Post Submission Concerns

A few recent posts in the Lutheran blogosphere have raised concerns about the current submission guidelines, specifically the requirement that each author must submit his own post. We discussed this for awhile and it became apparent that there wasn't really a way around this requirement, though if you have an idea, we are more than willing to hear it and not afraid of change. ;)

It may help to explain the reasons we chose to require an author submit his own post:

1. Requiring the author to submit his own post confirms what only the author can himself confirm - his confessional Lutheran status. By submitting a post, a blogger is, in essence, making a confession and no one can do that for anyone else.

2. Requiring the author to submit his own post confirms his desire to be a part of the Lutheran Carnival.

3. Requiring the author to submit his own post avoids wasting the host's time with duplicate entries.

The Lutheran Carnival isn't a popularity contest or a "best of..." summary for the week. It's an equal opportunity for confessional Lutheran bloggers to get read. There is no special honor in being included except that it means a blogger's confession isn't obviously contradicted by his posts.

On the ego: If entering one's own material becomes a stumbling block because of the ego, having someone else gratify and inflate the ego by submitting a link won't help avoid the fall. I like what Pr. Peperkorn said in Pr. Borghardt's comments, "All of our righteousness is as filthy rages. If you do it, you're an egotistical sonofamethodist. If you don't do it, you are a Pharisaical sonofananglican. Confess the faith. God will deal with your stinky motivations."

If you hesitate to promote your own work yet would like to be involed in promoting others', perhaps you would be willing to take on the duty of hosting the carnival for a week. Since we would like to include as many confessional Lutheran bloggers as possible, we hope that when you see a good post out there, you will encourage the author to enter it into the carnival so others may be made aware of it.