How come adults allow themselves to be manipulated by these types of people? Why are these types of sects not illegal?

If you look at some of my pervious posts you'll understand that my family is super religious.

In my family their extremely strict about what i wear, music i listen to, how i talk , who i hangout with , and my phone usage .and when i talk about phone usage its to the point it's outrageous.

Their constantly checking my social media, they only let me use my phone at school (i go to a school that only lets us use our phones during passing period) so basically i don't get to use my phone at all. Even though i bought my phone with my own money and pay my phone bill. I do have a computer but i rarely get to use it unless i fill out a long bible lesson, the other half of the time my parents turn the Wi-Fi off.

Majority of the time the only time I'm happy is when I'm with my friends, but now my parents wanna be involved in everything and go out with me and my friends.

I honestly hate saying this but i DON'T like my parents and I'm so mentally exhausted and they know this for i fact, i don't even know what to do anymore, i don't want to be sheltered for the rest of my life cause of them.

I hate seeing other kids enjoying their lives and having good relationships with their parents it makes me so depressed.

possible TW: venting

Little backstory before I start : I grew up in an evangelical household and most of my family is against LGBTQ+, especially my mom ( this is important for later )

I kind of always knew I like boys too, but didn't really gave much thought about it as a kid. As I grew older I 100% knew I liked boys. As I said most of my family is against LGBTQ+ and I was really scared to come out to my mom. My plan was to come out when I move out and have my own place but god had other plans.

I came out to my mom as a bisexual almost 3 months ago due to a panic attack. You may wonder what I mean by "due to a panic attack", so 3 months ago I had a really big panic attack because I was scared of the future, dying and going to hell because I like men. My mom kept asking whats wrong so I told her. I was really hesitant to tell her because I was scared of her reaction. The first thing I asked her was : Am I going to hell? She said: Yes, but if you come back to church and god, god can change you. (I stopped going to church for about 6-8 months when I told her, stopped reading the bible etc... ) I was so scared at that moment so I did everything my mom said for 2 weeks straight. I went to back to church, I started to read the bible and started praying to god to change me, but one day I thought : god can't change me, he can't change the fact that I like men, he made me this way.

When I told this to my mom she said: No, god didn't make you this way, it's all from the devil. I hate when my mom says everything is from the devil ( like depression, anxiety, anger, music and other stuff )

What I mean by " I wish my mom was different " is that I wish my mom was like a cooler christian if you get what I mean. I wish she had other opinions about lgbtq+ people and other stuff that I find normal, like I really wanted to change my hair color but my mom was against it saying it's a sin, I want to go to concerts that I may be never able to go but she says it's a sin, I can't even go to the cinema because she says it's a sin ( i have to beg her to go), i want to have a bf but I know my mom will be mad and disgusted if she saw me with a men.

I'm tired to hear and see my mom making fun of lgbtq+ even tho i'm next to her. I'm tired to hear the same thing over and over again that I'll go to hell or that " god didn't make adam and steve ". I thought my mom's opinion would change after I came out to her but It did not. She says she still loves me but I don't believe so, I feel like she hates me, I feel like I let her down.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and i'm sorry if I was harsh and not really being on point, I somehow let everything out my heart. Have a nice day ❤️

Hii! I want to find a Christian friend that likes talking about God and Jesus as much as I do lol. I consider myself a very acceptful and tolerating person, so don't be scared to reach out if your worried about any negative takes I could have on you:)

Mind you, I am a MINOR (16 in July yippee)! And not comfortable with any inappropriate topics!

Much love, L :D

If so, do you know why?

?

Dr Jordan B cooper is one of my favourite Lutheran theologians.

I am most talking about the corporate worship, activities, structure etc.

I saw someone asking "isn't Jesus the only way to the Father?" and was very tempted to accept the challenge. But I droned on for too long and got into "this is a Wendy's" territory.

Also I'm a bit too timid to wade into a "how dare you call God 'she'?" discussion with someone who likes their soteriology stingy. At least for the moment.

So, something to think about is that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity has been with his Father since the beginning. Did he spend all that time waiting around for Mary?

Well... There's this other Biblical character who introduces herself in Proverbs 8, Wisdom, and the easiest way to understand her is to just say "poetic personification" but if not, if she's real, who is she?

    The Lord created me at the beginning of his way,
        before his deeds long in the past.
    I was formed in ancient times,
        at the beginning, before the earth was.
    When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth,
        when there were no springs flowing with water. (vv22-24)

Okay, formed really early on. How early?

When God began to create the heavens and the earth—the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters— (Genesis 1:1-2)

Before the watery depths, so before Genesis 1:1. Let's hear more

    I was beside him as a master of crafts.
        I was having fun,
        smiling before him all the time,
        frolicking with his inhabited earth
        and delighting in the human race. (Proverbs 8:30-31)

In the beginning Wisdom was beside God

Happy are those who listen to me,
    watching daily at my doors,
    waiting at my doorposts.
Those who find me find life;
    they gain favor from the Lord. (vv34-35)

Wisdom at doors, finding her gives life,

“Whoever is naive turn aside here,”
    she says to those who lack sense. (9:4)

she enlightens the naive,

“Come, eat my food,
    and drink the wine I have mixed.
Abandon your simplistic ways and live;
    walk in the way of understanding.” (vv5-6)

feeds the hungry, shows the way.

Oh, and flip back to chapter 1. Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

“How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
    mockers hold their mocking dear,
    and fools hate knowledge?
You should respond when I correct you.
    Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
    I’ll reveal my words to you.

Spirit, words. These parallels are why Justin Martyr proposed that Holy Wisdom is another name of the Second Person. This answers the "where was Jesus" question: chilling with David and Solomon, inspiring psalms, here and there. Introducing prophets to the Most High. (nobody comes to the Father...) Just doing stuff.

What would this mean to us today?

Personally I don't believe that the Second Person is taking a big nap before the Second Coming. He's living and active in the Church - has to be! But there's also this moment

“Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

and I think most people take it metaphorically. But maybe that's a mistake. I should get to my point.

The Church is surely important in the battle-plan for salvation. We're the commandos of the Kingdom, ordered to make disciples everywhere. Keep baptizing and carry on. But we were never promised that we get to keep Jesus locked up in a box to be used as a bargaining chip, nowhere in Scripture at least.

No one comes to the Father except through the Lamb, the Gate, God-with-Us, Holy Wisdom. But I have hope she is aggressively present among the meek and pure-hearted, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who knock and those who seek.

If so, Christians would be one arm of a pincer strategy: the Church animated by the Spirit, the Good Shepherd continuing his mission (though much less openly), together driving the entire flock home to the Father.

Of course this is just speculation.

also am I becoming a universalist...

This is something that’s been knocking around in my head all day and I really wanna get it off my chest. It’s one of those anxieties that continue to exist despite you knowing better intellectually and I just thought sharing it with like-minded people would be helpful.

I’m new to Christianity, only recently arrived after passing through Buddhism, Taoism and the occult/new age as well as other things like a deep (and still ongoing) study of the tarot. Those stops really helped me, I feel, but it’s left me in a position where my take on Christianity is…well…very Unorthodox. Part of me wants to join a church, to put roots down and belong somewhere as until now I have felt like a nomad (not just spiritually, either), but another part of me fears that either my idiosyncrasies will be considered heresy or that I’ll end up sacrificing my own individuality and just accept whatever the church leaders say.

I worry that my own inquiries have lead me down a wrong path, especially when I let the fundamentalist in my head tell me all my other beliefs are “the devil trying to trick me” (even though I don’t believe in a singular “the devil”) but I also don’t feel like I could trust any man-made institution to tell me the “right” answer either. When I let the anxiety get to me, I’m left in a state where I feel like a man peering over a ledge with that weird vertigo sensation that tells you to jump off. I wonder if I should just disregard my own instincts as the flawed feelings of a sinner and go along with the pack or if I should carry on trying to understand God on my own terms, remain alone, and risk possible failure in my quest to be at one with the divine because of this or that bit of doctrine which I didn’t follow.

But even doctrine doesn’t help, does it? The vicar who baptised me as a baby later got arrested for possession of CP. I’ve seen tapes of him, he talked very eloquently and could quote scripture very well, but clearly his alignment with God was way off. There’s just no clear path, which is unnerving since said path is supposed to be so straight and narrow.

It’s like science, you can know all the facts of science, you can list all the elements and all the laws of motion, but none of that is knowing science unless you know the scientific METHOD, until you’ve internalised the means of studying and peer review and the underlying philosophy at the heart of it all, you don’t truly know science. I can’t help but feel that God is similar, but what if that is just arrogance on my part? Or what if I’m just stubborn cos I don’t like the idea of giving up tarot and all the other cool stuff I like? But that stuff is what brought me to Christ. The way I see it, Christ is the thing which makes all the other stuff make sense, He is the realisation and the resolution to them, but all around me is messaging telling me that what I believe is heresy and blasphemy. It’s a constant game of naughts and crosses with myself that always ends in a draw.

I’ve still not joined a Church. I may never join one (though the Quakers seem like a potential good match) but despite that, I’m still going to make an effort to be with other Christians. I have a Catholic friend I talk to every six months or so, but I’m also going to be attending a Bible study group next week. We were asked to study a chapter of revelations beforehand and I felt so encouraged by it as it seemed to gel so perfectly with my beliefs to the point where it felt like a message from God. I made copious notes and cannot wait to share them. I just hope they’re received well. 😅

Is r/Episcopalian reprentative of the denomination?

I have 3 Christian characters, including an American homophobic old pastor, Georges; an ex military officer who served in Irak, Henrick, and a catholic nun from middle age currently trying to open up , Daryia. (those 3 folks aren't exactly human, don't question their age).

I'd like to have open Christian testimony to build up their characters, regarding the LGBT community. I'll explain further their story in comments, but if you don't have the will to read, just tell me:

For Georges: Queerphobic logic from pastors

For Henrick: Ex homophobic who realised they were bi/gay, and had to deal with it

For Daryia: Any clumsy or kind attitude a new religious ally may have

I’m genuinely scared, as a progressive Christian I don’t know where I stand with that situation, I definitely believe the second coming of Christ will happen, I know it will and everyone else should too. But I don’t know if it will be like the rapture, and I can only hope that it won’t. But with that said, the events that unfold in revelation are beyond terrifying. Demons being released and killing people, water turning to blood, the sun becoming unbearably hot, the world turning dark, it sounds like it’s straight out of a horror movie and that’s why I’m confused, god has to punish those who don’t repent, but the entire book is very scary and it’s tormenting to even think about, never mind actually living through that. Also, how are we supposed to know if we are “sealed by the holy spririt?”

What do you usually use in your Bible study’s for resources?

I read the apocalypse of peter and I was very sure that there's no hell bc of my studies but this book actually makes me question anything and scares me too bits. I heard it used to be canon...so what if it is canon? Would it change the bible much? Would it change the gospel? Is the Bible reliable?

How many examples are there of homophobic atheists? I know they exist, but how prevalent are they? Historically, Eastern religions have never really had a problem with same-sex relationships. What's up with the Abrahamic religions? I know it probably came from Zoroastrianism, but today there are only around 200,000 Zoroastrians. So why does homophobia seem to be the defining feature of Abrahamic, especially Islamic and Christian, religion?

You are invited to join Sanctuary in Christ, Discord's largest LGBTQ+ affirming Christian server. We seek to create a strong community through Christ of believers and non-believers alike.

We have:

• The most friendly Christian community on Discord.
• Casual and serious places to chat about any reasonable topic, from chats about hobbies, to discussions about faith, to places to post pictures of your dinner.
• Places to ask difficult questions.
• A great staff team capable of keeping the community safe and welcoming.
• Community events such as prayer events or game nights.

We do NOT have:

• Meaningless arguments or debates
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If you have any questions about the community, feel free to comment below. If you want to join, go ahead and join at https://discord.gg/sanctuaryinchrist

I know how the fundamentalists and Evangelicals interpret it. Most if not all take it as something that will happen at some point even in the near future and I was wondering how individual Progressive Christians especially those who grew up in Fundamental and Evangelical circles and broke away interpret it?

As I've researched it in my journey I've discovered there are four main says to interpret it by scholars and Theologians.

1. Revelation must be understood within the context of it's own time and the events have already happened. (Minus Jesus's second coming of course.)
2. Only a portion of Revelations has occurred and there are clues to point out the remaining events to happen.
3. The book is best understood spiritually and no attempt should be made to interpret it in the context of history.
4. Revelations is prophetic where the idea of a literal Armageddon takes place.

I'm still trying to figure what my interpretation is, I'm split between number 1 and 3 I mean I think both still leave questions unanswered but if course with something like the Book of Revelations there will always be questions until the end of time. And so with that I couldn't help but wonder how as progressive Christians some of you interpret it and I'd love to hear about it.

Hi

Yesterday my urologist told me I have a lesion on my prostate with a 4 out of 5 risk that it's cancerous. The next step is a biopsy which I'll be having in late July.

The prognosis is good at this point. It may be too small to worry about right now, or I could be having radiation therapy later this fall.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

Wondering if anyone else here is going to the Wild Goose Festival this July? It’s been a great experience for me, and I get to speak about psychedelics and antifascism for one of the workshops this year!

Just curious if there’s overlap in this group!

My sister is currently in the hospital, and her life is very challenging overall. She constantly switches medications and the doctors dont know the cause of her illness or where it originates from. She recently had a stroke / TIA and was rushed to the hospital, they want to check what it was. Please have her in your prayers, hoping for a better future for her. She had more medical procedures than her own age and she's only 12. It's so unfair for her. Thank you so much.

I feel it’s important to actually follow Jesus’ teachings if one calls themselves a Christian. Unfortunately, many on the main Christian sub have seemed to forgot. I’m sure if I posted this there I’d get several people saying there are exceptions or that he really didn’t mean what he said, but this sub actually seems to take their faith more seriously:

“No one is able to serve two lords; he will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can’t serve God and material things” (Luke 16:13; Matthew 6:24)

“Just as you want people to do for you, do for them” (Luke 6:31)

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person lay down his life for his friends”; “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 15:12-13; 13:35)

“whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11)

“Woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint, and rue, and every herb, and you bypass justice and the love of God. True, you should have done those things, but not passed by these others” (Luke 11:42, Matthew 23:23) (In other words, don’t ignore people’s suffering to follow strict religious traditions)

“When you stand praying and have anything against someone, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:25)

“Don’t condemn and you won’t be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37-38)

“Do well to those who hate you and bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:27-28)

“And why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but pay no attention to the log stuck in yours? How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me get that speck out of your eye” without even noticing the log that’s in your eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to get the speck out of your brother’s” (Luke 6:41-42, Matthew 7:3-5)

Got into a heated argument at Choir and I let it slip in front of them that god might not even exist and that felt rather vulnerable of me to say it. I think I am going to leave that choir anyway and the church since that gave me the most joy but it is gone now.

Is there a good argument against deism? I can believe in a god that created the universe then left it to its own devices easily. One that actually intervenes for us I just do not know. I believe that there was a person named Jesus of Nazareth who was executed by the Romans, and maybe he was actually god but I do not know if he loves me or anything.

Seems like he just let my parents have me without thinking then they just had me around as an afterthought. I was an accidental conception and my mother still lets me know that I am the one who ruined her career and livelihood thirty plus years ago. Then god just sat around and watched me get smacked upside the head all the time by her when I got out of line.

I know I am fortunate to have at least one family member that I know loves me but I rarely see him anymore.

And god just let that guy in college sexually assault me and try to rape me. I have never had a successful relationship in my life and I do not plan to ever have one again. Saint Paul did say some people were bound to celibacy so there’s that.

But then he did not let the hammer fall on a loaded cylinder when I last played Russian roulette.

I am still alive after all these years but days like today I am a little miffed that I still wake up every stupid morning.

Maybe my ASD makes it really difficult to understand these lofty concepts. Feels like he just wound up the world like a clock and set it on his mantle and never looked at it again.

I used to think the idea of someone out there who cares and loves me and gives me purpose and meaning in life to be warm and comforting. The more I live my life, the less realistic that seems