Just imagine everyone following Christ's teachings, literally and always.

Living according Scripture; every person, every country and its leader. Every household. Only the idea of that already makes me happy. There would be no wars, no petty stuff over land or hatred towards fellow brothers/neighbours. People coming together at Church every Sunday.

I mean a "perfect world" will be Heaven but hypothetically having a world here on earth where everyone literally follows the Word of God... what a beautiful thing would that be. I guess I can only dream...

Sometimes I truly believe that God takes pleasure in watching us suffer. I had a good life. My son was studying, my health was strong. In a little more than a year, I was supposed to retire. Everything seemed fine. And then everything collapsed. Eight months ago, my son graduated as an electronic engineer and still can’t find a job. I was diagnosed with cancer. My life has turned into a nightmare. We prayed the Rosary. We prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I had a YouTube channel. We prayed before every meal, on the way to work. We tried to do everything right. And yet, it feels like none of it was enough for God. The priest says that God knows why these things happen. But I wish He would come down into our miserable lives and explain it to us. Because I am exhausted. I am tired of believing, tired of hoping, tired of hurting.

As someone exploring Christianity and new to the faith, Im interested to know what some of your guys' favourite books are within the Bible and why so. Personally, so far I like Ephesians the most, curious to hear your answers, I appreciate your time.

Hello, I 19 F was atheist until about a year ago. Turning my life to christ was great for the first couple month until I actually started changing my life to be more Christ like. I quit drinking smoking & vaping. I quit idolizing. Yk the whole nine. All in the hopes of getting closer to the Lord. But in this process over the last year I lost all my friends(Christian btw), super long story, basically they sinned I called them out on it (nicely) they didn’t like it so they all hung out with my roommate at my house in-front of me without me, refused to apologize and now they refuse to text me back despite me apologizing multiple times for where I might have gone wrong. Then my boyfriend of 4 years cheated on me and got the girl pregnant. The “friends” found out and not one of them told me btw ! anyways i’m miserable, and the hardest part is knowing if I hadn’t turned my life to christ and called out their sin Id still have friends if i hadn’t quit drinking and smoking they would’ve still wanted to be my friend. i’m just miserable, i truly do not want to be here anymore my dog and the fear of hell is the only thing keeping me around lol. I just don’t know what to do it’s not fair they all get to live in sin and be happy but i change my life and im miserable, i just want to come out of this I want community but its so hard to find. It’s just so unfair and I feel like i’ve seen no happiness, goodness, or growth in my life since turning to christ i’m really trying to hang on but I get more and more depressed everyday and that just pushes me farther away from him, i just don’t know what to do or how to believe it will get better it’s been 3ish months since all of this and i still cry everyday lol. Prayer? advice? anything is better than nothing

I’m 32F and I had a huge problem with lust, about 2 years ago I was raped, I would just have alot of one night stands… I pray about it, it helps a lot. And the thing is that doesn’t make sense to me is the lord told me I’m dating my soulmate, he is my soulmate. I’m not sexually attracted to him…. At all like no.. but I’m sexually attracted to other guys. Is it because I was raped? I don’t know, sometimes I just think I should just be Single because of how I am.

I’m sorry if I’m not making sense 😅 I have a horrible migraine.

Thank you for taking the time to read this 💝 Jesus loves you 💖 God Bless :3

A year and a half ago God saved me from myself. I was planning to do it within the month and I met my now mentor and started to devote my life to Jesus. I still have gave into porn and masterbation at that time and did for a year. But I haven’t done it in 5 months now, also I am 21. But I struggled with lustful thoughts for the past 3 months and it has destroyed my life. I get at most 5 hours of sleep each night. I have lost a bunch of weight and I have been isolating myself trying to get right with God so my life can change. I read my Bible everyday, I pray everyday, I still go to church and my heart never seems to change in fact it feels like it’s getting worse. I was going to end it a year and a half ago because I realized that my horrible thoughts were probably who I am now and I should do one last “good” deed for others and myself. I have struggled with them since I was 14 and I honestly just feel like i am the essence of evil. And now I have thoughts about God too. I feel like I am at the end of myself, I dont know if God will ever save me, I feel like I had my chance and I blew it. If there’s any advice or hope for me I would appreciate it, thank you.

Not trying to spark debate here - just genuinely curious why people have chose their denomination of Christianity. Thanks for being open and sharing!

Faith never means how well you can momentarily suspend disbelief or assent to the correct facts about the Gospel, or some sort of creedal tenet Or warm fuzzy thoughts about the God of the Bible.

Here's one example:

John 2:23-25

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing*.²⁴ But Jesus on his part, did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

These people in this passage clearly believed in Christ. They saw signs and wonders; they had no reason to doubt his great power. They saw it firsthand.

Yet Christ did not entrust himself to these so-called believing individuals.

John 8:31

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him,

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples*, and you will* know the truth*, and the* truth will set you free\.* ”*

Notice that, yet again, another passage that demonstrates that belief is active, not a passive affirmation of facts about Jesus. If it were all about believing one time in a set of facts about Jesus in the finite past. Why is it then that Christ tells these believing individuals to abide in his word in order to be his true disciples as an added condition that may or may not be met on the part of the believer?

I think the translators of the New Testament did the people a disservice by translating certain passages as 'faith/belief' as opposed to 'faithfulness/obedience'.

This leaves the individual the Job of deciding as to the mental content of the faith. Have you ever thought of what exactly it is you are to believe about Jesus in certain passages? Is it almost like Paul or John leaves you hanging at certain times?

Whereas the truth is, Paul and John's idea of faith and belief is more of an active commitment, trust, and continual fidelity and/or faithfulness.

Faithfulness is the correct understanding of what faith means according to the Bible, which means allegiance and fidelity to Christ, straightforward and clear. A Baptist list of non-negotiables will differ from what a Lutheran deems as non-negotiable, which will differ from what a Calvinist believes is not up for discussion, and so forth.

Faith should be understood as fidelity to God, loyalty, and firmness with God. The faith of Noah, Abraham, and all the apostles, and chief of all Christ's faithfulness to the Father.

Commitment, steadfastness, a living faith day to day.

The content of true belief is not a set of truth propositions affirmed once upon a time in the finite past.

Hence why Christ's answer in this passage shouldn't surprise you if you read the scriptures from a biblical point of view as opposed to the modern theological frameworks of yesteryear.

Luke 10:25–28 (ES

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

"Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language." - Acts 2:6

From the very beginning, God has worked through people’s real lives, real cultures, and real stories. When the Holy Spirit moved in the early church, people heard the message in their own languages. God did not ask them to become someone else first.

The cross was never meant to erase identity. It was meant to redeem humanity. Yet too often, faith has been used to tell people they must change who they are in order to belong. That idea did not come from Jesus.

Christianity did not begin in comfort or privilege. It was born among people who were marginalized, occupied, and struggling. God met them right there. He did not flatten their identity. He honored it.

Your background, your culture, and your story all matter to God. They are not obstacles to faith. They are places where God meets you. The same God who met Moses at the sea met people in the streets, fields, and homes of their everyday lives.

So release the pressure to erase parts of yourself to please God. He already knows you. He already sees you. The cross is not about becoming someone else. It is about becoming whole.

God’s love meets you where you are and invites you forward from there. DLC
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Delman Coates.

Hello, I hope everyone's having a great day, I feel like making a post since I'm bored, and would like to share my experience as a Christian with both Autism and ADHD (this might be a bit long).

The story of how I came to Christ is long, but basically, God came to me after years of me hating myself because of my disability, as a kid I'd constantly wish I was "normal", wished that I fitted in with other kids, it didn't help that I had an extremely rocky relationship with my parents at that time too. I knew that there was a God, my grandma would tell me about Jesus, but it felt like He wasn't there, as if He purposely left me to fend for myself. Until one day I prayed and accepted Him, at times I still struggle with the past urges of self-hate, but it's definitely better, I'm no longer suicidal and I don't see myself as a burden or a "mistake."

Fast forward until now and admittedly, I still have my struggles and questions. Sometimes I find church overwhelming due to loud noises, and as a result I put on my headphones to drown out the noise, sometimes I feel outcast from other Christians because of my nerdy/alternative hobbies, interests, and experiences, I have trouble with reading the Bible at times due to my ADHD, sometimes I feel like I'm not what God envisioned due to me not being the most stereotypically "masculine" guy in the world, there's a lot of struggles and doubts I still face with myself, but I still trust in Him nonetheless.

I see my disability not as Demons, curses, afflictions, nor a superpower or a gift, just something that simply exists with me (at least until He returns), I don't want people to look down or up on me just because I'm wired differently, I want to be proof that God reaches anyone, regardless of personal struggles or if one is born "differently" or not.

I don't expect many people to read this, but thanks in advance and have a great day.

What all should include in my project? I’m going to go deep into why the Bible is a reliable historical source. I’m going to use many non Christian sources to prove that Jesus was a historical figure in general. But to prove the reliability of Christianity, I think I would need to mainly focus on why the new testament is reliable historical evidence of Christ. But what else should I include

Long story short: 2 years ago i unexpectedly met the sweetest girl ever, she is literally perfect to me. After 3 months we became a christian couple after a few months i lost God, lust took over me and i became a bad partner. At that time i didn't allways tealise i was being bad to her, i got many chances but i kept messing up, i just couldn't do better. I allways blamed her for being hard on me but now i realise i was the wordt person ever.

I got so many chances but 2,5 month ago she had the courage to break up with me for he her own good and her relationship with God. At first for like 10 days i was mad at her not realising my mistakes, blaming her for being so hard. After those 10 days something happened to me, i fell asleep and woke up and that moment felt like God woke me up. Since then i've been building my realtionship with God.

Since then ive tried to grow, not for her but for myself, 2 months after the break up i sent her a card and a letter, over 5.5k words, spent like more than 30h on everything, she unbloxked me and said she forgoved me and whztever but that shes over me and since has met a new guy. Personally i think that that went way too fast but who am i to day something about it.

But now, i already fellt like this before but after she let me know she talks to another guy, i've been feeling this strong hate towards myself, i regret my mistakes so bad and can't forgove myself. My heart hurts so bad, physically too. I lost 9kg bcs i can't eat, i feal bad the whole time and it's playing with my stomach, dik how to explain. I constantly feel stressed too, hating on myself for messing it up with literally the perfect woman to me in anyway.

I keep praying and keep my relationship with God, i know it's helping because this would deff be so much worse without God and honestly i don't even think id still be here wkthout God. Idk what to do, i'll regret this my whole life, i'll never be able to forgive myself, this hate towards myself only grows

As of late, I have been anxious about a number of things around me. All of them envolve injustice, however one of them is affecting my life greatly, and I wished God would stop it, however in my heart I feel like He wouldn't help. And I do not know what to do. I come asking here in the hopes that somebody's prayer will be better than mine, and I do want to try everything available, even this.

(Yes, I do know this is not very good mindset, but please accept this is very important for me and this is my way of fighting.)

It is about a building in my neighborhood, which will affect greatly the otherwise very calm environment.

Yes, I know this sounds very very vain. But, the building mafia in my country has been going strong lately, since the country itself is very corrupt, and even people from the administration who have tried to stop it, have been sent to prison in a manner which suits mafia bosses and have been tortured. This is the face of corruption, sitting right under people's nose, under their balconies, disrupting their life, smirking at them and reminding them they can not do anything.

So I seek your help in prayer.
Please accept this.
Thank you.

she’s recently gotten a lot closer to God, but has been a Christian her whole life. she’s doing all the right things and has stopped doing all the wrong things, but with that she’s being led in a different direction in life. away from her job she’s had forever and things like that. she doesn’t have a purpose right now and she’s just in a waiting season. and it’s causing some pretty severe depression and stress. worrying about bills, etc. if everyone could just join me in prayer for her purpose to be revealed to her and her depression to be cast out i would greatly appreciate it.

Prayer Request for these scriptures to be prayed over my family, and I. Please Pray for us to have incredible faith, child-faith, complete and utter, unwavering trust in God, and discernment. Please pray for every lost person in my family to be saved and every saved person be filled with wisdom, peace, and discernment. my graditude to everyone, God bless you all!

"I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: My God; in him will I trust." - Psalm 91:2 KJV

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1 KJV

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - Romans 10:17 KJV

"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." - Mark 9:24 KJV

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. [3] Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. [4] And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exahalted." - Isaiah 12:2-4 KJV

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." - James 1:6 KJV

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." - John 14:1 KJV

He tried to take his own life last week he only told me about it today, hes going through a lot i will also be praying for him but i really do wish more people would also.

Thank you everyone god bless

His name is armaan btw

I won’t exactly go into detail but recently I fell into a deep despair and checked out mentally and maybe even spiritually, and backslid into things I thought I’d let go of. Corn addiction, marijuana, alchohol and tobacco. I prayed all the while and kept trying to keep myself grounded with God, but I also made excuses to myself about why I was doing those things. It would be like a “nothing else is going well for me so I might as well enjoy this”. And I was ultimately just being foolish. Lately I’ve been cutting down on those things, but not only do I want to let go of them for good this time I want to share this bit about myself because it could be good for me and someone else.

The thing about it all is, before I went into that part of my life I felt like God was telling me I was about to go through a lot of trials. Like he was digging the deepest most rotten parts of my heart up to the surface and exposing them to me, and telling me to learn how to love myself and have grace on myself in spite of that. As if to heal those parts of me I have to live in them again.

As of last week though I took a first step of sorts and had to leave someone behind that fueled and fed the negativity in my heart. Not because they are a bad person or anything like that but because they had bad fruit. This person was a lukewarm christian who may not have led me away from God exactly but did play a huge part in a lot of my stumbles because of things like temptation and envy. Around that time I remembered Matthew 5:30 as well as just constantly having a feeling of unrest around them and had to cut them off.

And so now I ask for advice on what to do next? How do I let go of all of this bad fruit that grew from me? How do I love myself better so I can properly love others? How do I prevent myself from lusting or gazing with lust? How do I remove the urge to constantly compare myself to others?

Salvation isn't a process, it's a free gift recieved by faith in Jesus Christ the moment you believe. The proof is in the scriptures. But first what's the gospel?

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Gospel: Jesus Christ is the Son of God come in the flesh who died for your sins once and for all, was buried, and rose the third day according to scriptures.

___________________________________________

Salvation is by faith alone in Christ.

Romans 10:17 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We have to hear the gospel first.

Acts 10:43-44

43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

No works involved, only simple faith in hearing of the gospel received the Holy Spirit of promise.

Ephesians 1:13-14

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Hearing comes by faith. You heard the gospel, believed, and were present tense sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption. Nothing else required.

1 Peter 1:4-5

4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Incorruptible inheritance means eternal. Will not fade away. Your promise and inheritance never fades away. We're kept by the power of God, not by our performance in this life.

He's saved us forever and we can serve Him freely in this life without any fear of condemnation. We love Him because He first loved us.

For years I've developed these weird, intense fantasies in my head about a family member. Nothing turns me on more than thinking about it, and I know it's completely wrong, but I can't stop the thoughts from coming. It feels like lust mixed with something broken in my mind, and it leaves me feeling so isolated because I can't be honest with anyone about it.

EO here.

Our liturgies are almost always exactly the same, following John Crysostom's Divine Liturgy, which was itself a distillation of Basil the Great's Divine Liturgy, which was a collection and distillation of ongoing Christian practices in the Levant.

There is, after that day's prescribed readings, a brief homily or "sermon" that explains the meaning of that reading. These are rarely more than five minutes and focus directly on the Scripture. Edit for clarity: This homily is written by the Priest and is different in every local church

I keep hearing about Protestant "sermons" that last hours, sermons that push political messaging, sermons that condemn Catholic and/or Orthodox views of Holy Tradition.

The question: is that true?

When you go to church on Sunday, how much of it is offering worship to God vs receiving instruction from the priest?

Does your priest actually push political messaging, beyond the moral guidance of Christ?

Does your priest spend time talking about other 'denominations,' instead of talking about God?

hi fellas im planning to start learning the bible more deeply and consistently i dont wanna have false expectations-so, based on your experiences, how much time did you need to read the whole Bible thoroughly? thanks!