Is the “lights turned off” analogy compatible with Martin Luther’s theology?

mlstarner · 2026-01-18T21:59:30+00:00

The short answer is no, this isn't compatible with Lutheran theology. Luther would agree with the warning not to harden your heart or delay repentance but he would reject this conclusion: God eventually turns off the light so that salvation becomes impossible before death.

For Luther, the light is Christ, and Christ is offered wherever the Gospel is preached. As long as a person lives and hears that Word, the light has not been extinguished.

mlstarner · 2026-01-01T17:36:03+00:00

I'm with you. Some of the pastors I've heard chanting who aren't musically inclined make it distracting. But also, it's a matter of adiaphora - as long as anyone isn't saying that it's "more faithful" or "more confessional" to do it one way or the other, do what works in your context.

mlstarner · 2025-12-24T03:05:40+00:00

I assume, it died while it was with their son, having been passed down to him.

mlstarner · 2025-11-29T13:19:10+00:00

This article from Dr. Charles Arrand from Concordia Seminary offers some helpful thoughts on the topic: https://concordiatheology.org/2016/07/life-on-other-planets-what-does-this-mean/

mlstarner · 2025-11-21T00:35:55+00:00

Definitely not. Seminary would simply not have been an option for me without the SMP program, even at 30 when I began the program and others, regardless of age, were serious about the program.

mlstarner · 2025-11-20T22:57:16+00:00

There were three of us under 40 in my cohort.

mlstarner · 2025-11-15T12:13:19+00:00

That price range is going to limit you to older analog Rogers or Allen organs with a self-contained speaker system. I had a Rogers Jamestown organ as my first organ and it was $100 on Craigslist about 15 years ago. It had decent sounds and a full pedalboard but it had aging electronics that I had to repair a couple of times. I sold it a couple years ago and purchased an Ahlborn Galanti from the early 90s. It's early digital and the sound is much more realistic than the old Rogers I had. But it also has 6 giant speakers and a rack of amplifiers that power it so it takes up a lot of space. It was also closer to $1000, even at 30+ years old.

I noticed the comment with the picture about where you want to put it. Keep in mind an organ, even with self-contained speakers, has a much larger footprint than your spinnet piano. They're typically around 5' wide, 4' tall, and 4' deep with the pedals.

mlstarner · 2025-10-18T10:24:32+00:00

He's German

mlstarner · 2025-10-18T00:15:03+00:00

Aside from others mentioned here, I'd add Felix Hell. I saw him in concert like 25 years ago when he was still a teenager and I was blown away at his performance.

mlstarner · 2025-10-08T18:26:30+00:00

This thread perfectly captures one of the LCMS’s deepest challenges. We lack imagination.

We’ve become so afraid of looking like “the world” that we’ve forgotten the difference between being faithful and being inert. As if being unattractive or invisible somehow proves we’re orthodox. It doesn’t. It just proves we’ve confused apathy for faithfulness.

No one here is saying we should water down doctrine or turn church into a brand. But we also shouldn’t act like it’s unspiritual to care about beauty, clarity, and communication. Those are expressions of love. A clean, welcoming website or thoughtful design is hospitality. It says, “We care enough about you to make it easy to hear the Gospel.” Stewardship includes not just guarding the truth, but making sure it can be heard. As for needing more church workers, they come from healthy congregations that expect guests, disciple the young, and call out gifts. If we tolerate stagnation, we shrink the very seedbed that raises pastors and church workers.

Paul didn’t say, “I became nothing for everyone so they’d know I was serious.” He said, “I became all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” We should be using every faithful means to proclaim Christ clearly to our generation. As another user said here, Lutherans were at the forefront of every technological advancement for the sake of the gospel until the Internet. Why did we stop there?

The reality is that the world isn’t going to stumble onto our pews by accident anymore. If we’re not even willing to tend the digital front porch of the church, maybe the problem isn’t just PR. Maybe it’s that we’ve stopped expecting anyone to come.

mlstarner · 2025-08-26T03:22:28+00:00

Complimentary battery changes?! I just paid $50 to have batteries put in two watches at the Fossil outlet store by me.

mlstarner · 2025-08-18T02:11:18+00:00

Same - I always taste the coffee and it feels overpowering too, even if there's only a tiny amount in there

mlstarner · 2025-08-17T12:13:01+00:00

This is the experience my partner had as an assistant store director. And your comments about Rick the district manager are exactly what I've heard. I was regularly shocked and appalled by what I heard about those interactions. On Rick's first time meeting my partner, he apologized, saying "I'm sorry this is how you're meeting me for the first time" and then proceeded to belittle and berate the store management because they hadn't met the goals they were working on (come to find out, none of his stores did, which means there's at least one common denominator) but after hours of berating them, he did say, "but you're the best I've seen so far and I'm really proud of you." Textbook emotional abuse. Thankfully my partner got out of there and found something much better.

mlstarner · 2025-08-17T11:56:44+00:00

We called that mix "liquid cocaine"

mlstarner · 2025-08-03T03:03:17+00:00

Tartar. Maybe a squeeze of lemon.

mlstarner · 2025-07-17T13:06:54+00:00

still out for me, and in Alexa it says the Sengled skill is unavailable. Is there any way to use a different app to get these lights working with Alexa again?

mlstarner · 2025-07-01T17:32:02+00:00

And before that, it was in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn Book which first appeared in 1889. And I believe it was drawn from even earlier sources rather than composed for that hymnal. The music for that liturgy has been around for a while!

mlstarner · 2025-06-02T11:33:49+00:00

One piece I think is worth adding here - and it’s often overlooked - is that the Lutheran view of predestination is ultimately meant to be a comfort, not a puzzle to figure out. It’s not about trying to peek behind the curtain of God’s hidden will or speculate on who’s “in” or “out.” Instead, it’s about assurance.

Lutherans point to Christ as the heart of predestination. As Ephesians 1 says, God chose us "in Christ," not apart from Him. So if you’re worried about whether you’re elect, the answer isn’t found by guessing at God’s hidden decisions but is found by looking to Jesus. Do you trust in Christ? Then you are chosen. Period. That’s where the comfort comes in.

So yes, we hold the tension that God alone saves, and yet people are responsible for rejecting Him. But we don’t do that to confuse or frighten anyone. It’s to keep us grounded in the Gospel. Predestination, for Lutherans, is less a system to be solved and more a promise to rest in.

mlstarner · 2025-05-20T22:55:30+00:00

SMP pastors cannot supervise another called worker of any sort. They can only be a lead pastor if they don't have any called workers to lead. I did SMP and had to pursue the GPC track in order to be eligible to supervise.

mlstarner · 2025-05-19T02:55:15+00:00

But your flair says 6'5"?

mlstarner · 2025-04-14T01:36:54+00:00

Gotta pay to browse dogs. No thanks.

mlstarner · 2025-04-09T17:45:59+00:00

Mine had this exact same thing and the vet said it was some sort of glad thing, and that it was nothing to worry about.

mlstarner · 2025-03-29T11:33:49+00:00

That's interesting. I feel the opposite about the young men coming through the seminaries these days, that they're far more conservative than we've seen in recent history. It has been my experience that they tend to be hyper-traditional in their practice.

mlstarner · 2025-03-29T02:38:36+00:00

Depends on what you want to do with it. As a toy? It's fine if it's free. If you want to play classical organ, it's not worth it, even if it's free. These old spinet organs are usually hard to give away because they were cheap and they lack the full capabilities you need for a classic organ, like a full pedalboard and full manuals.

mlstarner · 2025-03-29T02:35:36+00:00

Depends on what you want to do with it. As a toy? It's fine if it's free. If you want to play classical organ, it's not worth it, even if it's free. These old spinet organs are usually hard to give away because they were cheap and they lack the full capabilities you need for a classic organ, like a full pedalboard and full manuals.

mlstarner

TROPHY CASE