The Lutheran Witness

09/03/2026

"Why do we memorize Scripture? Not because our salvation depends on it; not because God will reject us if we don’t. We memorize Scripture because it is good — because God’s Word is 'perfect, reviving the soul … rejoicing the heart … enlightening the eyes' (Psalm 19). We do it, as Reed Lessing points out, 'because the biblical Word connects us to the incarnate Word, the Word made flesh — Jesus our Lord, who comes for us and for our salvation.'"

The September issue of The Lutheran Witness celebrates and offers practical guidance for learning God’s Word by heart, with contributions from Reed Lessing, Anne and Ryan Tinetti, Gene Edward Veith, and others. Link in comments.

08/29/2026

The beheading of St. John the Baptist, remembered on Aug. 29, is one of the greatest examples of the striking incongruity between the eternal triumph of Jesus and the seeming triumph of the devil. ... While uncomfortable to contemplate, St. John the Baptist’s death is a reminder that our riches are not to be found here on earth. There are much greater treasures awaiting us with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
https://witness.lcms.org/2026/fasting-as-an-embodied-practice/

08/27/2026

Are we beginning to worship the Machine? Is the majority of life mediated to us through a screen? Do we consult our devices for everything? Do we always have them in our hands as if they are religious objects of devotion? Do we start the day with our screens rather than Scripture, with our phones rather than prayer? And, perhaps even more concerningly, are we coming to seek connection and communion, advice and therapy, from chatbots?

Forster keenly perceives that the machine age is already changing us — our relationships, our religion, our reality, even our bodies.

08/26/2026

One of the promises of chatbot relationships is perfectly customizable companionship. Chatbots are designed to adapt and be tailored to the user’s preferences, desires, emotional needs and expectations. As a result, the relationship is controlled, managed and curated by the user. Unlike genuine human relationships, chatbot “love” offers little resistance, correction, vulnerability or mutual obligation. Because users exercise total control over these social AI technologies, “love” can look more like self-idolization and self-obsession than the challenging yet deeply rewarding work and virtue required to build a life with a godly spouse or maintain a relationship with a friend. Chatbot “love” and “relationships,” therefore, raise concerns about how the use of these technologies can malform human persons and reinforce some of our worst qualities as sinners.
https://thelc.ms/4cTalJd

08/26/2026

When efficiency becomes the ultimate standard, deep thought dies. Deep thought does not move at the pace of AI; it moves at the pace of wisdom. There is nothing artificial about wisdom. Wisdom is gained slowly, through meditation and reflection. ... In the church, we need to regain a necessary truth: Thinking is useful work.
https://witness.lcms.org/2026/artificial-intelligence-in-the-church-a-call-for-real-wisdom/

08/24/2026

"What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet."
— Psalm 8:4–6

08/21/2026

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: very spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. … By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
— 1 John 4:1–6

08/20/2026

Our cover design meeting for the August issue began innocently enough. Lisa Moeller presented a range of eye-popping abstract covers that melded digital imagery with subtle classical art motifs from Michelangelo to Albrecht Dürer to Roy Lichtenstein. Erica Schwan went next, showing us a striking assortment of page designs that included a human head of pixelated light staring down a digital cross and a woman standing cheek-to-cheek with a robot. Powerfully evocative stuff. And then … it was Carolyn’s turn.

“Now I want you to know,” Erica stated up front, “that this is an experiment.”

I can’t say I wasn’t warned.

It was bizarre. Here we had a picture-perfect image of a pastor in his study, generated in seconds by an AI bot, and it was somehow all wrong.

08/19/2026

"Lo, the hosts of evil round us
Scorn the Christ, assail His ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
Free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
For the living of these days."
— Lutheran Service Book 850:2