REVELATION BIBLE STUDY STREAM TONIGHT!
Let's continue our study in the letters to the seven churches by going to Smyrna. If you've ever thought that St. John is too distinct to the Synoptic Gospels to be considered part of Apostolic tradition, tonight will clear that silly opinion up.
Find the stream here only at 9pm EST:
t.me/VeryLutheran
Let's continue our study in the letters to the seven churches by going to Smyrna. If you've ever thought that St. John is too distinct to the Synoptic Gospels to be considered part of Apostolic tradition, tonight will clear that silly opinion up.
Find the stream here only at 9pm EST:
t.me/VeryLutheran
Not a Lutheran personally, but I saw this drop a couple of days ago. You may be interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GnoidyUAWk
@UncleIroh Watched a good chunk of it. Laestadians are on that extreme edge of Pietism that's a bit too much even for me. For instance, I cannot confess that drinking is a sin, because Scripture doesn't teach that at all. To the contrary, it is *drunkenness* that's a sin here, under the presumption that most people drink!
Nonetheless, the Laestadians are multiplying while the "Confessional" Lutheran branches are undergoing demographic collapse. There's much to learn from them.
Nonetheless, the Laestadians are multiplying while the "Confessional" Lutheran branches are undergoing demographic collapse. There's much to learn from them.
@SuperLutheran @UncleIroh Booze is an interesting one.
Many sins are not such that you can only "halfway" commit them. Either I steal something, or I don't. I can't halfway steal. However, even half of a sin -- for example, attempting a murder but failing -- is still sin.
Pretend it take 4 drinks for my judgment to be compromised sufficiently that I shouldn't be signing contracts, my coordination and speed aren't what they should be, I might not be reading people's social signals correctly, and I might consider myself to be far more bulletproof than I actually am. So, 4 drinks is definitely a sin for me.
What is 3 drinks? I am STILL compromised. It isn't like a light switch gets thrown at 4 drinks. I am not AS compromised as I would be with four drinks, but it would be foolish for me to try to do something where other people's lives would be in the balance. So three drinks ... where is that on the sin scale?
And then there is the thimbleful at communion. There is no discernible affect on my judgment, coordination, etc. So that much is clearly non-sinful.
But somewhere between that thimble and four drinks, the question of sinfulness gets iffy.
I wouldn't enforce my views in that regard on others, but it seems to me that when sin is possible by degrees, it is a place to be quite cautious. While alcohol consumption is not ipso facto sinful, it can be difficult to figure out where the line is, and the more you've drunk, the more difficult it is to determine if one has already crossed it.
I have enough problems without trying to play chicken on the sin front with an almighty God who has incinerated people on the spot. So I limit myself to one drink.
Many sins are not such that you can only "halfway" commit them. Either I steal something, or I don't. I can't halfway steal. However, even half of a sin -- for example, attempting a murder but failing -- is still sin.
Pretend it take 4 drinks for my judgment to be compromised sufficiently that I shouldn't be signing contracts, my coordination and speed aren't what they should be, I might not be reading people's social signals correctly, and I might consider myself to be far more bulletproof than I actually am. So, 4 drinks is definitely a sin for me.
What is 3 drinks? I am STILL compromised. It isn't like a light switch gets thrown at 4 drinks. I am not AS compromised as I would be with four drinks, but it would be foolish for me to try to do something where other people's lives would be in the balance. So three drinks ... where is that on the sin scale?
And then there is the thimbleful at communion. There is no discernible affect on my judgment, coordination, etc. So that much is clearly non-sinful.
But somewhere between that thimble and four drinks, the question of sinfulness gets iffy.
I wouldn't enforce my views in that regard on others, but it seems to me that when sin is possible by degrees, it is a place to be quite cautious. While alcohol consumption is not ipso facto sinful, it can be difficult to figure out where the line is, and the more you've drunk, the more difficult it is to determine if one has already crossed it.
I have enough problems without trying to play chicken on the sin front with an almighty God who has incinerated people on the spot. So I limit myself to one drink.
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That is a thoughtful approach that reaches a good conclusion. I like it.
