I get on here and (unsolicited) contribute to discussions to the best of my ability. I am a lay person and not educated in religion, theology, or spirituality. I have no training as a spiritual advisor. But because I have a background in technical and other writing, I can write very clearly, and furthermore, I think about things and have read a lot.

Given all these factors, I am under the impression that what I write is actually pretty good. And it is. Now, how do I keep from thinking I'm hot stuff? How do I maintain an accurate self-perception? It's so easy to veer off into vanity. I feel "called" to contribute here. Is this even a possibility?

A complication is that when I was a Baptist kid, I was warned of pride. I have gifts and I'm better at some things than average (worse at others). But because of early training, I thought it was pride to assess myself accurately. I lied to myself and said I was average in everything and worth less than other people who clearly did have gifts. (In fact, accurate self-assessment is humility and it is a big mistake to teach kids that self-denigration is the way to a healthy spiritual life.) That misconception plagues me to this day.

I’m a Transgender man who has converted to Christianity about 1 year ago, my best friend who recently became a part of the LDS church has been my single biggest guide throughout my conversion, his way of understanding god has been my biggest inspiration in everything I do, and I have no other Christian’s in my life, so me and him are very connected on this spiritually.

I also want to mention I’ve not had any legal transition procedures which I’m not sure how valid that is for baptism but I’ve not been baptised yet and I don’t have a denomination -yet-.

My friend has mentioned seeing me being baptised would be an amazing thing for him but he has guided me more than any priest and I actually want him to baptise me, is this an okay thing to ask him? Would this be a valid baptism?

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit to ask this in, I just trust the advice of Christians here more than other places.

Last Sunday's gospel reading at my church was about forgiving your debtors seventy times seven times, and about the servant who is forgiven of ten thousand talents of debt but refuses to forgive their own debtor. I sobbed because it was so beautiful.

I have a former friend, someone I only know online and who lives far away, who fell possessively in love with me in 2021 and who I have had many issues with since. She demands a lot from me, time and apologies, and characterizes me as very cruel and unmerciful, and has told me she hates me several times, though she has later retracted it. She has spammed me and called me late at night many times in vengeful breakdowns, and written nasty things about me publicly. After particularly nasty fights I have cut off contact numerous times, but she has always evaded any measures I take and looks at almost all my online presences (I don't think she knows about this account thankfully). She also openly despises and insults my religion, which makes me really upset.

She is by far the main person in my life who wants some kind of reconciliation with me, though very much within the terms described above. I have never wanted to deny reconciliation to her, and I still care about her and pray for her and try to be kind while also maintaining distance. But I want to take the commands of Jesus seriously, even when they are radical and very hard. I have not forgiven her seventy times seven times and I want to know how to do that. I know that she is not evil and try not to hold this against her, I know that my actions have also hurt her, that I have not always acted with the grace I should have, and that she is a complex human being with her own reasons for her behaviours. I have thought the healthiest thing to do is to maintain distance and goodwill, but I cannot do that because she does not agree and will not allow it. But I do not know what else to do.

I want to do what Christ would do but I can't tell what it is, and I feel like I have tried everything and don't know where to turn, and like I am constantly hurting this person no matter what I try, along with myself. I am okay with doing something which would hurt me if it is what Jesus would do. But I have no idea what Jesus would do here, it's so messed up and confusing. What could the narrow path possibly be in this situation?

Everyone in the U.S and across the world knows that the United States is in the middle of an election cycle that is just a week away from being decided. And like all political cycles questions around faith, politics and social engagement always come up. I thought I would give some Biblical reflections for those who are social justice minded Christians in terms of thinking through this season. These reflections will come interestingly enough, from the Old Testament. So here goes.

1)1 Samuel 8. The Prophet Samuel's warning of impending tyranny

• In this chapter the people are dissatisfied with the status quo under the judges. So they want a change. The change they want though is to have a King so they can be like every other nation. Samuel the Prophet warns against the path stating "He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of fifties; and some to plough his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves"(1 Samuel 8:11-17)
• The Prophet Samuel's warning is basically this. By going down this path, you are going to fall down a path of impending tyranny that is rooted in militarism, economic exploitation and gender oppression. The people respond doubling down that they want a King to be like all the nations. And Yahweh's response to Samuel is that it is not you they have rejected but me. Now this is fascinating. Samuel articulated what this path would lead to. By choosing the path of militarism, and economic exploitation and gender oppression that is choosing the path that rejects the sovereignty of God. This episode to me has lots of relevance now in terms of being clearsighted about impending tyranny in the face of those caught up in the false populism of the moment. It also has a lot of relevance in terms of being clear not only about the oppressive systems that are strengthened by decisions like these, but also the fact that these systems themselves represent a rejection of God.

2)1 Kings 22. Ahab and the 400 lying prophets

• In this episode King Ahab is preparing to go to war. And he has the King of the Southern Hebrew Kingdom(Judah) Jehoshaphat with him. Jehoshaphat states that he will not go to war unless the prophets deliver their verdict. And so 400 prophets in the King's royal court tell the King what he wants to hear, that he is destined for great things. But there is one "true" prophet named Micaiah. He mocks both the King and his sychophantic devotees. Then he delivers his prophecy predicting disaster. Because of this he is slapped in the face by one of the religious leaders in the King's royal court, being told he has no authority to speak in the name of God. He is then put in prison on rations. He stays true to his prophetic beliefs and his prophecy comes true.
• What we see in this episode is this. Ahab is a tyrant with a wicked moral character. And yet the 400 lying prophets, to stay in the good graces of his royal court, only prophesy what the King wants to hear. Not the truth. Not things aligned with the word of the Lord. But Micaiah refuses to bow down to the King despite the sychophantic devotion around him. Just like in this narrative, you have a lot of lying prophets exploiting the word of God for specific agendas, especially right wing agendas. In that environment it is crucial for people to stay true to their character. Even in the face of a blatant cult of personality that exploits religion for its own reactionary gains.

3)2 Samuel 12. David killing Uriah with the sword of the Ammonites

• One of the most famous stories in the Biblical canon is David's affair with Bathsheba. This leads to cover up, scandal and ultimately murder. A central figure in this episode is the Prophet Nathan who states to David "you have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites"(2 Samuel 12:9).
• King David didn't kill Uriah himself. And the Israelites did not kill Uriah themselves. Uriah was killed by proxy, through the sword of another nation. And yet Nathan still counted it as David being complicit and even the architect of a grave injustice. When we look in the world today we see crimes committed directly by nations and leaders. And we also see crimes that nations are involved with via proxy. That includes America. By Biblical standards just because it is done through proxy does not make it any less of a crime. And by Biblical standards it deserves a prophetic challenge. And in this challenge Nathan exposed King David's hypocrisy. Because when Nathan recounted the deed in the form of a Parable David showed anger and righteous indignation. Because he thought it was someone else. In the same way, there are many leaders, including American leaders, who will show righteous indignation at the crimes of others, but are silent at injustices they themselves are complicit in. In our modern times we a clear example of this with Archbishop Oscar Romero's famous letter to President Jimmy Carter in 1980, challenging the arms sales that he approve to the dictatorship of El Salvador and challenging him on the principles of human rights months before his assassination. That kind of Biblical courage is needed now.

There are many other stories I could point to. But these are three stories that I think give food for thought when thinking through this political cycle and political season.

On the other christian subreddits all they talk about is "gay bad" ... it annoyed me so much i almost exclusively hang out here instead

We were a young couple when we got married at 20. For reasons that were both of our faults she cheated on me and left with the man she had an affair with. I didn't know it at the time but I have bipolar and was going through a mental health event when she ran away with him. I was in searing mental agony. If I knew what I know now, I would have called out of work with short term disability. In my pain, I made an oath. I swore to God that I would stay in contact with her family, in front of them.

I didn't and couldn't keep that promise, that oath I took to God. Years later it was still agony to visit them. I visited one last time and told them it'd be the last time. We haven't contacted each other in anyway since and I don't want to.

This is the most guilty I've felt over a sin. I don't feel forgiven anymore. I don't know what I want out of this post other than to tell someone. I can't tell my parents because I kept in contact in secret because they hate my in-laws. I don't feel comfortable telling my reverend yet. And my secular friends won't understand the gravity of what I did.

The purpose of this post isn't to be reassured but to get this off my chest. Maybe if I can do this, I can beg God for forgiveness. Prayer is difficult. How can I praise Him or ask for forgiveness when I fucked up this bad? Maybe my idea of God's capacity to forgive is too small.

Someone commented to me that progressive Christian’s are trying to change the Bible and are more of a political movement than a religion. And I agree changing the bible is wrong but I don’t think interpreting it differently is the same thing as changing it.

Hey guys so I just got a 2019 Nissan Altima from Toyota for my 21st birthday on oct 19, and although the car is nice and it feels nice to have, I don’t fully feel happy with it. I came to the lot looking at another Nissan Altima but it was dead when I went to take a look at it and unexpectedly this other Nissan Altima which had a sunroof and had the windows already tinted was a car or two away in the lot right next to the car that was dead. So this car came to me unexpectedly and I liked it because it had the windows already tinted, but now I don’t really like it. On top of that when it came down to us discussing my monthly and insurance, they agreed on my monthly to be 350 a month and nothing higher and 1k down. Days later now I had to sign another contract saying now they want me to pay 378 and an interest rate of 10.7 instead of 7.5 which is what it what before. So now I feel played and a little sad.

Now on to the topic of this mustang: So before I got this Altima I prayed that I would get a mustang, plus I always wanted one and I loved looking say videos of them on YouTube. Also, before I went in to take a look at the mustang before I got denied and all that at the time, I prayed to the Lord to give me a sign that the mustang is for me. I said ok Lord if this car is for me show me me 3 or more mustangs along the way of me going to the dealership and he showed me 9. So then I got even more specific and asked him to show me 3 mustangs this time but one of them white. The reason I asked for one of them to be white is because the mustang I went to go look at was white. And true enough seconds after my prayer he showed me a white mustang and two other mustangs so I took it as a sign and I prayed this in my head so the devil wouldn’t interfere. So it just seems like a sign to me that the lord wanted me to have this car and also it’s a ecoboost mustang so it saves on gas and it’s fun to drive. I test drove it and took it to Firestone, and when I took it there they told me I shouldn’t buy the car. The reason being was because when they lifted it they saw that the bottom cover is missing which is nothing, I can get a new one, and also it had an old oil leak from the previous owner and it looked like they covered something up with a zip tie which I’m guessing is from the oil leaking they must’ve covered something up and tied it with the zip tie. But other than that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the car. It was 17k with 69k miles on it.

I feel a very strong feeling of regret and idk what to do now. The mustang fits my budged because they allowed me to have a 350 monthly payment and possibly lower with only 500 down instead.

So I contacted Toyota and asked if I can return the car and get my money back. If it’s possible and everything goes back to when I didn’t have the car should I go for the mustang instead? It’s still on there lot at this moment.

I’d really appreciate if you read this far and have feeedback.

Love you guys and God bless❤️🙂

I know this is such a weird question and I apologize for that. I hear the argument, and it's also something that I personally believe, that love could never be a sin, which is also why I believe me being a lesbian isn't a sin. But when I was talking about "love never being a sin" with someone they brought up incest (consensual/age appropriate and non-chikdbearing ones.) as an argument against love always being acceptable. I was always under the belief that sin was always harmful or selfish and so on but incest definitely seems sinful either way. 🤷

Just wanted to invite anyone who is interested in a BIBLE STUDY to join us tomorrow at 7 PM central time we host BIBLE STUDY via Zoom. If you are interested, please send me a private message and I will send you the link. The goal is to create a community where we can die deep into the word of God together this is a safe place For everyone to come and read the word of God and dive in a little deeper. Hope to see you there!

I took a SAT a while ago and my score was 1090 (I think) and I need a 1200 at least to get into the university I want

I know I need to focus and study because it's a serious test but I just can't right now. I don't know what the problem is but I feel like everything else around me has to stop in order first me to focus. My head isn't clear because I'm so hyperfixated on homework and school projects. I just feel like I need at least a week or two to myself where I don't have to do anything else and can actually spend every day studying

I said I'd study yesterday and I had the intention to but I just felt so exhausted that I couldn't, and now I'm getting punished for my behavior I don't even understand. I did have depression a few years ago that I never got treatment for so maybe that's still lingering around

I know it sounds dumb to be crying over a test when it's completely your fault, but it's like there's a part of my brain that just hates doing multiple things at once and I don't get why. Why can't I just get up and do these things that I'm aware I need to do..

I just.. need prayer that my next score hit the 1200 mark

Whoever reading this

as TRANS WOMAN LGBTQ+ I LOVE YOU and YOU MATTER Your life has meaning Your Amazing PERSON just way you are.

GREATEST COMMANDMENT WAS ''LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR''

I LOVE YOU ALWAYS WILL SMILE HAVE AWESOME DAY LOVE MADISON

Been thinking a lot about this Bjork song "All is Full of Love." I was feeling pretty down because a lot of the Hurricane Helene hurting so much. And then I was listening to the album Homogenic and remembering as I was walking around commuting home that All is full of love. And it reminded me a lot about God who built and sustains the world through love. I felt very touched. From having this state of emergency to also remebering all is full of love. I think it is true. We can see it in the land and in the soil. And in people and in the faces of one another. even in the grass even if it is just in the park. And the trees and everyone walking around. people helping people able to do stuff.

here are the lyrics

You'll be given love

You'll be taken care of

You'll be given love

You have to trust it

Maybe not from the sources

You have poured yours

Maybe not from the directions

You are staring at

Twist your head around

It's all around you

All is full of love

All around you

All is full of love

You just ain't receiving

All is full of love

Your phone is off the hook

All is full of love

Your doors are shut

All is full of love

All is full of love, all is full of love

All is full of love, all is full of love

All is full of love

All is full of love, all is full of love

All is full of love

All is full of love

All is full of love

All is full of love

I guess just thinking about when you feel hopeless that somehow we can trust it. This song is really for when we are, maybe not from the sources where you have poured yours. Maybe not in the directions you are staring at.

But twist your head around. All is full of love. I think God has everything to do with that. and it is hard when your phone is off the hook. You don't want to pick up the phone and stuff and also trauma and fear make us not want to look and see all is full of love. that phrase can hit like a dagger when you are feeling in pain and alone. Because your body has been hurt and your mind has been hurt and your soul has been hurt by feeeling no love. And the door is shut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JE6rUwfckI
But we can help you. we can help each other. Help us open the door.

Here is the music video. It is classic and from the 1990s and kooky. I want to give a content note the music video is a bit racy, it depicts two robots falling in love and making love. pretty cool and technically amazing for its time, but sort of racy to post on a Christian subreddit.

Thank you.

I love graphic novels and am contemplating buying the Action Bible for my Kindle. It’s only 10 bucks, so I’m not really worried about the money, but just wanted to see if anyone here had read it and what they thought about it. Not really interested in it if it’s got an obvious evangelical bias. Any thoughts? Also, any other recommendations for Christian or similarly themed graphic novels?

If -- God forbid -- Trump should win this election, will Christianity be in anyway redeemable? Will "following Christ" become synonymous with supporting right wing policies? Will the teachings of Jesus and the stories of the Gospels be in anyway useful in combatting the violation of female reproductive rights and in protecting the basic freedoms of LGBTQ people? Or will science, reason, and empathy be the only useful tools in defending human liberties? Will the net social impact of Christianity be a force for good or for evil if Trump wins the US election? Would Trump supporters be more likely to see reason and experience empathy if they did not believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible?

There’s so much going on. So many different opinions. I’ve been praying and asking God to lead me in my life and help me to live a life that’s at least somewhat pleasing to Him. Which I know we can never work our way to salvation I just want Him to be honored in my life. I can’t handle not REALLY knowing the truth. What is sin? What is not sin? Is my same sex marriage a sin? Is it not?

Since I’ve giving my life to God I don’t even want to have sex anymore. I don’t want anything but to focus on God and my degree in college. I just don’t know what to believe with all the different opinions and theologies and I am down a rabbit hole and stressed with no clear answers!

Currently I am a 20 year old gay man trying to accept my sexuallity and find peace with christian religion, after a difficult period of my teenage life suffering from OCD, depression, fear of god that because I am gay I will go to hell, I am finally working with a psychologist to help me with this matter. She told me that firstly I should stop researching theological views and explanations on why or why not god accepts homosexuals as they are, (at least for now and maybe do it when I am 30) and focus on listening to fathers of the church that through their preaching and speeches I will eventually be able to see that Jesus is all about love and acceptance. It has been around a month that since the start of my life I have started to believe that god loves me as I am and does not need me to change and I must say I feel better. Of course I will keep visiting my phycologist reguralry but I wanted to ask some advice from you guys on what I can do to enhace my progress and further accept myself and religion

Were mediveal christianity were not that much peaceful as I heard about it from atheists and secularists as they claim that mediveal christianity were not that much peaceful?they were full of religious wars and there were not much peace in mediveal christianity period?

That is, if a loving and all-powerful God exists, why isn't everything perfect for everyone 100% of the time?

I find the question silly but I am curious what you all think.

Hello, my mom just went to the hospital and I don’t know what happened. Please pray for her. I’m so scared I’m going to lose her. Please.

I was assigned female at birth, and recently, I have transitioned into a male. I talked to my family about trans people, and all of my family are Christian. I specifically asked my mom, and she said, ‘If you are trans, you’re basically saying god made a mistake, which is a slap to the face to him because he doesn’t make mistakes.’ When I asked her this, she never gave me a SPECIFIC answer, and now I am worried that I would go to hell. I’ve always been told that as long as you believe in Jesus and God, you’ll be fine, and I have read the Bible but I’ve never really seen anything about switching your gender. I really want to ask my priest about it, but I’m afraid I will be scolded for being an ‘abomination in gods eyes.’ Can someone help me on this? Would be appreciated.

I was wondering if someone would be open to dialoguing about theology/the Bible? I am a seminary student at a conservative evangelical school so I don't really have a lot of people I can engage in meaningful dialogue with. I am obviously a progressive Christian. The more I study the more questions I have and the more I realize I don't know and will never know. I do think speculation can be helpful but that's about all we can really do is speculate on things since we are so far removed from when things were written/collected/edited. There are a lot of different schools of thought for how we should approach biblical literature. I kind of a take a more conservative, tradtional approach to my interpretation of biblical literature in that I think the final form of the text is most important and while we can try to reconstruct how the text came into it's final form through redaction criticism and such the final form we have is what we have and I believe that God speaks through it in some meaningful way to people. Of course I find value in any religious/philosophical texts (not just Judeo-Christian ones) that exemplify justice, love, and mercy.

In my recent personal biblical study I was studying Isaiah and Isaiah is cool and obviously a heavily edited work. I was working with Blenkinsopp's commentary on Isaiah and according to his theory, he saw Isaiah as being reworked throughout the ancient Jews history, that as the ancient Jews' situation changed they updated the Isaiah text to reflect what was going on currently in their time, sort of like commentary within the text. Some portions do seem to be written closer in time to the events the text describes and may be actual oracles of Isaiah, but most of it seems to be the working of an anonymous editor(s) that is probably post-exilic. Even so, there is unity in themes throughout the text and the text speaks very loudly on issues of social justice which is something that nearly all the Hebraic prophetic literature talks about.

I included my thoughts on Isaiah as an example of something I would want to dialogue about but really I would love to dialogue about anything related to religiosity.

So I feel a tug back toward God, or at least toward religion of some kind. Only I don't know what I want that to look like.

I could write about my life and what brought me here, but that would be a bit of a long post, so here is a litany (Pun intended) of my issues:

-With us or against us mentality

- A history of violence, committing/supporting various atrocities. (See the spread and Christianization of Europe)

-A feeling God cares more about our deaths and what we give up to follow him rather than us just following and living our lives.

-EVERYTHING happening because of God

-Antisemistism, Islomphobia, Sexism and anti-lgbt sentiments.

-Why the Cruxificton was necessary, as well as the general "Cult of suffering" that exists?

A part of me thinks I'd be happier not being Christian but IDK. I really don't know.

hi all,

i wanted some advice for returning to christianity and what im struggling with. i used to be very involved in the faith when i was younger, but i feel like the religion got ruined for me through trauma and some people have hammered it into my head that im going to hell because i'm not a "perfect" christian. i'm trying to take my power back and realize that my relationship to god is nobody else's business but mine and i shouldn't let other people damage my relationship to him.

i'm also trying to come to terms with the fact i'm never going to be a "perfect" christian and for me, it makes me really sad. i want to find my way back to god but i'm struggling so hard. through the trauma i've had, i feel like i fear god more than anything and i don't want a fearful relationship with god; almost every time i go to church i feel so much anxiety. how do i overcome this and repair my relationship with god even though i've been estranged from the religion for so long? i feel ashamed i even let other people ruin my relationship with my religion.

I’m a queer Christian and it would be nice to hear some wholesome stuff sometimes, especially as a lot of more conservative Christians do a lot of fear mongering which makes me paranoid.

So I saw this post the other day with the verse "Matthew 10:34-39" and some other verses saying we should love God over everything else and even saying that if we don't, we don't deserve God. (On top of that saying Jesus was brought to put family against each other.) I don't really understand this especially as a really loving person myself. I will always have pretty equal love towards everyone, even if I have different ways of showing it. I just don't understand this verse too much.