The best Christian Church Administration books: Reddit reviews

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The first thought that comes to mind here is that given your new background as a Christian, I would deeply push in to knowing who you are in Christ. I would accept the truth that you are washed clean and made new. I would accept the truth that Christ has cleansed you from your past sexual relations and that Christ can and does make all things new. I would really push in hard into these truths until they become a part of you - more than head knowledge, fight for heart-level realization here.

From this place of realizing that there is no condemnation and that Christ makes all things new I would simply ask Christ to cleanse you and give you a new mind and a new heart for sexuality. Ask Christ to cleanse away anything that is not of him and seal what is of him for your marriage bed. I would commit to praying this whenever sexual thoughts or memories come up and always keep your eyes on who Christ has made you and his power of redemption.

All this said - ultimately, you and your wife may enjoy and celebrate aspects of this sexuality. But rather than taking these past experiences and using them as fuel, what I'm encouraging here is renew your mind so as to present a mind clear and free to your wife. Allow your sexuality to be molded and shaped by your wife rather than memories of someone else.

I would encourage you to read this book if this is an avenue you're wanting to explore - it's all about your identity as a saint and a child of God:

https://www.amazon.com/Victory-Over-Darkness-Realizing-Identity/dp/0830725644

(And this isn't hypothetical stuff to me here - my background is different, but I have experienced sexual healing. I spent 10 years in a battle with porn and masturbation and got free about two years before marriage. God cleansed me so thoroughly that my mind was basically a blank slate to be filled with images and experiences with my wife. Christ makes all things new.)

Vatikaani ja koko katolinen kirkko on ollut noin olemassaolonsa ajan piilopaikka miehille, joiden seksuaaliset tarpeet ovat olleet yhteiskuntakelvottomia. Heterokardinaalit ovat aina olleet vähemmistö, jne. Tästä tarve häivyttää epäilystä osoittelemalla sormella muita.

TJEU: In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy

Those are all legitimate points. It was much better when Frederic Martel (In the Closet of the Vatican) hung out with the Vatican cardinals and the Roman sex workers. He was very compassionate to all of the people involved (and their closets). And since he was a gay atheist he could see many of the subtleties that a straight True Believer would miss (such as a particularly loving long-term relationship between two Curia cardinals, the existence of which was common knowledge to everyone in the Vatican).

But yeah, to the Pillar folks we're all deviants who need to be kept away from children.

My church is small, so currently it only has one deacon (though the hope is for more). Generally, it uses Strauch's New Testament Deacon as a guideline for the deaconate.

Their concern is for the care of the church, with an emphasis on the physical needs of the members and the church. Some things they are charged with are: delegating the physical upkeep of the building, handling our benevolence funds, and reaching out to members in need to figure out what is needed and how the church can help.

In our church, they go through training with the pastor (working through Straub) and then spend some time doing some of the deacon functions as a time of testing. After a while, they are brought before the congregation for a vote to determine if they are going to be a deacon of our church. They do not have term lengths.

Deacons are under the authority of the elders.

There are a few things I disagree with in regards to my church's stance on deacons, but by and large I like what they do.

My congratulations/condolences.

To echo another post, lots of love and patience, along with leadership skills.

You might try this:

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https://www.amazon.com/Vestry-Handbook-Third-Revised/dp/0819224391

Frédéric Martel did years of research on the vatican, and concluded that almost everyone there actually is gay. It is not the problem you are gay as well, the problem is demanding reform instead of joining your fellows having gay pleasures in silence.

https://www.amazon.com/Closet-Vatican-Power-Homosexuality-Hypocrisy/dp/1472966147

Robert Hopcke provides the most thorough review of all materials Jung and his immediate colleagues wrote on the subject in his book <em>Jung, Jungians, and Homosexuality</em>. I could possibly capture it all in a single comment, so I highly recommend this book if you’re really interested.

https://www.amazon.com/Jung-Jungians-Homosexuality-Robert-Hopcke/dp/1579108636

This is an excellent book on the topic. There’s also a long paper by the same author. I don’t think they book is online, but the paper can be gotten through scihub. PM me if you can’t find it

Read Pope Fiction. Answers to 30 Myths and Misconceptions About the Papa... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0964261006/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_cL-bzbVZ7F5YH Haven't read , but heard good things about this book and it has good reviews!

<em>The Pursuit of Happiness - God's Way: Living the Beatitudes</em> by Servais Pinckaers, O.P. I cannot recommend this book enough. It's solidly rooted in Scripture and St Thomas but at the same time very accessible and quite short.

This seems rather similar to the book I'm currently reading Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ by Neil T. Anderson

I'd say I'm going through the second temptation right now. I'm wrestling with what exactly God has promised to me in Christ. My struggle isn't pertaining to the big things but the little things.

Well yeah. So we look at the name, see where it is used in the Bible - it always describes a servant of one kind or another whether it's used as the office or not.

A lot of my thinking comes from Alexander Strauch in The New Testament Deacon. He takes a pretty hard line on what a deacon is and what he is not. I don't quite take that hard of a line, but I like a lot of what he says.

Namely: deacons should serve people, not things. (That's a crass summary, not a quote)

I think it really depends on the missionary. You, or anyone else interested in culturally respectful missionary work, should go read Bruchko it is about a man who goes to a tribe in Central America, converts the tribe to Christianity, helps them train their members in medical and engineering skills, and helped them fight off the white settlers trying to take their land, all while preserving their culture

If you are REALLY trying to understand what awesome work Pope Benedict has done and continues to do in reforming the Vatican's rules about sex abuse by clerics, here is a book you can read: http://www.amazon.com/Pope-Benedict-Sexual-Abuse-Crisis/dp/1592768067

The letter which you link to has two problems:

1. It is out of date. The "statute of limitations" for canonical ruling was recently extended to 20 years after the victim's 18th birthday, which is more rigorous than civil law requires.

2. It does not prove what you think it does. It removes the Bishop's authority to rule on local abuse cases, so that Bishops can't shuffle priests around and hide what's going on. The CDF is much more rigorous and visible than Joe Schmoe Bishop out in the sticks somewhere.

Please stop trying to see bogeymen where there aren't any, and don't believe all the headlines (they aren't trying to inform you, they are trying to sell ad space).

If you are REALLY trying to understand what awesome work Pope Benedict has done and continues to do in reforming the Vatican's rules about sex abuse by clerics, here is a book you can read: http://www.amazon.com/Pope-Benedict-Sexual-Abuse-Crisis/dp/1592768067

edit: spelling