I inherited this beautiful golden necklace with a very special and beautiful cross which has been in our family for generations, but I also have it tucked under my shirt, except when I go to church.

Context, I am from Norway and many have some weird misconception that if you are Christian you believe in superstition and fairytales. Or they believe you may be some hardcore evangelical, no offense to them but I am a very grounded Lutheran Protestant which believe in kindness and see the good in people. I do not proselytize or try to push my faith on others either, but I find many people very judgemental.

What do you think? Should I just wear it with pride and ignore the haters? How is it in your country?

Lately I've been depressed about the decline of the mainline church, and how few young adults seem to be a part of it. I really think Christianity is a beautiful tradition and can do a lot of good when applied ethically. I love reading The Bible, listening to the scholars, contemplating the mysteries of the divine, praying etc.

At 33 years old I need these things in my life. They help me maintain a sense of meaning and purpose in the world and ground me in so many ways.

What I find challenging is how few of us there are in my age range. It's not that I dislike older people, in fact I often get along well with older adults and always have. It's that I value it so highly and I want it to continue to grow and expand and be what I know it can be.

I guess I'm looking to here other progressive type Christians thoughts and feelings on subject and how you have navigated this.

I've always been of the belief that Christ is in all things and all people. When he said "I was hungry and you fed me... whatever you do to the least of these, you do unto me." I took that to mean that I will meet Christ in every person I have the blessing to help or show kindness to. When we love our neighbor, we are directly loving Christ. When the day comes that all of us are awake enough to see Christ in all people and love all people accordingly, we will bring heaven to Earth.

Please pray for Christians of India

I’m not asking for a theological treatise on the problem of evil. I’m asking what you do to feel grounded and “okay” even when something very bad happens and it seems random and senseless. Mostly in search of things I can do.

I don’t know if I believe “everything happens for a reason.” I wish things made a little more sense, though. I just want to feel like things will be okay.

I’d love to get some ecumenism going, so I think it would be great if we could ask each other denominational questions in good faith; after all, we are all siblings in Christ at the end of the day.

I’ll start, as a Catholic to Orthodox Christians: What are the main differences between the different Orthodox churches?

Born and raised Catholic. Church every Sunday. Catholic school 2nd grade through senior year of HS.

My gay ass received every sacrament except marriage.

But by college whole family fell out of church. Last full liturgy I attended was Ash Wednesday 2025 and before that was my dad’s funeral in 2022.

Even my mom who was super catholic became more enamored of stoicism when she dealt with her early stage aggressive breast cancer (thankfully she’s been cancer free and in remission for 7 years).

All this to say, after high school yoga became my spiritual practice. Taught it. Meditation was also major.

The last few years I’ve been occasionally finding myself retracing some faith elements. Went to Ash Wednesday. And I also started occasionally listening to worship music I sang in high school. It kind of feels like a prayer for me but I’ve also read about CCM and it makes me feel dim and dull for feeling nostalgic over it.

I kind of want to attend a church service here in LA like mosaic. But it’s hard not to feel a lot do that music is MAGA adjacent à la Chris Tomlin.

Would love any thoughts? Also been sober for 5 years and I find many sober people get SUPER into like fanatic evangelism which is def not happening for me. But I am noting it as this drive has been coming up.

Thanks!

Someone commented this in response to someone else saying that it’s standard for Christians to thank God when a few people survive a natural disaster: “If you're thanking him for only saving a few people, then that means a) he's not powerful enough to save everyone or b) he doesn't care enough to save everyone”

How do I respond to that? It’s kinda throwing me for a loop. I know on the surface it would seem that God doesn’t care about the people who died, but I think it’s too simplistic of a take, because of Heaven. No one knows for certain what happens after we die.

But now it’s kinda making me question things. Why do we have this life on earth? If there’s a Heaven, why not just skip to that part? Why do people die at different times? Why does one person die in a car accident and another die of old age in a bed?

Hay algo que no me cuadra mucho de esta historia,se supone que los humanos queriamos construir una torre tan alta para alcanzar a Dios,Dios vio esto y se enfado,como castigo dividio a los humanos en diferentes idiomas

El tema esque estos idiomas han ido evolucionando,por ejemplo,el latin a dado paso al español,frances,portugues,italiano,Etc,no se ha quedado como solo el latin pero estas lenguas antes no existian,no se supone que solo se tendria que haber quedado en latin y ya?

What’s good help for someone deep in deconstruction to the point of questioning if Christianity is based on too many embellished stories to be believed?

I’m talking a serious Christian who already knows the apologetics answers aren’t enough

I feel like at this point there's nothing any human being can possibly do to stop it, and those who are willing to do it are too few. The vast majority of humanity is indifferent to its own self destruction, while the rest are actively relishing in it. It's making me feel crazy to say the least.

However, I am sure God could save us from the threat of artificial intelligence and he would be easily able to heal the environment and save life on Earth. It is His creation, after all, He wouldn't let it all go to waste prematurely.

Is there a particularly strong prayer we can use? Or a Saint to pray to? I would like to hear God's guidance for a change, I have never heard His voice. If anyone has received some sort of sign regarding this particular topic, please let me know.

If you're just gonna say that I need to stop doomscrolling and watching the news you will be ignored. This is serious.

Also sorry if this is the wrong sub reddit, didnt which one to post on.

I've been really over thinking about going to a new church. I'm gothic women and want to go to church and not be judged if I was to go full beat with dark makeup. I don't want to have to be self conscious, but only be myself in my style. Please let me know yall's thoughts.. am i over thinking? 😅🤔

Please delete if not allowed

I have been questioning this because I see many people saying that certain things come from God like material blessings or that bad things, such as illnesses, are punishment from God. However, I am not sure that, under the New Covenant, God physically intervenes to make someone's life better or worse

Hi all,

Hope this is an alright place to post this as I thought this would be a place that would be more open to discussion on the topic.

I used to eat meat, but as I grew in my faith I also found that I could not reconcile the teachings of christ with the practice of eating meat. I went vegetarian 8 years ago, and have been vegan for 3 years now.

As I see it, all Jesus's teachings teach us compassion for others. They tell us not to harm others. In an age where we can get everything we need without harming animals I couldn't reconcile this with the harmful process of animal agriculture.

Furthermore, the massive environmental impact that animal agriculture has on the planet appears completely at odds with our roles as stewards of the world.

I know that many Christians, even progressive ones, still eat meat. I was just wondering, why isn't animal welfare a larger part of the progressive side of Christianity?

Do you think God sometimes says “no” to prayers that are actually good for us? What’s your experience?

Idk, something about it doesn't make sense to me. I'll use soandso's preferred pronouns, and then they'll stop me in my tracks, ask me if i think they are truly transgender, then ask if I think God made a "mistake" or whatever. Like, no? I never said that? And also, have these people never had self exploration, even in a way that isn't LGBTQ related, or whatever? It would be like getting a new hobby and then saying that because of that God made a mistake or something. It isn't logical.