Nostr notes by SuperLutheran

The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop ...

2026-10-28T22:57:13Z

The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop roleplaying games online makes me feel nauseous, but seeing these videos recommended on my youtube feed is instructive about human nature.

Back in the day, you played stuff like D&D because you couldn't go on big adventures in real life with your friends. When I was in my teenage years, that was the main reason we played it. Can't go do cool stuff while on summer vacation? Well here's an alternative for you and your buddies. Even as we grew up and went to college or got jobs and had kids, we still made time for it because it was an easy and free way to have fun. A couple hours of imagining monsters and rolling dice is much easier than making a camping trip happen after all. But I noticed that there were people in our friend group who didn't want to do any IRL fun stuff, they just wanted the tabletop games. No hikes, no sports, no outdoorsy stuff or sparring, just playing the game. Water goes to the level and they took the path of least resistance.

When COVID happened, these same friends ended up playing tabletop games online. They'd go on zoom or skype meetings with friends and play the game for a bit. When the lockdowns were done I'd invite some of them to play, but they ended up preferring the online version. The water went to the new, lower level and the path of least resistance got greased some more.

A couple years later they had stopped playing altogether, and exclusively watched things like critical role on youtube. They haven't played the game in years, because it is easier to watch people play a game than it is to play the game online, which is easier than playing it in real life, which is easier than going out and having real adventures. At this rate, with the slide of effort going down even further I imagine they'll watch compilation clips online instead of tuning in to the livestream. But on the other hand they all complain about feeling unfulfilled.

People are like that in all sorts of ways aren't they? Us sinners can be insanely slothful, but then we all turn around and look back and complain about our quality of life. Joy belongs to the one who does stuff, it seems. God designed us for active lives, while the devil wants us melting into the floor.

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP! For this week's homily, it's ...

2026-10-23T16:45:18Z

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP!

For this week's homily, it's time to talk about Sola Fide and the basic reason the Reformation happened.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/salvation-and-reformation
Video: https://youtu.be/pnhydC_yuKQ

And for the LEVITICUS BIBLE STUDY, let's talk property rights, slavery and more on the Jubilee.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/leviticus-pt-31-the-right-of
Video: https://youtu.be/X9T7Pd5t7rs

PDF manuscripts can be found here:
https://verylutheran.biz/resources

Support the VLP! If you can't, please let someone know about us, it helps to spread the word!
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God bless your weekend everyone!

He 13 O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening ...

2026-10-23T13:04:01Z

*He*
13 O you who dwell in the gardens,
with companions listening for your voice;
let me hear it.

*She*
14 Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.
-Song of Solomon 8:13-14

These final two verses of the Song refer back to the second chapter. He sees her as the same lily of the valleys with whom he first fell in love, and she still sees him as the mighty stag that made her swoon. Their love for one another has kept them young. Since the Song takes place over a number of years, we can imagine this coda being sung by the couple long after they were first wed. It is a sign that they are going strong over the decades, still just as in love as their early years. "And so they lived happily ever after."

Many a marriage falls apart as people drift away from one another, and this mostly happens when the relationship doesn't have a firm foundation. Had the heroes of the Song started out with cynical lust and fornication, then their marriage would have been predicated on *using* one another instead of loving each other. But if romance and passion been the foundation, they would have been sidelined by the fickle nature of emotions - as the bride comments, love is strong but it is like fire, unpredictable and consuming. Nor would their marriage be verdant if it were based on money, family ties, or convenience; these types of "paper marriage" lead to husbands and wives being little more than strangers with rings on. All of these, if they don't end in divorce, lead to wives who feel like caged birds and husbands who feel like slaves.

So what is the secret to this couple's enduring love? As always, this joyous enduring marriage is predicated on their devotion to God. They started out doing things right, kept doing things right, and rejoice in their sunset years that it has turned out exactly as it should have. God has shown them the way, they have followed it, and so they are blessed. Solomon ends the Song with these verses to show that his wisdom works, exhorting single people to follow this example. For those married, the invitation is present to rework the foundations of their relationship, and practice the same devotion the heroes do. God grant that we see more of that in this world!

Here is the latest in the Basic Theology reuploads: ...

2026-10-22T20:41:10Z

Here is the latest in the Basic Theology reuploads:
https://youtu.be/FOULjJsPpmI

Reminder, these come out early over on NCTV!
https://nicecrew.tv/w/hkmLHtRXXxMB5nRxMiKRoE

The latest in the Church Fathers series is now up! Let's ...

2026-10-22T16:18:53Z

The latest in the Church Fathers series is now up!
Let's finish up the fourth book in Against Heresies and look more into Irenaeus' doctrine of human will. Believe it or not, it's not that far off from Luther's.

https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/reading-the-church-212933287

Others 8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What ...

2026-10-22T12:42:43Z

*Others*
8 We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

*She*
10 I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds peace.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he let out the vineyard to keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
-Song of Solomon 8:8-12

The chorus of community sees that the husband and wife are righteous, wise, joyous and very much in love. Enough time has passed such that these two have become role models for every young person around them. So they ask about their sister - who is really a symbol for all children. What does one do knowing that a child will one day grow up to be assailed by the passions and yearnings of love? Even more importantly, what about when she *falls* in love and is spoken for?

Before the bride can answer, they offer an "if/then" set of solutions. If the sister is a virgin and attached to her virtue (being a "wall") they propose guarding her chastity with all their strength. Even if she is betrothed, then the fiance must not be permitted to ruin things. But if she is passionate and curious herself, open to passions or love (being a "door"), they recommend putting her in seclusion until the time is right.

The bride's answer comes from her own experience. She was a "wall," being a shy virgin who properly avoided fornication. We saw this with her proper behavior in the second chapter and all the references to living with her mother instead of wandering about. She dressed modestly, with her figure being guarded as towers were. So for the bride's advice, step one is to encourage that inner desire for modesty and chastity in the sister. Drastic control-freak measures are unnecessary. She cannot just be shut up in a room forever, and no one wants her rebelling out of resentment.

The second and more important piece of advice is in finding the right man. He has to be a man of peace - and by that of course she means *Shalom.* Not just comfort or an absence of conflict, but wholeness and everything going as it should. The bride says that the right man for any woman will be like her husband, someone who follows God's ways instead of letting his passions rule over him. The good man would seek the right things and sees the right things in the sister. Observing her modesty and righteousness, being brought up in the Lord, he would seek to marry her properly at the right time.

Then there is a point of contrast. The bride points to Solomon's marriages - with his thousand women and two hundred harem attendants - and says "no thank you." Her own marriage, described as a single little vineyard, is enough. Sure, Solomon has wealth and more pleasure than any man could ask for. But does he have the intimacy of single marriage, the joy of truly knowing and truly being known? It is as if she says "look upon Solomon my friends. Lucky stiff right? Well let Solomon have his life, but you don't need it nor want it, especially not for your little sister. Get her a godly man who wants her to be his one and only."

This is a bold thing for Solomon to write. In deep humility he expresses regret for his past actions. As an old man he has a pile of women and nothing to show for it but money and strife. He has "vineyards" (political marriages) yielding insane profits for Israel and strengthening his rule through them. He lived in obscene wealth during this time. But what is that compared to a single good marriage? Through the Shulammite's voice, he says to us that it does not compare. Given the chance to start over, he would give up all that he has to possess one godly marriage to one godly woman.

The Other 5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning ...

2026-10-21T12:41:23Z

*The Other*
5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
-Song of Solomon 8:5-7

This is the most mysterious passage in the Song, because we do not know who is speaking. It cannot be the bride, because she is observed leaning on her husband, which tells us that the husband cannot be the speaker either. Since they were there when the groom was born, that further excludes the bride as speaker. The verbs referring to the speaker ("I awakened you" and "set me") are not grammatically gendered but they are directed at a male.

One option is that this is the Lord speaking to the couple, as well as to us. He speaks as being present when the groom was born, and He is the active agent in "awakening" the soul. If this is the case, then the speaker telling us to put Him as a seal upon our hearts and arms is a reference to the Greatest Commandment. From Deuteronomy 6:

*4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your *heart.* 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your *hand,* and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.*

This then would be the Song telling us in no uncertain terms that fealty to God must be our first priority. It simply must be, or else we will be burnt up by our own desires and end our days poor and despised. The bride has been exhorting her contemporaries to wait in awakening love until the time is right. How shall one do this? By pious fealty and obedience to God.

Someone might claim that the speaker is the groom's father and this is Solomon telling the reader to listen to his wisdom. Others may think it is a yearning motion of desire for permanency on the part of the bride. But these are less likely than God being the speaker. A father's guidance is not always strong enough to deal with the flames of love that arise in a young man's heart; a bride's yearning does not place her at the time her groom was born. Besides, only God can temper, tame, and bind the strength of our inner desires and passions. Let us then heed this exhortation, and place faith and obedience as our highest priorities - lest our passions break out and destroy us.

He 1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! ...

2026-10-19T13:14:01Z

*He*
1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and your flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.

6 How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your mouth like the best wine.

*She*
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.
10 I am my beloved's,
and his desire is for me.

11 Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
-Song of Solomon 7:1-13

It would not be difficult to explain the poetic praise the husband heaps on his bride. Some of it is plain, with animals and fruit describing her large bosom, or comparing the splendor of her hair to expensive purple dye. Other parts require a bit of imagination: her thighs are the work of a "master hand" because they get plenty of exercise. When the husband gazes upon her nude form he is ecstatic, elated, full of joy at the sight of her.

The text invites us men to sympathize with him. When a boy becomes a man, he becomes interested in and attracted to women. But over the course of rejections, watching others get married, and seeing the landscape covered in broken hearts, he quickly learns that almost all women are off limits. The married ones are a no-go; most of the single ones will say no to any invitation to courtship; even if one does say yes, her family might say no or cause problems; she might say yes but not be loyal. This explosion of rejoicing on the husband's part is one part admiration for her figure and the other part exclaiming "Finally!"

Finally someone is his. Finally he can explore the contours of a woman's body and enjoy the rapture of sex. After years of seeing men with their wives being either happy or sad, at last he has his own for sharing the ups and downs of life. Since they waited for marriage, their lovemaking has no hint of guilt, sin, remorse, or fleshly addiction: it is pure joy. Illicit sex robs people of their innocence: Godly sex in marriage matures innocence and makes it stronger.

She of course accepts him entirely and gives herself to him. They waited for this after all, so she puts him at ease with a gentle invitation. They aren't just going to "do it" once and then ditch each other. Instead, she brings the good news that they'll be sharing intimacy in the private fields, the hotels, at home, everywhere. Her soft and reassuring words have the meaning that she will always be available for him to express this love with her. That she "laid up" this life for him tells us that she has been wanting it just as much, preparing for nuptial happiness for decades to come.

Reposting to show y'all it won't work on me. Now back to ...

2026-10-07T22:02:49Z

Reposting to show y'all it won't work on me.
Now back to my regularly scheduled Red Hot Chili Peppers jam sesh and margarita

RT: https://nicecrew.digital/objects/6acf10f6-7e3d-483e-bc08-c41c91903145

Oh hey my wife is pregnant by the way. Number four is on their ...

2026-10-03T03:07:00Z

Oh hey my wife is pregnant by the way. Number four is on their way.

9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and ...

2026-09-29T12:42:45Z

9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
-Titus 3:9-11

I love this passage, which is sadly ignored by moderns. The fact is, so much of what St. Paul is speaking about here applies to the "Christian scene" today, just with different actors.
In St. Paul's day, this passage refers chiefly to those judaizers who were trying to sucker the people of Crete into getting circumcised and following the Mosaic code. They argued by bringing up past scandals, boasted of their heritage, claimed special knowledge of the Torah, and worst of all they stirred up drama in congregations to try to peel followers away.

Today however, we see the same behaviors from a whole spectrum of people. Some modern examples:
-Foolish controversies: the stupid Church drama you see on social media and the people trying to make money off of it. Most "discernment ministries."
-Genealogies: Khazar theorists, anyone who thinks jews are actually Edomites, dispensationalists who faint from joy when the DNA test shows .2% ashkenazi
-Quarrels about the Law: Sabbatarians, High church vs Contemporary Worship arguments, anything to do with politics, most racial debates.

It's chaos out there with plenty of these types of people, because the world has been remade in the image of Crete by way of the internet. Self condemned heretics who ought to be shunned by the Body of Christ are now the rule, not the exception. They are not expelled because of their large numbers. When they do get expelled, no one shuns them because talking about them is good for the algorithm, one's ministry getting more attention, etc. We have reached a critical mass of nonsense Cretans splitting up the Church over the chief influencers - whom St. Paul would handily condemn.

But we ought not go too far with our prognosis. St. Paul is not demanding that we all go along to get along. There is a very large difference between these malicious actors and those who engaged in "divisive, schismatic behavior" on behalf of the truth. Our Lord Jesus addressed the controversies of His day, debated genealogies and the Law, and pulled people away from Pharisaic authority. He would fit the bill of what St. Paul is describing here - except that our Savior is RIGHT in what He says, and vindicated in all of His impeccable acts.

Later on, we will see this same dynamic for men whom the Lord tasked with reforming the Church: Athanasius, Jovinian, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, Walter Martin, and more. These men were all called divisive, schismatic, heretics and quibblers - but they were right in their contentions. God smiles on those men. Schism on behalf of the truth and on behalf of righteousness is not counted as the sins which St. Paul discusses here. "Go along to get along" dies at the feet of those who must contend for good.

Therein lies the rub though. Who's to say what's right amidst all these debates, church splits and internicene squabbles? Who today plays the role of Athanasius, and who plays the role of the Cretan schismatic? My recommendation is to embrace the chaos, fight it out, and trust in the Lord to fix this mess upon His return.

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, ...

2026-09-28T12:10:39Z

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
-Titus 3:3-8

How does one become a good person? For most people such a question is irrelevant. They assume that they are good already and do as they please... that is, until they inevitably sin and their conscience assails them. Then they harden their hearts, drug themselves, or find empty ways to reassert their claim to "good person" status. When you look at the state of the world today, consider that much of the nonsense we see is based on a stubborn refusal to repent.

Eventually drugs, drinking and pleasure do not do enough to quiet the voice of the Law within our hearts. Eventually man feels the urge to do something, so the world is replete with sources of fake righteousness for people to draw from and thus assuage their guilt. It is fake precisely because none of it fulfills the Biblical conception of moral uprightness.
-Activism tells people that if they fight "climate change" or "institutional racism" then they are Good People. The logic is simple: destroy the world and countless lives over things that do not affect you, and you will be a Good Person.
-Slacktivism, the sort of pseudo-activity that made Joseph Kony infamous, tells the lazy that they are Good People if they forward something on social media. After all, a man might not have the time to go to a protest, so his token gestures are a sort of indulgence payment for the activists above him.
-Asceticism tells the guilty that if they are hungry and in pain, then they are Good People because they "discipline" themselves. You know, because nothing says Good quite like hating the material world - including your own flesh.

These methods of accruing fake righteousness operate on a distortion in our understanding. The world teaches men that in order to be good they must do good. To be a Good Person must be *earned* in the world's eyes, you see. Thus every nonbeliever goes out of his way to feel as though he did enough things to feel like he can claim this status, or at least assume it while going about doing his own thing.
But this is entirely backwards my friends. St. Paul teaches us that a man does good works because he is made good in the first place.

One must be born righteous to be righteous and do righteous things. It must be inherent to our nature before we can claim the label for ourselves. It cannot be earned, for all have sinned and all fall short (Romans 3:23). Therefore to become good, one must be *made* good by the transforming work of our Lord. The Holy Spirit renews our nature, we are born again in Baptism, and we are forgiven of our trespasses by the shed blood of Christ. THEN, when made anew, we can say that we are good people - not because we have earned it, but because God has made us so. From the point of conversion onward, our lives must be lived with good works so as to reflect that new nature - and *true* works from the Commandments of God, not fake-righteous deeds from the world. It is not about earning the label my friends, but rather receiving Word and Sacrament to be transformed into the sort of man God wants us to be.

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be ...

2026-09-26T11:15:06Z

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
-Titus 3:1-2

The Christian is to be well behaved, orderly, helpful, magnanimous, peaceful, reasonable, and respectful. In a word, the Christian must be *nice.*

It's a shame that believers have been taught to hate these ideals, but it was inevitable. Our virtues were weaponized against us by subversives who demanded that "loving Christians" show their love by surrendering on everything. "Christians are supposed to be nice, not fight back against abortion." Wicked men and women everywhere decided that the virtues presented here are weaknesses to exploit rather than the personal strengths they truly are.

Making matters worse, heretics and cultists are typically the best at these. Everyone knows about mormon niceness. Mormons are also damnable hellbound evil people, but they are good at embodying the nice-guy qualities St. Paul exhorts us to have. And why is that? Because mormons know that they are strengths. They know that being nice doesn't prevent a people from constantly pushing to get their way and influence the world.

Our virtues are weaponized against us by manipulative subversives, while these very same virtues are *employed* by many of the wicked to get their way. This tells you that they are not weaknesses, but the false versions of them are. For instance, the courteous and respectful man will not have a hard time keeping a job when he gets one, because his good attitude will make him a delight to his employer. But courteous and respectful as being a doormat, a mewling yes man or brown noser? Forget it, such a man will lose constantly by irritating his superiors.

The answer is of course to foster the true virtues here without listening to the distortions the world impresses on us. We must seek to be nice in a powerful way. At the same time, we ought not try to redefine these words to the point of deception - "avoiding quarreling means looking for fights bro trust me." While we do not submit to the subversives in *their* misuse of the terms, we must still avoid the flesh's desire to misuse and redefine them on our own end. Yes, sometimes being the nice guy is hard and counterintuitive. Sometimes it means finishing last, but that is OK because nice guys win in the end.

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP! For this week's homily, let's ...

2026-09-25T16:26:59Z

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP!

For this week's homily, let's talk politics, namely the rebellion of kings against God.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/fear-joy-and-tremb...
Video: https://youtu.be/K2mT-kqaxSU

And for the LEVITICUS BIBLE STUDY, let's chat about Leviticus as the starting point for the Church calendar.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/leviticus-pt-27-or...
Video: https://youtu.be/xVHeFtOqNZ0

PDF manuscripts can be found here:
https://verylutheran.biz/resources

Support the VLP! We have BIG THINGS coming soon, and we need all the help we can get!
https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/
https://verylutheran.biz/contact

God bless your weekend everyone!

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all ...

2026-09-25T12:26:49Z

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
-Titus 2:11-15

What does salvation do? This is to say, what happens to someone when God's Grace arrives and delivers him from the sentence of damnation? Well salvation *trains* you. St. Paul says here that if you are saved, then salvation leads you to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, treating our Lord with reverence and forsaking immoral behavior. Then he says it trains you to replace that old lawlessness with self control, moral uprightness, and piety.

We do not earn our salvation by doing good works. Good works are something that comes from *being* saved, as a means of making them better members of the Kingdom. The same way an employer doesn't give on-the-job training to someone who hasn't been hired, the training of salvation doesn't apply to those who aren't saved. What good would that do them? Improving a pagan's character without saving him just makes him a nicer resident of hell in the end. What a waste!

My friends, you must do good things and become better people. This is the reason our Lord saved us, so that not only would we belong to Him but also that we would be made *better.* He wants no thieves, whores, murderers or liars in His Kingdom; knowing just how many of us were engaged in these behaviors, He chooses correction over punishment for the saints. Heaven will be filled with *former* thieves, former whores, former murderers and former liars! People whose lives are guided away from such sins see themselves turned into powerhouses for charity, truth, fellowship, prayer, teaching, and compassion - not to bring them to salvation, but because salvation was brought to them first.

A man who knows that he is bound for heaven ought to be zealous for good works. But how shall he know that he is saved? It is as simple as following what Jesus says in Mark 16:16, "Whoever believes and is Baptized will be saved." Show me a group of Baptized men who trust in Christ for their salvation, men who KNOW they are saved, and I will show you a group who is growing in their zeal for doing good. God grant that this become even more apparent in our societies.

The latest in the Church Father series is now up! Irenaeus ...

2026-09-24T16:54:14Z

The latest in the Church Father series is now up!
Irenaeus returns to the topic of exegesis, hermeneutics, and prophecy - his strong points. Let's take a listen.

https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/reading-the-church...

6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show ...

2026-09-24T12:35:15Z

6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
-Titus 2:6-10

St. Paul exhorts pastor Titus to be the model of good works. If he is to teach the older crowd to be righteous in their daily lives, he must live that out himself, especially since the youth and the slaves are watching him. It is true that the Apostles' instructions to the older members of the congregation are good for the sake of the young, but *everyone* will be looking at Titus. Being a minister can sometimes feel like living in a glass house, but this is by design. Everyone judges the minister, and rightly so.

This does not mean there is a double standard. It is not as though pastors are justified by their works before God while everyone else enjoys Sola Fide. We are all justified by faith alone my friends, and clergy are to be as easily forgiven as laity are. But the minister must be vigilant to practice what he preaches, lest the enemies of God dissuade others from converting on account of his bad behavior. The damage caused by the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandals, the Pentecostal prosperity hucksters, the Lutheran slide into worldly liberalism, etc., is incalculable.

On the positive side, when ministers *are* doing their job then it puts the enemies to shame. This makes it easier for the Church to shine forth in glory as the light upon the hill. Even a slave, the lowest in society, adorns the doctrine of God with his good works as St. Paul states. This is to say, his honorable behavior and good attitude shows the world that his beliefs benefit him as they say they do, leading to an invitation for the nonbelievers to come and hear the Gospel themselves.

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2026-09-24T11:22:32Z

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2026-09-24T11:21:44Z

Whoa we back?

There you have it folks. When you visualize the ancient world ...

2026-08-17T00:08:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…2af3
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There you have it folks. When you visualize the ancient world while reading your Bible, just remember that most people were wearing hats. And most of them were silly, at least to our sensibilities

Sudras (a near eastern proto-turban). Negative five out of ten. ...

2026-08-17T00:08:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…f478
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Sudras (a near eastern proto-turban). Negative five out of ten. Zero effort is needed to wrap a cloth around your head my guy, I don't care if it's nice cloth it still sucks

Phrygian cap: 10/10, perfect revision of the pileus hat. While it ...

2026-08-17T00:07:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…rdy9
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Phrygian cap: 10/10, perfect revision of the pileus hat. While it serves as a prototype for the later and better beret, it still embodies cool ideals while not taking itself too seriously.

Petasos, AKA the Greek Sombrero. Perfectly functional, but ...

2026-08-17T00:07:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…wgv8
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Petasos, AKA the Greek Sombrero.
Perfectly functional, but doesn't look like it would go well with Greek robes. Still, it's interesting thinking about Socrates slamming burritos while debating Gorgias in this sort of headwear. 6/10

Pileus cornutus, or the jewish version of the pileus hat. Even ...

2026-08-17T00:07:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…zqrk
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Pileus cornutus, or the jewish version of the pileus hat. Even worse than the original pileus, it looks like the nipple you'd put on a baby's bottle. 0/10
https://i.poastcdn.org/2f/8b/28/2f8b28fffa8f36e1bbb55cf03a3ddeed2a5a23aae9cbb8df3bb6c709e4d8ffcb.JPG

Let's cap off the weekend with quick reviews for ancient ...

2026-08-17T00:06:56Z

Let's cap off the weekend with quick reviews for ancient hats.
First off, the pileus. Stupid looking Dr. Seuss cover, looks like a kippah but for Whites. 0/10