not there yet I try not to let condemnation keep me from praying and trying.

Sorry to ramble. Erunner you remind me of myself. I’m glad that the article helped you.

Erunner says:

JoelG, What you said here hit the bulls eye for me. “This life is a long learning process of learning to forgive and love unconditionally. If I’m not there yet I try not to let condemnation keep me from praying and trying.” Learning that entitlements ( health, peace, never being misunderstood, etc.) were never mine to begin with helps me a lot. Living with that lie made me my own god and it led to decades of pain. We’re all in this together. God bless!