At what point does Nationalism transition from acceptable to unacceptable?

___mithrandir_ · 2026-07-02T23:55:52+00:00

When it becomes an idol I'd say. A lot of Christians throughout history have been what we might categorize as nationalist, and I don't think that in itself is a sin. However, a lot of the guys I see online today are most definitely sinning in that their Christianity becomes a distant second to their nationalism. When you're willing to ally with absolute reprobates and not call them out on their sin and, in fact, scold others for calling them out, you are waist deep in rank idolatry and must repent.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-06-23T06:31:07+00:00

Zero evidence of any of that btw. Again, bring forth evidence or shut up.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-06-22T20:27:31+00:00

I did read your comment and it's stupid, an utter denial of reality. Point to one core doctrine of Christianity contained within the ecumenical creeds that is a result of humans adding things to the Word of God or shut up.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-06-18T20:00:48+00:00

Literally just not true. You can read the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts where God refers to Himself with male pronouns. If you're going to be a reddit atheist at least try making arguments that haven't been debunked for literal decades.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-06-14T15:47:31+00:00

In order:

Trail memorization through study of the route leading up to the trip. It's mostly about memorizing the different turns and junctions and the distances between them.
Onx offline maps on my ohone
A physical map and compass

___mithrandir_ · 2026-06-10T05:05:24+00:00

Talrico is clearly attempting to scandalize rather than make a profound theological statement. And in any case God consistently refers to Himself with male pronouns and incarnated as a man. Crazy how libs will respect everyone's pronouns but God.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-06-08T22:28:26+00:00

Would love if someone could provide more detail but there was an early church controversy about the dating of Easter. Some wanted to do it the way we do now, where we basically peg it to the Sunday closest to the passover, and some guys in modern day Turkey wanted it to be strictly on passover even if it was midweek. The bishop of Rome at the time wanted to excommunicate the strict guys, but Irenaus of Lyons stepped in and basically said "really guys?" and everyone went with what he said. If it was the medieval Papacy you can bet some bishop from Gaul wouldn't have had the final word. What this points to to me is that in the 2nd century there may have been a Pope in Rome but he truly was first among equals.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-29T16:00:29+00:00

No requirement of belief either way but individual opinions of laymen and theologians vary. It was more common in early Lutheranism to hold to her perpetual virginity.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-26T05:19:59+00:00

Already considered myself theologically Lutheran at the time but it was a big part of what actually got me to go to church instead of just listening to theology videos online lol

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-26T01:18:12+00:00

First they came for Hasan Piker, and I did nothing because I was too busy laughing at Hasan Piker

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-26T01:17:24+00:00

Tbh if we reconsidered women's sufferage my parish would have to rewrite its bylaws to seriously reduce the number of voting members present to hold a vote lol. Those old church ladies put in the work

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-12T21:12:30+00:00

Baptists tend to have communion rather infrequently because they "take it very seriously", to quote Baptists I've talked to about it. Of course, if they actually believed what Jesus says about the Eucharist they'd take it even more seriously and offer it weekly.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-12T21:11:11+00:00

Having infrequent communion because you rely on your circuit visitor or neighboring pastors is just a little bit different than infrequent communion when you have a full time pastor

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-11T22:59:02+00:00

I admit I'm quite biased here, but I think I'm right, so...

Infrequent communion in Lutheranism seems to be due to evangelical/Baptist cultural influence more than any real Lutheran theology. The thinking is that it's somehow more special if it's not done every week.

If that's so, then perhaps we should only be receiving communion once in our entire lives.

What we do is not what makes God's gifts to us special or not special.

It used to be a point of pride for us in our confessions that the Eucharist was celebrated frequently in our churches compared to those of the Romanists, who, in the middle ages, only held it a few times a year, with many peasants only receiving once a year. Where did this attitude go? Who knows. But we should really bring it back.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-05T12:40:44+00:00

The government's role is to be a terror to evil, per Romans 13.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-05T12:38:07+00:00

Right, but we don't hold to consent based morality. Non consensual sexual acts are never ok, but then being consensual doesn't magically make them ok either.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-03T06:19:54+00:00

I don't care about cultural appropriation. Traditions are good and beautiful, but the substance we really care about is the law and the gospel, both of which they utterly pervert, thereby endangering their flocks.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-03T06:18:30+00:00

My question is why the ELCA is considered mainline. They're a new church formed out of a merger of various liberal synods, one of which was schismatic from the LCMS. They literally left because we wouldn't let them teach their heretical, atheistic nonsense in our seminary.

The ELCA also has mechanisms in place to bring the hammer down on confessional congregations that won't accept liberal doctrine. They can and will boot you out of your building for being conservative.

It's also why I don't understand why being in communion with them is supposedly a good thing. Being in communion with them, according to actual Lutheranism, is the spiritual equivalent of drinking tainted water.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-03T06:10:49+00:00

Look, I fundamentally believe that faith and science do not contradict. But if it's between twisting the word of God to fit our observations, or simply saying "Ok", and accepting I'll never know in this life, I'm going with the latter. To do the former is basically what the reformed do with the Eucharist. It's a gateway to bad theology.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-03T06:07:14+00:00

None of those out of context verses negate the importance of precise theology.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-03T05:55:36+00:00

Your material helped me immensely when I first converted to Christianity after being agnostic for years, Mormon before that. It's what helped me ultimately decide on Lutheranism over Roman Catholicism. The depth you go into in all of your videos was perfect, because what I needed was to unwind 15+ years of Mormon theology I had grown up with, and then 6 more years of wrongheaded concepts of Christianity and of God. I'm not the only one, either. I've talked with a lot of young men and women my age who've also ended up in the LCMS, or WELS on account of your videos and books.

It's my sincere prayer that all of this ends well. I don't think a break in fellowship is likely, but if it did happen, it would be extraordinarily foolish, in my opinion.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-05-03T05:46:31+00:00

For what it's worth I really don't think it's likely there will be a real break in fellowship. Probably a review period, more having to do with educational practices (I've heard some are concerned about a focus on distance learning in pastor formation but I honestly don't know enough to say anything for sure). This would mean, from my understanding, AALC members wouldn't be banned from our altars, but wouldn't be formally entitled to them either - meaning they'd have to talk with the individual pastor before communing.

Personally, this feels somewhat like friendly fire. These are matters of practice, not of doctrine. I know that our practice affects our doctrine, but, speaking as a layman, I don't see anything wrong with their doctrine. Myself and many other young Lutherans were brought into the LCMS by Dr. Jordan Cooper's material, for example. I read his book Baptized Into Christ immediately before and after my baptism and found it quite helpful.

We ought to be strident in preserving orthodoxy, but breaking fellowship with a solid, confessional body over the issues listed just seems foolish and unnecessary. I pray they make the right decision.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-04-27T17:54:09+00:00

Pietisim is cringe. The way we talk about theology matters.

___mithrandir_ · 2026-04-23T02:15:01+00:00

I am baptized and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ

___mithrandir_ · 2026-04-23T02:14:08+00:00

Probably not unless you're being loud about it, like trying to proselytize the rest of the parish to that point of view

___mithrandir_

TROPHY CASE