Stone Choir

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.)

Race is a biological and a theological reality. The God Who created the Universe also created the races of men. The differences between and among the races of men have very real consequences for society, for neither the individual nor the average member of a given race is identical to or interchangeable with members of another race. Scripture is not silent on these matters — God is not silent on these matters. Society would simultaneously have you deny the reality of human race and focus on a (deliberate) misconception of it in detrimental ways. In this episode, we ground our five-part series on race in the Word of God. There is truth in Creation, for it was written by the Author of all truth, but God did not leave these matters to ‘chance’ or simply to the discernment of men. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture speaks of the reality and the importance of human race. What God has created, let not man deny or destroy. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes See Also WFS: Dispensationalism WFS: Scofield Parental Warnings None.

What maintains societies? What destroys them? There are many factors that contribute to whether a society flourishes or fails — natural resources, weather conditions, IQ [two weeks], et cetera —, but a fundamental, unavoidable fact is that the quality of the men and women who comprise a society is intimately and causally connected to the level and the success of that society. Human behavior is downstream from race, because race is a matter of genetics. The behavior of individuals influences society and aggregates into civilization. A society comprised of violent, uncontrolled criminals will never achieve great things; a society comprised of lazy, unintelligent men will never reach the stars. As Christians, these are not matters of indifference — what kind of men we produce or permit in our societies directly affects our neighbors and, yes, the Church. In this, the second episode of our series on race, we will be tackling the uncomfortable questions of race, behavior, criminality, and related issues. Last week was genetics and next week will be Scripture — this week is behavior and society. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes FBI Violent Crime Data (2019) STI Data from the CDC See Also Twin Studies Genetic Contribution to Criminality Parental Warnings This episode frankly discusses crime and related matters. You may not want to play this one for your children.

We are all sons of Adam — no Christian can deny this. However, we are not all sons of Japheth, nor are we all sons of Ham, and nor are we all sons of Shem. The descent of the nations (i.e., races) of man are given in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10). Nature is entirely in accord with Scripture. The nations can be seen in a number of ways — geographically, genotypically, behaviorally. In this episode, we will be covering the fundamentals of human race. In a future episode, we will cover the theological import of these facts (if you are looking for Galatians 3:28, please wait for that future episode). This topic makes many Christians uncomfortable, but discomfort is not the standard — truth is. Test what we say against Scripture and against the natural facts. Nothing we say in this episode (except some of the scientific matters) would sound at all out of place to the overwhelming majority of your ancestors — yes, even the Christian ones. So you must ask yourself: Was the Church and every Christian wrong for thousands of years or has the modern world drifted away from the truth? We can give you the information, but you must make that decision for yourself. As we will cover in the episode, there are four categories of men when it comes to understanding and accepting the reality of race: the Atheist/Evolutionist (who can prove race from the science, but often denies it nonetheless); the Marxist (who once affirmed the reality of race, but now denies it for political purposes); the naïve Christian or otherwise (who holds 'one race, the human race', parroting the second category, perhaps unwittingly); and the Christian who affirms the reality of God's created order, which includes race. We are firmly in the fourth category. Listen carefully, and join us. God's truth is always better than whatever anyone else can promise. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Haplogroup Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup Thuletide: Debunking Race Denialism Thuletide: Race Science Infographics "These Algorithms Look at X-Rays — and Somehow Detect Your Race" See Also Genesis 10 (ESV) Parental Warnings The word "damn" (not in the theological sense) appears once in this episode.

The enemy has a playbook. If you learn his playbook, then you can identify enemy action. In today’s episode, we review the enemy playbook, and show how it has been used to destroy the West and is currently being used to destroy the Church. Unfortunately, many pastors, teachers, and others, all of whom should know better, unwittingly follow the enemy playbook and act as agents of the enemy in the process. You are commanded to be as wise as a serpent — this episode aims to help you fulfill that duty. Do not become an unwitting agent of the Enemy. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Twitter Thread about the ‘Annotated’ LC The ‘Annotated’ Large Catechism [YouTube] See Also

We are Lutherans — this is not something we hide. Neither do we hide the problems in our church body (in fact, we highlight them on this very podcast). However, that we recognize there are problems does not mean that we intend to leave. We remember our Confirmation Oath and we take it seriously: Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? We each answered “Yes.” to this question, at different times and in different congregations, but in the same Synod and in the same faith. We intend to remain steadfast to the end, come what may. Our Lutheran forebears have suffered much through the centuries for the truth of God’s Word — persecution by pope and emperor, the Thirty Years’ War (including the siege and sack of Magdeburg), suspicion and hostility from the State, the abiding interest of Satan and his minions, et cetera —, and we will follow in their footsteps if God wills it. It is our firm conviction that Lutheranism is the correct teaching of God’s truth. In this episode, we (briefly) cover our reasons for becoming and remaining Lutheran, and we make clear that we are not going anywhere. We will fight for our Synod, because she is worth defending. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Christian Basics: The Solae [YouTube] “An Outsider Visits a Lutheran Church” [YouTube] “An Outsider Talks With a Lutheran Theologian (What do Lutherans Believe?)” [YouTube] “Is Lutheranism the True Catholic Church? (and other stuff with a Lutheran Theologian)” [YouTube] See Also “The Large CRTechism” “Theology is Too Important to Be Left to the Experts” Review of the Contents of the ‘Annotated’ Large Catechism [YouTube]

As Christians, we are required to affirm the whole counsel of God — and that particularly includes those parts that the modern world would prefer to ignore, or even to condemn. We are told that love is a matter of permissiveness and that Christians must not — cannot — hate. But is that what Scripture says about the matter? The numbers certainly tell a different story. For Scripture certainly speaks of love: αγαπη (‘love’) — 115, NT; 15, LXX αγαπαω (‘to love’) — 143, NT; 213, LXX αγαπησις (‘loving’) — 0, NT; 8, LXX αγαπητος (‘beloved’) — 61, NT; 17, LXX but it just as certainly speaks of hate: μισεω (‘to hate’) — 40, NT; 143, LXX μισος (‘hate’) — 0, NT; 11, LXX μισητος (‘hateful, hated’) — 0, NT; 4 LXX εχθρα (‘enmity’) — 6, NT; 15, LXX εχθρος (‘hostile’) — 32, NT; 320, LXX We dare not attempt to be more righteous than God, and we dare not call anything God does or commands wicked. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” If God says to hate, then it is our duty to understand what we must hate, and (if possible) why. He, who does not hate, does not love. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes “love” “hate” “enmity” See Also “Marquart on The Question of Procedure in Theological Controversies” {Be like this man.} “The Myth of “Righteous Anger” What the Bible says about Human Anger” {Not like this one.} “God’s Mandate for Righteous Anger” [PDF]

Despair is never the correct response. We live in the ashes of Christendom, and the fires are still burning. Our forefathers were faithless and we now suffer the — accelerating — consequences. However, God has clearly promised that He will relent of whatever disaster He has purposed if a nation will return to Him: If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. There is only one solution to the problems we face, because all Truth is One. The answer is not rolling back the clock a decade, two decades, fifty years, a century, because the rot set in long before that. The answer lies in returning to the Lord God, reading and believing His Word, and pulling out of the dive in which we find ourselves before we hit the ground at terminal velocity. We must choose between the faithlessness of our forefathers and the faithfulness of our ancestors, and everything hangs in the balance. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes “Crisis over the Atlantic: The near crash of Air Transat flight 236” See Also 13th Amendment Magnus Hirschfeld

Some subjects are more important than others. No amount of discussing the best color to paint a room is likely to endanger the souls of anyone participating in the discussion or just listening to it, but the same cannot be said of discussion of doctrine and theology. When we handle the things of God, we are duty bound to be careful, to be clear, and to be true. Needless wrangling over terms and technicalities seldom benefits and often harms. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. However, as Christians, we do have a duty to speak of God and His truth. In almost all cases, simple is best. Speak the truth, in season and out. And, of course, know when to hold your tongue. Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes “Christ is physically, substantially, sacramentally present in, with, and under the bread and the wine in the Supper — as He promises.” Epitome of the Formula of Concord: The Lord’s Supper (Read ¶¶ 6–7.) See Also “Would you deny Real Presence to escape the jaws of beasts?” “On the Duty of Christian Teachers”

Who owns the words of Scripture? Does rearranging them change the answer? We Christians living in the West have inherited a copyright — really, an entire ‘intellectual property’ — regime that rests upon a number of premises, presumptions, presuppositions. It is contended that authors, et al., benefit from the regime. Do they? It is contended that creativity and productivity are incentivized by the regime. Are they? Even if the contentions that undergird the present copyright regime are, arguendo, true, does that mean that it is morally permissible to subject theological works (at least the sound ones) to the strictures of such system? What is the purpose of copyright? What is the purpose of theology? Are these compatible? Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes See Also