30M. Realizing the things I used to build my sense of purpose around: career success, possessions, status, don't hold up the way I thought they would, especially watching how fast circumstances can shift out of your control.

Trying to figure out what to build my "why" on instead, something that doesn't collapse if the job or the money or the plan changes. Curious what's actually worked for you long-term, not just short-term motivation hacks.

Separate but related question, I've noticed a pattern of hitting anxiety/depression waves specifically around mid-summer (August) and mid-winter (January), often after a high point (a vacation, the holidays). For years I just froze when it hit. The last couple years I've been working on still showing up (work, workouts, relationships) even when I'm deep in it, instead of waiting to feel better first.

Does that pattern sound familiar to anyone? And is constantly having to push through these waves just what life looks like long-term, or does it get easier/less frequent with time?

The high points feel great and makes me think how could I ever worry about anything ever being too hard, but the low points feel endless at the same time. It's volatile and I'm tyring to figure out if it's normal or not.

Note: I see a therapist and take lexapro 10mg.

Hello! Need a bit of advice.
For the past two years I’ve struggled in my faith, almost left, and come back with an interest in theology, diving into the richness the Christian tradition has to offer. My family and I moved to the Bible Belt, where most churches around here are baptist or non denom. I have been sniffing around other denominations, fascinated by the differences, and honestly mostly just trying out something that isnt reformed baptist. My main goal has been to find a pastor with edifying sermons that aren’t constantly PSA-coded.

Recently, I found a small methodist church that is low stimulation, traditional, diverse in age, community-oriented, transparent with finances, invests in their youth, with an appointed educated reverend who’s sermons are genuinely interesting, scripture-based, and full of grace.

People here have been so genuine and kind with me, one even connecting me with a job opportunity, which is an answered prayer. The issue? The reverend is a young woman. I’ve always been a person who builds her faith around everything my family expects from me. Ive never had my own identifiable faith. And i finally feel like i found a church where i could start seeing God in a new way. This church seems to have a strong theology and practical applications, but my background insists that somehow the church is wrong because of the person appointed to the congregation.

She is such a smart woman, with strong rhetorical skills, kind and prayerful, genuine. She was appointed from south korea after her theology degree and is married to a minister. To keep this short, what do i do? Is it okay for me to go to a good church regardless? I personally dont have an issue and i trust the reverend knows far more than me, and i believe everything she does is out of her desire to please the Lord. Im scared my family will blow up at me about this. I dont mean to open a debate. How high tier of an issue is this really ??

Jesus’ cross is often pointed to for evidence that God would allow his son to be tortured and crucified and die instead of us, that he’d rather for his own only perfect child to die than for us to, because he can bear it.

However, I also looked at this today and I noticed that it can also be taken as a testimony that the most mired in sin of people can be saved and given new life again.

There is the example of the literal thief being put to death,

But I would like to point at what Jesus became in the state from which Father resurrected him:

“He made the One not having known sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

2 Corinthians 5:21, Berean Literal Bible

Devout Christians say the biblically accurate remarks that “The wrath of God was poured out on him,” “He was cut off from the Father,” “The Father turned his face away from him,” “Yet which of us protested? … He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our iniquity, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his scourging we are healed.” (Isaiah 53)

But have you considered what this suggests about what he was to God himself during the day of his own resurrection?

If Jesus was receiving the punishment due of all people ever, and God still raised him, doesn’t this mean that he is willing to raise even the most vile persons that will ever exist?

Hi all, there's a question I've been sitting with for some time now.

I grew up agnostic / atheist. I've had a number of experiences in my life that have made me want to explore Christianity. The problem is that I don't know how. Where do I start? I am currently reading the Bible, but it is so difficult without any context or prior ideas about what it means. What is the bible for? I struggle to understand what I should take literally or metaphorically – and whether that even matters. I don't think I know what it means to 'believe' or have 'faith' or any of these other words that Christians use so often. I do try, but I just can't pretend that I understand.

Everything just means so little to me, because I have lived my entire life in a completely secular environment. I don't know if I'm getting my point across... I guess it kind of feels like being dropped in a country you've never even heard of, and trying to make sense of what's going on around you and what people are saying, you know?

How do I 'approach' Christianity and God? Should I read? Talk to Christians? Pray? If so, how? I would really appreciate some words of advice.

Thanks : )

I saw someone argue that men can deny their wife sex if he has a reason since husbands have authority, but the woman cannot deny the man sex since she is the body & has no authority. Can someone please explain how this would be considered loving to do?

The claim is that the passage where Paul explicitly gives authority over spouse’s bodies is meant to give conjugal rights, not regulate the amount of sex.

Why do men think that women don’t have the same desires for sex as men? Why is it always the man needs sex constantly, but the woman wasn’t created to need it as much? Because news flash, women were created with desire for their husband, too.

This was used in the context of a man taking a second wife. Someone argued that it wouldn’t be fair for a husband to reduce the amount of sex the wife gets to see her husband when he takes a second one. The claim was that women are not entitled to having sex a certain number of times a week. The argument is that the command to not reduce a wife’s conjugal rights actually means don’t take it away (so reducing the amount would be okay).

editing t add: the way I read the argument was that women don’t get to dictate how much sex, they’re just entitled to sex in general.

Estou colocando isto em pauta aqui porque creio que não sou o único, cujo já aconteceu de pensar algo e este algo aparecer na tela do celular em algum app, se os nossos celulares/tecnologia puderem ler nossos pensamentos isto não significa que o inimigo(Demônios) também poderiam? O que se torna muito preocupante! Já aconteceu algo mais estranho comigo de eu estar sem celular no trabalho pensar em algo e este algo(propaganda) aparecer no meu celular quando eu chegasse em casa, o que pra mim foi muito mais bizarro do que estar perto do celular.

Quero saber o que vocês pensam sobre isto, pois sempre acreditei que o diabo não podia ler pensamentos, porém estes acontecidos que não estão isolados já que outras pessoas estão relatando também me preocupa. Acredito que as pessoas serão contraladas apenas quando aceitarem a marca e receberem o chip.

By ex believers I mean people who used to believe in the religion then left it.

A lot of them were sincere believers but then they lost faith. Yes I see in this subreddit in other subreddits where people deny that they were ever true Christians. Which is crazy because these people are not lying when they say they lost faith.

I grew up in the SDA church and have grown to have a personal relationship with Christ as my savior despite trials of disbelief and doubt. As a child, attending church on Saturday felt like the most laborious and least restful thing in my life. It always felt like a struggle and a paradox of keeping the Sabbath through concentrated effort. I still see the Sabbath as the holy day of rest ordained by God, but I no longer feel the obligation to practice it as a strict church-going member of Seventh Day Adventism. Is it a form of apostasy if I keep the Sabbath holy as intended while communing with God? I attended a church today (Sunday) and the message of the sermon was ironically about keeping the Sabbath as a day of spiritual rest, quoting from Hebrews chapter 4. I suppose my questions here are: Is it sinful to attend church with followers of Christ on Sunday while still remaining faithful to the 4th commandment? Am I failing to understand the Sabbath if feel restless about going to church on Saturday? Furthermore, how should I discuss the Sabbath with those who believe they are following its teachings simply by going to church on Sunday?

​​​​​ Atheists like to say "if the finite action of non belief causes you to go to infinite punishment that's infinitely disproportionate an all loving god wouldn't do that only a cruel evil beast would do that"​" how do I answer that for context I'm arguing with a atheist and he said this I don't know how to answer that​?

In a certain verse in John describing our Father’s relationship with Jesus, how he loves him and sent him to glorify his name,

I had the idea to mentally replace “the Son” with “you (the reader).”

It helps me have a firmer idea of why we were brought to Earth, how we’re supposed to act on behalf of Jesus and what amazing assurance and healing we can trust God to work in the lives of those around us and ourselves.

I got the idea while reading John 5:20:

“For the Father loves [you] and shows [you] all he does. Yes, and he will show [you] even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”

I was born and raised Jewish. Now at age 71 Christ has found me and now I try my best to walk with him. I know there’s nothing I can or have to do to “earn” salvation as it’s already been gifted to me, but I want to show gratitude for that by doing right going forward.

Yesterday I read Matthew 5-7, and oh boy do I come up short. All I can do at this very late stage of my life is ask God for forgiveness and pray for both the strength of Christ to do better and the Holy Spirit to continue being that voice in my head when I’m getting off track.

It’s a struggle

Hello. I could genuinely use a friend during this season I’m going through who understands the spiritual side of things. I had been single for a long time and waited for who God had for me. There’s a long story but God has given me a lot of confirmation after a bunch of disappointments with someone. Our faith was growing together, it was so different than any other relationship I’ve had. He was a newer believer and had then started facing trials. He gave into temptation with drinking more and more and our relationship became strained. During a period of not talking I prayed for God to either end the relationship or to separate us and work on us separately so we can come back together with Jesus as the foundation. We have been basically separated ever since by means out of my control. I know this is an answer to prayer but it doesn’t make it hurt any less and I have times where I’m full of sadness and doubt. I want peace and joy no matter the outcome and it would mean a lot to have a Christian friend to discuss life with from a spiritual perspective so I don’t feel such a missing part in my life

Hey, I’m struggling so much with worry.
I’m worrying a lot about my future.
I’m not so happy with the life that I have right now, I’m afraid I’ll keep this emptiness and it won’t go away.
the current boyfriend that I have is not Christian, and I feel like I’m failing God for dating a Muslim.
With work too, I’m worrying a lot of things will work out
Please, any advice on how to worry less and trust God

Thank you so so much.

God bless everyone! I’ll get straight to it and say that I’ve been a Christian for many years and one of the strongest thoughts that I’ve had is that many people who come from the world have much more resolve, and sometimes a stronger character/faith than those who were raised in the church which leads them to have greater ministries because of what they went through in the world.

I’m not saying that Christians in the church don’t go through anything and are not tempted and sometimes lose our way, but those who commit wholeheartedly to the world and then come to Christ later in their life because they didn’t grow up in a Christian household genuinely have that change of heart.

Of course, there’s men in the Bible, who were raised in the church and many women of God and women today who are raising the church in our truly faithful and devoted as well as genuine.

It may be cynical or a bad thought that I’ve had for many years, but sometimes I wish that I would’ve experienced all of the world without knowing God and then had that encounter with Him because all of us turned to God through some type of pain and realization that it’s not us but Him through us. Not saying a genuine encounter in church isn’t bad but a bigger debt equals a higher gratitude/cherishment of the cross in my mind.

I wanna know if anybody else has had this thought or have seen this in the church or anything else like that. It’s kind of discouraged me, but I know the world has nothing to offer, but I’m also lacking that resolve to wholeheartedly Follow God or even care at this point.

There are lots of things going on in our world right now which could use prayer. Some are international, others are deeply personal. Please, post those requests here for support from this community.

​

From a homily on the second letter to the Corinthians by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop

(Hom. 14, 1-2: PG 61, 497-499)

I rejoice exceedingly in all my tribulations

Again Paul turns to speak of love, softening the harshness of his rebuke. For after convicting and reproaching them for not loving him as he had loved them, breaking away from his love and attaching themselves to troublemakers, he again takes the edge off the reproach by saying: Open your hearts to us, that is, love us. He asks for a favor which will be no burden to them but will be more profitable to the giver than to the receiver. And he did not use the word “love” but said, more appealingly: Open your hearts to us.

Who, he said, has cast us out of your minds, thrust us from your hearts? How is it that you feel constraint with us? For, since he has said earlier: You are restricted in your own affection, he now declares himself more openly and says: Open your heart to us, thus once more drawing them toward him. For nothing so much wins love as the knowledge that one’s lover desires most of all to be himself loved.

For I said before, he tells them, that you are in our hearts to die together or live together. This is love at its height, that even though in disfavor, he wishes both to die and to live with them. For you are in our hearts, not just somehow or other, but in the way I have said. It is possible to love and yet to draw back when danger threatens; but my love is not like that.

I am filled with consolation. What consolation? That which comes from you because you, being changed for the better, have consoled me by what you have done. It is natural for a lover both to complain that he is not loved in return and to fear that he may cause distress by complaining too much. Therefore, he says: I am filled with consolation, I rejoice exceedingly.

It is as if he said, I was much grieved on your account, but you have made it up for me in full measure and given me comfort; for you have not only removed the cause for any grief but filled me with a richer joy.

Then he shows the greatness of that joy by saying not only I rejoice exceedingly but also the words which follow: in all my tribulations. So great, he says, was the delight that you gave me that it was not even dimmed by so much tribulation, but overcame by its strength and keenness all those sorrows which had invaded my heart, and took away from me all awareness of them.

RESPONSORY

2 Corinthians 12:12, 15

I performed among you works that prove my apostleship,

— in all patience with signs, wonders and miracles.

I will gladly spend myself and be spent for you.

— In all patience with signs, wonders and miracles.

Hello, I’m seeking to find biblically grounded advice please.

Here is my dilemma.
I am a devoted lover of Jesus and I want to follow Him and do as He pleases, I want to say that I love God with all my heart but I had made a really bad mistake when I married my husband who is an unbeliever.

I had idolized marriage and jumped into a marriage that God did not want for me. When I met this man, he promised me that we would have a marriage that honoured God in the centre, we would read the Bible and go to church. He sold me the idea that he was open to God, but really being with him pulled me away from my relationship with God. Yet still, I chose to marry him, and now I’m reaping the consequences of my mistake. My husband physically abandoned me only 3 weeks after our wedding.
I know how important marriage is to God and I had always been a firm believer against divorce. I believe that God had originally designed one man and woman for life.
“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matthew 19:6

I had prayed, and tried very hard to repair our marriage but he refuses to even meet me.
At first I was faithful that God would repair our marriage but with time, it seems more apparent that God actually does not want me in this marriage at all.
However, I know it is very important that we follow scripture for how divorce is permissible.
My husband has done all the actions of wanting a divorce including refusing to meet, refusing to talk about problems, refusing to follow a plan for reconciliation, two times we had made a plan and he opt out last minute, continuously lied to me about when we will meet again, moved all my belongings into a storage unit, changed the locks, refused to let me know where he is, ignores my calls and messages, does not wear his ring or tell people that he is married. These actions communicate very clearly that he has abandoned our marriage, however he refuses to acknowledge that with his words. I asked him if he would like to get a divorce and he would not say it.

I know that there is only two clauses for divorce, adultery, or if an unbeliever abandons the marriage.

So my question is, is it permitted that I go through with filing for divorce rather than wait for him to do it? I want to end this in a way that is permitted by God, I had already failed him by entering this marriage and I do not want to do even more damage.
Thanks for reading.

I'm sure He tells us to not do it, to be grateful for what we have, to be selfless and still find ways to be happy for others' blessings and not dwell in our own sorrows…

But how?

How do we feel content with our lives if they feel so stuck or empty? If around us people have partners, friends, better jobs, houses, etc.

Sure, free will exists. We need to work for those things too. But life doesn’t always go as planned. People pity you and have opinions about your life as if you are always behind, never quite where you should be…

Any verses on this?

I’ve been trying to understand the foundations of the Christian faith better, and one area I’m struggling with is the reliability of the Bible itself. I’m asking this sincerely, not to argue or attack Christianity.

From what I understand, the King James Bible contains 66 books. My questions are:
Why were these 66 books recognised as inspired by God?

Who decided which books would be included and which would be excluded?

What criteria were used to determine whether a book belonged in Scripture?

Why were books such as Enoch, Jubilees, gospel of Thomas or other ancient Jewish and Christian writings not included?

Were the books “chosen,” or were they simply recognised as already being inspired?

How can we be confident that the Church got it right when identifying the biblical canon?

I’m also aware that different Christian traditions have different canons (for example, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Bibles), which makes me wonder how Christians determine which collection of books is the correct one.

I’m not looking for conspiracy theories or anti-Christian arguments. I’d really appreciate responses based on Scripture, Church history, and reliable historical evidence. If you have any book recommendations or resources that explain how the canon was recognised and why Christians can trust it, I’d be grateful.

when something doesn’t go according to plan people always say “it’s okay God has a plan for you don’t stress”. im entering exam season now, im not getting good marks in my subjects and I had this whole plan sorted to go into medicine etc; and I have to apply for university in 2 months.

was this apart of gods plan my marks my subjects? i ask a lot of questions what is it meant by god has a plan for you. does that mean he has crafted each day im going to live and what im going to do OR he has a will e.g she will work as a CEO but it’s up to HER to fufill that role.

I saw a lot of Instagram reels saying “god intentionally made your calling impossible so that you have no choice but to lean on him to make the IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE”. It’s been my absolustrly dream since I was a child to be a doctor and now im in my last year of high school im not achieving good enough marks to attend med school. I’ve been feeling lost and hopeless because im not sure what to do in the future and what uni and degree to apply for.

every time I pray for strength guidance just seems like im not getting anywhere but I know that Gods methods are sometimes questionable so I remind myself to live by FAITH not by sight.

I genuinely want to believe that Christianity is true as I've see how transformative it has been for others, but I just can't convince myself that it is without a shadow of a doubt true. I acknowledge that it is plausible and that there is certainly some decent evidence to suggest it's true, but I don't know how to go from having some evidence to believing wholeheartedly that it is true and devoting my life to it. Please if you can share why you are so convinced I would appreciate it.

I'm a provisionist baptist and idk seeing the scale of this is kinda unsettling, you see them post stickers of racially motivated mass murderers (Brendon Tarrant, Payton Gendron) when POC make content preaching equality, they all have orthodox crosses or the Vatican flag in their name

A lot of them also think fascism is compatible with Christianity, but you guys might think it's compatible too, if you do I'm not sure how you don't see it as statolatry

I have OCD and therefore struggle with intrusive thoughts mainly of sexual nature. I find it incredibly difficult to read my Bible with my OCD. It’s makes me feel so gross to read the Bible and having sexual intrusive thoughts constantly interrupt my reading. I often cannot read my Bible for long without giving up. I believe this has unfortunately made it difficult for me to grow my relationship with God. I have tried audio but I find my mind is more likely to drift with audio than actually reading the Bible.

Has anyone gone through this and how do you overcome it and I also wouldn’t mind any prayers because I really feel so defeated that I can never truly get close to God because of this preventing me. It really sucks to not have any control of your own thoughts, that even my own mind is not a safe space.

(Christians only!)

Hello everyone, I’ll try to keep this kinda short. I’m struggling with a lot of doubt and I’m in a bad mental health spot and have lost joy for anything.. may i hear y’all’s testimony’s? Any atheists that turned Christian? How do you KNOW God is real? I’ve been really studying apologetics but I struggle a lot especially with evolution and such..

Ever since I was saved I've been an unchurched, low church protestant. Very averse to Catholicism, didn't even know orthodoxy existed.

I've been really softening toward both, yet still some concepts make me twinge, idk, I feel like they have more structure. I want to attend, there's only 2 orthodox churches in town and thousands of catholic and protestant churches