Nostr notes by SuperLutheran

The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop ...

2026-10-28T22:57:13Z

The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop roleplaying games online makes me feel nauseous, but seeing these videos recommended on my youtube feed is instructive about human nature.

Back in the day, you played stuff like D&D because you couldn't go on big adventures in real life with your friends. When I was in my teenage years, that was the main reason we played it. Can't go do cool stuff while on summer vacation? Well here's an alternative for you and your buddies. Even as we grew up and went to college or got jobs and had kids, we still made time for it because it was an easy and free way to have fun. A couple hours of imagining monsters and rolling dice is much easier than making a camping trip happen after all. But I noticed that there were people in our friend group who didn't want to do any IRL fun stuff, they just wanted the tabletop games. No hikes, no sports, no outdoorsy stuff or sparring, just playing the game. Water goes to the level and they took the path of least resistance.

When COVID happened, these same friends ended up playing tabletop games online. They'd go on zoom or skype meetings with friends and play the game for a bit. When the lockdowns were done I'd invite some of them to play, but they ended up preferring the online version. The water went to the new, lower level and the path of least resistance got greased some more.

A couple years later they had stopped playing altogether, and exclusively watched things like critical role on youtube. They haven't played the game in years, because it is easier to watch people play a game than it is to play the game online, which is easier than playing it in real life, which is easier than going out and having real adventures. At this rate, with the slide of effort going down even further I imagine they'll watch compilation clips online instead of tuning in to the livestream. But on the other hand they all complain about feeling unfulfilled.

People are like that in all sorts of ways aren't they? Us sinners can be insanely slothful, but then we all turn around and look back and complain about our quality of life. Joy belongs to the one who does stuff, it seems. God designed us for active lives, while the devil wants us melting into the floor.

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP! For this week's homily, it's ...

2026-10-23T16:45:18Z

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP!

For this week's homily, it's time to talk about Sola Fide and the basic reason the Reformation happened.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/salvation-and-reformation
Video: https://youtu.be/pnhydC_yuKQ

And for the LEVITICUS BIBLE STUDY, let's talk property rights, slavery and more on the Jubilee.
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/leviticus-pt-31-the-right-of
Video: https://youtu.be/X9T7Pd5t7rs

PDF manuscripts can be found here:
https://verylutheran.biz/resources

Support the VLP! If you can't, please let someone know about us, it helps to spread the word!
https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/
https://verylutheran.biz/contact

God bless your weekend everyone!

He 13 O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening ...

2026-10-23T13:04:01Z

*He*
13 O you who dwell in the gardens,
with companions listening for your voice;
let me hear it.

*She*
14 Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.
-Song of Solomon 8:13-14

These final two verses of the Song refer back to the second chapter. He sees her as the same lily of the valleys with whom he first fell in love, and she still sees him as the mighty stag that made her swoon. Their love for one another has kept them young. Since the Song takes place over a number of years, we can imagine this coda being sung by the couple long after they were first wed. It is a sign that they are going strong over the decades, still just as in love as their early years. "And so they lived happily ever after."

Many a marriage falls apart as people drift away from one another, and this mostly happens when the relationship doesn't have a firm foundation. Had the heroes of the Song started out with cynical lust and fornication, then their marriage would have been predicated on *using* one another instead of loving each other. But if romance and passion been the foundation, they would have been sidelined by the fickle nature of emotions - as the bride comments, love is strong but it is like fire, unpredictable and consuming. Nor would their marriage be verdant if it were based on money, family ties, or convenience; these types of "paper marriage" lead to husbands and wives being little more than strangers with rings on. All of these, if they don't end in divorce, lead to wives who feel like caged birds and husbands who feel like slaves.

So what is the secret to this couple's enduring love? As always, this joyous enduring marriage is predicated on their devotion to God. They started out doing things right, kept doing things right, and rejoice in their sunset years that it has turned out exactly as it should have. God has shown them the way, they have followed it, and so they are blessed. Solomon ends the Song with these verses to show that his wisdom works, exhorting single people to follow this example. For those married, the invitation is present to rework the foundations of their relationship, and practice the same devotion the heroes do. God grant that we see more of that in this world!

Here is the latest in the Basic Theology reuploads: ...

2026-10-22T20:41:10Z

Here is the latest in the Basic Theology reuploads:
https://youtu.be/FOULjJsPpmI

Reminder, these come out early over on NCTV!
https://nicecrew.tv/w/hkmLHtRXXxMB5nRxMiKRoE

The latest in the Church Fathers series is now up! Let's ...

2026-10-22T16:18:53Z

The latest in the Church Fathers series is now up!
Let's finish up the fourth book in Against Heresies and look more into Irenaeus' doctrine of human will. Believe it or not, it's not that far off from Luther's.

https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/reading-the-church-212933287

Others 8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What ...

2026-10-22T12:42:43Z

*Others*
8 We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

*She*
10 I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds peace.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he let out the vineyard to keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
-Song of Solomon 8:8-12

The chorus of community sees that the husband and wife are righteous, wise, joyous and very much in love. Enough time has passed such that these two have become role models for every young person around them. So they ask about their sister - who is really a symbol for all children. What does one do knowing that a child will one day grow up to be assailed by the passions and yearnings of love? Even more importantly, what about when she *falls* in love and is spoken for?

Before the bride can answer, they offer an "if/then" set of solutions. If the sister is a virgin and attached to her virtue (being a "wall") they propose guarding her chastity with all their strength. Even if she is betrothed, then the fiance must not be permitted to ruin things. But if she is passionate and curious herself, open to passions or love (being a "door"), they recommend putting her in seclusion until the time is right.

The bride's answer comes from her own experience. She was a "wall," being a shy virgin who properly avoided fornication. We saw this with her proper behavior in the second chapter and all the references to living with her mother instead of wandering about. She dressed modestly, with her figure being guarded as towers were. So for the bride's advice, step one is to encourage that inner desire for modesty and chastity in the sister. Drastic control-freak measures are unnecessary. She cannot just be shut up in a room forever, and no one wants her rebelling out of resentment.

The second and more important piece of advice is in finding the right man. He has to be a man of peace - and by that of course she means *Shalom.* Not just comfort or an absence of conflict, but wholeness and everything going as it should. The bride says that the right man for any woman will be like her husband, someone who follows God's ways instead of letting his passions rule over him. The good man would seek the right things and sees the right things in the sister. Observing her modesty and righteousness, being brought up in the Lord, he would seek to marry her properly at the right time.

Then there is a point of contrast. The bride points to Solomon's marriages - with his thousand women and two hundred harem attendants - and says "no thank you." Her own marriage, described as a single little vineyard, is enough. Sure, Solomon has wealth and more pleasure than any man could ask for. But does he have the intimacy of single marriage, the joy of truly knowing and truly being known? It is as if she says "look upon Solomon my friends. Lucky stiff right? Well let Solomon have his life, but you don't need it nor want it, especially not for your little sister. Get her a godly man who wants her to be his one and only."

This is a bold thing for Solomon to write. In deep humility he expresses regret for his past actions. As an old man he has a pile of women and nothing to show for it but money and strife. He has "vineyards" (political marriages) yielding insane profits for Israel and strengthening his rule through them. He lived in obscene wealth during this time. But what is that compared to a single good marriage? Through the Shulammite's voice, he says to us that it does not compare. Given the chance to start over, he would give up all that he has to possess one godly marriage to one godly woman.

The latest in the Talmud series is now up! Say, did you know that ...

2026-10-21T16:41:11Z

The latest in the Talmud series is now up!
Say, did you know that Adam was a morbidly obese giant that destroyed everything in his path? Did you know that God didn't finish creating the universe? Hey did you know that it's OK for people to worship the stars but only if they do it in groups?
Of course, none of that is true, but the rabbis taught it. Let's go over more nonsense from the Chagigah.

Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/whats-in-the-talmud-part-10

Video: https://youtu.be/NQEbN4ilrRY

NCTV: https://nicecrew.tv/w/vbnhsMj8WXquuSgs9efWoY

Support the VLP in our crusade to make sure people know what they're talking about:

https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/

The Other 5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning ...

2026-10-21T12:41:23Z

*The Other*
5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
-Song of Solomon 8:5-7

This is the most mysterious passage in the Song, because we do not know who is speaking. It cannot be the bride, because she is observed leaning on her husband, which tells us that the husband cannot be the speaker either. Since they were there when the groom was born, that further excludes the bride as speaker. The verbs referring to the speaker ("I awakened you" and "set me") are not grammatically gendered but they are directed at a male.

One option is that this is the Lord speaking to the couple, as well as to us. He speaks as being present when the groom was born, and He is the active agent in "awakening" the soul. If this is the case, then the speaker telling us to put Him as a seal upon our hearts and arms is a reference to the Greatest Commandment. From Deuteronomy 6:

*4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your *heart.* 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your *hand,* and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.*

This then would be the Song telling us in no uncertain terms that fealty to God must be our first priority. It simply must be, or else we will be burnt up by our own desires and end our days poor and despised. The bride has been exhorting her contemporaries to wait in awakening love until the time is right. How shall one do this? By pious fealty and obedience to God.

Someone might claim that the speaker is the groom's father and this is Solomon telling the reader to listen to his wisdom. Others may think it is a yearning motion of desire for permanency on the part of the bride. But these are less likely than God being the speaker. A father's guidance is not always strong enough to deal with the flames of love that arise in a young man's heart; a bride's yearning does not place her at the time her groom was born. Besides, only God can temper, tame, and bind the strength of our inner desires and passions. Let us then heed this exhortation, and place faith and obedience as our highest priorities - lest our passions break out and destroy us.

The riots in France, like all the terror attacks, grooming gangs, ...

2026-10-19T17:25:09Z

The riots in France, like all the terror attacks, grooming gangs, mass fraud, etc. is yet another reason that inviting mass immigration into your country is a sin against your neighbor.
"Let's invite a bunch of foreigners who hate our people and give them money" is a statement of hate no matter how much it is dressed up in love. The officials who don't put that nonsense down like a rabid dog are complicit in the consequences.

Meanwhile here's Luther on what to do with rioters and uprisings.
If it were today he would say "Just shoot them already!"

He 1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! ...

2026-10-19T13:14:01Z

*He*
1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and your flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.

6 How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your mouth like the best wine.

*She*
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.
10 I am my beloved's,
and his desire is for me.

11 Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
-Song of Solomon 7:1-13

It would not be difficult to explain the poetic praise the husband heaps on his bride. Some of it is plain, with animals and fruit describing her large bosom, or comparing the splendor of her hair to expensive purple dye. Other parts require a bit of imagination: her thighs are the work of a "master hand" because they get plenty of exercise. When the husband gazes upon her nude form he is ecstatic, elated, full of joy at the sight of her.

The text invites us men to sympathize with him. When a boy becomes a man, he becomes interested in and attracted to women. But over the course of rejections, watching others get married, and seeing the landscape covered in broken hearts, he quickly learns that almost all women are off limits. The married ones are a no-go; most of the single ones will say no to any invitation to courtship; even if one does say yes, her family might say no or cause problems; she might say yes but not be loyal. This explosion of rejoicing on the husband's part is one part admiration for her figure and the other part exclaiming "Finally!"

Finally someone is his. Finally he can explore the contours of a woman's body and enjoy the rapture of sex. After years of seeing men with their wives being either happy or sad, at last he has his own for sharing the ups and downs of life. Since they waited for marriage, their lovemaking has no hint of guilt, sin, remorse, or fleshly addiction: it is pure joy. Illicit sex robs people of their innocence: Godly sex in marriage matures innocence and makes it stronger.

She of course accepts him entirely and gives herself to him. They waited for this after all, so she puts him at ease with a gentle invitation. They aren't just going to "do it" once and then ditch each other. Instead, she brings the good news that they'll be sharing intimacy in the private fields, the hotels, at home, everywhere. Her soft and reassuring words have the meaning that she will always be available for him to express this love with her. That she "laid up" this life for him tells us that she has been wanting it just as much, preparing for nuptial happiness for decades to come.

Editing David Goggins thumbnails to start with "Hey ...

2026-10-17T01:45:17Z

Editing David Goggins thumbnails to start with "Hey Liberal" groyper

The latest in the Church Fathers series is now up! Irenaeus ...

2026-10-08T17:10:35Z

The latest in the Church Fathers series is now up!
Irenaeus comments on the denial of valid prophecy by marcionites, gnostics, and other groups. Let's take a listen to even more LUTHERAN doctrine from this early Church Father!

https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/reading-the-church-717881967

6 What is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of ...

2026-10-08T12:51:36Z

6 What is that coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7 Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men,
some of the mighty men of Israel,
8 all of them wearing swords
and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh,
against terror by night.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage
from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O daughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
-Song of Solomon 3:6-11

So the day of the wedding arrives. Finally, the man and the woman are going to be rewarded for their patience and diligent obedience to God's plan and rules for courtship. But here the interpreter must make a decision: is Solomon the man in the story, or is he just attending the wedding? I am in the latter camp of interpretation.

Solomon is writing this entire book to show a couple doing things differently than he did. He had a pile of 700 wives, with 300 live-in hookers (or "concubines") at his disposal. It didn't satisfy him, and in the latter part of his life these indiscretions gnaw at his heart while he writes his Song.

Note the irony of the eleventh verse. Attending the wedding as a guest, he is still the king so he must wear a crown. What crown does he wear? The crown his mother gave him when he started his love life - his mother Bathsheba... the adulteress. Yes, Solomon was happy on the day of his first wedding, but the tragic irony is *very* present here on account of the way things panned out. He wears this crown as a reminder of who his mother was and the way he followed in her footsteps; though he puts on a parade, it is for someone else.

So what is our author saying then, if this is not his wedding? He is telling us that he joins the chorus, the "others" that occasionally speak to the woman in the book. He attends the wedding with as much pomp and praise as possible because this relationship is what he has been looking for! It is this sort of Godly wedding and marriage between two saints that he wants to see, and the moment he hears of it he will go at length to make all Israel celebrate it. If Godly marriage is important, then Solomon is saying this is the way it *ought* to be celebrated.

Reposting to show y'all it won't work on me. Now back to ...

2026-10-07T22:02:49Z

Reposting to show y'all it won't work on me.
Now back to my regularly scheduled Red Hot Chili Peppers jam sesh and margarita

RT: https://nicecrew.digital/objects/6acf10f6-7e3d-483e-bc08-c41c91903145

Burke and Nietzsche talk about the Exodus: "I fear that these ...

2026-10-04T00:26:28Z

Burke and Nietzsche talk about the Exodus:

"I fear that these Israelites departing Egypt and obtaining their freedom so suddenly reflects poorly on their character. After all, the Pharaoh had his abuses but so have all rulers. Does that excuse the death of all the Egyptian firstborn and disrespecting all their traditions and prejudices? I predict that these Israelites will have a military dictatorship and revolutionary fervor will bathe the Levant in blood. What do you think?"

"I think slaves should serve the overmen who have will to power. Nietzsche writes of this in his book on the Exodus."

"Wait, you wrote on the Exodus? Where can I find that?"

"I don't know, I don't read Nietzsche."

"The Israelites left Egypt after some plagues? Sounds stupid ...

2026-10-03T23:28:58Z

"The Israelites left Egypt after some plagues? Sounds stupid they uh should have waited for um a dark elf to get into the good graces of the - of the people in charge and then conditions would have improved for the hobbits. Sounds like that shouldn't have uh listened to that Moses guy, his plan worked in practice but I don't know if it would work out in theory."
-some guy who looks like picrel probably

She 12 While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its ...

2026-10-03T13:19:44Z

*She*
12 While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi.

*He*
15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.

*She*
16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
-Song of Solomon 1:12-17

The courtship continues in the last stanzas of the first chapter. The woman puts on perfume to attract the man and goes to his house, expecting to rouse him from his rest by way of pleasant smells. As she approaches him, she is shocked to find that *his* scent is attracting her! She then takes a moment, looking at his restful figure and studying his hair - he's blonde with light curls. She lingers in the moment long enough to think of henna flowers.

As she studies his features, the man turns and speaks to her, praising her beauty. Still being playful, he says her eyes are doves. As she looks at him from the corner of the room, he can feel her gaze like doves had nested there and made their presence known. The way someone can tell they are being watched, there is a tangible attraction in the air, and without her saying a word he tells her that the feeling is mutual.

She replies that he is beautiful, but not by way of his appearance - *that* attraction is still a secret to her. She is too bashful to speak on his henna-like hair or the musky scent he is giving off. Instead, she turns attention to the environment. The man is well to do, a good candidate for provider, having dyed fabric for his furniture and solid materials for his house. Though they are not married and nor are they cohabiting, she speaks of the place as "our house" as a way of suggesting marriage. It is a flirtatious, blushing confession that she wants to stay here.

Solomon writes this as part of how things should be. I disagree with the scholars who claim it was written early on in his reign. Oh no, this is too wistful and reflective of a text. Surrounded by his harem of pagan, immoral wives and concubines (most of whom he married for political alliances), he sits there wondering to himself about how a godly romance SHOULD go. And here, for the beginning of love between men and women, he concludes that it would normally start with playfulness, curiosity, and wonder at the possibilities. If he were alive today, he would see a young woman giggling to herself while writing her name with her boyfriend's last name in her journal, and he would exclaim "exactly!" He would see a young man listening to a song and thinking about his sweetheart, looking longingly at the sunset and proclaim "yes!" For an innocent marriage must start with these innocent, heartwarming moments.

Oh hey my wife is pregnant by the way. Number four is on their ...

2026-10-03T03:07:00Z

Oh hey my wife is pregnant by the way. Number four is on their way.

On the one hand, this is yet another reason it is all the more ...

2026-10-01T20:21:42Z

On the one hand, this is yet another reason it is all the more important that a young man not engage in fornication: one might get the "me too" experience from a woman deciding after the fact that her experience was sexual assault.
On the other hand, what is about to happen to this woman is why the same warning goes to women. When angry young men inevitably dox her and she is lumped together with "mattress girl," Sabrina Erdly's "Jackie" character, and Crystal Mangum, she is NOT going to have a good time with this.
Fornication: not even once guys.