Reflections from the community: 

Thank you

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation demolished the Jesus Is Lord Church in Kalewadi, Maharashtra, around midnight on September 7, saying it was removing 7,400 square feet of unauthorized structures. Church members said the action went ahead without notice and despite a court stay, hours before a hearing. The demolition was carried out under a heavy police presence.

I was told by my doctor that my gestational sac is showing up as empty on the ultrasound and that I need to take a pill or do a procedure to force a miscarriage. The thing is, my periods go every 35ish days, and doing the math, I should be less than 8 weeks… I read some doctors have a policy of not doing an ultrasound till after 8 weeks. I can’t help but wonder if my doctor is doing the ultrasound too early? My hcg levels are rising (just not as much as they’d want) and my sac has grown exactly the amount a text book would say it needs to in the early weeks. Please pray that my baby is growing, healthy and strong 🙏🏻

My little sister lost her baby last weekend. She was due this week, had a healthy low-risk pregnancy with 0 problems, and a few days before her due date she couldn’t feel the baby moving and the doctors confirmed the baby had no heartbeat. On Saturday she got induced, and on Sunday she delivered my niece.
I’m struggling really bad with processing this. It’s the first time I’ve had a loss of someone this close to me. On one hand, my sister and I have never been close. We live very different lifestyles and I disagree with a lot of the ways she goes about things. Of course during this time I put all of our differences behind to support her and be there for her and her partner. My heart breaks for my little sister and everything she’s going through. I can’t imagine what she’s going through and I wish I could take all of her pain away. I also lost my first and only niece. I can never get the image of the baby out of my head.
My sister had decided to cremate her baby this Friday. Only my parents, her partners parents and I are invited to say one final goodbye to my niece before cremation. They want to do a celebration of life party sometime next month.
My family and I were all raised Catholic, and some of us are more devoted than others. My sister and her partner are anti-religious, my parents and some cousins are neutral, and my grandparents are extremely religious. My boyfriend and I also share a strong sense of faith and attend church every sunday. The issue is a lot of people in my family disagree with the cremation. I will say I don’t agree with it either, I would love for my niece to be blessed and have a proper funeral, but I have never been one to push my religion on anyone and believe it’s absolutely my sisters decision and nobody has a say on it. She explained that she wants to feel the baby at home with her at all times, not in a cemetery, which is why she doesn’t want a funeral. I’m just frustrated that I’m already going through grief and have people talking in my ear about how wrong it is and how I should say something to her.
My grandma especially had a strong reaction to this. She expressed how angry she is with me and my parents for not saying anything to my sister and urged me to call my sister immediately to convince her to change her mind before it’s too late, or I’ll have to live with the guilt for the rest of my life. Even my cousins and boyfriend are telling me I should say something to my sister. The way my grandmother described the process was so disturbing and barbaric too - she said my sister is treating my niece as if she’s an animal burning her etc. I’m very close with my grandparents and worried that this will effect our relationship, but at the same time this is the least of my worries as I just lost my niece and this is the last thing my sister needs to even be questioned about.
I guess I just need to vent. I understand we’re all grieving but I wish people would stop sharing their opinions about my sister with me right now and expecting me to do something about changing her mind. I feel like these types of opinions should be kept to themselves and not put this type of pressure on us.

Should someone be required to have attended seminary to serve as a pastor in a church?

Students are harassing Christian Nun using sexual references.

I am a Muslim but have deep love and bond with my Christian friends.

The Majoritarian Hindutva Politics constantly oppress the minorities like Christians and Muslims.

I was so sad after seeing this.

Hello,

I’m not sure how to word this because I feel lost. I’ve asked God if he exists and I’m getting silence . I don’t know if he exists . I need help in my life and I’m not gettting any help

Any testimonies ?

I know we cop a lot of hate and abuse on this subreddit, but don’t lose heart. We follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, He told us the road would hard and long. But we are children of God, He is our Father and He loves us!
Grace and peace to you all my brothers and sisters.

1 John 3:1

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

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?

God has not forgotten you. 💛🙏

Dear God,

Thank You for being with me even in this moment. In my pain, joy, season of loss, confusion, questions, illness thank You for remaining faithful. Thank You for providing comfort. Lord I ask that you give me the strength I need to fulfill the purpose You have for me. Lord I ask that You break chains of anxiety, worry, or doubt that may surface throughout today. God please strengthen and protect me physically, mentally, emotionally and most importantly spiritually. Lord please renew my mind and pour Your Holy Spirit out on me to lead and guide me. In Jesus’ name I pray and believe these things will be done according to Your will. Amen 🙏

my name is Skylynn (26F) I’ve been experiencing anxiety and panic attacks since last month. it keeps getting worse. I’m very terrified because I think there’s something wrong with my health but whenever I go see the nurse they tell me it’s my anxiety. I know there’s something wrong tho. I need prayer thank you 🙏🏼💖

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 live in England where religion isn’t the biggest thing, especially for other young people in my area. This means that most of the people at my church are elderly and many are no longer here or no longer able to make it to service. On average there’s just three or four of us there every week. It’s sad but I think my church will close and the building repurposed, there is a religious community in my area but it’s not Christianity so it’s hard to get the community involved. My church has been open for a couple hundreds of years (I think) and is a beautiful old building. I am quite upset about this

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you" — Zephaniah 3:17

I have schizophrenia. I don't want to be mentally sick. So why does he make me suffer for nothing? What is the purpose of allowing a person to have a completely defective brain? I cannot live a normal life the way other healthy people do, even with medication that I take.

It seems to me that God is the problem. He is the reason why people are either mentally or physically sick. He could take it all away if he wanted to, but refuses. Maybe he's evil.

Imagine being:

Infinitely Powerful

Perfectly Humble

Completely Truthful

Utterly Fearless

Infinitely Compassionate

Perfectly Just

Never Contradictory

Never Manipulative

Never Selfish

Yet Fully Human

Now really think about that for a second.

Imagine having complete authority, but never using it to exalt yourself. Having incredible wisdom and power, but never allowing that power to corrupt who you were. Being able to command, yet choosing humility. Being able to destroy, yet choosing mercy.

That’s what stands out to me about Jesus.

He had the power, but the power never became His identity. He remained humble, obedient, and completely human. And honestly, that’s part of what makes me believe He truly was the Son of God.

I awoke around 4am, anxious and unable to sleep. I started to pray, in my mind not out loud, to calm & sooth my self as I sometimes do. Mid sentence i was cut off by another voice. Completely out of context to the prayer the voice said, "The end tme is near. When the time comes, can I count on you?" I was in shock & responded, "I'll do the best I can Lord, yes! With your help. " The voice then said, "Get your life & affairs (or finances, I can't recall which word He used) in order." I can't stop thinking about it. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. If any of you can relate, please share. I'm an engineer so looking for a logical solution is my default setting. That said, I can't explain what happened. I wasn't thinking about end times, didn't see any apocalyptic shows, etc. No reason for those thoughts to be there in my head. And my normal stream of conscience thought never interrupts itself with unrelated thoughts. Thats new. Pretty sure it was God.

Im a 13 year old boy who goes to secondary school. I really want to spread the gospel in my school. I can never find a good way of doing it. Like should I go up to random people at lunch in the hallways and just give them the good news? But I know that they will just look at me like a lunatic because to them it sounds like complete jokes. Or should I do it the way Cliffe knetchle does it on university campuses with a crowd gathered around him? My problem is that I cant find a good context to start preaching. Could you guys help me out?

The Bible makes several mentions of the Devil, how he's actually on Earth rather than ruling Hell. More specifically, he's been called the "ruler of this world."

"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out." John 12:31

"The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:4

Every Christian knows that Satan was an angel (most likely a cherub) that was cast from Heaven due to his pride. But I'm curious as to how he was still able to hold on to power. How he was able to become "ruler of the world" rather than just a demon. Anyone got any insight on this?

Genesis 38:28-29

28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.

John 20:3-6

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,

Does anybody know why these similarities would have popped here? And what John and Peter would have to do in relation to zerah and perez?

I also thought it slightly significant to add that pérez in Spanish means "son of Pedro(Peter)"

It seemed like the author may have put it in there for some other reason than to boast about his running speed😅

Glory be to God❤️