Last night a couple moved into my home. They were staying in the homeless shelter that I run. They love Jesus a lot and truly want to be like him. Tomorrow we will start having a Bible Study that will happen every morning. We will read the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, we will pray for our day, and close out with St. Francis’ prayer for peace.

We will spend time in the evenings, studying scripture, ministry skills, mental health, etc. they will be helping to run groups and provide guidance for others.

My church is becoming more and more awesome as well. We have tons of people succeeding in recovery from drugs and alcohol, we are still attended primarily by homeless people, we are going to start feeding meals for the homeless in the morning on a regular basis.

It was a really hard road to get where I am, but I feel super blessed now.

Hello, all

First off, I am First Nations indigenous woman. Growing up I didn’t practice any kind of religion nor knew my language. It was 10 years ago that I found out that I am First Nations from Tx. My tribe was almost completely eradicated by the Missionary system in the early 1800’s. After learning about my identity and trying to reconnect with my traditions it’s been a struggle with my spirituality. I was also baptized catholic 8 years ago before I found out about my history. Long story short, I met an amazing Christian man that has brought me into the church. We have had our discussions and disagreements about what “God” means to me. I know Jesus was a historical person and I myself am learning about Christianity. It’s all new to me. I am getting baptized soon as a Christian for I feel that the Holy Spirit has guided me. Knowing the history of atrocities that have happened to my people and that the word of Jesus was used in a way where it has done damage. It’s been a struggle for me since I do practice the ways of my Native American traditions and just started learning and practicing Christianity. I even bought the First Nations version of the New Testament. Any suggestions or advice?

It has taken me a long time to call myself Christian. I wear a cross, yet I feel so estranged from Christian's in particular. There are many like me, who love Christ, but don't like Christianity for the poor reputation it leaves Christ with, and so are hesitant to call themselves Christian, or just refuse to. But it feels important to me to wear the cross and call myself a Christian, for that exact reason. Evangelicals don't get to own Jesus, own God, just because they are the loudest and most sure of themselves. 

Similarly, my struggle with the Bible largely comes from Paul. I'm not a Biblical scholar, but I just don't understand how Paul -- who was never an apostle during Christ's life, was never called an apostle by any of the 12 apostles -- became a voice, let alone the loudest voice of the new testament. And as a result, I sense many Evangelicals are actually Paulists more-so than they are Christians. Revelations says there are 12 apostles, not 13. Paul is not an apostle.

Jesus' ministry was in stark contrast to and critical of the Pharisee's who reduced a correct faith to following rules and procedures. Yet somehow Paul, a self-proclaimed Pharisee, has made Christianity into a faith based upon extremely rigid rules and procedures, squeezing the love of it. Paul instated laws that are outside of the 10 commandments, and outside of love, like the one about women not being fit to minister to men. Like, I don't care that brother Paul said it's ok to push your sisters down the stairs -- it's not! 

Paul was an early adopter, but not an apostle. He calls himself an apostle, though no other apostle, nor Jesus in life, calls him so. If any Christian believer has a vision of Jesus Christ -- as Paul did on the road to Damascus -- that should then make it into the New Testament, and ordain them as a teacher to all Christians? And yet when I say to many Evangelicals that I let God and Jesus teach me Himself, they find that un-Christian, heretical, blasphemous and ask how can I be sure I have the right (Holy) spirit. How can they have it both ways -- direct ministry from God to human for Paul, but not for anyone else thereafter? 

I'm not saying his conversion was nothing or meaningless. But should his words really be considered the word of God, not just the word of God for Paul himself alone, but for the entire faith?

To me, Paul is not and never will be canon. 

This is the day the Lord has made,

I pray,

with regularity.

It is a selfish prayer this way. What of it? Whether or not prayer is selfish, it is still holy. The constant battle for the illusion of control meets the wall of the unthinkable truth:

This is the day the Lord has made.

I made it this way, too. Is the prayer then an attempt to belay responsibility?

To the extent that it is, I must humbly say that what was given to me and what I give are in the confusing space between real and actual. It doesn't matter what I think I did. It doesn't matter what I know I did.

The prayer isn't about me.

It's about acceptance.

This is the day the Lord has made. I don't have to know more than that.

This is the day the Lord has made. I have to give up control.

This is the day the Lord has made. I am simply doing what I believe to be right.

I can't pray this statement if I believe I have acted wrongfully, even if the Lord may show me that I was wrong. So I turn to the Lord, for guidance, for protection (from myself), and

I let go of my anxiety and confusion. I let go of fear.

Truth, first.

I have danced the light fantastic and a dark fandango,

at Sophia's gala

'bless the poets, and what they see shining,

for I would rather dance into the sunset dying,

than crying,

in true poetry's immortal sea'

If there is anything you need praying for please write it in a comment on this post. There are no situations "too trivial" for G-d to help out with. Please refrain from commenting any information which could allow bad actors to resolve your real life identity.

As always we pray, with openness to all which G-d offers us, for the wellbeing of our online community here and all who are associated with it in one form or another. Praying also for all who sufferer oppression/violence, for all suffering from climate-related disasters, and for those who endure dredge work, that they may see justice and peace in their time and not give in to despair or confusion in the fight to restore justice to a world captured by greed and vainglory. In The LORD's name we pray, Amen.

Good Friday has just past and it is of course a a time when Christians remember Christ's death on the cross. I thought I would just give a couple of factors as to why Jesus's death is significant in Christianity from a social and theological perspective. I want to first note that Christians themselves have differing opinions on this so this is just my analysis of things. Nevertheless I hope it can be a fruitful reflection.

1)Social perspectives

Suffering for righteousness: Christ speaks in the Beatitudes of how the ones who are blessed are those who "suffer for righteousness" and are "persecuted" for it. Other translations speak of "suffering for justice". So the face of someone who is virtuous in the Christian ethic is one who is willing to lay everything on the line for the sake of justice and righteousness. St Thomas Aquinas in his Compendium, the last work of his life, says that the Cross itself summarises the virtues. And one of the virtues it displays is courage. The fact that in the face of evil and injustice, one is willing to lay everything on the line. This gives significance to what Christ says when he states to "pick up your cross and follow him". If there are 3 examples I can give of this in the modern age it would be the lives of Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr and Janani Luwum. Oscar Romero is the famous Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador who in the 1970s faced down the brutal CIA trained death squads of Central America and the repressive dictatorship tied to them that murdered men, women and children. He was imprisoned several times, tortured, and in the end killed while giving Mass(in front of the crucifix I might add). Martin Luther King Jr is the well known Baptist minister who faced down racial segregation in America and as a result was imprisoned hundreds of times and eventually assassinated. Janani Luwum was the famous Anglican cleric of Uganda who faced down the dictatorship of Idi Amin that killed 500,000 people. He protested vigorously against this and as a result was taken to an army barracks and shot. In all of these cases they saw the way of the cross as one where justice and righteousness was the highest priority, even at the cost of their lives.

The face of those on the margins: Jesus is crucified. That's the centre of Good Friday. The first significance of crucifixion is that it was an instrument of death reserved for those who were slaves. If you were a citizen or free born person you weren't crucified. The second significant thing is that Christ is crucified under a brutal military occupation of Judea. This significant because it ties back to Jesus's statement in the Gospel of St Matthew in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats speaks of how the way you treat the least of these is how you treat him. St John Chrysostom the Eastern Church Father extends this by stating "Do you want to honor Christ's body? Do not neglect him when he is naked; do not, while you honor him here with silken garments, neglect Him perishing outside of cold and nakedness." Christ's hanging body on the cross reveals the suffering face of the poor and those on the margins. So if we treat the body of Christ as something sacred then the body and lives of those on the margins who suffer should also be something sacred as well.

2)Theological perspective

The Principle of Divine Love: St John's Gospel has the famous statement "For God so Loved the world that he gave his only son". The theme of Love is significant in the Johannine literature because later on in St John's epistles he goes on to make the famous statement "God is Love". One of the ways "Love" manifests itself is by being willing to give one's self for the sake of another. Christ speaks of this when he says "No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friend"(John 15:13). This is what's called Filia. God seeks "filia" or friendship with humanity and creation as a whole and the sacrifice of Christ for the sake of human beings and creation is an expression of that. It's like a father willing to sacrifice themselves for their children or a friend laying down their lives for another as mentioned.

The Incarnation and Union with God: In the Christian religion the incarnation, God becoming human, is a central feature. The significance of it is summarised by a quote from St Athanasius that says "God became man, so that man might become like God". We become "like God" by striving for "union with God" which is called Theosis. However because of sin, instead of being in a state of union with God, we are in a state of alienation from God. And the ultimate expression of that alienation is death, because God is the source of life. So when God enters humanity, he unites himself with human beings in life, and when Christ suffers on the cross he unites himself with human beings in their suffering and death. At the point of humanity's greatest alienation, that is where God is united with them. So the phrase of Christ "my God my God why have you forsaken me" takes on an eternal irony due to the fact that in Christian theology it is God incarnate expressing those words. It's God the word giving an eternal expression to humanity's suffering and alienation caused by sin. It's God's divine solidarity with humanity.

The abolition of Original Sin and Justice that is owed: In Christianity the concept of Jesus's death is connected to the concept of Original Sin. The concept of Original Sin it connected to a lesser known concept called "Original Justice". The idea being that God created human beings in a state of justice. St Anselm of Canterbury speaks of how human beings with the angels owe God a debt of honor. And that honor, tied to our creation, is manifested in justice. When we sin we engage in injustice. When we do this we violate God's honor. This means that not only must the original debt of honor be paid, but the offense to God's honor must be rectified. This offense is not just that human beings commit sin and injustice, but that human nature itself is tainted by sin and injustice. So it takes someone who is infinite to cleanse this infinite dishonor and violation of justice. So Christ, in his incarnation, becomes our substitute. He becomes the image of man before the Father. And he lives a life of perfect righteousness, in fulfillment of the Divine Law for the sake of humanity. Because he lives in a state of Original Justice in a world tainted by Original Sin, the forces of Original Sin that manifest itself in evil, injustice, hatred, violence, persecution, prejudice, etc persecute and crucify him. So ironically in this point of theological significance it circles back to the first point of social significance. One "suffering" for righteousness sake. One living by the Divine Law of Original Justice in a world of Original Sin. That is the path given to human beings in Christian theology and the sacrifice made for that path is Christ dying on the cross. This broadly speaking in the Christian theological perspective on things.

For myself, Romans 13, disqualifies Saul/Paul as speaker for the Holy Spirit of Truth. Salvation by Faith... Predestination... and submission of women are confirmations. The fact that he uses his Roman citizenship to avoid martyrdom is forgivable, but telling.

The Church thrives on packaging the Gospel as a thin slice of Yeshua, between a thick piece of Old Testament and thick piece of Paul's Imperial cheese --- sin reduced from the worldly to the personal.

Anyone out there ready to forget Saul?

This is a quick, first-draft attempt at putting together a leftist creed that would be of suitable length for use in worship. I would love to have y'all's feedback.

We believe that God created a garden with enough to feed everybody,
but humans have despoiled this creation by grasping for more.

We believe that God created humanity for equal fellowship with one another,
but humans have become oppressors of one another.

We believe that God is the god of the oppressed and is a god of liberation,
but too easily do the oppressed succumb to the temptation to become oppressors.

We believe that God became a human being to proclaim the good news of liberation,
but this message was rejected by those who wished to maintain their power.

We believe that this God incarnate, Jesus Christ, was murdered by the Roman state,
but systems of oppression that demanded his death could not keep him dead.

We believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection have liberated us from these systems,
but it is now the work of the church to work for the liberation of others.

We believe that Jesus Christ will return to complete this work,
but we nonetheless must pursue the divine reign of God here and now.

We believe that the Holy Spirit equips the church for its ministry of reconciliation,
but all must use these gifts for the building up of others.

We believe that there is no lord but Jesus Christ,
but we will work together to pursue a world of equal fellowship where all are fed.

Therefore, we praise the triune God, who is the author of life and the liberator of all.

Hey everyone! In what way do you think, say, a Christian feminist or a Christian anarchist differs from a secular one? (besides the religious belief itself) Does Christianity help your political views, it hinders it or is it neutral to it? Or, even, if anyone believes it, is radical Christianity better than secular radical politics?

Or maybe they don't differ at all, what do you think? I hope I made myself clear lol

I have left Christianity several times due to my beliefs about Lgbt+ people and being one myself it’s hard to understand why God would hate me for it. I always go back and forth between liberal and conservative Christianity because I never feel convinced or confident that God accepts my sexuality. I went through a phase of deconstruction because I thought I would feel happier as an atheist but it didn’t make me stop believing just gave me a whole lot more questions like why there are so many contradictions in the Bible and made me think a lot more about the stuff God did in the OT like killing all those people. I feel completely lost right now like I don’t know if I will stay Christian this time or not, I always come back because God always reminds me. I just have some questions.

1. How would you describe your beliefs?

2. What Bible translations do you use?

3. What church do you attend?

4. How do you believe differently from the mainstream church beliefs? Like right wing stuff.

5. What is something that makes you feel confident about your beliefs?

I’m asking all these questions because I need guidance. The only Christian community around me is extremely right wing and I don’t feel comfortable even stepping into the churches where I live.

Hey folks,
Thinking about Bible apps lately and curious about your take. What features do you find most crucial in a Bible app? Personally, I dig the ones with easy search, notes, and maybe daily verses.
And in what situations do you find yourself relying on a Bible app? How does a Bible app enhance your spiritual practice?
Please feel free to share your thoughts!

If there is anything you need praying for please write it in a comment on this post. There are no situations "too trivial" for G-d to help out with. Please refrain from commenting any information which could allow bad actors to resolve your real life identity.

As always we pray, with openness to all which G-d offers us, for the wellbeing of our online community here and all who are associated with it in one form or another. Praying also for all who sufferer oppression/violence, for all suffering from climate-related disasters, and for those who endure dredge work, that they may see justice and peace in their time and not give in to despair or confusion in the fight to restore justice to a world captured by greed and vainglory. In The LORD's name we pray, Amen.

This isn't a gotcha but something I've struggled with for awhile. I used to be a nondenominational Christian. Now I'm sort of agnostic. However, when I hear testimonials of Christians or see people being good or think about God I feel this huge positive connection to what I think is God and how we should take care of and love each other. That empathy also has led me to being pretty liberal or left leaning which makes me really not like a lot of churches. It's not just that though. Overtime I've reconnected from not believing in evolution, to thinking many people can be saved even if they're not explicitly Christian, then after awhile I got to be pretty agnostic.

Many left leaning Christians seem to be identical to atheists to me. The church is just a politically active thing to protect and affirm more vulnerable people. I think that's great but why think about the religion part at all with the cross and Jesus and all that. We've already ceded ground (because it's almost certainly true) that 99% of things in the Bible are almost definitely metaphorical or exaggerated. We know the miraculous occurs rarely if ever and that the universe is probably all there is. So my question is why deal with the religious stuff of theology at all if God is just a state of mind or whatever? Is radical Christianity our version of being secular Jews with our traditions but not believing in an actual real God?

If I were to ask you what Easter means to Christians, what would you say? Assuming you are not a Christian, how could you answer this? You may say: that Christians are those who genuinely pursue Christ, and I would agree to the same extent as before. However, it is an inaccurate reflection of my religion, if I am nevertheless against my will and still considered a follower of Christ. Let alone a radical one! Not so radical? Well, the world is vast and diverse; my conception of Christianity is simply not limited to the USA alone. Except, when I see or hear that Easter is coming, it means something else entirely to me that I don't think it could ever mean to you. It is, of course, about the celebration of Easter in America that differentiates us from them. Who are they, you ask? A profound exercise in separation, they are those who celebrate Easter otherwise and elsewhere, perhaps in Egypt? I consider this, not just Africa, but global Christianity, the expanse of it across the Global South, in China, etc., as an Easter event... and yet do they not celebrate it so differently from how we will? Never the same difference again. What is Easter, what is it? There is no eliding cultural or religious difference; although, if I were to inquire into the meaning of Easter, I would be left with the same stupid opinion I have always had. Those people exist who believe a man only died but that Jesus did not rise. So, it will always be this way, where I do not understand what happens next. He will die, He will rise. Is that true? It just has not happened yet. We're getting there, but, before we do, what is Easter to you?

Drop recommendations, please!

Interested on books that mention or focus on the MENA context, but other contexts would be helpful

I never went as a child; my mom left it and my dad was never the type to go, so I don't really have any of the shibboleths of a churchgoer. I'm sure I could just dress nice and walk in figure it out as I go along, but I just wanted to ask you all for your thoughts before I do. I imagine every church is different, but is there like, a designated newcomer service? Is it normal to show up early and introduce yourself? I guess just, if there's anything you would tell someone going for the first time, what would you say?

more details:

• I'm not baptized

• Never really read the bible, though I have a decent one I was given.

• There are a lot of different denominations in my area; I'm specifically interested in feeling out the Episcopal, Catholic, and Unitarian churches near me. I think I understand enough about each of those to understand how they differ in principle, though I want to see what each are like in practice.

Edit: (probably could have lead with this one) I'm more of an agnostic ex-athiest; I'm not strictly speaking looking for Christianity, just a way to feel closer to the divine and to my community, and Christianity is what I have the most context for. With that said, I don't want to come off as irreverent to people who are devout; this isn't just a bit for me, so I want to be respectful of custom. Thank you for any advice :)

So I was raised christian, but slowly drifted away from it as I discovered I was queer and also disliked the politics of my conservative traditional Catholic parents. Now I don't feel like I am really christian anymore. I really like Jesus's teachings and everything, especially radical Christianity now that I've discovered it. I'm having trouble believing in God and knowing what's right and what's wrong. Generally I don't know how to be Christian. I would really appreciate some help.