Author Archives: Matt

About Matt

Software engineer by trade; lay theologian by nature; Lutheran by grace.

Regaining Sanity on Trump

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Matt

To say it’s been an interesting election cycle so far would be an understatement. Of course, most of the chaos revolves around Donald Trump, and where there’s chaos, there are people freaking out. When it comes to Trump and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

Probably Because You Aren’t Preaching It

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Matt

At least, that’s my best guess after reading Why Are You Asking For More Law? In it, a Lutheran pastor briefly recounts a time when he was approached by some scare-quoted “pillars of the congregation” who were scare-quoted “very concerned” … Continue reading →

Posted in Gospel, Law, Lutheranism, Theological Pietism | 1 Comment

Parenting Rules

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Matt

J. Budziszewski had a great post on Friday: A surprising number of parents tell me that they are afraid to “force” their children to worship with them, because then the kids might come to resent religion. By this reasoning, children … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Youth, Ethics, The Modern Church | 2 Comments

Frivorce Apologetics

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Matt

Whenever one comes across commentary on an issue of broad cultural confusion—for example, marriage amidst American gender confusion and self-centeredness—one has to get used to seeing people realize an important truth while still managing to be completely wrong. It’s like … Continue reading →

Posted in Chastity, Culture, Feminism | 4 Comments

Past Time to Rethink Multiculturalism

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Matt

It seems that stories of the mass sexual assaults that took place in Europe have gotten mainstream attention.  In Cologne, a mob of upwards of a thousand Arab and North African men went on a groping & even raping spree … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics | 2 Comments

Wheaton was Right: a Followup

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Matt

The Federalist ran an article of mine last week—concerning the question of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God (spoiler warning: they don’t.) You can read it over there, but I wanted to take a moment to address some … Continue reading →

Posted in Heresy, Theology | 1 Comment

The Athanasian Creed Probably wasn’t Important, Right?

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Matt

I was all set to teach about the Athanasian Creed at church this morning—before a badly pulled back muscle prevented me from teaching at all. One of the things I planned to note was the uses of the word “catholic” … Continue reading →

Posted in Theology | Leave a comment

The Question No One Asked

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Matt

All sorts of stories are circulating the internet about a recent study by Jean Decety, a developmental neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, which argues that religion makes children less altruistic. Of course, the flavor of the headline will vary … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Science | 1 Comment

Eat, Sleep, Reproduce, Judge, and Die

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Matt

It continues to amaze me just how indelibly the Law is written onto human hearts. What follows is an old blog comment written by an atheist who was becoming disgruntled with the rather pusillanimous way his fellows were intellectually engaging … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Natural Law | Leave a comment

Why Lutherans Sing

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Matt

A few weeks ago, the adult Bible Study that I teach started a new topic:  the historic liturgy used in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.  We’ll be going through it step-by-step from beginning to end and taking an in-depth look at … Continue reading →

Posted in Lutheranism, Theology, Tradition | 1 Comment