Caleb Keith

Podcasting @1517 | Host @ThinkingFellows | Lutheran | Husband & father of 5 | Posting mostly about Lutheran theology & long-form content I've made.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

We have faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation. Misplaced trust in holy and good things like sanctified works and Law is still misplaced trust. We give thanks to God for the Law and the fruits of faith, yet justification and salvation come by faith in Christ alone.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

@calebwait @MichaelHorton_ Jealous

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

@StevenMadonna Made plans to record one next week.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

The discourse on separating children out for kids ministry during church makes it apparent that much of what passes for "worship" in churches today is not recognizably Christian. Not because of overt heresy, but because it is completely vacant of God's divine service to His people through the means of grace.

There is no such thing as "age-appropriate" worship. Listening to a forty-minute lecture on discipleship or a chapter of the Bible is not Christian worship. Churches formed around pedagogy and praise music are not "healthy," no matter how big they are or how much they are growing.

The Church and true Christian worship are found in the corporate proclamation, distribution, and reception of God's Word—not primarily in its explanation, but in its proclamation—and in the Sacraments.

These gifts are given to all people, regardless of age, station, or mental capacity. They are God's actual divine work for His people. It is incredibly sad to see how many Christians are robbed of this through the banal reconstruction of worship around modern infotainment preferences.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

This is what happens when elucidating the wisdom of Scripture replaces, and ultimately becomes, your only sacrament.

fyi: attending and staying in worship services with your family as a child improves outcomes for lifelong faith and church attendance.

Children’s church is a modern innovation that needs to die.

[Luke Simmons @lukedsimmons]

Visited a healthy church in another state today…

While it was sweet to see some families worshipping together, I was grieved by how distracted parents were by their small children.

In my view, everyone would have been better served by utilizing the kids ministry.

[1517 @1517]

"Technological distractions can sometimes serve as anti-sacraments – conduits not of God’s invasive grace into our world, but portals by which we make our escape." -@JohannesFlacius
https://t.co/bcMabiWRco

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

@birdchadlouis Thanks, Chad! I appreciate the shout-out and hope the video serves people with the simple truths and promises of baptism.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

https://t.co/u8UgheR7TU

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Despite the endless spinning and debate, when we get out of the way, baptism is quite simple.

It is the joining of God's Word of promise to water for you.

From the smallest infants to the oldest converts, baptism delivers the forgiveness of sins and union with Christ in His death and resurrection.

Baptism is the confidence that salvation is totally outside of yourself, accomplished and delivered to you by God.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Abortion has renewed acceptance in our society because it is an optimized end to suffering. We see the same arguments with supposed “gender affirming care” and assisted suicide.

It doesn’t matter if the means are evil. Suffering must be stopped quickly by whatever means available.

It turns out murder is always the quickest and most permanent path to end suffering. You can hide it in technology and science to make everyone feel better about it. But it’s still murder.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

https://t.co/KtdOE9bTfA

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Lutheranism is distinct and has many strengths: a rich tradition, beautiful hymnody, and the direct and regular forgiveness of sins through the means of grace.

These all find their anchor in the centrality of justification by grace through faith on account of Christ. Lutheranism is unique when it has an unwavering commitment to this central article of the faith.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

@bonesforsales Just did a video on this. Justification is the central article of our theology. Even the doctrine of God cannot be fully approached without it.

https://t.co/KtdOE9bTfA

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Agree. "Protestant" should go to creedal Christians with public traditions and confessions.

Non-denoms have traditions, "synods," and denominations, but often as a backdrop and not part of their public identity.

This takes them out of the realm of "Protestant" because there is not a unified protesting confession against errors in the one true "catholic" faith.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

https://t.co/7HGxAV6tPo

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Can theologians, too, be saved?

It’s a great question from the late Rod Rosenbladt, and one that I feel weighs more heavily on me the longer I do public theology.

Theology is meant for proclamation, but we sinners often twist it in ways that bring out the worst in us.

There is good news for theologians and pastors: you are saved by the blood of Christ. Your wit, your understanding, and your work do not save you. Christ alone has accomplished your salvation and delivers it to you in the same way that He saves sinners in every vocation.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

@parvizbd Your line, “a dying person should have their congregation with them as they die,” rings extraordinarily true. The ministry of the Church is from cradle to grave. We should strive to have the newly born and the dying side by side in our pews.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Yes a proclamation of dignity against the sinful world is good. Dignity itself is not the Gospel, but it is radically fulfilled by the Gospel. Christ died for us apart from anything good or meritorious in us, including dignity. On our own, all men are worthy of death and hell. You are absolutely correct that the grace of God in the Gospel saves us apart from any “if...then” value contrary to the workings of the world.

Likewise, the Gospel reveals to us God’s grace and love for all people, not just those to whom the world, or my sinful flesh, wishes to assign dignity.

But this gift and enlightenment of grace is not a shared common value among all religions and worldviews that seek peace. The pope should demand that rulers uphold human dignity according to their station, but not because the Gospel is a dialogue. Rather, it is because God has placed this obligation upon us.

When you read the encyclical, I think you will find that the pope deeply mixes the universal ethical imperatives of God for the world with the exclusive message of the Gospel, which only the Church possesses and is called to proclaim clearly to all people.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on AI is a masterclass in confusing God’s law and gospel. He substitutes the proclamation of God’s Word for inter-community and inter-religious dialogue. The bishop of Rome is incorrect, the Gospel of Christ Jesus is not a dialogue. It is God’s sure promise to sinners.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

The pope describes the gospel purely in terms of dialogue and undefined love, going so far as to validate the peace of "the great spiritual paths." He seeks an interwoven conversation of pursuing human dignity through right behavior as the pursuit of the "gospel." The pursuit and protection of human dignity is good and right demand on Christians and the world but this demand is law. In fact it is a divine vocation and obligation. The pope is obviously not in error for seeking the protection of human dignity but he does so at the pure confusion of law and gospel.

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

Here is a full response on YouTube.
https://t.co/4uB8FWK4X1

[Caleb Keith @Caleb_E_Keith]

As Lutherans, we can respond the same way we always have: by asserting the proper distinction between law and Gospel. The Church proclaims the law of God with divine authority, exposing sin and condemning evil. The Gospel is not moral cooperation, global peace, or social harmony. From the lips of the Church and her preachers, the Gospel is the proclamation that Christ Jesus has died and risen for sinners for the forgiveness of sins.