will do. How about 10-20?

What about Calvinists? ;)

Haha, nice. I'm Lutheran, so put me on your list. However, I'm at the capacity of games at the moment.

That's a fine bet, Baumhaeuer.
Zaza - it's a slow game (2 days) so you should be able to fit it in. Join us. Please?

That's the reason. A two-day phase game will take more of my time when I get into the second league game and the Bulgarian Open, whenever that starts.

I'm in the Leagues and the Masters. It's a long time between phases. P-l-e-a-s-e?

inb4trollCatholic joins posing as Lutheran

i'm a councilor at a lutheran bible camp, does that count??

if people are still interested in this game i'd like to play. 2 day phases is good, low pot.

I think there is still interest. It's just finding the requisite seven (or alternatively 5 if we want to play on the Ancient Med map).

*trolls Lutheran thread*

Ahem...I'm Catholic...

@akilies:
But are you Lutheran yourself, in any possible way of looking at it?

Any more Lutherans? There was a German guy with a long, 3-part user name, I recall...

*bump*

I guess you could put me down as lutheran at the moment- I usually don't associate with one sect of christianity cause i find if i mesh a couple different ones then it is closer to what i believe. but i am teaching lutheran theology at camp and such. really it is up to you :)

Honestly, while there are some basic tenants (as opposed to David Tennants) to Lutheranism, I find it to be one of the more open denominations of Christianity with focus on service being its key component, and who is going to argue with showing our love for God and our neighbor (and *everyone* is our neighbor) by submitting ourselves in service to help our neighbor.

I wonder if European Lutherans are comparable to American Lutherans. I've been in Wittenberg, Germany (the place where Martin Luther lived and worked) and the 'Schlosskirche' (church of the keep) was almost Catholic in appearance.

My girlfriend is Lutheran and I promised her I would go to a service. Does that count? **totally not failing to mention his agnosticism or support of atheism**

"American" Lutherans come in many denominations, but the largets is the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Outwardly, some of the buildings may resemble a Catholic parish, sans the Crucifixes and statues of Mary and they are also the big difference inside as well. The ELCA has many objects used within worship that are very similar and left over from our Catholic origins (Luther was a Catholic to begin with, after all). Some of these are optional and not all churches use them (like the eternal light or sanctuary lamp) but other trappings are no more. We have pastors, not priests. You won't find a miter in any ELCA I've ever been in. And our croses are empty, signifying He has risen and we have been set free.

The services are similar yet different. The core elements of the lessons and gospel readings and a sermon are there in the traditional services, but we don't do any swinging incense (not being Catholic, I'm guessing it's some kind of sancitifying of the sanctuary and the congregation?) and we also welcome new style services (like Taize or contemporary music services).

Oh, and the Schlosskirche is (or was) a Catholic church. It is where Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door in 1517. While viewed today as some act of heresy or some extreme behavior (nailing something to a church door!) it was written in Latin and intended to start an academic debate, hardly in keeping with the heretical view that he was trying to cause an upheaval within the Catholic church at the time. And in reality, nailing thinsg to the church door was common practice, so even that wasn't an outrage.

@PE - no, it doesn't, especially as you can go play in the FSM game.

To be honest, I don't know much about the Lutheran Church in Europe. Here in the Netherlands this denomination is quite small next to the Calvinistic churches. Lutherans can mainly be found in northern Europe: northern Germany and Scandinavia.

That said, I think - when I read your post - that the Lutheran churches are quite similar. Indeed, Luther didn't as much change the interior of the churches but the way of thinking. Even in the church of Wittenberg there was a great emphasis on the word, the preaching of the gospel. I think that's the most notable change, from symbolism and statues to preaching - and reading the Bible in German (or your own language).

As for the hammering of the 95 theses, I was told that was a sort of myth - that the door which is seen as the door where Luther put up his theses never was the real door where academic treatises were put on. Nowadays anyway there's a great iron door with the 95 theses ingraved (I believe in Latin). You know, you should really go there sometime :) See the Lutherhaus and more. The dude really lived good there, wine cellar and everything...

Lastly, indeed, Luther's intent was never to break up the Church or something like it. Ultimately he was forced to leave the Church and due to the political situation of the time things escalated beyond control. Nowadays I believe there's been a bit of rapprochement between the Lutheran denominations and the Catholic Church. But obviously, you know more of this than me.

There is even doubt as to whether Luther actually posted the 95 theses. He never said he did and we only have a friends word written after Luthers death. But the care Luther put into things indicates he probably *didn't* post them any where. He indicates in his own writings that he sent a copy to BRandenburg and to other coworkers on the day in Question. When you consider the time it would take for his parcel to arrive in Brandenburg to his superior, the rumour mill would have already gotten to him first, so Luther would have been foolish to post them on the same day he sent them to his Brandenburg. No, he most likely never actually posted them and one of his coworkers let them slip outside the church for whatever reason.

@Draugnar: FSM?

Flying Spagehtti Monster. Look for the FSM game thread. FSM is the "poke fun at religious people and their delusions" poster child, but some of us Christians, Jews, and others have adopted the fun factor of his Noodliness.

RAmen

Oh, I know the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I just hadn't ever seen it abbreviated before. (Nor did I know there was a game thread.) Heheh.

You need to get out to some SoCal race tracks and see some of the cars with FSM logos surrounded by Noodly appendages.

Here is the FSM game thread: threadID=601441

OK, back to Martin Luther and an all Lutheran game...

Am I the only one troubled by sectarian games?

@Draugnar: I have always seen the FSM as a direct poke at anti-Darwinists rather than religious belief in general although now you mention it I see how it might be.

It is brought up in many a discussion as "if you can believe in some magical guy in the sky who looks down on us, I can believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster".

And why would a private game between like minded people bother you, diplomat? Or do private games in general bother you? Are you one of those who view private games as elitist?

No prob with private games at all. Just hyper sensitive to people being grouped by religion. Was a big issue when I was growing up in the UK.

Forcibly grouped is one thing. People voluntarily joining a game so they can discuss topics of interest between them is something entirely different.

Luther was out to refrom the Catholic Church, which is why modern Lutheran churches often are similar to Catholic churches in appearance, because the appearance wasn't the issue.
The incense serves as a symbol of prayers rising to God and is done for that reason (to create a reverant mood) and because of tradition. It's still done in some high-church Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregations.
So now I've got akilies. I should have named this "Lutherans look here," that would attract more attention. I think I will make a thread with that name.

Hey I'm a Lutheran. I'll join in the Lutheran game

4! woohoo!

The reason Lutheran churches look "Catholic" is simple: when Luther said, "the Bible is the only authority," he meant that you shouldn't do things prohibited by a Biblical text. When Zwingli (the guy who kicked off the other branch of the Reformation) said "the Bible is the only authority," he meant that you should only do things that were explicitly commanded in a Biblical text. So Luther had no problem with stained glass, feast days, pipe organs, and so on, while the other churches (which became known, mostly, as "Calvinist,") got rid of all that. American churches mostly come from that branch, so Americans have an image of Protestant worship and art as being pretty austere.

I'll take on some fellow Lutherans

Pastoralan - you should go to some of the older Lutheran churces then. Stained glass and pipe organs abound. In fact, -kve never regularly attended a Lutheran church that didn't have an organ of some type. Some were electronic but most were pipe organs.

bump

Anglicans and Lutherans are pretty similar. If you run short can I join? :-)

Martin Luther and Thomas More (for Henry the VIII) had quite an antagonistic relationship, but that was pre-Anglican. England was still Catholic at that time.

i bet you couldn't find one other person from my denomination on this site. Any Free Methodists? We came from the methodists that came from the anglican that came from catholics

More was also Catholic, so...

I'll wait another day to see what I get.

*bump*

*stieß*