CRN.Info and Analysis

I wonder what specific marital issues Luther had to deal with that it took up so much of his time?

I recommend reading the whole page (shouldn’t take long).

Maybe if we were willing to talk, teach, and preach about these issues (i.e. sex) that so impact the people of God and our world both for married couples and individuals, we wouldn’t see so many people waiting until the pain and embarrassment of the problem is greater than the pain and embarrassment of seeking help.

*Update: I found this from “Pastor: the Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry” by William H. Willimon and thought it apt.

“Christianity tends to see most things that the world regards as private, as intensely public.  For us, sex is not a private matter.  Sex is a public responsibility, intertwined with politics, something to be engaged in for the common good, not merely for individual satisfaction.  We do not believe in sex apart from the public promises and social commitments that make sex inteeresting.  Let us not forget how curious it is for the church to take an act so carnal as coitus and insist that before a couple become ‘one flesh,’ they have a wedding in order to talk about it in front of God and the whole church.

For example, in the middle of advice concerning congregational squabbles in the first church of Corinth, Paul wades into the intimacies of marriage.  ‘For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does’ (1 Cor. 7:4) is just the sort of thing one would expect from a first-century male.  Then Paul adds, ‘likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does,’ something we would not expect to hear.  Then Paul gets quite specific about what husbands and wives ought to expect from one another for sex in marriage, no matter that this epistle will be read in front of the whole church.” (p. 107, emphasis mine.)

I was consuming a piece of media* over on YouTube today. And it seems that Morning Zoo Crew-wannabe Todd Friel perfectly defined himself in just a few seconds.

For any international readers, long-distance US phone numbers are 11 digits — a “1″ to indicate that one is dialing long distance, a 3-digit area code and a 7-digit main number. Toll free calls have 800, 866, and 877 as their area code. Often businesses will specifically purchase the rights to a phone number whose corresponding letters on the phone keypad spell out something memorable that they can then advertise/promote. WoTM Radio has done this. Their call-in number is:

1-877-LAW-GRACE

But being married to a math teacher, I can see that this is 12 characters, not 11. One other factor that I didn’t mention is that sometimes the purchaser of the number chooses something that doesn’t fit within the 7 characters. Any extra characters that are dialed simply get ignored by the telephone. So this means that WoTM Radio’s actual phone number is:

1-877-LAW-GRAC

I realize that this wasn’t intentional. But it is very representative. They managed to squeeze in all of the LAW, but GRACE got short shrift. Actually given how ungracious Friel is, I’m really surprised that the phone number is even that long.

* I can’t say that I was “watching a video”, since audio with a still image over it is not a video. By the way, if you choose to follow the link and consume the media yourself, be warned that Friel spends the first minute brilliantly proving my point — needless to say, it’s pretty nauseating.