Ive rewrote this a bunch of times, and I didn’t know what to categorize this as… but I don’t know how to start other than; I’ve hit rock bottom and I think I want to believe in god again. I feel like everything this year has gone awry, and I returning to him was on my mind since I’ve started questioning earlier this year.

I haven’t believed in God since I was 12, when I denounced it for going through mental issues and have been following a pagan life style because it wasn’t defined by a single book and set of rules. But, I’m a different person than when I was 12. I was trans-male, a few years later back to cis and in a mean toss up between lesbian and bisexual, and everything under the sun up. I’d love to mention, there’s nothing inherently bad with me going through these phases, I loved who I was during these times, from being bitty the genderfluid wattpad writer when I was a tweeny, to being a matt the trans boy as a young teen, to Des the mean gay as a young adult, to the person I am today. I’m almost twice that age, and I’ve lived 7 life times since then. Today I’m a married straight woman, something I wouldn’t have ever guessed. But one thing that never changed was my love of paganism and its divine love of the universe and not just by a single god.

But this last year, I’ve just completely seem to forgotten who I am at all. The woman I was a year ago feels like… she’s just completely gone. I’ve questioned all my morals. I’ve had the worst year of my life. I’ve lost out on two decent jobs due to management, one didn’t like me, and one just straight up straightened to punch me in the face. My brother in law passed away from suicide, my grandmother from congestive heart failure six days later. My family drama has me physically ill, I feel like I’m in the deepest whole of my life, I couldn’t be happy on my wedding day because family stuff, everything this last year though, it’s broken me. And my soul feels like it’s calling out for something more powerful for the universe.

I started questioning my own religion this year. I prayed for him to help my friend. I won’t say what for, but I did. I asked for him, if you’ve ever seen greys anatomy and watch Jackson pray for April? Kinda like that, just less dramatic and driving down a county road going 55 mph while listening to Sarcasm by Get Scared. And, he pulled through. And at first I felt angry, because when I was 11 begging god to fix me I felt like he never listened to me and he listened for her. And now I’m confused and I think just want him to hear me again.

I don’t know. I think I’m just asking for advice? Help how to start? Does accepting god mean I just have to completely ignore my spiritual side? Does accepting god mean I have to practice my tarot cards? How do I go about this? I know life is all about change and adjusting and finding what works best for you, but I need some kind of guidance. Ive been sure of something in myself for 10 years, but im not even sure of it anymore.

How do I love those who have a different political view/opinion than I do?

So I was just wondering because I keep hearing that it is a sin and then I hear that’s it not. Leviticus 18:22 says Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Not trying to offend anyone I’m just curious.

Hi, everybody!

Let me start this post by saying that I have almost always been a firm believer in pursuing a personal and deep relationship with faith and God, even when that means I have to go through my own challenges in making sense of my religion and identity, especially as someone who has fought "tooth and nail" with religious trauma in embracing my non-binary gender and sexuality today. This is something that I have always thanked God for! I have wrestled and struggled with Him on these things throughout my journey; hence, it is very strange to feel that I'm truly considering becoming an atheist in the future lately—not mainly because it is painfully hard to keep up with religion (although, yeah, it's part of my reasons, lol), but rather the feeling of gradual realization that Christianity is becoming more of a helpful-therapeutic yet complicated myth that may no longer serve its purpose for me.

The more I study my faith and the diversity of religious narratives, the more I feel disconnected from treating the Bible and even Jesus as literal and objective figures of divinity and truth. Even more, I am no longer really convinced by any arguments for the existence of hell and the overall afterlife. And lastly, although it may sound unorthodox, I find it hard to believe in an all-powerful or omnipotent God while being a believer because of the vastness of human bigotry and suffering that we, as people, have to account for. At the end of the day, maybe we are really left in this universal solitude of finitude and responsibility to love and take care of each other, and I'm becoming more okay with that.

Just so you know, this hurts for me to know and understand because I do not want to give up on God and Christianity so easily. Moreover, I am very passionate about the mystical side of this religion, and I have had my own ups and downs with my faith, and yet, I came back more of a believer. I'm just not really sure it's still the same case now.

I'm not really looking for any arguments to hopefully convince me to stay (I'm aware of them ; )), but I would love for you guys to share your own stories if you have been through and are going through the same experience. Thanks!

Note: I currently identify as an agnostic Christian, and as I'm writing this, I think it would also be a feasible option for me to refrain from institutional religion and explore various religions as well to openly conclude my side.

my parents have grown very hateful due to maga stuff. when i try to draw a line or tell them S T O P they always say “the commandments say to honor your mother and father” i feel they are taking that out of context.

can we talk about what honoring your mother and father really means? where is the line drawn for honoring them? what should i say in response to this? Thanks for reading. I love this subreddit a lot.

Hello I not really in the progressive christian community but I was wondering since the bible is said to codemn homosexuality. How do you guys justify your sexuality to people who think its wrong. Hopefully this doesn't come off the wrong way.

Dude in his thirties now but back in the day, I was a major fan of Jordan Peterson. I knew about him from his YouTube lectures before he got his major boost via the culture wars and eventually an ascent into podcast world. For me Peterson was really the only voice I really had in my life who felt like they were speaking to the struggles I had at the time. Sure his twelve rules for life stuff, which he was talking about way before the book, seems quaint but when you don't have anything else it feels profound.

I dropped Peterson once it felt like he was manipulating his audience in a political direction. And through my own deconstruction and reconstruction I came across Richard Rohr. If you're not familiar with him he's a fransican priest who writes extensively on contemplation, christian mysticism, spiritual development, and a lot of his early work focuses on men's issues in particular. If Peterson was buttery popcorn for my twenty something lonely dude brain, Rohr was bowl of hearty veggies at a friendly local cafe.

Rohr does a fantastic job of acknowledging that challenges young men go through from not receiving role models, mentorship, purpose, identity, or belonging. But instead of using these wounds to turn his readers into nasty online commenters. He instead encourages and preaches that vulnerability will lead to real strength, that identity is found by going beyond just your own ego and finding it in Christ. And I think most importantly of all he does a great job of advocating for a balanced masculinity that stresses wisdom and compassion as a sign of maturity and fulfillment.

Rohr's work goes way beyond just talking to men but given the clear trend that young men are flying off into wild directions. My own experience reading Rohr has been coming to mind more recently. Also Rohr definitely sits on the progressive end of Catholicism and is inclusive.

I'm curious if others on this sub have read Rohr's works and if they have any ideas on how to best introduce him to the young angry dude demographic. I've had some success within my own circles and family members who tend to look up to me and trust me but beyond that I'm trying to brain storm how to best try to foster healing in that demographic.

I'm a straight guy who attends a affirming church and really I feel called to try and speak to a demographic who's pain and really poor reaction to that pain is now threatening everyone. I regret having not done more sooner.

I use the NRSVue currently but it is getting to the point of falling apart. I pastor a progressive church and typically default to NRSV. We don't have a preferred Bible, however, we stay away from KJV usually. I am in search of a good NRSV study bible, however, am open to NASB or NIV. I am open to others.

I (23) just came out to my grandfather (87)—the man who is the epitome of everything that I thought would reject me. He's a staunch, Hyper-conservative Christian, someone who watches Fox News religiously and believes in the strictest of fundamentalist ideals. And yet, after I poured my heart out, trembling and tear-streaked, I am left standing here, overwhelmed by the love I feel for him. I’ve never felt closer to him. I swear, I’m not exaggerating when I say I love him more than words can express.

The day before all of this happened, my grandfather was saying things about homosexuals that stung deeper than any insult I’d ever known. He spoke of it with such disgust, as if love itself could be wrong. And hearing those words hurt in a way I didn’t expect, like a slow knife to the heart, because this man raised me. He’d been more of a father to me than my own dad, who was barely present at all. And yet here he was, someone I thought loved me, talking as if people like me couldn’t be loved, as if my love made me something to be ashamed of. That night, I went home feeling so small, with questions echoing through my mind that I couldn’t ignore. I opened my Bible, searching for something—anything—that would let me believe there was still love left for me in God’s eyes. I read until my vision blurred, until I fell asleep in bed with the Bible still in my hands.

In my sleep, I had a dream so vivid it still shakes me to my core. I saw myself crying at the gates of heaven, feeling utterly alone and convinced that I’d never be allowed in, convinced that my love had put me beyond the reach of salvation. I sobbed, believing that God couldn’t possibly love me, that I was an outcast, unworthy. But then, in the middle of my tears, the Lord himself appeared beside me. He took me in his arms, and in that warm embrace, I felt a peace that I had never known. He looked into my eyes, and in a voice that calmed every fear I had ever carried, he told me he loved me—exactly as I am. He held me tightly, reassuring me that nothing about who I am was a mistake, that he made me in his image, with the love I have inside me. When I woke up, my face was wet with tears, but my heart was light in a way it hadn’t been in years. God had proven me wrong, and I felt it in every fibre of my being: I am loved. I am loved just as I am.

As I told this to my grandfather, I couldn't even look at him. The tears were relentless, and the fear gnawed at my insides. I braced myself for the worst. I expected him to throw me out, tell me how ashamed he was, or ask me where he went wrong raising me. I had heard those things before. I had listened to the venom he’d parroted from other self proclaimed Christians, heard him spew judgment and condemnation. So, I was prepared to hear the same thing.

But then, something incredible happened. After I finished my long, tearful confession, I buried my face in my hands. I was so sure that this was going to be the end of us, the end of any hope of reconciliation. But instead, he walked over to me, put a tissue in my hand, and pulled me into the tightest hug I’ve ever received. And then, with all sincerity, he said, "Amen."

This man—this Christian fundamentalist who had believed for his entire life that homosexuality was an unforgivable sin—hugged me with everything he had and told me that God loved me just as I am, and always would. He told me not to be afraid to love who I love. And then, right in that moment, in a way that I can never fully express, he said, "I realize now that the Old Testament is just that—the Old Testament. The New Testament tells us to love thy neighbour, to love your family, and not to judge because judgment is His job. I love you so much."

I don’t think I’ll ever stop crying. I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving him.

When I asked him, "The same God that loves you loves me, right?" He looked at me with the clearest eyes and said, "You’re absolutely right."

And when I worried that he would pray for me to be "fixed," he simply said, "What is there to fix? He loves you and I love you."

Do you understand the weight of this? My grandfather, the man who had only a day ago described Anglican churches as "repulsive" for welcoming homosexuals, turned around 24 hours later and said to me, "Those churches, they are good. They recognize that we are all God's children, all made in His image. They understand that everyone is welcome to learn and understand God’s love. That’s why we’re all here."

That’s the same man who once saw my love as a problem, and now, just a moment later, is telling me that God’s love knows no bounds.

The moment that hit me the hardest was when I told him that I didn’t want him to think my homosexuality was the voice of Satan. And he responded, “No. Satan told you that God wouldn’t love you. Satan told you that your homosexuality meant you had to repent to God and punish yourself or else He would never love you. But God is the one who loves you no matter what.”

I just... Oh my God. My grandfather said that. Of all people. After years of silence, after years of fearing this moment, it all came down to me admitting who I am—and realizing that I am loved. I am loved by God.

And if that can happen, if he can change, there is hope for the world. My grandfather is nearly 90. He has spent his entire life clinging to beliefs that told him who could and couldn’t be loved. And yet today, despite everything, he told me he may not understand it all just yet—but he is going to try his best. Because he loves me. And God taught him not to hate.

I am sharing this because I know there are so many of you out there who feel unloved or unsafe right now. But please, know that love is always stronger than hate. The world is good. People can change. I don’t know if I can ever fully convey how incredible today was, but I do know that the love I feel for my grandfather right now—despite everything—is a love that is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt. Besides the love of our Lord of course!

Love is always stronger. The world is good. And today, I saw that truth with my own eyes and my own heart.

So I had a weird thing where I suddenly went on an hour walk where I walked up to a bunch of churches, stopped infront of one where church bells immediately started ringing as I looked at the sign (it had a progressive flag on the front!), and I found out it starts tomorrow at 10:30. I was advised by others to get there 30 min early to see if I can chat with the priest first to figure out how to person in the church (I'm AuHDHD lol).

I'm a bit nervous, any advice for my first time going?

It seems like life just keeps getting harder. My fiance has health issues, the cost of living in our state is absolutely bonkers and our land lord is threatening to raise the rent and there's no where we can afford if we have to move anywhere near our jobs. Please pray for us.

For the first time, I let myself have a religious conversation that challenged my beliefs a little despite the fact my OCD has been rough lately (oops). My partner and I were speaking about it, from the rapture and then the devil. I’ve been taught a lot of stuff that was unhealthy with the devil. When I had worsening OCD I was told it was the devil in my mind by my family, and worse. My partner told me he sometimes struggles seeing the devil as all evil, for the fact he punishes, was once an angel, that God knew he would fall, and he tried to bring me comfort when he saw I got a little anxious that he doesn’t think the devil is good no, he put it as “if a wolf is trying to eating me, I know it has no empathy for me, but I might feel empathy for the fact it’s hungry.” That makes sense a bit to me, it just makes me anxious. I always get afraid when I have these conversations, and worse, my OCD tries to say I can’t love those or be with those who have slightly different beliefs than me. I talked to him for a long while, I didn’t try to push anything but he saw me struggling to not to cry when I was getting triggered. I tried really hard to suck it up, but does anyone have any insight on this and anything that could comfort me? Logic helps me calm when my OCD is saying stuff like what if I can’t be with those who don’t believe in the exact things as me.

So I’ve been reading a number of these posts here and the word hate keeps coming up. I thought I’d share a powerful quote that I heard recently. Let me know what you think.

“Hate is the mask fear wears when it’s trying to make itself look tough.” Pastor Brian Zahnd

This sounds kind of silly. But it's really bothered me for days since the election and I thought it'd be good to run it by others.

I don't hear voices or anything, but I have felt times where I felt the Holy Spirit was pushing my towards things. And I would try to trust these pushes or pulls as a way of showing faith towards God. I've heard lots of other Christians say the same thing.

And I wouldn't just follow whatever impulse I had. I would pray to Christ for discernment and guidance, as well as for his protection from being misled. This has never steered me wrong before.

Buuuut I felt like God had 100% been telling me not to worry about the election, that Trump would lose, that evil would not win. And so I tried to trust him on that. And I got punished for it.

I'm not angry at God that I didn't get my desired outcome, but I am hurt by him for allowing me to be misled and hurt by trying to trust him. I'd made a deal with him that I'll do my best to trust him so long as he'll give me discernment and protect me from being misled. But he let me believe something was his voice when it wasn't and I got hurt because of it.

Now I'm basically having an existential crisis. How can I ever trust God again with anything? How can I ever know when I'm in the right or following him? Even if I feel like I'm doing right by him and following his will, how can I know I'm not dead wrong? He showed me clearly that he'd allow me to be misled, so how can I trust him with anything else?

It's not about the election, it's about the fact that he showed me he's untrustworthy in this context. How on earth can I ever have trust in him again?

For the past year, I’ve been consistently opening myself up to God, inviting Him into my life. I’ve been reading the Bible, doing research, and generally seeking to understand and grow in my faith. I truly want to believe, and I want to help others come to faith as well, but I’m struggling. Despite my efforts to remain open and seek God, I feel like I should have found something by now that resonates with me and draws me closer to the faith, yet I haven’t. I love the teachings and the story of the Gospels, and I admire Jesus deeply. However, I still can’t fully believe or fully commit to this faith. I do my best to follow Jesus and live according to His example. I fail often, sometimes terribly, but I remain open and repent when I do. I desire to believe, and I long to be saved. If you feel you can offer any help or guidance, I would be truly grateful. Thank you all!

Hey there. I have a simple question if ethical porn (drawn, nudes i got sent, onlyfans) okay to look at or if it is sinful.

At my church there is someone whom I've had tension with. Myself and this person are both trans. I am pretty sure they wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with me but I wasn't looking for that so after a time they started to distance themself from me. The tension got so bad that I started going to a different service time. On a different platform I made a post about feeling isolated and out of the blue this person texted me hours later saying they are praying for me. I honestly felt not love from this text but insincerity. Despite attempts I made to reach out to them they would ignore me most of the time, so to text me that after I posted what I was feeling, if they actually cared they would have tried to engage in dialogue with me instead of just saying praying for you. That's the least someone can do. I saw recently this person also gave a sermon on how being at my church changed their life and when I saw that I felt absolutely disgusted honestly. I wanted to be friends with this person and I understood by their distancing themself that they didn't want to be friends with me. I still feel rather hurt by it because I couldn't understand why. I want to add I'm aro ace so I don't really experience romantic attraction and such. I realize I have unforgiveness toward this person and I would really like not to but it's definitely harder than it should be. There's a vindictive part of me that wants to see this person suffer for how they made me feel and it's difficult for me to feel joy for them. I've talked about this incident in therapy before and I thought I was over it but seeing that they're excelling in the church and finding community and love when I have been unable to really stings. It feels very unfair to me. Sometimes I wish I could be a plant like a tree or be a mushroom or something because it would be so much simpler than having human emotions. I have always had difficulty understanding other people. I have ASD and I know I'm different from others and I think other people probably think that about me and so want to avoid me as a result. I try to be kind to everyone, but I guess I'm very boring and my life is very simple so I'm not interesting to others. It just hurts so much that despite many attempts I make to reach out to others no one wants me in their life and that is the painfully hard truth.

TL;DR: George Steiner, literary critic, argued that the decline in deep, mindful, reflective reading is due to our shift to digital media, which harms our ability to focus. He proposed creating "houses of reading" (inspired by yeshivas and monasteries) as sanctuaries for reflective reading. Could this vision be relevant in today's society? Could you share some useful tips or experience for how you've been able to regain the ability to concentrate on long-form books and for cultivating deep reading in your own life?

I’ve been pondering about how our current modern-age impacts our ability to read deeply and reflectively, and this concern brought me back to the works of George Steiner, the critic and author who explored reading’s evolution with profound insight. Born in Vienna in 1929, Steiner experienced the displacements of WWII, moving from Vienna to Paris and eventually New York with his family, fleeing the Nazis. His father, a classically educated Jew, taught Steiner to read Homer’s Iliad in the original Greek by the age of six, embedding in him a lifetime connection to literature and culture.

Steiner’s later writings reflect his belief that the era of the printed book is, unfortunately, nearing its end, largely due to the overwhelming influence of electronic media, which he argues erodes our capacity for concentration. Yet, he stresses that this loss is not simply a matter of format or technology. For Steiner, the key to preserving deep, reflective reading lies in fostering spaces dedicated to this practice. He calls for "houses of reading" inspired by traditional models like Jewish yeshivas and Christian monasteries - places where people can immerse themselves in reading under conditions that promote silence and intentional guidance.

In his work, Steiner envisions these spaces as sanctuaries of focus, where readers can train in the "old sense" of reading with purpose and depth. He believes that preserving this kind of reading requires cultivating communities where one can find the necessary conditions and mentorship to truly connect with the text.

This vision feels both nostalgic and remarkably urgent to me. In a world of fragmented attention, could the creation of "houses of reading" provide a remedy? Or has society moved too far into the realm of rapid, digital consumption to truly value such spaces?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Steiner’s idea. Could dedicated "reading communities" be a way to preserve our ability to engage deeply with literature? What would such spaces look like today? Also, what are your personal thoughts on the long-term future of the printed book in the digital media age?

I can't hate my countrymen for choosing him.

When Jesus said love your enemies, He meant it. When He said turn the other cheek, He meant it.

Even criminals love those who love them. What gain is it to only love those who love you?

I just don't have the energy to continue hating them. Resenting them for what they've done and what they continue to do. I'm sapped. I don't have it in me. I'm going to pray for them. And disengage from hateful interactions.

I pray for my country and its future. I will say the irony isn't lost on me; the US has a history of propping up right wing authoritarians. Now we have one of our own. Full circle.

So I recently came across an article about bible mistranslations and how according to the article about half of Jesus words were mistranslated in the new testament. Basically saying that when the author studied Aramaic he found the correct translation of Jesus words. It only gives a few examples in the article and I'm interested in learning more. The author of the article has books but there all in German sadly which is really frustrating because I'd like to learn more of what the author has to say but unless I learn German I have no way of reading these books lol. I find the article really interesting though as I've always been fascinated by bible mistranslations.

Link to article: Words Of Jesus? Fixing The Bible Mistranslations That Changed The Course Of Christianity

Good day everyone! May God bless you all

I'm not sure how to begin this, but some context is important. As we all know by now, last Tuesday were the USA General Elections, and the results were, to put it lightly, quite tragic. Here is the thing for me though, I am technically not American. Lucky me, right? Well no, not really, let me explain.

I'm Puertorrican, as a Puertorrican, I am a US citizen, I live in Puerto Rico. For those who don't know, Puerto Rico is a small island in the Caribbean sandwiched between the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands. We have a population of around 3 million, but our diaspora in the USA is about 5 million people, most of my family included. We are a part of the USA, yet we are not a state, we cannot vote for the president and most of us don't speak English, our native language is Spanish. Long story short, we are a US colony (technically, I know some would like to debate that). Before I continue explaining, no, I don't think making us a state would solve our problems but that's a whole different discussion.

We also had elections past this past Tuesday, were we voted for our governor, mayors, senators and representatives and the results were... also quite tragic. It was my first time voting, and for the first time in Puerto Rico's history, we almost voted in a governor who was not from the two main political parties, the New Progressive Party (PNP) and the Democratic Popular Party (PPD). These parties have been known for being intensely corrupt, specially the PNP. We almost voted in someone from the Puertorrican Indepence Party, who pretty much was the best candidate by far, but the person who won was the PNP candidate, a known supporter of Trump, someone who has helped the politicians steal from the people, etc. There has been even possible electoral fraud (maybe, this is up for debate).

So to say that I was distraught is an understatement... For many more reasons that I simply cannot put here and keep it short. I was so depressed that that night I told one of my friends to "wake me up when things get better", full on hoping that God would make me fall asleep for four years.

That's enough context.

I've been reading the whole Bible since December of last year, I read the New Testament first and I just finished Ezra today. I've been reflecting on God's word and, I think it is no coincidence that I read through 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles and Ezra right before and after these elections.

Kings and Chronicles follow a very fixed pattern: New king abandons God, Israel and Judah follow suit, bad things happen, people repent and return to God, God delivers them, then another king abandons God, so on and so forth until God pretty much does what any of us would do in a toxic relationship, leave (that's an oversimplification but anyways). Now you may be wondering "Um, how is that supposed to be comforting?". Well what is comforting is what happens in Ezra. God is so faithful and loyal to his people (and therefore us) that he won't let bad things be permanent.

It doesn't matter how bad things get, we will see an end to this. We don't only see examples of that in the Bible, but in history too, no wars were forever, neither were famines, plagues, unjust laws, kings, etc.

We as Christians should take this time, these four years, take a hard look in the mirror and wonder how we are going to be representatives of Christ, how will we be ambassadors of God, when others have decided to worship the Golden Calf.

We also have a chance as progressive Christians to do our best to amplify our voices, be it as it may. If the mainstream is adamant of proving the phrase "there is no hate like Christian love", we must counteract this, being actually Christ-like in anyway we can. We don't need to be the next Solomon, the next Deborah, the next John, nor the next Mary. We need to be ourselves and through ourselves, the people who need it the most will get to know Christ.

It won't be easy, these are going to be some really, really weird years, and I am definitely not trying to be optimistic nor trying to belittle the situation, but in the end and after much reflection, I just can echo in my head the words of St. Paul "if God is with us, who can be against us?" and our Lord's word "they will know them by their fruits".

We better be the best vineyard the world has ever seen. I love you all, and I hope this has helped anyone at all.