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Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, God, Jesus, Lutheran, Theology, writing
Many know here that my wife is a Confessional Lutheran, so, naturally, I am acquainted with some of the theology of Confessional Lutheranism. What has always impressed me with several conversations with Confessional Lutheran pastors is their rich theology of the Incarnation; the importance on St. Athanasius work on the topic, and Christ’s role, as the new Adam, means for all of humanity–especially men. A topic, I think, lacks in many Catholic circles.
A good book written by a Lutheran Pastor named Jeffery Hemmer on this particular topic is “Man Up.” Pastor Hemmer addresses every man’s call to live by the virtue of Christian masculinity exemplified by Jesus Christ. It is in Christ we see the perfect man by the offering of ourselves in service to our communities either by charity, clarity, or sacrificially we embody what God meant for men to be men. Men need structure and order; Men need to pray; Men need to sacrificially love; and men need to be bold against sin.
All of this Pastor Hemmer tackles in his book. An interesting point Pastor Hemmer makes in his book in regards to the Genesis story is the failure of Adam’s role as protector of Eve within the marriage. So, to flesh this out a bit, I’ll take a look at another part of scripture from Ephesians 5:25-33. It’s a shame with modernity’s worship of feminism, we often lose the true focus of St. Paul’s words in Ephesians 5. Our society will object, “How dare you subjugate women with your backward religion.” Of course, those same voices never make objections to the next part of the chapter:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27 so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 because we are members of his body.[b] 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. 33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.
The husband’s love is a sacrificial love in which is a love that calls for the obedience of the wife in respect of the Church’s obedience to Christ’s sacrificial love on the cross. A husband must love his wife more than his own flesh, he must love her to his own death to sanctify her. Of course, this what Adam gets wrong in the garden. Pastor Hemmer explains that we often suppose that Adam is somewhere else in the garden when the serpent tempts Eve, but how the narrative follows is that Adam is present with Eve; and he does nothing to protect her from sin! Furthermore, when God comes and questions Adam, the protector, Adam does not protect Eve but places blame on both her and God for being tricked.
As such, we’re reminded of the role of the Incarnation; and the proper role of man, displayed by Jesus Christ in this Sunday’s Gospel reading:
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Jn. 3: 14-21
And what has gone wrong with this True depiction of men and women; e.g. in regards to marriage, religion and society? The following gives us some things to think about especially in regards to feminism as it relates to what this world has become during the last 50 years.
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I needed to read this today. Thanks.
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It’s all very sad. What a world we live in: depression, suicide, familial strife, poverty, war, the list goes on. All I can say is, thank God for charitable work and acts of kindness, and thank God for the coming Kingdom, when Jesus reigns with His holy ones on this earth. Imagine a world run by people like that.
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A good book written by a Lutheran Pastor named Jeffery Hemmer on this particular topic is “Man Up.”
Read this book and that book and this theology and that theology. Then what? How about asking Jesus to come into your life and reveal himself to you. Those books aren’t going to get you into heaven. But you look good here amongst the unsaved by saying you read all them hollow words. That’s all that matters…is that you look good to the world. Hey, I read this and that and this and that. Nevermind that I died and woke up in hell.
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So, not only Catholics are damned Bosco, but Lutherans too? Be careful, you start checking people off the list, you’ll be joining us all too
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Why do you find it offensive when people think about things?
Why did God give man reason, if He did not intend for him to use it?
Why did God say to love Him with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul, and all your strength?
And what kind of love is it that doesn’t engage the intellect? Not a human love; a bestial one – surely.
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Quiav the Great, the lord is my Shepherd. I don’t need an intellect. He does my thinking.
Good brother Phillip, all the unsaved are doomed. It matters not what religion they belong to. Belonging to a religion in itself is a sign that one is doomed. Once one meets the Lord, they remove themselves from that religion. They usually try to tell their family and friends who are in that religion that Jesus is knocking at their door, but they don’t subscribe to the religion anymore. Why? They have the creator now. No need for false religions anymore.
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