Stone Choir

Honor and loyalty serve as the foundation of any civilization worthy of the name and any culture worthy of respect. As these have faded from our culture, we have seen a rise of treacherous — and even treasonous — behavior and a concomitant decline in Christianity. If we are to rebuild what has been permitted to decay or has been maliciously destroyed, then we must re-inculcate honor and loyalty, and we must comport ourselves accordingly. The Christian, first and foremost among men, should be a man of unimpeachable honor, and honor and loyalty are virtually synonymous. But we must also have a frank discussion of betrayal and treason, and a meaningful redress of those who are guilty of such heinous crimes. Show Notes Guilt versus Shame cultures (map) [You should still click the link for a better version.] UN definition of “genocide” See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings Rape is referenced around the one-hour mark. This episode includes frank discussions of race.

When things are proceeding as they should, when matters are rightly organized, power and authority are virtually synonymous, and they are at least reposed within the same men. But things in this life do not always proceed as they should. A king may lack the power to exercise his authority or he may abuse his power by exceeding his authority, and the same sort of problems may occur in the Church — a teacher or a cleric who was once faithful may turn from the truth and begin to teach falsely. Unlike the prince or the magistrate who does possess some authority by virtue of his office, the teacher or the cleric possesses no authority with regard to the things of God simply by virtue of his office; rather, within the Kingdom of the right hand of Christ, authority is a matter of truth — the man who repeats God’s truth after Him wields authority when he does so, but only insofar as he does so. The words of a faithful teacher must be heeded because they are the very words of God, but the words of a false teacher must be rejected and the teacher shunned if he does not repent. It is not the office that commands authority, but the Word of God. This is a necessary wisdom call that Christian men must make; we must assess whether a teacher or a cleric is holding true to the Word of God. Similarly, we must assess whether a prince or a magistrate has exceeded his authority and become a tyrant. With regard to the kingdom of the left hand of Christ, we may bear with error or even some level of wickedness, but no such thing may be tolerated with regard to the right-hand kingdom, for false teaching is an affront to God and must never be permitted to continue. Show Notes See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

Eschatology is the study of the end of all things. Scripture speaks, in many places, about the end times and what will take place leading up to and in those days. However, such matters are not the core of the Christian faith, and no Christian man should dedicate all of his time to investigating such things. Far too many become obsessed with end-times prophecies to the detriment of their faith and those around them. Nevertheless, these prophecies exist in Scripture and the end times are part of the totality of Christian truth — these matters cannot be ignored. What, then, are we, as Christians, to make of these prophecies, signs, et cetera? In this episode, we discuss the truly Christian approach to the end times (to include the ‘timeline’, as it were) and the related prophetic portions of Scripture. There is Christian profit to be found in every word from God, but some require more wisdom than others in the approach. Show Notes Daniel 7-12 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 2 Peter 3 Matthew 24–25 Revelation See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

Deism posits that God created the world, and then walked away — a sort of clockmaker with the Universe being His clock. To the contrary, Christianity advances a view of God as active in His Creation. Certainly, every single thing that happens in the Universe happens with God’s knowledge of it and permission for it, but, beyond that, God also actively intervenes in time — both to help and to harm. The Book of Job is, perhaps, one of the clearest narratives of Divine (and infernal) intervention, but God acts in Creation from the beginning of Scripture to the very end. God is, however, not the only supernatural being who intervenes (or interferes, in the infernal case) in the affairs of men; Satan and his demons also exert their influence upon reality. If we cease to believe in the supernatural — and not just as some abstraction or intellectual conceit, but rather as something very real and significant —, then we fall below the level of Christian belief and veer instead into something akin to the Sadducees, who denied both the resurrection of the dead and the existence of the supernatural. Part of the Christian life is recognizing the reality that we live in the midst of spiritual warfare, with a conflict that rages all about us, even if we cannot physically see it. But beyond this, when we minimize (or ignore) the intervention of God in His Creation, we cease to recognize God’s providence. Every good and every perfect gift comes from God, and we should give thanks for all that God gives us, from the smallest of gifts up to the greatest. And we should even rejoice in times of adversity, for God has promised that He works all things together for the good of those who believe. Show Notes the Small Catechism See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

“For unto us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given; dominion shall rest upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Angel of Great Counsel, for I will bring peace upon the rulers and well-being to Him. Great is His dominion — and there is no end to His peace — upon the Throne of David and over His Kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness, from now unto eternity. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.” The Lord is a God of peace, and those who follow Him are to be peacemakers, but to be a peacemaker does not mean to be a doormat or to refuse to utilize violence when and where morally warranted. In this life, peace will always be imperfect, for we live in a fallen world wherein suffering is both inevitable and inescapable, but the eschatological peace found in Scripture, in God’s promises is an absolute peace. As Christians, we have the perfect peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, upon which we can rely — whatever may come in this life. Peace applies to all of the estates and spheres of life, but it does not apply univocally or identically. The peace that is appropriate to the home and that which contributes to that peace is not the same as the peace that applies to politics, and the latter may be sacrificed more readily in pursuit of higher goals. These are matters of wisdom, and the Christian must know how to comport himself in the home, in society, in the State, and in the Church — peace applies to them all, but not equally and not identically. Where there are higher duties (e.g., in the State, in the Church), then a false peace may be sacrificed in pursuit of those higher duties. In the State, security trumps peace; in the Church, Martin Luther may have put it best: “Peace, if possible; truth, at all costs.” Show Notes See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

‘The life of man upon the earth is warfare, and he is born to trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward.’ — Job 5,7 We live in a fallen world. We can speak of a perfect world — and that is assuredly our goal and our destination, as Christians —, but the realities of this world cannot be ignored — Christians are not exempt from living in the world. From the very beginning of our species — when wicked Cain rose up and slew righteous Abel —, violence has never left our shadow. Although it was most certainly not part of God’s original or intended design for Creation, violence is just as certainly part of its fallen state. It is not that violence is itself a good; rather, it is that violence is sometimes required to protect the good. When a man enacts violence upon a home intruder to defend himself, his wife, his children, and his goods, he is using violence toward a righteous and morally praiseworthy end. Throughout the pages of Scripture, God Himself uses violence against His enemies — from the genocide of Canaan to the Final Judgement, God employs violence consistently and constantly. Although violence will be absent from the new Creation, it will never be absent from this fallen one. As Christians, we must not condemn violence qua violence for to do so would be to condemn God, which is apostasy; rather, we must know how to apply wisdom to these matters so that we align our actions and our beliefs with what God has commanded — and He both proscribes and prescribes violence, depending on the circumstances. It is also necessary for the Christian, in order that he might act in wisdom, to understand the law — to understand the differences between and among things like advocacy, incitement, and fighting words. These are not trivial, unimportant, or tangential matters, for the life of man upon the Earth is one of conflict; even times of peace are seldom entirely free from violence, and they are often ephemera. A man must always do his duty, and at times that duty may demand violence — the police officer who protects his city, the soldier who defends his nation, the housefather who defends his home. We are not and cannot be more moral than God, and of Himself He says: “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.” Show Notes Brandenburg v. Ohio Wikipedia, Justia, Oyez, LII (Cornell) See Also Further Reading Joshua Judges Parental Warnings The word “ass” is used once at ~01:39. The term “pissed off” is used once around the same time.

This week’s episode is a crossover with the Renaissance of Men podcast from Will Spencer. In a wide-ranging discussion (over more than six hours), we covered everything from the reasons we started the Stone Choir podcast and the state of the LCMS to (in the second part) World War II and conspiracy theories. This will be all you are ever likely to hear. Within hours of publication, Will pulled the content and disavowed us after coming under pressure from within the church. So it goes. Show Notes Parental Warnings None.

When confronting sin, the Christian must distinguish between the private and the public. The private or secret sin should generally not be published (and is subject to Matthew 18), but the public sin is generally already published (and is not subject to Matthew 18). The primary goal of confronting private sin is to retain or to regain the erring brother; the primary goal of confronting public sin is to rebuke the false teacher and to protect those who would otherwise be led astray. In these matters, there are three core duties: the duty to God (which includes defending His honor and His truth), the duty to receive correction, and the duty to correct or rebuke. Confronting sin and correcting error are central parts of the Christian life. When theological or doctrinal controversies arise, there is both opportunity (e.g., for all parties to deepen in knowledge and faith) and danger (e.g., if false teaching is not rebuked and false teachers silenced, then wickedness may spread). How to approach specific situations is a matter of wisdom, but one that Christian men are absolutely not permitted to avoid. Silence in the face of false teaching is complicity in it. Silence in the face of false belief on the part of a brother is indifference (i.e., hatred) of that brother. As iron sharpens iron, we must help our brothers to stay on the strait and narrow. And as the shepherd defends the sheep, so we must be watchful for false teachers. Show Notes “The Question of Procedure in Theological Controversies” by Kurt Marquart The Large Catechism, the Eighth Commandment, Public Sin See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

In any conflict, there are at least two sides. In the life of man upon this earth, there is constant conflict with and against the world, the flesh, and the devil. As Christians, it is incumbent upon us — particularly as Christian men — to know what are our duties in this life; for a soldier, he must know his orders and where to execute them. If we are to oppose Satan and his forces, then we must know where he is attacking or where he plans to attack — this is the issue of target selection. When we choose topics for this podcast, we choose them because they are places that Satan is attacking or places that Satan will (soon) attack. The goal is to prepare Christian men to fight back, to defend the Church and her children. In today’s episode, we discuss some of the ways a man can know where Satan is attacking, where Satan will attack, and how a Christian should and must respond. If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. — St. Martin Luther Show Notes Information on veiling (This site also offers veils for purchase.) See Also “Binding Adiaphora” (tradition) Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

Marriage is fundamental not only to individual men and women, but also to society writ large. Without marriage, there are no families; without families, there are no nations. The first relationship between two human beings was marriage — of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Without marriage there is no future for the human race. And yet we often gloss over the actual nature of marriage — partly in deference to modesty and partly because we have so long employed euphemism that many have simply forgotten what marriage actually is. In this episode, we have a frank discussion of the nature and essence of marriage and distinguish it from many of the things our society so often pretends fall under the umbrella of ‘marriage’. It is advisable to screen this episode before permitting your children to listen to it. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Ephesians 5 See Also Further Reading “On Sexual Immorality, Temptation, and Marriage” “Disordered Loves” “On the Nature of Woman” Parental Warnings This entire episode may not be suitable for young children. Parents: You should screen this one first. This is a frank discussion of the nature and essence of marriage, which, rather obviously, involved discussing sex.