QnA: Tattoos, Organ Donation, Rebellious Lutherans, and Theological Despair

Pastors Bryan Wolfmueller and Andrew Packer answer your theological and Biblical questions. In this episode we take up questions about:
Tattoos
Organ Donation
Rebellious Lutherans
Theological Despair
Submit your questions here: www.wolfmueller...
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Pastor Wolfmueller serves St Paul and Jesus Deaf Lutheran Churches in Austin, TX.
Pastor Packer serves Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, IL.
Upcoming events: www.wolfmueller...

[@camarodust]

God Bless my brothers in the gospels; new to LCMS; coming from United Methodist Church who have lost their way in my opinion!

[@thewordrules]

Welcome. I joined LCMS about 17 years ago after 19 years of Catholocism, and then many more in various evangelical/non-denominational churches. So wonderful to be in a church whose doctrine is based solely on the Word of God.

[@user-ye3he2bg3o]

Wow from works to Grace. Bring the others with you! (I was raised Wesleyan so I can relate.)

[@CalabreseLady]

I have 6 tattoos. I grew up going to a Lutheran church every Sunday and was involved in everything. I was also violently abused by my adoptive mother. My adoptive father hid when she would go on a tirade and never protected me from her wrath. I got my tattoos in an attempt to keep people away from me. Mine are all beautiful and have meaning for me. The words Hope Courage Love are in Mandarin on my left shoulder as well as the word tranquility on my right ankle were done to celebrate surviving cancer. My left wrist has a cross with flowers and the word Faith as a reminder that I can do all things through Christ. My right wrist has the word breathe to remind me that when I’m having a tough time, breathe and pray. I have my cats on my left leg. Some folks get tattoos to just be a rebel, others like myself have a story behind ours. After getting my tattoo of my cats done on my left leg I heard the reference to Leviticus and reached out to my father in law and aunt in a panic. They helped me turn back to my Faith and I began reading my Bible. I finally understood that I am not too sinful for Jesus. I have always believed but thought I was never good enough and had to try harder. That is from my childhood, my sister and I were always told we were never good enough and stupid. I was told as a teenager by my adoptive mother that the whole world would be better off if I were 6’ under so I’ve been carrying some tremendous guilt. I am thankful that I have come back to Jesus and now have peace. I am 53.

[@judithtaylor-fn8ox]

Oh my! I’m so sorry you had those dreadful experiences. Tattoos pale into significance in the face of this terror.

[@basedincali8707]

So tattoos are a part of brokenness and confusion. Precisely. They represent false idols / ideology. Correct. They are a destruction of the Lord's original design. Indeed. They should be reserved for non Christians and those who do not have the sanctification to understand tattoos are simply a combination of at best, a wilderness mentality. Amen.

[@CalabreseLady]

@@judithtaylor-fn8ox Thank you kindly. As difficult as everything was my experiences have turned me into someone with tremendous compassion and empathy. God is SO SO good! 🙏🏽♥️

[@barbaracude4475]

I have had a kidney transplant for 37 years now. I prayed for it for my 15th birthday and have taken care of what God has blessed me with. I also have across with a crown of thorns around it tattoo on my ankle as a daily reminder that I am not my own, I was bought at a price so I honor God by how I treat my body and health. Thank you Lord for those who are kidney donors. They mean so much to us!

[@Texas_Knights]

I heard a rumor that the Green Bay Packers were named after Pastor Packer's grandfather.

[@ajplathwisconsin]

I have cancer. Christ has been with me throughout this entire ordeal. I will not die of this cancer because of Christ! He will determine the time and date for me to come home with Him!

[@joharr4406]

I heard Pastor Packer met Chuck Norris for a stairing contest and it was the first time Chuck winked.

[@davidwiist4950]

"An act of hope against theological despair." Love it. We have Jesus' prayer. We have the clear Word of God, and we have a clear confession of faith. We also have historical precedent with the work of Chemnitz and Andreae and the Formula of Concord. The theological despair that you are describing is tempting but it is not really reasonable considering all of these gifts that have been given to us by God. Thanks guys!

[@adampetersen4795]

Chad Bird explains the use of tattoos through the Old Testament very well. I was quite amazed by what he said.

[@lucastanney9337]

I think there might be an additional concern of the motivation of the tattoo artist. Blood is shed when someone gets a tattoo, the shedding of blood in scripture is a powerful thing.

[@bnsy-1p3.21]

The organ at our church is nearing the end of its useful life, so anyone willing to donate theirs would be gladly considered! Edit: Apparently I misunderstood the thumbnail. My apologies. 😑

[@williamgammeter5113]

There are many reasons to donate one’s body to science. Every physician, and many allied health professionals, have the opportunity to dissect a human cadaver as part of their training. These bodies are treated with the utmost respect and are often donated by former physicians. Organ donation fits in with vocation of neighbor in the laying my life down for others. Donation of gametes potentially for research is not too controversial. Embryonic stem cells from IVF have great potential for medicine, but much discussion remains from bioethical, theological, and even economic standpoints to name a few. Great topic gents. Now I also liked the point of not separating the human person artificially as my body is for me to do with as I please, as my whole personal is body, mind, and soul. Regarding tattoos…I think y’all handled that one well.

[@barefootinroann]

What a great and meaningful connection of tattoos being symptomatic of Gnosticism - if I’ve heard it once… a thousand times referring to a corpse, “that’s not really Mom” or “I don’t care what you do to me after I’m dead - it won’t be me” - yet the connection of the whole person gets lost. Tattoos as a trajectory of that way of thinking was brilliant

[@markhorton3994]

I am now old. When I was young a man who was old then told me that when he was young je was in a motorcycle club. He quit when visible tatoos proclaiming membership became required. He told them thst they might as well have "SUCKER" tattooed on their foreheads. A visible tattoo is a proclamation of who you are. Some people may see a different proclamation than you meant.

[@fernandoduranmanzano]

Glory to Jesus Christ! As far as tattoos are concerned, I highly subscribe to the idea that this topic should be adiaphora. As Pastor Packer has mentioned here, I think it's more a matter of being aware of what you are getting tattooed and honestly, for me it is not something that is about a separation between body and soul, in the sense of Gnosticism, but rather another external medium through which the internal is reflected. I am someone who is covered in tattoos and it is a recurring theme that I am confronted with by others. In my particular case, I started getting tattooed before God called me (back) to Himself in Christ Jesus (received holy baptism as an infant but lived most of my life away from the faith), and I continue to get tattooed to this day. Obviously the motif of my tattoos has changed, as today they are mostly symbols or reflections of the Christian faith. What I have learned to see in my tattoos, especially considering those of the past, is a testimony that gives glory to God and perfectly reflects the transformative power of the Gospel. So to speak, anyone who sees them can trace through the visual medium the road traveled until today and I think it is a beautiful thing. Interestingly, those tattoos from the past have served on some occasions to start some conversations with people who were in a similar background to mine, serving as a window to share the Word.

[@user-np5dt2vf8r]

God wastes nothing in our lives. All Glory and Honor and Praise to the one who leaves the 99 for the 1!! ❤

[@zanereese4796]

So years ago I'm at the LCMS Texas District Convention, a few Pastors and I get in an elevator, last person in was a young woman with a, uh, lower back tattoo. After we exited the elevator, all I caught from the muted discussion from the Pastors was, "Luther's Rose?" If for not being chicken, I might get the tattoo of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword. "Ask yourself, why do you seek the Cup of Christ? Is it for His Glory, or yours."

[@billstiefel7384]

Lutherans for Life has a nice statement in organ donation.

[@deannajunkin3696]

I am an organ recipient, so you would think I would be a huge supporter of it. I am actually unsure if it is desecration of the body or not. I am also not a fan of cremation or donation of the body to science, so go figure! I received a donor pulmonary valve 35 years ago at age nine. I am healthy to this day, take no medication, and have given birth to five children who wouldn't be here otherwise. I am thankful for the organ and the donor for sure, but I think it's wrong to think of the human body as a collection of parts to be used as commodities.

[@thewordrules]

2 Timothy 3 16-17 tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work. It is good to discuss doctrine openly by using the Word of God.

[@ThomasSimmons-u5x]

"It is sown a natural body; it is a raised a spiritual body. There is a natural and there is a spiritual body." I Corinthians 15:44 Temptations of Gnosticism notwithstanding: "Now I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incoruption." verse 50. PS: I found Sergius Bulgakov's (Unfading Light) Helpful with the questions of spirit and body. Thanks for this sincere discussion.

[@tcphvacr9950]

I would think our glorified bodies wouldn’t show scars, because Christ has his scars to remind us of what he did for us, and we wouldn’t be put on the same level as He is.

[@currygirl7225]

I love this Q&A Helps me when these questions come up in conversations.

[@Nothing2CHere4U]

No such thing as rebellious Lutherans, just Dedicated Protestants.

[@idahardy4052]

So, I just watched part of your conversation with two young Catholic ladies and I may have misunderstood, but i thought they asked you about the indelible mark on you when you are baptized. And I thought you said no, there is not. I have to go back and listen to that part again and listen to you talk about this here again. I’m not getting a tattoo or anything, it’s not my thing, but I was just very interested in that concept.

[@markhorton3994]

I installed a spray boothfor Smith and Nephew Donjoy. That location makes orthopedic braces. Mostly knee. While I was there they had a human leg in their laboratory. Someone's leg was used to learn how to help others walk better.

[@FrogDad556]

I wonder how many older saints will feel a touch aloof when Jesus comes back with King of Kings Lord of Lords tattooed on Him.

[@gumbyshrimp2606]

Is it written in ink? Or in blood

[@dirkstevens3805]

I guess the thought I always had about organ donation is this: Is death something to be feared? We all die. As Christians, should we be sewing bits of other people, sometimes dead people, into ourselves to maintain our life a little longer?

[@TheodenEdnewDoesDnD]

Hey Pastor Packer, I heard a rumor about you. I heard that you met Andre the Giant in Iowa when you were younger and you challenged him to arm wrestle. Rumor has it that Andre accepted and the wrestling took several hours. When Andre saw that he could not overpower Packer, he touched the socket of Packer's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with Andre. Then Packer said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

[@dnoslen6124]

No Regerts!😂

[@indycarfanrw8552]

Hilarious!! The classic tattoo fail

[@CalabreseLady]

@@dnoslen6124 🤣🤣🤣

[@mrissarosenthal7500]

It would be good to weigh the risk of cancer from tatoo ink as well

[@shoestringfarmer]

25:35 how is LCMS president Harrison or others within the LCMS ordained ministers any different to what Rome was to Lutherans when facing the denial of council with Rome? Hypocrisy is always creeping around the corner.

[@leonceboudreauxwolf]

Jesus still had the marks in His resurrected body. Telling Thomas to place his hand in His side wound , and He still had the marks from the spikes driven in His hands and feet. Tattoos are marks, colored scarring from ink. So, will our tattoos come through with our resurrected bodies...maybe if Jesus' marks were still visible ours will be too ? Interesting question.

[@garymatthews1280]

A tattoo of your face on the back of your head would make you look like Voldemort . That wouldn’t be one of my goals.

[@LivingWaterEternal]

I had to leave an LCMS church due to bad church dogma at the highest levels of our church. Now I have no LCMS church. What do you recommend. It was real bad and I cannot be a part of the church so I am crashing other denominations, say my own Lutheran Prayer. Best is at the Catholic church. Haha. I live in an area of no LCMS but one bad one. 😢😢😢 great podcast thanks and God Bless!!!!

[@mroxannevh]

Our old lcms pastor said if you can't find a good one maybe you could find a good wels or Anglican

[@charliecampbell6851]

There are a few other reliable Lutheran groups. NALC and AALC are fine. WELS is also conservative but some would say it's a bit overboard and intense, they have specific prayer fellowship (you're not supposed to pray with folks outside the church). Other than that, Anglican. Then maybe a conservative Presbyterian? At that point, Catholic might be about as good.

[@kolab5620]

What was the bad dogma? Because depending on the doctrine and whether or not you have kids it might be worthwhile to just stay at the church and pray for reform. Maybe even seek help from your district president or other churches within your district.

[@savagewife6651]

I hope tattoos don't make it through to the resurrection, at least the ones people regret getting.

[@matthewesquire4518]

Nothing against anyone that has one, but I think one issue is the permanence in terms of mindset. Even my favorite Bible verse has changed several times since college, often depending on what was going on in my life. What seems crucial one day gets pushed to the back burner the next.

[@DRNewcomb]

My former pastor had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on the inside of his right arm. I have considered having an Arabic letter nūn tattooed in the same place. ISIS would brand Christians with the letter nūn for Nazarene.

[@magicalfruitstudios4162]

I saw someone who got a tattoo of a mustache on his face, made of barbed wire. 😬 The only tattoo I want is a wedding ring tattoo, because as a handyman, I don't want my ring ripped off of my finger, getting it stuck somewhere.

[@nancymclaughlin8051]

our bodies are the temple of God.. How can we support the desecration of this temple

[@matthewromans5383]

Luther & Submission 18:45

[@DrMJS]

I have read that Orthodox Coptic Christians tattoo crosses on their right wrists. For some reason I remembered something about face, but the wrist seems like a better idea.

[@cbwilson2398]

@3:04 Is replacing the object form of the pronoun (e.g., me) with the subject form (e.g., I) in the object position, as in "to her and I" possibly a form of gnostic syntax? 🤔

[@a_fisherofmen]

Doesn't Jesus have a tattoo on one of his legs that says "King of Kings and Lord of Lords"

[@nilsalmgren4492]

So how is the argument against the Roman Catholics validating the Lutheran variation on the theme not also undermined by the same ideas? After all, nowhere in scripture does it say we have a human intercessor between Jesus and us. As a matter of fact Scripture states we have no other intercessor. No man comes between me and Jesus. Jesus is my personal groom and I am the wife, just as each Lutheran pastor is also a wife. I am not a wife's wife. Not exactly the illustration I would choose to use but it is how God describes it.

[@andrewpacker2592]

No individual Christian is the bride of Christ - the Church is the bride of Christ. That is a quite significant difference.

[@nilsalmgren4492]

@@andrewpacker2592 Who are the branches? Is it the LCMS and it's pastors? "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes [1] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

[@andrewpacker2592]

@@nilsalmgren4492 - I don’t think you understand Lutheran theology or have heard some weird caricatures of it. No one has ever expended that passage in that way. Why do you think Lutherans believe that?

[@nilsalmgren4492]

@@andrewpacker2592 You do know the pastor holds the keys to heaven and that the performing the sacraments is how you come into contact with God's grace. Is this not what LCMS teaches? You pastors hold the keys to heaven do they not? No pastor no heaven for you.

[@nilsalmgren4492]

@@andrewpacker2592 By the way, are you a part of the vine? Does that make you a bride?

[@P-el4zd]

Tattoos are debased.

[@charliecampbell6851]

Pastor Packer, I heard a rumor that you have your hair in a buzz cut to mimic the camel's hair and leather belt worn by John the Baptist. Is that true?

[@cindystokes8347]

On Theological unity: A loved one joined a church started by a pastor from a calvinist seminary. Calvin, in my opinion, leaned too much on philosophy and wandered from the Word for his arguments. Calvin would be horrified where this has led a congregation led by a Calvinist pastor. My loved one talks of God’s part and our part and how we must make a decision every day to obey, etc. Never mind that the language is not biblical and obedience of faith springs from a regenerated heart granted to us by God to respond in faith to the COMMAND (not “invitation”) to believe the Gospel. We will never have unity of belief until we refuse to accept any “opinion” from someone who argues their case without quoting the Bible even once. We should speak as if the very words of God. (Forget which letter I’m quoting here). I’ve never seen a false doctrine that didn’t find its argument from at most a verse out of context but usually from man’s philosophy.

[@chrislutz416]

While not a sin in particular, tattoos generally point to a deeper problem with the person. The person did it while on drugs or drunk. They did it to go along with the crowd. They did it because they think it solves some mental or spiritual problem. Therefore, the tattoos never say anything good about the person. They scream, I was out of it, weak willed, or damaged in some way. BTW, since Paul talks about how women should show their virtue in their actions and not how they dress or appear, aren't tattoos in a similar realm. Inking yourself up seems to go against that. Instead of your actions in Christ defining you, you make yourself a walking billboard. Again, tattoos are not specifically sinful, and I am not attacking those who have them. I do not think they are a good thing for Christians.

[@savagewife6651]

This is an interesting take. I got all 5 of my tattoos in a 2-3 year span age 19-21 ish. Definitely was during some of my teenage/young adult rebellious years where I had no impulse control, not on drugs or alcohol, but definitely was not in a good state of mind, regularly lectured about how I was going to hell for living a sinful lifestyle. I had no respect for my body at the time. It wasn't long after that I regretted getting them... 3/5 are ok but the other 2 are just stupid, and I think that was part of what gave me a reality check.... I hope mine don't make it to the resurrection or at least the ones I regret, or maybe we'll at least be able to wear clothes so I can cover them. In the future I only see myself getting possible cover ups or else it would have to be something I consider for months or years ... Not mere days lol. Praise be to God that Jesus died for me while knowing that I would defile my body that he created. Something I always remember a friend's Dad saying when we putting makeup on her little sister was that if God wanted us to look that way, he would have made us that way... There's no good reason for a person to modify or change (for non functional reasons) that God so wonderfully created.

[@jdowney308]

I’ve got a couple of tattoos back in the ‘80s, and at least back then, the artists wouldn’t touch you if you came in drunk, or stoned. They’d tell you to come back when you were sober.

[@paigeandchristopher8915]

Thumbnail says “rebelous Lutherans”

[@SeanusAurelius]

@Bryan Wolfmueller Here's my pushback on theological despair and sectarianism within Protestants: For background, I'm a former Catholic, turned Baptist, rapidly trending Lutheran in my beliefs but am put off by what I see as sectarianism in excess of that which is needed to retain their distinctives. Luther disobeyed Rome over the gospel, and rightly so. Scripture is sufficient to establish the gospel. We not only believe this as a matter of faith and as a consequence of it being inspired, but the fact that Protestants, despite having so many branches, are actually pretty uniform on the Gospel. But: Scripture clearly is not sufficient on *every* matter. We all agree it's not an economics textbook, or a science textbook. On matters theological, there are topics that scripture is not sufficient on, e.g. the end times, which Lutherans don't take a dogmatic view on, etc. Or issues more unclear than that. So it's fair to ask: Did Luther and the later Lutherans really discern which topics actually are clear correctly? And are you really, honestly sure there's no Corinthian style factional impulse on the part of the Lutherans when it comes to other bible believing, gospel affirming Christians? That's not theological despair, it's sound recognition of the fact that sufficiency of scripture does not extend to every topic and 500 years of history suggests that some of those topics were not exactly the ones that the early Reformers identified. Furthermore, excessive factionalism is actually an issue recognised as a problem in scripture, and that scripture seems to suggest that the dividing line for the breaking of fellowship is the denial of the Gospel. That's not to say that the Lutherans should abandon their distinctives, but would it really hurt to allow reputable, bible-believing, Gospel-preaching pastors teach as visitors with some sort of vetting process? I'm still trending Lutheran but honestly, sometimes I wonder if they actually would refuse communion and refuse to hear a preacher in a secret gulag church service if the preacher wasn't Lutheran. The alphabet soup of Lutheran denominations actually is an embarrassment and Rome and atheists are not 100% wrong to crow about it.

[@andrewpacker2592]

The sufficiency of Scripture - Scripture is sufficient for everything you need to know for salvation and a godly life. It is not supposed to be sufficient for several things you mention. It also doesn't mean that every issue is as clear as we like. Humility should go hand in hand with any study of Scripture.

[@SeanusAurelius]

​@@andrewpacker2592 Thanks Andrew - I assume you're Pastor Packer in the video, is that true? If so, thanks for a personal reply. I agree with your response in general, but I would question: Re: other Protestants, is the desire to avoid Corinthian style factionalism of the sort condemned in scripture even something that's factored into decisions about to how to relate to other (true) Christians in the LCMS/other orthodox Lutheran churches? I'm not opposed to the idea that you'd defend LCMS dogmatics tenaciously - in fact, I like it. But I do wonder if the risk of factionalism that is preached in the scripture is downplayed or is not seen as a sin issue in the Lutheran tradition?

[@andrewpacker2592]

@@SeanusAurelius - I think it's a fair question and one I honestly see Lutherans struggle with. I think that is definitely a temptation for Lutherans that we should constantly be on guard against. At the same time I think we can be tenaciously Lutheran while at the same time being charitable and friendly with Christians that are not Lutheran but are striving to believe and live in accordance with Scripture. I do this myself by reading widely, having friends who are not Lutheran, remembering our own blind spots and faults as Lutherans, etc. Does that help?

[@seanoconnor5311]

​​​​​@@andrewpacker2592 Yes it does; the attitude it reveals is what I'd hope a good Christian pastor in a church with strongly held dogmatics/distinctives would think. Are you 'normal' within LCMS or would this make you unusually ecumenical? Either way, the fact you're in good standing and can say such things shows it's obviously not de facto forbidden to think along those lines. Thanks for the responses. I've been enriched by your videos. May God guide, bless, and protect you as you do His work.

[@christy31180]

I heard a rumor that Pastor Packer eats his pizza with a knife & fork. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@timothydekoster4846]

Blood is an organ. Skin/flesh is the largest organ on the body. Jesus gave us his blood. And we eat Jesus flesh and blood. The blood is the life!

[@WayneDrake-uk1gg]

There was an "Atheist Challenge" on KZbin years ago where ex-Christians would publicly reject the faith by "blaspheming the Holy Spirit" on video. Perhaps clergy confident in their understanding of this sin should take up the challenge tthemselves, just to show how certain they are that saying such and such "dirty word" in conjunction with "Holy Spirit" won't damn them. Let's see who's really above superstition vs those who are just soapboxing with a real rubber meets road test😂😂

[@jerryyoung6494]

Seems to me, growing up tattoos were a sin across denominations and scripture was used. Now that everyone is getting them (how is it “cool” when so common) it’s not a sin. Kind of like sexual issues….

[@andrewpacker2592]

Can you show which verses show that tattoos are a sin? Because there are tons of verses about sexual sins.

[@lonhickman75]

I heard a rumor that Pastor Packer is ironically a Cowboys fan

[@andrewpacker2592]

This is just slander or all slanders. Go Steelers!

[@timjones1583]

Lev. 19:28 THOU SHALT NOT PRINT ANY MARKS ON YOUR SKIN OR MAKE ANY CUTTINGS IN YOUR FLESH.

[@andrewpacker2592]

Yeah, we mentioned that. Do you follow verse 27 of that chapter? Do you keep all the ceremonial laws? Have you read Galatians?

[@timjones1583]

@@andrewpacker2592 no such thing as ceremonial law or moral law. I doubt you understand Galatians, like most "christians" you have it completely backwards.

[@andrewpacker2592]

@@timjones1583- so you still offer sacrifices? And have your hair and beard according to 19:27?

[@timjones1583]

@@andrewpacker2592 There is no temple. The Levitical priesthood is in disarray, just like when Israel was carried away to Babylon. no sacrifices then either. Hair and beard. men should not have long hair, I have a beard but its neat and trimmed. I think you are referring to pulling out your hair and beard when someone dies, no, I don't pull my hair out.

[@andrewpacker2592]

@@timjones1583- No, I am referring to verse 27 of the chapter you quoted. Which I guess means you are not following it…There is no sacrifice because Jesus was the final sacrifice.

[@user-hh8hw2wj9b]

Maybe the Lutheran Church wouldn't have been in such a bad state if it didn't abandon the Episcopate and maintained Apostolic Succession, Congregationalist polity have been very detrimental.

[@exvan3571]

The heretic allowed to write an explanation essay in the latest Large Cathechism from Concordia Publishing House, as well as the ridiculous culture war virtue signaling contained therein, is a symptom that proves your point.

[@zoomer9686]

isn't the pope blessing gay weddings now lol

[@seanoconnor5311]

How are the Episcopalians?

[@mroxannevh]

Tattoos are regarded differently as adiaphora imo, maybe because culturally? How is it different than plastic surgery, hair dye, makeup, etc? Or even as far as gastric sleeve surgery or a vasectomy / tubal ligation? A few years ago I went to the "Bodies" exhibit in San Jose, where people donate their bodies post mortem for art. Bodies sawed in half, in sheets, nervous systems, lymphatic systems exploded in a web etc. It was bizarre and sickening to me and my husband. No we shouldn't do that with our bodies. The gnostic idea that it's just a meat suit is embraced by secular culture, therefore we should be unlike culture.

[@melindabraun6900]

Two people engaging in a healthy debate...this is not mean

[@thejoshuaproject3809]

Meat suit 🥩👔😂