Stone Choir

Our first listener feedback episode. It took us only six months — please calibrate your expectations accordingly. If you have more questions, submit them now to make it into the next listener feedback episode. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes At Any Cost: Interracial Marriage (01 May 2023) "And so in summary, interracial marriages are not sinful per se. However, in the modern context, they are virtually always sinful per quod. And so it is right teaching for Christians to say that these unwise unions should be avoided. It’s that simple." Augsburg Confession, Art. VII — Of Monastic Vows Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art. VII — Of Monastic Vows See Also Hymns by Martin Luther Further Reading The Book of Gomorrah by Peter Damian Parental Warnings None.

Thou shalt have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. In our modern context, we often gloss over the first word in that list: fear. We know that we should love and trust God, but we have come to neglect that we must also fear Him. The word “fear” appears hundreds of times in Scripture, and a great many of those instances are part of commands to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not an animalistic fear or the sort of fear that one has for an encounter with a bear or a particularly nasty storm, but it is also not entirely other from that sort of fear. The proper fear of the Lord for the Christian is a filial fear — the right and good fear that a son has for his father. In fact, we cannot properly love or trust God without first fearing Him. The fear of the Lord is good; it is the beginning of wisdom; it revives the soul. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes “fear” See Also Further Reading Job Parental Warnings None.

The Law is God’s eternal, unchanging, unchangeable will and all men are required to order their lives according to it — including Christians. Although Christians are no longer under the curse of the Law, this does not mean that we are not to comport our behavior with the Law. As regenerate Christians, we walk in the Law and thereby produce fruits in keeping with a living faith. Similarly, Christians are to assess, to discern, to judge. We must judge not only our own actions — assessing whether or not they are in accord with God’s Law —, but also the actions of fellow Christians, whom we must rebuke as brothers when and where they transgress. God’s Word, in fact, gives the steps we are to follow when rebuking brothers. The world will latch on to the words “judge not” and attempt to make this the whole of what Scripture teaches, but that is most certainly not the case. Scripture does not contradict Scripture, and in many places Christians are told to judge. Consequently, we must carefully examine what is meant — and what is not meant — by “judge not”. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Formula of Concord: Epitome, VI - The Third Use of the Law Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration, VI - The Third Use of the Law Large Catechism: Eighth Commandment Further Reading Question of Fact Question of Law Parental Warnings None.

You have undoubtedly heard the phrase 'all sins are equal' at some point in your life, but you have just as assuredly not found it in Scripture — it is not there. The Word of God does not teach that all sins are equal; in fact, it teaches quite the opposite: some sins are worse than others. In this episode, we go through Scripture highlighting a number of sections that deal with degrees of sin or sinfulness. This episode serves both as a standalone episode on the topic of the supposed 'equality of sins' and as a foundation for next week's episode which will cover Antinomianism. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

… Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants Wider die Mordischen und Reubischen Rotten der Bawren As it turns out, I don’t have a copyright-free version of this essay from Luther in English. If anyone knows of such an English version, please let me know. See Also Feminism [Wikipedia] Elizabeth Cady Stanton [Wikipedia] Revolutions of 1848 [Wikipedia] Revolutions of 1917–1923 [Wikipedia] Further Reading “On the Nature of Woman” “Not a Shoreline, but a Cliff” “The Theory of the Inborn Inalienable Human Rights in the Light of God’s Word”, Lehre und Wehre, Vol. 12, October 1866 “Killing Abortionists Is Moral” Parental Warnings None.

God assuredly knows the purposes for which He made His creatures, the proper ends toward which their lives should be oriented. We can order our lives according to God’s Word and God’s design, and He will bless us, or we can rebel against His Word and His design, and we will suffer. When it comes to the issue of woman and her place in creation, practically the whole of modern society has chosen the path of rebellion. Women today strive for and grasp at nearly every possible path other than the one designated for them by God. Genesis is clear: Woman was made for man to be a helper for him. This is woman’s telos, this is her purpose, and it is also her only chance at happiness and joy. When we rebel against our nature, we find only misery, suffering, and pain; Feminism is rebellion against the nature of woman — it is the embracing of the woman’s curse in the Fall. As Christians, we cannot be Feminists; rather, we must believe, teach, and confess what God says in His Word about woman, her nature, and her purpose. Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes See Also Further Reading Parental Warnings None.

The modern world contends that slavery is incompatible with Christianity and that Christians must oppose slavery. Is this what Scripture teaches? The Christian must always turn to Scripture, not to the Enlightenment or to the secular oracles who proclaim newfound morality and a progressive revelation. Scripture actually deals with slavery at length and in detail. In this episode, we go through the Scriptural teaching on slavery. The world may believe whatever it likes, but the Christian must hold firm to the Word of God — and Scripture does not oppose slavery. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Genesis Exodus Leviticus Deuteronomy Romans Philemon See Also C. F. W. Walther on Slavery Further Reading δουλος (slave) Parental Warnings None.

Matthew Harrison is head of the largest (supposedly) Confessional Lutheran body in the Western world — the LCMS. During his tenure, he has overseen the greatest decline in membership in the history of the LCMS, the closure of LCMS schools and congregations, and the collapse of LCMS organizations. Now, to top off his legacy, Harrison is pushing false doctrine via 'new' versions of core confessional, Lutheran documents (e.g., the Small Catechism and the Large Catechism). He is even exporting this doctrine abroad. Of course, the focus on exporting doctrine is nothing new — Harrison has spent his tenure with his focus everywhere but on the sheep God entrusted to his care (and for which God will one day command him to account). Harrison and those around him personally hate this podcast and its hosts, because we are speaking the truth about the Christian faith and about what men like Harrison are doing to the Church. In this episode, we review Harrison's recent letter 'denouncing disturbing ideologies'. Christians do not speak as Harrison speaks. We will all have to choose a side. For their part, the following men have thrown in their lot with Satan and the kingdom of Antichrist: Matthew Harrison, President of the LCMS Peter K. Lange, 1st Vice President of the LCMS John C. Wohlrabe Jr., 2nd Vice President of the LCMS Scott R. Murray, 3rd Vice President of the LCMS Nabil S. Nour, 4th Vice President of the LCMS Christopher Esget, 5th Vice President of the LCMS Benjamin T. Ball, 6th Vice President of the LCMS the 35 District Presidents of the LCMS Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes "President Harrison denounces disturbing ideologies" "Statement on the death of George Floyd and the ensuing riots" The New Catechism of the LC-MS [YouTube] YouTube review of the 'Annotated' LC. See Also Coverture [Wikipedia] "The Stranger" by Rudyard Kipling "Letter to President Harrison of the LCMS" "Test of Pastoral Orthodoxy" "We Are Stronger Together" "The Apostasy of Missouri" Further Reading C. F. W. Walther on Slavery, Humanism, and the Bible Antifaschistische Aktion "On the Year-Zero Revolutionary" Parental Warnings The word "jackass" is used once in this episode at around 01:30:00.

Racism is not a sin. The modern-day ‘sin’ of racism was invented in the 19th century and then imported into the churches from the decadent and decaying culture. If you think that racism is a sin, then you have been misled. In this episode, we go over the history of the term “racism” — where it originated and how it entered our modern culture — and take a look at how Satan is using it to destroy the Church. This is the culmination of our series on race and the most important episode in the series. This episode may make you uncomfortable, but the truth is worth the price. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Racism and Overcoming the Idolatry of Babel [YouTube] Partiality “Racism” in Webster’s Dictionary (1828) If you want to read the resolution from the second half of this episode, it can be found in the proceedings of the 2019 convention, which can be found here. See Also Magnus Hirschfeld [Wikipedia] Further Reading Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration, Art. I Racism by Magnus Hirschfeld Parental Warnings Some discussion of sexual matters, but not in explicit terms.

God has given to men many attributes, and these attributes are not evenly or equally distributed. Some men are taller than others; some men are faster than others; and some men are more intelligent than others. The subject to human intelligence — IQ — makes many uncomfortable for a number of reasons, but it is no less real and no less a part of God’s good ordering of Creation than is height or any other attribute. Intelligence is largely genetic — overwhelmingly so, in fact. If your parents are or were intelligent, then it is very likely that you will be so as well. This holds even more true for human populations (e.g., races), as they share a common genetic pool. Some races are more intelligent than others. IQ is not the same from one nation to the next. Now, the issue of human intelligence can certainly be, in and of itself, a fascinating area of study or research, but that is not our primary concern; rather, we are concerned with how human intelligence interacts with the Church. Is there a minimum intelligence for the preservation of the Church and her treasury of God’s Word and truth? Can the Western Church survive if all her members are replaced with foreign souls? Can the Church survive the ongoing replacement of Europeans by alien peoples? These are not idle questions and the answers are not so much a matter of life and death, but of eternal life and eternal death. We have been given a sacred trust — the Word of God and His bride, the Church. Whether we will be faithful or flounder remains to be seen, but the present trajectory is most certainly grim. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Normal/Standard Distribution σ = standard deviation (sigma) See Also Race and IQ Studies The referenced clip from The Wire (language warning) Further Reading The Bell Curve Intelligence Quotient Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Parental Warnings Some of the terms used in this episode are considered offensive in modern speech, but are all used in their technical sense. The show notes include an image and video clip with a number of expletives. Errata When discussing the four-sigma numbers at ~00:07:21–00:07:38, I (Mahler) failed to note that I was working with a decimal chart and did not convert from decimal to percentage (which I should have done) and so stated — twice — that the four-sigma portion of the population is “point one percent”, when, in fact, I should have said that it is 0.001%. Point one percent of one when working in decimal (1.0 being 100) is, in fact, 0.001%, but it is decidedly unhelpful not to mention that one is working with a decimal chart, and thus implying 0.1%. (It is actually 0.000892201505099236%, but I suspect I can be forgiven for rounding.)