<2022-06-15T02:35:38.000Z> Gelert: Dear Super, I wrote in to the Godcast about eight months ago for advice. I still do not believe but since then I have been to all but one Sunday service at my local catholic church, I've been regularly corresponding with my priest and I've been doing a lot of reading. I feel as if I am slowly pushing bricks out one by one from a wall of ignorance and prejudice I have erected from a life-time of living in a secular world.It would seem, due to reading all the apologetics and such, I can say I "know" God to exist and the Gospels to be historically accurate, or at least accept the reasonability of the concept, but still do not "believe". The only comparison I can think of is how when I was young I learned that faster than light travel was impossible, but for many years, out of love for Star Trek, still believed it must be and that I may live long enough to go to star fleet academy or something. This is the only way I can think of describing the difference between "knowing" and "believing" that I find myself struggling with. It seems I'm plagued with a habit of disbelief in the same way my affection for sci-fi gave me a habit of wilfully ignorant belief. The most I feel confident in saying for sure at the moment is that I think a world without God is much more absurd than one with God, I hope I just need to repeat it enough until I become meaningfully accustomed to the concept.I often see God's glory, not in apologetics as you warned in your response to my email, but in the goodness of the simple love of the people around me, the beauty of the world I find myself able to feel truly thankful for for the first time and the simple glory in truth. All three transcendents I am invigorated to discover in my reading of the Bible also. Though I fear my learned habits of disbelief more often than not obscure such poignant appreciations and I quickly turn back to the absurd sinful world I am accustomed to. This habit, I find, is reinforced by myriad questions and prejudices, the "bricks" in my "wall".Unfortunately I think I may have absorbed certain things from our political milieu which is reinforcing this wall of petty incredulity. For example, so often I am dismayed when reviewing a moral argument for God from authors like William Lane Craig who invoke the "Holocaust" as a way to guilt people into dispensing with proofs.Some of these examples, I'm sure to your chagrin, you may recognise as being from the mouth of Mike Enoch, though I do disagree with him very regularly on religion he does seem to strike some of my insecurities regarding the old-testament quite often. Examples of general "Jewish behaviour" such as the tricking of Esau and the buying out of a famine stricken Egypt by Joseph. Perhaps I am simply very jaded by what I know of the Holocaust but whenever I read of the Angel of the Lord killing enemies such as in Exodus or 2 Kings, I can't help but think of it as a convenient metaphor for assassins carrying out atrocity, similar to how the holocaust is used to demonise European peoples thoroughly abused by Jewish proxies in the most horrific manner. Likewise similar things can be seen in Judaism's scriptures, such as the basis of Purim in Esther which details the genocide of a host people with little to no justification, and Hanukah which included the genocide of Hellenised Jews.  I have progressed very far acquainting myself with arguments for God's existence, the interpretations of Christ's ministry and the historicity of the gospels and epistles, but much of the old testament seems to be an unfortunate anchor weighing me down. How may I go about resolving the differences between the universal and consistent God revealed through Christ and the, forgive my crudeness, markedly Bronze age God of the old testament? Forgive me but so often the old testament feels to me as much a mythological ethnic justification for Jewish power and war as Vergil's Aeneid was for the Romans.Lastly I wonder if you could recommend any material on Vatican II as I am taking my journey primarily under Catholic guidance and figured I may dispel some hesitation if I learned how the Church has changed over recent decades.If you could respond to even a tenth of my ramblings I'd be very grateful. I don't mind if you want to save your response for the Godcast but I have thrown a lot around here so it may not be practicable.Thanks.
<2022-06-15T09:46:18.000Z> SuperLutheran: First of all, easiest way to learn about Vatican II is to just read it for yourself lol. Here's a link to all the documents:
<2022-06-15T09:46:22.000Z> SuperLutheran: vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm
<2022-06-15T09:50:15.000Z> SuperLutheran: As for the issue of belief, to be frank it sounds like you DO believe already, but your faith is just starting out. You should give yourself a bit of grace here, as this sort of thing takes time. God loves you my friend, and He will see to it that the work which was started in your heart will be carried to completion. Trust your priest, be humble and receptive, and try to enjoy the process.
<2022-06-15T09:50:53.000Z> SuperLutheran: I personally went through something similar tbh, getting out of esoteric habits when I first became a believer. 
<2022-06-15T09:54:34.000Z> SuperLutheran: As for the Old Testament, I'll be recording on that soon. Just keep in mind that the jews are a fallen, apostate race whose moral downsliding is *demonstrated* and *described* in the Old Testament. One episode of the Godcast, Esther and the Phonies, is all about going through the book of Esther and showing that the author was condemning the jews (just like his contemporary Malachi and Zechariah+Haggai before him). The Scriptures actually reject the ugliness of purim.
<2022-06-26T23:28:27.000Z> Gelert: Thank you for the reply, I will bear your word in mind going forward. I'm still learning how to read the Bible even now, when I think I understand a passage from a first reading I consult my priest and he shows me a whole ocean where I only saw a pond.  I assume this is what many children are taught early in Bible study. I'm applying my anti-Semitic priors with a grain of salt most of the time. I suppose I'm frustrated that so often I feel a longing to believe I am sure is not mere sentimentality and am energised to reconcile my doubts only to have my cynicism I've had drummed into me through years of disappointments dishearten me.I seem to recall some mention of Biblical justification for nationalism a while ago, did you do a show or can you recommend some material? I try to distance such earthly concerns from my spiritual contemplations but I feel I make the most progress when I'm playing God's advocate with atheists in our milieu, it seems I enter quite the reverie where my mind reaches out and connects so many dots and themes I may have been struggling with. Perhaps I'm just tenaciously argumentative and it's the best way to get me to think a topic through.Thanks again for the reply. Though it's difficult, I never imagined that eight months on I'd still be walking the path you set me down.
<2022-06-27T09:36:48.000Z> SuperLutheran: thegodcast.libsyn.com/the-godcast-episode-34-the-nations-and-nationalism-in-scripture
<2022-06-27T09:38:13.000Z> SuperLutheran: This was one of the first topics we covered, from waaaaaayyyy back in the day. Hope that helps. We did have other episodes that touched on it too, and if you have any questions moving forward I'll be happy to answer them :)
<2022-11-17T00:29:05.000Z> Gelert: Hi Super, do you mind looking this over and giving your two cents?Instead of Sin being the reason God punishes us, whether we know better or not, sin is instead best characterised as an affliction which is the consequence of being separated from God. In the same way a baby of incest, or with HIV or a heroin addiction does not "deserve" these afflictions in their pure innocence, so too do we not "deserve" punishment for a fault that is not ours, instead we suffer sin in the same way and just like those hypothetical babies who must confront it and rely on external Grace to defeat the debilitating afflictions. We truly are as helpless as babes inheriting a curse we have no hope of overcoming on our own. With this in mind we see even greater the gift God gave us through his son Jesus Christ.
<2022-11-17T00:42:01.000Z> SuperLutheran: Well that certainly reflects a modern eastern orthodox way of thinking about it, but it unintentionally makes a monster out of God.
<2022-11-17T00:43:14.000Z> SuperLutheran: The Bible is full of instances where God speaks about His wrath against sin and the punishments He will inflict on sinners. If sin is nothing more than a disease, then God is actively angry with - and punishing- people who are fundamentally innocent.
<2022-11-17T00:44:22.000Z> SuperLutheran: We certainly also hear about God's mercy as well, but it is a mercy which delivers us from our *very* merited punishment 
<2022-11-17T00:46:32.000Z> Gelert: I see. I formulated this in response to some quite liberal parishioners passing off quite a few well meaning novelty beliefs which I identified as coming from a misunderstanding of sin which lessened it's severe nature.Though, are we not incapable of overcoming sin without Grace? How is God less a monster for punishing those ignorant of his Grace? Are they damned by the mere witness of their conscience? 
<2022-11-17T00:50:23.000Z> SuperLutheran: Well St. Paul talks about this in Romans 1-2. We have the Law written in our heart and all of Creation points to the Lord. We already have the tools necessary to reject sin and seek the Lord, but we end up choosing to sin anyway.
<2022-11-17T00:50:34.000Z> SuperLutheran: So humanity has no excuse. 
<2022-11-17T00:52:38.000Z> SuperLutheran: And truly we are incapable of actually overcoming sin, but even for those who might get rid of 99% of their tendencies, the punishment for sin is death - and even the most penitent man needs a Divine advocate who will have him declared innocent. That's what Jesus does for us :)
<2022-11-17T00:58:27.000Z> Gelert: What of Lazarus and the Rich man? Abraham says there is no need for Lazarus to be raised as his brothers will still not believe if they do not believe the Law and Prophets. This begs the question, what of those without the Law and the Prophets?My characterising sin as a disease inherited from Adam does not necessarily paint God as a monster does it? Can we not suffer sin in this way and those who revel and embrace it not also incur God's wrath justly?Also, how did Elijah and others ascend to heaven before Christ if a Divine advocate is necessary?
<2022-11-17T01:00:38.000Z> Gelert: I submit myself humbly and don't mean to be reproachful, only I've been pressured to think more on these questions by my recent bible study group and the conversations therein.
<2022-11-17T01:32:56.000Z> SuperLutheran: For those who were ignorant of the Lawz St. Paul says in Romans that death still reigned among them due to their sins, because of the Law's witness in their hearts
<2022-11-17T01:34:05.000Z> SuperLutheran: As for sin as an inherited thing, we do truly have original sin, and it manifests as the desire to sin. Everyone at one point or another listens to that and ends up sinning
<2022-11-17T01:35:34.000Z> SuperLutheran: Also don't worry man, you're asking good questions!
<2022-11-17T01:54:20.000Z> Gelert: I've tried to be humble and have kept much under my hat given the politics of many of my peers in Church, though on one occasion a chap went red in the face exclaiming his disapproval of those who think salvation is only for Christians. An agreeable idea that Christianity only confers an "advantage" seems common here. Would you say I'm right in thinking a lack of an appreciation of the severity of sin is the cause of this? Pride has always been an issue for me and I've strove to be humble, especially as a proselyte, though is this a time to be "proud", so to speak, as Jesus says in Luke 9:26? I have a whole arsenal of scripture to counter such radical ecumenicalism but in the interest of humility and being diplomatic would such an argument suffice?:I can at least charitably conclude that I simply don't know who is saved and would not guess, though Jesus himself impresses on us the need to be mindful of disciplining ourselves to his way in the strictest manner possible and so it would be a great dereliction of Christian duty to believe an unbeliever is saved and even vocally excuse their false beliefs.I am sure to remember that we are taught the word is not convenient and many will find it very disagreeable, that the path is straight and the gate narrow etc. but these people are mostly old and most are usual lectors despite being so weak in their scripture so must I simply increase my own faith and let it act as a just example of righteousness as Paul says in 2 Cor 3:3?
<2022-11-17T02:02:34.000Z> Gelert: Furthermore, what can I say when someone says the God of the old testament is not the loving God of the new and only invoked by the Israelites to justify their atrocities? I hear this often from the aforementioned red faced chap whom I have tried impressing the severity of the Canaanites' iniquities, the plethora of unflattering parts of the old testament for the Israelites and the argument of Bronze age barbarism as God using his "rod" to discipline humanity out of love that they may learn.
<2022-11-18T17:35:59.000Z> SuperLutheran: Sorry it took a bit to get back to you fam
<2022-11-18T17:37:37.000Z> SuperLutheran: Most of the time people who claim that being a Christian only confers an advantage or something are driven by emotions. They get sad at the idea of nonbelievers going to hell, so they want to say that they can be just, like, good earnest people and somehow be saved. They don't lack an understanding of the severity of sin - they're actively sticking their fingers in their ears and going "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS"
<2022-11-18T17:41:00.000Z> SuperLutheran: Whenever someone says that the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament, they believe *neither* Testament.
<2022-11-18T17:41:54.000Z> SuperLutheran: Jesus makes it clear that the same God who led the Israelites in the Exodus and crowned King David and brought Judah into exile in Babylon, etc., He is the very same as the God who sent our Lord Jesus to die on a cross for our sins.
<2022-11-18T17:54:17.000Z> SuperLutheran: Whoever this red-faced guy is, he's clearly making up excuses for not liking what Scripture says. He's not wrestling with the text as we are told to do - he's just running away from it.
<2022-11-18T20:37:30.000Z> Gelert: Thanks for getting to me, this isn't urgent and I was a bit embarrassed splurging these thoughts which I've been bottling up so sorry for hitting you with text wall after text wall lol.One last thing to finish this line for now, how should I understand my Christian duty in the face of this? should I risk tearing the group asunder under bad feelings? Should I keep my peace in the hope that I may be a light unto them by my faith further on in my journey when I am confirmed? I understand I can't save everyone, but do not want to be guilty of being ashamed in Christ for the agreeableness of the wayward.
<2022-11-21T00:32:18.000Z> SuperLutheran: I'd say the best thing to do is to speak the truth in love.
<2022-11-21T00:33:08.000Z> SuperLutheran: We don't want to show any hostility to people with room temperature takes or accidental heresy, so letting them know we care is essential; no one cares what you know until they know that you care. 
<2022-11-21T00:44:36.000Z> Gelert: Thanks Super, God bless!
<2022-12-16T15:31:07.000Z> SuperLutheran: 'Sup dude!
<2022-12-16T15:51:48.000Z> Gelert: Bloody phone keyboard sends instead of starting a new line when I press enter lol. Just a quick question that's been a point of contention in the back of my mind during my catechesis. I'm having trouble justifying righteous violence. I can contrive situations where human law may hope to enforce Christian morality through force, where individuals may righteously even kill, perhaps in defence of another; 
<2022-12-16T15:51:52.000Z> Gelert: But in the case of Nations, where conflict must always be lest one overcome the other in the contest for scarce resources and territory, how can such be justified between two otherwise Christian peoples? Could an honourable war, such as those romantically described to have occurred in the medieval age or some more recently in early modern warfare pre-WW1, possibly be in line with such a doctrine? 
<2022-12-16T15:52:14.000Z> Gelert: Or perhaps as Christians are we simply to be contented knowing this is a product of our iniquities that we must suffer? That brings up all sorts of questions regarding concientious objection etc. It also brings up the question of whether a leader other than God himself could morally lead a people. I imagine you may cover this in your upcoming coverage of Romans 13.
<2022-12-16T15:52:48.000Z> Gelert: I've just started that series so I'm looking forward to it. You can probably tell from my previous correspondence that I'm typical of fellows in our milieu with my nationalism and racial politics. Aware of such myself I strive to be humble that I do not pervert God's word into supporting a political chauvinism.
<2022-12-16T20:48:13.000Z> SuperLutheran: Yessir, I'm going to touch on just war theory when I get to Romans 13
<2022-12-16T20:48:55.000Z> SuperLutheran: But that said, I'd be happy to record a VLL for you that answer the more specific aspects and questions you're raising, that I think would be more satisfying. What do you think man?
<2022-12-17T09:15:09.000Z> Gelert: Sure, I'd very much appreciate it. Thanks, as always, Super!
<2022-12-17T09:22:29.000Z> Gelert: Even after all this time it's been a slog to wrap my head around the most basic tenets. I've found Aquinas easier! Recently I think I've finally gained an appreciation for the significance of Christ in the context of fulfilling the law and how that paints our relationship with God.
<2022-12-17T09:22:32.000Z> Gelert: I'm embarrassed it's taken so long for something so basic but I 've come to appreciate the difference between simply repeating a catechism and truly understanding scripture. On the other hand, given my angle, perhaps faith is coming to me as and when I am ready for it, so that I don't use it to justify my own prideful chauvinism.
<2022-12-17T17:16:50.000Z> SuperLutheran: I went through the same tbh, I thought I had everything figured out and then the Small Catechism just blew me away
<2022-12-28T16:08:36.000Z> SuperLutheran: soundcloud.com/verylutheran/vll-35
<2022-12-28T16:08:42.000Z> SuperLutheran: Here's hoping this helped, brother!
<2022-12-31T00:01:50.000Z> Gelert: Brilliant! Thank you very much.
<2022-12-31T15:18:55.000Z> SuperLutheran: Happy to be of service!