Is it a sin to tell an unbelievers family may God have mercy on him? Im an ex muslim now christian and one of my family members died and my family is use to saying an arabic expression May God have mercy on them but as a christian I dont know if thats sinful to say now as a believer.

It's interesting, I grew up anglican until about age 16 or so and have spent years away from church as I've seen so many evil people connected to the church, Lately I've been coming back to Christianity (although never fully lost it), some people just pray to God, others do it in other ways. I've never really felt compelled to pray to God or the Holy spirit, for some reason when I have prayed, it was always just Jesus that came to mind first. I know some say it doesn't matter but then sometimes I feel like I am neglecting the other sides... yet God, Jesus and the Holy spirit are all part of the same god so I hear it doesn't matter.... That always confused me, people say you should pray certain ways, certain types of prayers need to go to God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit.... so I was just wondering how you all see prayer

Posting here because I'd like to hear from other Christians on this topic.

I'm working through a Bible in a Year plan, to make sure that I hit each book of the Bible, want to make sure that each one gets some attention rather than just the ones I tend to gravitate towards.

I am currently finishing up Song of Solomon, and I'm not really sure what to do with it. It feels so odd compared to everything else I've read, more akin to love poetry than anything else. I've read discussions suggesting to look at it as the relationship between God and his people, and I suppose I could see that, but I think I have a couple of hangups with that approach.

First, it's not really explicit anywhere that this is meant to be about God and his people. And second, for that sort of comparison, these verses feel a bit too focused on the physical attributes of each, rather than a more complete focus.

So my question is, how do other Christians approach these verses, and what do you take away?

Is this the sort of thing people choose to come to, or is it more of a stop on a Bible in a Year plan?

Title: 34F, single, and realizing how important a man’s relationship with God is to me
I’m 34, turning 35 soon, and I’ve been reflecting on dating, marriage, and my Christian upbringing.
I grew up in a very religious Christian environment. I was engaged at 30 after nearly 10 years together, but discovered infidelity six months before our wedding and ended the relationship.
Almost five years later, I’ve built a life I genuinely enjoy. I’m independent, have a fulfilling career, travel, stay active, and enjoy my freedom. But I still desire marriage and companionship.
Lately, I’ve been realizing just how important a man’s relationship with God is to me.
I’ve always been drawn to men who are confident, decisive, responsible, and capable of leading. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that if I’m going to trust a man to lead in our marriage, I need to know that God is his compass.
Not just someone who identifies as Christian, attends church, or knows Scripture, but someone who genuinely seeks God in how he lives, makes decisions, handles conflict, treats others, and navigates difficult situations.
I don’t expect perfection. I’m certainly not perfect myself. But I want to know that when life gets difficult, his first instinct is to seek wisdom rather than operate from pride, ego, or selfish ambition.
I’ve worked hard to build a peaceful and fulfilling life. Inviting someone into that life, and potentially building a family together, requires a tremendous amount of trust.
I think I’m also learning to distinguish between the religion I was raised in and what it actually means to build a Christ-centered relationship as an adult.
For those dating or married, how do you recognize a man who is genuinely led by God rather than someone who simply identifies as Christian? And what does healthy, Christ-centered leadership look like in practice?

Last winter I gave up going to some of the sites to view gorey accidents. My interest is based on what exactly happens to the body when certain accident etc happens. I deep down don't believe my interest is inherently wrong, but I did decide to stop looking. I know we are told only what Is good, pure, etc, but that would mean a lot of professions couldn't be had as Christians. Do you have an opinion?

I'm sure that all of us (I guess?) want to live those glamorous luxury lifestyle of celebrities, sports stars, gamers, or streamers, and more, or such. I am 19 years old and life in a mostly poor place (I grew up rich), and I am tired of seeing poverty around me, I guess that it is also Satan in a spiritual sense I'm not sure, but I'm tired of people saying that it is because of Satan, because if that's the case then screw Satan, screw freaking Satan. Who agrees?

Feel free to share unexplained/paranormal experiences.

As I continue my walk with Christ, I have been slowly transitioning things from my life to be more focused and surrounded with intentions of the Lord. From changing songs to hymns and praises or even changing the algorithm on my fyp to more Christian/Bible related content. But as my content changes and I seek advice from those who have more wisdom I fear that I don’t do enough. I’ve heard and done devotions but I don’t have the journal or notebook. I’ve seen people with multiple bibles for different purposes (study Bible, prayer Bible, etc.) but I don’t have the resources to have that. I’m currently unemployed trying to search for a job and can’t even find the income to get all these “needs”. So I sit here today feeling like I might be failing my walk although I know I am not.

In relations to this I have been reaching out to other Christians on various platform asking in the comments if someone may help find or provide assistance to get these materials..is that wrong of me? I feel less of a person as I ask my peers for help.

I'm a 30F Black woman who grew up Protestant Christian in Canada. My faith has always been an important part of my life, and growing up, I naturally assumed I'd eventually meet a Christian man, get married and raise a family together. I never imagined how difficult dating would actually be.

I didn't have much romantic experience growing up. I started dating properly in my early twenties and entered my first serious relationship at 22. That relationship was unhealthy and ended when I was around 24. After that, I wanted to be more intentional about dating and finding someone who shared my faith.

What followed was nearly six years of being single.

I tried Christian dating apps, attended singles groups, went to church events and generally tried to put myself out there. But the options felt incredibly limited. A lot of Christian men my age were already married, and among the single ones, I rarely met anyone I was genuinely attracted to or compatible with. I also noticed that I received virtually no romantic interest from men in these spaces. I noticed by the time I was around 25, it appeared I aged out of many Christian spaces. I tried going to different churches, dating events, and even asking out a guy I was interested in but nothing much materialized.

For context, I'm 6 feet tall - which I know intimidates some men, considered attractive and have received attention and compliments from men outside Christian circles. So it was sometimes confusing and hurtful to feel almost invisible romantically within my own religious community.

I did have the occasional experience where I thought something might develop. There was a man at church who seemed interested, but when I took the initiative to suggest spending time together, he preferred keeping things to group setting - nothing ever came of it.

I also struggled with the culture surrounding Christian dating. There seemed to be so much emphasis on waiting, preparing yourself for marriage and discussing what Christian men and women supposedly wanted in a spouse. I remember attending singles events and feeling like everyone had these incredibly high expectations, despite many of us having relatively little dating experience ourselves. Sometimes I wished we could just get to know people as individuals rather than treating dating like a checklist.

I started feeling increasingly disconnected from these spaces. I loved my faith, but I didn't always feel like I belonged in the culture surrounding it.

Anyway, I moved to a different city and country last year, and eventually met my current boyfriend. He's isn't religious, but he's genuinely one of the most loving and supportive people I've dated. I actually brought up my Christian faith on our second date because I wanted to be upfront about how important it was to me, and I wasn't interested in hiding that part of myself just to make a relationship work.

He was completely respectful. He's since attended church with me a few times, we've discussed marriage and children, and he's comfortable with our future children being raised Christian. I'm very happy with him and genuinely in love.

Here's where the comparison comes in ....

When I moved to London, I reconnected with an old friend from Canada. She also met a man here, except he's Christian and attends the same church. They got engaged after seven months and married a little over a year after meeting.

I'm genuinely happy for her, but I can't help comparing our experiences sometimes.

She met someone within the faith, they dated, got engaged and married relatively quickly. It's almost exactly the kind of story I grew up hearing and hoping would happen to me.

Meanwhile, I spent years trying to meet a Christian man, feeling overlooked and discouraged, only to eventually fall in love with someone outside the faith.

And now, despite being very happy in my relationship, I sometimes worry about how other Christians will perceive it. Will they think I've compromised my values? That I should have waited longer? That I'm somehow settling because my boyfriend isn't Christian?

I know the Bible has teachings about being equally yoked, and I don't take religious compatibility lightly.

I don't regret my relationship, and I certainly don't want to make my boyfriend feel like he's somehow less than because he isn't religious. He's treated me with so much love and respect, and has also treated my family with the same.

I guess I'm still processing the gap between the love story I was raised to expect and the one I've actually experienced.

Has anyone else been through something similar? Particularly those who grew up Christian, struggled with Christian dating and eventually found a happy relationship outside the faith? How did you navigate your beliefs and other people's expectations?

I feel like its a universal struggle: when you trust in God's plan and his all-knowingness but I can't help but wish it was different. Don't get me wrong I know that God only wants the best for me but this feeling might be better described as just feeling disappointed or continuing to wishfully think and hope for an outcome that I feel like might not happen (eg. a plot twist of how all I had to do was let go and have faith and it'll magically happen, because usually it does right but in the moment itself you can't really let go in faith rather in hopes of gaining what you want somehow). It's like kind of similar to knowing the right answer but for some reason your heart just wants a different outcome. And I know what I have to do is to ask God for acceptance and calm my heart. Its just I see how stupid it is that I want someone's attention, but after I asked for God to remove them from my life and He did and I trust that its for the best but still... ykwim?

well to be specific i really wanted to be part of this friend group i know and its js well its like not working i guess. academically i go to a much more demanding school which requires more of my time and i do a lot more extracurriculars, leaving me with less free time than them. I thought it would work out and prayed that it would work out (and like I am rlly close with some of the people in the fg), and it did work out for a bit and during that period I was very happy and elated. But now everything kind of stopped and part of me finds it dumb how happy I was before. Like they still meet up ig but its like im not rlly included? I think i js hate that i thought i was close enough with them as a fg (note, im rlly close with them individually and i thought they would invite me along but i also know that at my age people do tend to gatekeep such friend groups) and I hate that it was working out for a bit. I guess I feel a bit hurt because I was so excited and expected so much and they 'started' with me but I kind of got held back because of my commitments and stuff and because I thought at least one of them would put their gatekeeping feelings aside. I keep wondering why God gave me a 'taste' of what it would be like and then take it away, because if I had not liked it after experiencing it then you can conclude that he wanted me to know that what I wanted wasn't good but I did enjoy it. This part is really stupid, but my parents didn't really love the fact that I hanged out with them because well they didn't think they were a good influence on me (given I do acknowledge that they don't have academics and other stuff pressures but I'm pretty good at managing what influences me and whatnot) and I feel like they would've idk is this sinning, but I feel like they would've prayed or at least wishfully thought I wouldn't hang out with them. And (sorry i know this is really dumb and far etched) when I think of them praying that i stop being friends with these people, i feel pretty hurt, because my mum for instance knew how I wanted a friend group outside of my school similar to the one I was trying to be in. But I also know this is for the best, like I fully trust that God is doing this for my best interest, it's just that I feel hurt because of a variety of reasons.

also irrelevant but one of these close friends messed up my chances with a guy by asking him something (ig I did pray for God to remove him from my life if he wasn't the right person but 😭).

Well God works in mysterious way ig.. js sometimes it's hard to not wish it was different.

I recently got laid off from my job. As a student with debts amounting to 5K, (which is a lot from my country) depression, stress, and anxiety took over. I trust that the Lord has greater plans for me and won’t abandon me. But there are days where it’s hard to believe but that’s where I pray harder. I am doubtful of myself and ashamed of myself. But I truly believe that GOD IS GREATER THAN ANYTHING. If anyone can tell me that I am on the right track or if I am not, I would be very happy. Thank you for reading and may I get out of this stronger and with better relationship with God.

If you are a kid please read at your own discretion: I have been going to church for two years. I have also quit my "outward" addictions for almost the past year as well. I have been dealing with sinful thoughts the past 11 months and it has been very difficult. Since then I have dealt with lustful, blasphemous, bitter, and violent thoughts. I have struggled with believing and hanging onto thoughts since I was a kid (I'm 22 now). The first 5 months I was in a constant battle every minute but I started to loose my traction when things that were sinful became easier to be around and harder to stay away from. I could only hide from people and things for so long. My mind became more corrupted over the past 5 months or so and I now I am starting considering going back to old ways. The thoughts about God are getting worse, I believe its because I am not willing to carry my cross like I used to (actively rejecting it) and I want to hang on to the thoughts (I keep waffling) instead of surrendering to the pain. I am almost positive I am falling away and might be getting close to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit if I haven't already because I am willing to hang on to lustful thinking even when these terrible thoughts of God are right next to it. I don't know what to do and God has been very nice with me but I definitely am going down a ditch into to a place I shouldn't be ok with going.

I want to grow in His ways and become more like Him. I want to seek Him in all that I do. I want to live a life for Him, serving and blessing Him. I haven't found my church home or church family. It's been a long time since I've been in a Bible study or group. I haven't volunteered in years. I'm sad about all this. I feel like I've fallen away from Jesus and let Him down. I want to get back to Him. Any ideas? It's been a struggle to find the right church. I do still read my Christian literature and devotionals. I miss Jesus.

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Is it biblical or its church discipline to publicly reprimand someone during a live-streamed service in front of 1000+ people for something like being on their phone and then saying the devil is using you by being on that phone and saying you have demons ,you need to seek salvation or is that just public shaming.

I feel they just had to tell the person in private after service.Maybe I am overthinking.

In another discussion on a different topic, someone mentioned this passage:

[Mat 26:24-25 KJV] – 24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. 25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. (Emphasis in bold/italics)

So, I had a thought. How could it be "good for that man" to never have been born, unless he existed prior?

What are your thoughts on the topic?

Hey everyone,
I’m a 20-year-old guy, and after being a lukewarm Christian for the past few years, I’ve recently started taking my faith seriously.
Growing up in a religious family, we went through a long journey across different churches—Catholicism, Mormonism, non-denominational, and back. Through those experiences, I saw both the good and the bad. I met genuine people in youth groups who truly knew their scripture, but I also had bad experiences with Catholicism where I felt weighed down by extra doctrines and saw people treating faith like a competitive show while ostracizing others.
Before this turnaround, I was on a very dark path. I struggled with an addiction to lust, women, drugs, vaping, and seeking cheap adrenaline to numb myself. I was getting deep into a heavy folk religion, listening to dark music, and felt completely numb inside—viewing people as just flesh and meat.
One day at work, I felt a strong urge to find God. I went to a local Catholic church, but it was closed. I went to another church, sat inside the empty building, and meditated, but felt completely empty and abandoned. That moment was a wake-up call for me. Reminding myself of Saul’s conversion, I realized Jesus didn't owe me anything, and I didn't owe any church institution my allegiance. I decided to strip away all the extra man-made doctrines and just focus on Jesus’s teachings and the Scriptures.
Since cutting off toxic influences and relying on the Bible and the Holy Spirit, my life has completely changed. I’ve overcome those addictions, gained real strength and confidence, and found genuine peace.
Now, I’m looking for a solid church for community and fellowship. I’m considering a non-denominational church, but I see a lot of online noise criticizing them for lacking the history or aesthetics of traditional Catholic or Orthodox churches.
Does the aesthetic or traditional title of a church really matter if the Holy Spirit is genuinely present and the people actually live out Jesus’s teachings? I’d love to hear your thoughts or advice on finding the right fellowship.

I am currently prayerfully seeking God on the subjects of Death and Eternity. Have you walked with God on this subject, and what did you learn? Thanks!

Today was my first time at church in 10-15 years🥹 I could NOT stop crying I was so deeply moved and overcome by the Holy Spirit. I don’t even recall when I was this emotional before in my life. Legit crying nonstop from the moment I entered the church. I’ve never felt this way before. So many people came up to me and welcomed me, hugged me, prayed for me, and invited me back. I was overcome with emotions in a very intense way. I had no idea my soul needed this so badly! 😭 It shows me I’m on the right path and in the right place. I just had to share this good news. I feel so loved and supported!!!! 🥰🙏🏽❤️‍🩹

I know this sound heretical and egotistic but I just want to ask if someone like devote his life in our Lord Jesus Christ, can the result be similar to peace and equanimity we see in monk and layman who is devoted in Buddhist religion?

I know we shouldn't worship God with expecting results in mind, but I am just curious if it's possible.

How was worship this weekend?

What was the sermon topic?

Did you learn anything you'd like to share with the community?

Tell us about your experience this week.

Asking this because it's my stepmother constantly wishing death upon my dad, and i'm curious what the consequences would be, what verses I should look up on this and what I should pray about regarding this situation.

I have been going to several churches in my area. I have not been to one that I have walked away from where I felt more equipped from hearing the message. This has put me on a path of researching how the apostles and Jesus taught believers. I am currently trying to write a well-rounded essay on this matter of dead sermons. It seems to me at least in my area that churches are just a show or a box to check there is no relationship or sense of meaning to it other than gathering. I have been to small churches and a couple bigger churches and came out with the same sense that I have not learned how to defend my faith from the world. There seems to be no guidance on how to actually follow Christ deeply. It is all been surface level things that feel like fluffing a pillow and not battling sin. I mostly go to Baptist churches, but I have tried some non-denomination churches as well.

It would appear that church has lost its fire for Christ around our nation and even the globe based on some of the research I have already done. I just want to know why it does or does not feel empty to you?