#theology #Lutheran

It’s not a servant to our feuds or grudges. Through confession, and Christ, it makes friends out of strangers.

God knows, as does anyone who’s read him, Tillich has faults - theological, professional, and personal. AND stories like this always remind me there’s a reason to still read his work.

5/5

Tillich snatched the Bible out of the man’s hands, and retorted: "NO! Never like this!" he said waving the Bible back at him in imitation.

"Only like this!” and he opened the Bible.

The Bible is the start of our conversations about God, and our recognition of God in our world. Not a weapon.

4/5

... angrily waving his Bible in Tillich's face as though Tillich had never read it.

Tillich - the refugee who escaped the Third Reich, and the image of a late 19th-mid 20th century, straight-laced German academic, who did NOT do public displays of emotion, actually lost a bit of his cool.

3/5

One guy who showed up was a Lutheran pastor who had been warped by biblicism and fundamentalism. After the lecture, he made a big show of himself and took his Bible, came up to Tillich and started shouting at him about how nothing Tillich said was "in here,” ...
2/5

A story about Paul Tillich I'm mentioned in my sermon on the Road to Emmaus this morning:

One time, Tillich went to the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg to give a lecture. Back in the 60s, believe it or not, people actually cared about things like that.

1/5

It’s inaccurate to say Mario is brave and Luigi is cowardly

Luigi is afraid of death, so he runs away from danger. Mario is afraid of living, so he runs towards death. Both brothers are cowards in their own way

"Never again war! Never again hatred and intolerance! War is a defeat for humanity." - Pope John Paul II "Never again war! With war everything is lost. War is always a defeat" - Pope Francis "War is a useless slaughter and a failure of humanity" - Pope Benedict XVI "Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life" - Pope Leo X/V

Not ONE Pope has stayed silent over the subject war……

when John Paul II was standing against communism and Soviet rule over eastern europe i don't recall a lot of conservatives being upset that he talked "politics"

All of these are entirely normal positions of the Church which were also stated repeatedly by Francis and Benedict and John Paul II through various media

"No to war! War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity.” - Pope John Paul II at the start of the Iraq War.

IIRC - even conservative Protestants tended to respect Pope John Paul II in a way they don’t give Leo XIV - even though their teachings on war aren’t too far removed.

The white flag, aka the official flag of the Confederacy

Wishing you and yours a very merry Confederate Surrender Day.

The willingness of war hawks & authoritarians to inflict physical injury on the Other, and moral injury on the rest of us, is something most of us neither question nor oppose strongly enough. That has to change. If there is any good to come of our current state, it must start with this recognition.

The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.

…..WHAT?!??????

www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/the-pentag...

Ironically it was reported that the dead guy didn't want him. The attack almost certainly led to deeper extremism as opposed to less.

It’s a good book!

Bible: In the end times there are gonna be charlatans who use my name to trick you into supporting evil and it will be incredibly obvious to everyone except you.

Evangelicals: This section of the Bible has always been mysteriously vague.

How many times did the church make the hearing impossible for her adversaries and lose herself the ability to hear the crucified, when she offered this type of resistance, sometimes with very obvious and stringent reasons!”

Johannes Hamel, “How to Serve God in a Marxist Land"

2/2

"How could the church make people believe
in the good news of the justification of the godless
while she fights them with arms? When Peter did it
in Gethsemane in an exemplary fashion, he merely
succeeded in cutting off Malchus' ear, which should
have heard the message of the crucified.

1/2

Response I just sent Kalshi for transparency. One more slide screenshot below

A two panel meme, The first panel is showing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saying "Hey, it's Mr. T. Who's the chick next to him" The second one is showing Mr. T next to April O'Neil saying "It's April, fools"

Got a 96 year old parishioner to start reading Brandon Sanderson. Any negative consequences I blame on @optimismprime01.bsky.social .

wouldn't it be funny if EVERYONE blocked this Attie AI account @ bsky.app/profile/atti... before they could do anything with it

Hansa Buy & sell colorful goods in Hanseatic cities. Ship location is key, so move wisely!

boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/89...

If we avoided much of the institutional infighting that took away sorely needed time, money, and energy throughout the 90s and 00s - and used those very same resources for youth and young adult ministry, theological work, and media development?

Take I saw on reddit that makes me curious.

ELCA people - do you think today would be meaningfully different church-wise if instead of doing a merger in 88, the LCA and the ALC had a full communion agreement?

The horrific, telling thing a prayer for violence “against those who deserve no mercy” is that the one who prays believes they deserve mercy.

God’s mercy, when it is truly mercy, is never “deserved.” It categorically cannot be. Mercy comes by grace alone, and it is received by faith alone.

ELCA. Pretty bad! But we can’t just blame the Evangelicals.

Our institution failed in the 90s/00s. We funded the wrong things. We abandoned our educational institutions. We failed to build community, share theology through media, and demonstrate cruciform discipleship and public witness.