For all his flaws and warts, the man had a merry heart!
Inevitably, he found biblical validation for the sporting that goes on between husband and wife. “We are permitted to laugh and have fun with and embrace our wives, whether they are naked or clothed,” just as Isaac fondled his wife in Genesis 26:8. (Later he would refer to sex between spouses as precious and beneficial.) And female companionship was an excellent antidote to a man’s melancholy. “When you are assailed by gloom, despair or a trouble conscience, you should eat, drink, and talk with others. If you can find help for yourself by thinking of a girl, do so.”
Compared to the ugly whiny sourness of Rick Santorum:
It’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also [inaudible], but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure.
Rich Santorum and "
how things are supposed to be"!
Gawd! The man doesn't know DICK SQUAT!
Historical considerations below:
King Henry VIII of England. The murderous, insane, adulterous founder of the Anglican Church:
The Vatican of Leo X and the Church of England under a youthful Henry VIII took violent exception to Luther’s view of marriage, dubbing it a sensualized code of ethics, little removed from paganism. That Henry VIII would take upon himself the role of defending the sanctity of marriage was rich in irony, of course, for it would not be many years hence before the king would seek out Luther’s support in his quest for annulment, divorce, and bigamy. Given what was to come later, one can only titter with delight in reading Henry’s self-righteousness: “Whom God has joined let no man put asunder. Who does not tremble when he considers how to deal with his wife?” The king quoted St. Augustine: “The sacrament of marriage is common to all nations. But the sanctity of it is only in the City of our God, and in his holy mountain (the Church).”
Author James Reston Jr.,
Luther’s Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation under Siege 2015, has taken it upon himself to restore Martin Luther to religious prominence, in his making an understanding of religion available to the common man:
He was determined, Reston says, to translate so that “the common man of the German street or the German mother in her house” could understand the Bible. Thus, for example, Luther did not write “Hail Mary, full of Grace,” as the Latin translated the angel’s greeting to Mary, but instead wrote the German for “God greet you, dear Mary.” Luther brought his enormous scholarly acumen to his translation. He brought also a pastor’s care for his flock’s minds and souls.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (1398-1464), nearly a century before Luther, were the giants of the media revolution of their time:
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ... was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Scientific revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.
With his invention of the printing press, Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period. His truly epochal invention was the combination of these elements into a practical system that allowed the mass production of printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike. Gutenberg's method for making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mould for casting type. The alloy was a mixture of lead, tin, and antimony that melted at a relatively low temperature for faster and more economical casting, cast well, and created a durable type.
In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information—including revolutionary ideas—transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its people led to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin's status as lingua franca. In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale, while Western-style printing was adopted all over the world, becoming practically the sole medium for modern bulk printing.
Martin Luther could not have happened without Gutenberg:
It was not until January 1518 that friends of Luther translated the 95 Theses from Latin into German and printed and widely copied them, making the controversy one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press. Within two weeks, copies of the theses had spread throughout Germany; within two months, they had spread throughout Europe.