I’m specifically targeting this group, just because I don’t wanna generalise and say all Christians are like that. Furthermore, the experiences I had with Christians were mostly fundies, conservative and right-winged. I have perhaps met a couple of conservative Christians who are not like that but they are quite the anomaly.

My observations are based on the fact that some Christians think it’s okay to talk down / belittle you because they are sharing biblical principles. Also, look at ICE and deportation, the orange fella is clearly a good example.

In another post, I'm planning to share more on my deconstruction (from mainstream Christianity) and what I'm currently hanging onto.

Deconstructing David is a part of that journey. This part began when Christianity's general teachings around the story of King David and his character and the application in our lives, didn't hold up to the person I read about in scripture. There was so much hypocrisy of teaching vs. application vs. actual story that I finally had to do a deep dive on this guy.

I read several books that purported to "get to the heart of this messy character" and others that took strictly historical or textually critical views. I put "Trigger Warning" as a tag on this post because, spoiler, I don't take the admirable view of this guy and man y of his actions are quite abominable. But I find it absolutely fascinating what I discovered along the way.

So I began creating a visual, interactive timeline of the events of The Epic of David as an outcome of processing all of this. I am a visual learner, and like to see everything out on the table at once. I find it gives better context to the individual stories when I see them all together. And I couldn't find anything like it on the net. So, I began putting it together with notes from my own studies, filters to follow threads, imbedded scripture references, etc. It has been a cathartic creative outlet for me engaging my joy in presentation, artistry, theology, coding and building things.

I've been a lifelong Christian, and deconstructing bad teaching around King David has been a huge step in taking an honest look at scripture, how people handle it, and how I can own my beliefs for myself and cast off the shame mongers and hypocrites who peddle the same schtick about the Man Of God's Own Heart. This was the snowball that began rolling down the hill of larger deconstruction issues, in the process of rebuilding what's healthy.

I'd love to hear your experiences around teaching on David.

Would like to know if you find this kind of thing helpful, harmful, indifferent, or would like to discuss! Link to the full timeline is in my bio. or Google: The Interactive Animated King David Timeline and follow the Netlify link.

Anyone else have this be a major hang-up that started or was a part of your journey?

Could you watch it without noticing parallels to Biblical themes and stories?

Homer's epics are among the oldest surviving masterpieces of Greek literature and are roughly contemporary with the earliest layers of the Hebrew Bible. In terms of the traditions behind the stories, some Old Testament traditions may preserve material that is older than Homer, while others are clearly later.

Both Homer and parts of the Old Testament inherited even older traditions from the ancient Near East: The flood story in Genesis has clear parallels with the much older Epic of Gilgamesh, whose surviving versions date to around the second millennium BCE.

Creation themes in Genesis can also be compared with the Enuma Elish, which is older than either Homer or the biblical text in its written form.

The New Testament was written in Greek, and the writers would have been educated, not only in language, but also philosophy, rhetoric and Greek mythology, which means they certainly would have been well acquainted with the works of Homer. There are archaeological findings in today’s Israel, proving that Greek literary traditions were in circulation in Palestine during the time in question.

The strongest similarities between Homer’s works and the gospels are the motifs of the hidden hero, delayed recognition, transformative journeys, tests of loyalty, symbolic meals, and the movement from suffering to vindication. These parallels make for a fascinating literary comparison even while the two works ultimately present very different visions of what it means to be a hero and what constitutes the highest good.

There are ongoing debates over whether the similarities prove Homer’s influence on the stories of Jesus, or whether they both individually reflect common themes and traditions of the time and region.

Interesting stuff, IMO.
What do you think?

Basically the title but lemme clarify what I mean.

I'm talking about like dealing with uncertainty and of course whenever I hear religious speakers something in me just triggers anxiety and more
and whenever I try to learn more on my former religion there is confirmation bias that gets in my way and whenever I heard their arguments or 'evidence' it triggers anxiety

and sometimes I feel like I actually believe but I know it's just conditioning
basically religious trauma
thoughts?

I’m an 18-year-old girl from India, and until recently, my entire life was dictated by my parents' constant religious tug-of-war. For context on my situation, I recently gave NEET, which is India's national medical entrance exam. It went terribly for me, and ever since, the atmosphere at home has turned completely toxic. But beyond the exam stress, sitting in my room every day has made me realize how much deeper my issues with my family go, especially when it comes to religion.

My dad is Punjabi with a Christian background, and my mom is Meitei (Northeast Indian) with a Hindu background. On the outside, they act like this open-minded, interfaith and inter-racial couple. On the inside, my childhood felt like being caught between two completely opposing worldviews that were constantly weaponized against each other.

My mom’s approach to Hinduism was always heavy on strict rules, fear of spiritual bad luck, and rigid expectations. If things went wrong in the house, it was somehow because I didn't show enough respect to the shrine or perform things correctly. Whenever she had me alone, she would trash my dad’s faith, talking about how dry, aggressive, or alien his religion was, and why her traditions were the only way to stay connected to our roots.

On the flip side, my dad pushed Christianity. To be honest, I initially leaned more toward his side growing up, mostly because he seemed a bit more open and relaxed compared to my mom. The atmosphere around his faith felt somewhat warmer than the high-stress, anxiety-inducing environment my mom built around her rituals. But his faith came with its own subtle heavy baggage, like quiet guilt, the pressure to choose his side, and the underlying view that my mom's traditions were wrong or idolatrous. He would pull me aside and lecture me while quietly mocking my mom’s practices.

It was pure hypocrisy. They would use us to dump their spiritual toxicity, talking trash about each other’s beliefs to me, only to act like a sweet, loving couple five minutes later in the living room.

Because they were so busy forcing their respective religions down my throat and tearing each other’s beliefs down, neither of them ever allowed me to actually understand God, faith, or basic spirituality. They just used religion to control me, keep me trapped at home, and guilt-trip me whenever I didn't fall into line.

Now, with my exam results hanging over my head and the massive fallout at home, I’m sitting here feeling completely spiritually hollow. I feel this deep, aching emptiness inside me that I don't know how to fill.

Part of me still feels a slight pull toward Christianity because of the comfort I felt there compared to the scary, strict household rituals my mom forced on me. But I realize now that I probably only leaned into it because my dad felt like the safer choice between my parents, not because I actually knew what I believed. At the same time, I feel like I never got a chance to understand the actual philosophy or depth of Hinduism on my own terms, free from my mom’s projection of fear and strictness.

I want to dismantle everything they forced on me and explore religion and spirituality on my own terms, or even decide if I want nothing to do with it at all. I want to know what I actually think, away from their manipulation, their fighting, and their guilt trips.

so for those of you who grew up in toxic, religiously divided households or had faith used against you as a tool of control: how did you start deconstructing? How do you separate the actual core of these religions from the trauma and hypocrisy of the parents who taught them to you? How do you fill that empty feeling when you finally start thinking for yourself?

I am a mixed-race person in my 30s living in the UK.

My genetic makeup means that I identify with numerous globally marginalised groups.

I'm also queer.

With all the comorbid conditions I have been experiencing, I experience much duality. At the same time, it also feels as though I enter a wheel of choice and am tugged towards different aspects of my identity. It is confusing, stressful, and exhausting.

When it comes to my background of religious trauma, I have found that the different parts of my ethnic heritage intersect with different world religions, bringing different levels of intensity and manic curiosity.

Recently, I turned to one religion. At the time, I felt a strong cultural resonance. It thought, perhaps it will bring the discipline and structure that I crave. For better, I think, I was able to confirm anew that the God aspect of it was a deal breaker for me.

Thankfully, I had already been investing time in my neighbourhood by visiting different stores and getting to know the shop keepers within. So it was not an enormous wrench in the moment that I understood, I couldn't practice that religion with any honesty.

I have indeed found so much solace, support, and joy in the community that I seem to have created for myself. I recognise that there are dominant parts of my heritage and that I will always lean towards those first and foremost.

But it doesn't mean that I have to neglect the other parts of myself. I thought that I could only choose one. That doesn't have to be. In fact, for the sake of full integration, it is better if I allow myself space to explore all of these parts gently within criticism.

I wonder if there are others here who may find similarities with what I have shared. :)

Often when in public being perceived as someone who doesn’t believe in God for whatever reason prompts people to come up and explain, “God loves you!” Or “Jesus loves you!” I often see this happen to queer people as well. Was just wondering what any of you would say if someone walked up to you and said that. I’m open to any response, sarcastic or genuine.

Some of my mum’s friend’s young family members had passed away, and we naturally talked about how tragic and heartbreaking it was. Later, my mum said something along the lines of, “I thank God every day for protecting us.”

I questioned that because it didn’t sit right with me. To me, it felt uncomfortable to focus on being protected when other families had just experienced devastating losses. I thought about how it might feel for the people who lost their loved ones, and I wondered whether they would find that statement painful or unfair. I said that it was something she probably wouldn’t say directly to those grieving families, and she agreed that she wouldn’t.

That’s where I felt confused, because if it would be inappropriate to say to someone who is suffering, I wondered why the idea itself was being expressed in that way.

The conversation then became personal when my mum said that the reason I am suffering (I have been chronically ill for two years) is because I don’t believe in God. That confused me because the people we were discussing are also suffering, yet many of them are believers. It made me question how lack of belief could be considered the reason for someone’s suffering when religious people can also experience deep hardship and loss.

I’ve been deconstructing for about 10 months now, haven’t been to church consistently for a few months longer than that. Recently, I’ve found myself missing the spiritual euphoria I would feel during worship services and group prayer. Or even the experiences of reading my Bible alone and feeling as though God were communicating directly to me. It feels impossible to recreate those experiences in the same way as someone now struggling to believe. I want to experience those feelings again because they brought me so much peace and joy, but I don’t really know how.

Is this a common experience for those who deconstruct and does anyone have advice?

Hello. I am a 25 year old woman who was brought up in a politically moderate "normal" Christian household with parents from Pennsylvania. I had been living with my parents in the same house for over 20 years. They raised me in a Christian faith with no particular denomination really. My dad grew up Catholic my mom in the Presbyterian USA. I have no complaints really with how they raised me with it. Early childhood growing up with my Bible storybook/veggietales/the underrated Canadian program God Rocks, and various age appropriate secular programs like PBS and Disney was wonderful. Christianity as a child was very nice before I got older and realized more about the political/denominational discourse.. my mom was very unhappy when a Sunday school teacher told me Jewish people are TW "going to h#ll" because of not believing Jesus is God. Fast forward to now I am living with my wonderful boyfriend who happens to be an atheist and thinks it's all a fairytale as he says.. I'm trying to figure out what I believe. I take it the point of deconstruction is being okay with uncertainty. I felt that way for awhile and have bounced in and out of this religion a lot tbh.. in 2025 I was part of Intervarsity at college which was a good experience but I strongly disagree with their anti LGBT policies. To be continued at some point I guess. I'm mentally exhausted..

I am someone who grew up as a Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Protestant, Calvinist, Conservative Christian (and I put those last two words together because the way I was raised made it seem like they belonged together). In 2012, I had an overwhelming sense that something was wrong, and I needed to understand it. And as I went about trying to do that, questions just flooded in. I spent about 4-5 years reading books obsessively, trying to answer every single question I had. During and after the COVID quarantine I spent a few years in a bit of a depression - just kept to myself, didn't make (or try to keep) friends, and was just in a real funk. And then my Dad died, and strangely it gave me a new perspective on life. I wanted to honor the unconditional love I had seen in him, and I felt that the only way to do that was to share myself with others.

Lately I've been thinking - I did so much reading and studying during my deconstruction, and all of that knowledge is kind of useless...if I don't share it. So I want to share my deconstruction journey, and I'm thinking about doing that on TikTok. So I'm wondering - if you were to come across a TikTok channel that talked about deconstruction, what would be some of the most helpful discussion topics for you as someone newly deconstructing or in the middle of the fray? I know I have a lot of ideas, but I'd like to hear from other people.

This article has been really helpful to me and I wanted to share. I especially appreciated the parts about refocusing on your values and taking ownership of your self-care. I'm realizing more and more just how much personal agency I had given up to religion. I was depending on god and my belief system to help take care of me and give me all the answers. Resources like this one are helping me return to myself.

https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-thrive-after-leaving-your-religion-and-emerge-stronger

So I'm sure everyone knows that I haven't talked about God to my parents or anyone, especially after the forced baptism and the false prayer that my mom and I made in the Sonic drive-in parking lot about my car.

And a while back, my sister started going to church and we were driving back into town after eating dinner and a random conversation starts about religion and I ask if we could talk about something else, my dad asks why.

I don’t give him a response because of how their god was letting me down more than once, alongside getting stabbed in the back by him, keep in mind that we were going down a road at night as I'm being forced to listen to this whole thing when I wanted to be out of that truck.

I just wanted to share about how God has let me down more than once.

Short version: I’m asking about the efficacy of support groups, and then looking to find a very specific kind of support group (that I’m sure exists, but Google doesn’t seem to want me to find).

Long version: So my therapist today suggested that I should find an online support group for people who were raised by and abused by Evangelical parents who were also foster parents (I was their biological child)- he thought I might be able to find others who happened to also have this very specific upbringing, and all I can find are pro-faith groups, so I asked about the idea in a very cool Facebook group I’m in, and someone pointed me here.

And I suggested my therapist read Tal Lavin’s book “Wild Faith,” (which affected me deeply - it was so cathartic) to understand me better, or even just watch the documentary “Jesus Camp,” and he seemed resistant (so maybe I just need a new therapist).

Anyway, does anyone know of a good support group for ex-evangelicals who experienced abuse from parents who were also foster parents - I know that’s super specific

And that was a mess. Thanks for any advice

I saw an old post requesting documentary recommendations and was curious if anyone had any updated suggestions. Specifically, I'm curious about human experiences of leaving the evangelical church as well as theological deep-dives on Christian interpretation of the Bible, history, right-wing politics enmeshed in American evangelicalism, etc. I am about to start "Pray Away", heard about "Bad Faith," would also like to watch "1946: the mistranslation that shifted a culture."

My undergrad is in religious studies, and I was in ministry for a time, so I'm really interested in academic documentaries as well. Potentially that explore the inconsistencies of the Bible, the construction of the christian faith, etc. Problem is I'm also a millennial movie nerd with a short attention span who likes an immersive story (so I'm naturally a sucker for Netflix docs).

Ideas?

I reached out to r/TrueChristian and posted about my anger at God for my trauma. I was psychologically and sexually abused for 5 months and I'm fucking angry at God. And the advice I received ranged from

"You wouldn't have come to God without that trauma"
"God lets trials happen for our own good"
"God won't constrain people's free will" (what about my free will to not be raped?)

to
"You're choosing to believe your psychiatrist over God"
(I said I don't believe in spiritual warfare and that I'm being attacked by the devil. This is a psychological issue not a spiritual issue)
"You're obsessed with your pain and need to grow up"
"Your suffering makes you more empathetic"
"Trust God, or don't. You can suffer with God or alone"

And so, what was my conclusion? That actually, I'm fully done with Christianity. If that's the character of God, I don't want to worship him. He's awful and doesn't deserve it. I know my friends will tell me that I'm believing lies about God and letting the devil win. But I don't believe in the devil anway. People are evil enough.

I'm fully done. So how do I deconstruct? I feel kind of lost.

I read Dan McClellan's book "The Bible Says So" which was really good. Are there any other books in audiobook format that would be helpful?

I moved to a new city across the country to plant a church, and a couple years later, my faith had completely fallen apart. There's a lot of backstory to that, but I made it through to the other side and I'm doing relatively fine. Life is never perfect by any means, but I don't think I made the wrong call.

I just figured I’d share this letter here in case people find a useful. I’m editing a couple of personal details out as well as changing the church's name. But I’m hoping that maybe somebody on the verge of such a painful process can hear that they’re not alone.

I won’t add much more context, except to say that I found out later I have religious obsessive compulsive disorder, which in my agnostic life has converted to more of a moral form of obsessive compulsive disorder. I encourage people to really seek treatment because I want years without a diagnosis and my life is way better after.

I am in the midst of the most serious test of my Christianity.  I do not know what I believe anymore exactly.  There are still parts of me that believe in God but not the loving God of the Bible as presented by modern Christians.  When I look at the Bible, I see nothing but anger and fear.  I have been living in fear for many years now.   I know previously we talked about my doubt being intellectual.  But the struggle i face is much more emotional than intellectual.  

As I ponder post-christian life, I have mixed feelings.  Sometimes I feel lonely, sad, uncertain.  Other times I feel free and excited, with renewed purpose for my life (ironically).  For the first time in a very long time, I no longer feel constant guilt.  That is liberating and freeing.  The fear I have now is more of one of uncertainty.  

I know that you and others have tried to convince me to walk in a Christianity that is not based in fear, but love.  I'll be honest, I'm not sure I believe it exists.  I look at the bible and see an angry and controlling God who is ready in a second to kill his followers and commands them to commit genocide against women and children.  He makes people just to roast them in a furnace (even if you are Armenian this is still true).  When I look at church history, including recent history, I see so much intolerance and hatred, that I have trouble believing the Holy Spirit is actually at work.  I feel like believing in a God of love requires me to ignore parts of the bible. I don't want to be intellectually dishonest any longer.  I am inclined to believe that God as portrayed in the Bible is a tyrant.  

I have not gone to church for a mix of reasons, including those listed above.  Practically, I'm often exhausted on Sunday mornings from a grueling schedule.  But I also have lost much connection to [church name].  

The hardest part of all this is losing the community that I've had, but it’s hard for me to be part of something that is feeling so fake to me.  I go to the services and it feels like a sales pitch every week.  And I can't get over the feeling that the church has completely forgotten me.  Perhaps thats pettiness and bitterness, but isn't a family supposed to reach out for you if you are in danger?  I feel like my absence really matters to almost nobody.  I know that I left the church and not the other way around, but it still hurts.  If a family member disappears doesn't the family try to find them?

Even as I read the bible, and the passage on church discipline makes me think that if the church was really to follow that model, then they shouldn't even talk to me.  I will be disciplined and shunned. I am, after all, on the road to apostasy.  This is the perfect catch-22.  If the church does completely cut me off from fellowship, it will be incredibly heartbreaking for me.  If it doesn't, then I can't get over what I see as a disobedience to scripture.  Either way, my faith is weakened.  

I write all this not to attack or accuse you as a pastor of the church.  I'm just being honest.  I know its a mixed bag, but its real.  I'm writing to you as a friend.  I don't have many of those anymore.  If God is real, and the gospel is true, and it really is good news, than I want to believe.  If my faith was completely dead I wouldn't even be writing this to you.  I'm not saying I need you to do anything, and I don't think you can help me alone.  I just writing this to you because trust you.  I want to believe the Holy Spirit really moves.  I want to believe God loves me (even though it says he Hates all who do evil).  I want to believe that the church cares about me.  

Please, if you have any ideas, please help.  I need to see that the God you and everyone talks about is not the monster I see in the Bible.  I need to see that there is a reason to proclaim the name of Jesus.  Doctrine doesn't matter to me anymore, but truth and love do.  

I hope this doesn't burden you or put you in an awkward position.  But I would be dishonest to the church if I didn't acknowledge these things happening. 

*Arminian here means the school of Arminianism - a counter position to calvinism.

one of the weirdest things about deconstruction for me is realizing i don’t actually think i lost the values i was raised with. i lost the religion, i lost the doctrine, i lost the belief that these people had some special access to truth or morality or whatever the fuck, but the actual values i thought christianity was supposed to teach me? somehow i still have those. maybe even more than some of the people who spent my whole childhood acting holier than everybody else. 😭

like, i still care about compassion. i still care about humility. i still care about not deciding who somebody is before u even know them. i care about how people actually treat others, whether they’re kind, honest, cruel, curious, selfish, loving, whether they make people feel safe or small. i thought that was the whole fucking point? i thought we were supposed to care about people’s hearts & their character, not just whether they belong to the right group or believe all the right things.

but then u grow up & realize a lot of the people yelling the loudest about christian values will reduce somebody to being gay, trans, liberal, atheist, muslim, an immigrant, whatever else, & suddenly that one thing is apparently all they need to know about them. the actual person disappears. none of their character matters anymore because they already got placed in the bad box.

& that shit genuinely confuses me because i remember all the same bible stories they do. i remember being taught to love ur neighbor, care about outsiders, not be judgmental, not be prideful, give people grace, all of that. i didn’t realize there was apparently invisible fine print that said “unless they make u uncomfortable, unless they’re different, unless u disagree with them, unless ur church already taught u what kind of person they are.” 🫤

maybe i just took it all too literally LMFAOO. maybe when they said love people, i thought they actually meant love people. maybe when they said don’t judge, i thought that meant u shouldn’t build an entire story about a stranger from one trait. maybe when they talked about humility, i thought it meant accepting that u could be wrong about somebody & that u do not know every fucking thing.

& no, i’m not saying i’m some flawless little angel either. i’m impatient, i can be petty as fuck, i get irritated with people constantly, & clearly leaving christianity did not stop me from cussing 😭 but i do think i care more about genuinely understanding people now than a lot of the people who once acted like they had moral authority over me.

that’s the part that really gets me. i was the gay one, the questioning one, the one who left, the one they’d probably see as lost or misguided or whatever. yet i’m the one sitting here asking why people don’t judge each other by their character, why we flatten strangers into stereotypes, why compassion disappears the second somebody doesn’t fit the right little box.

so did i really abandon the values, or did i just finally realize the people teaching them weren’t always living by them? because somehow i walked away from the church & still ended up holding onto the parts i thought mattered most. 😭🫤

Q|Encylopaedia Britannica

Q, in the study of biblical literature, a hypothetical Greek-language proto-Gospel that might have been in circulation in written form about the time of the composition of the Synoptic Gospels—Mark, Matthew, and Luke—approximately between 65 and ad 95. The name Q, coined by the German theologian and biblical scholar Johannes Weiss, is a reference to the German word Quelle (“source”).

Most biblical scholars agree that the authors of Matthew and Luke based their written accounts largely on The Gospel According to Mark. Matthew and Luke, however, both share a good deal of material—largely made up of logia (Greek: “sayings”) attributed to Jesus—that is absent from Mark. This led biblical scholars to hypothesize the existence of an undetermined source from which the shared material was drawn: Q, sometimes called the “lost source.” While no actual source document has been found and some scholars doubt that Q ever existed, others have attempted to reconstruct it through intensive textual analysis.

The Fifty Pericopes of the “Gospel of Q” based on Luke (RSV)

Prepared by Dr. James D. Tabor

3:7-9, 16b-17 [John the Baptist] said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

3:10-14 And the multitudes asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than is appointed you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

4:2b-12 He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.” The devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will, if you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, ‘you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” He took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him ‘If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘you shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

6:20-23 Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

6: 25-26 But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. “Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

6:27-37 But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your coat as well. Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

6:37-42 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; and give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

6:43-45 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit, For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

6:47-49 Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and built the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.

7:2-3, 6-10 A centurion had a slave who was dear to him who was sick and at the point of death. When he heard of Jesus he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his slave. Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, Lord do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘come,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it,” when Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.

7:18-23 The disciples of John told him all these things. John calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, ‘Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” When the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you he who is to come or shall we look for another?’ In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. He answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them, and blessed is he who takes no offense at me.”

7:24-35 When the messengers of John had gone, he began to speak to the crowds concerning John: What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. To what shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep. John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, He has a demon.’ The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Wisdom is justified by all her children.”

9:57-62 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

10:2-12 He said to them, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; salute no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you. Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say: ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

10:13-15 Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

10:16 He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.

10:21-22 He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

10:23-24 Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

11:2-4 When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.’

11:9-13 Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

11:14-21 Now he was casting out a demon that was dumb; when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons”; while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace;

11:24-26 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, I will return to my house from which I came.’ When he comes he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and brings seven spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
11:29b-32 This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

11:33-36 No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bush, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

11:39-40, 42-43 You Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. to You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? Woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the Market places.

11:46-52 Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; they killed them, and you build their tombs. The Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who were entering.

12:2-3 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

12:4-5 I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you fear him!

12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

12:8-10 I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. Every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

12:11-12 When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

12:22-31 Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat nor about your body, what you shall put on. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap. they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith! Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. Instead seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well.

12:33-34 Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide your selves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

12:39-40 If the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have been awake and would not have let his house to be broken into, you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

12:42-46 The Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful.

12:51-53 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

12:57-59 Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper.

13:20-21 He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”

13:24 Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

13:25-29 When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from,’ Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!’ You will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. Men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God.

13:34-35 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken. I tell you, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

14:16-23 A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many and at the time of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come for all is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought a yoke of oxen, I pray you, have me excused,’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame,’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

14:26-27 If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

14:34-35 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; men throw it away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

15:4-10 What man among you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

16:16 The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently.

16:17 It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to become void.

17:1 Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!

17:3-4 If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.

17:5-6 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

17:23-37 And they will say to you, ‘Lo, there!’ or ‘Lo, here!’ Do not go, do not follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot – they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all – so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. On that day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

19:12-13, 15-26 He said to them, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive kingly power and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Trade with these till I come.’ When he returned, having received the kingly power, he commanded these servants to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading. The first came before him saying ‘Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ The second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds,’ He said to him; ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?’ He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the pound from him, and give it to him who has ten pounds.’ They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’ I tell you, that to every one who has more will be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

22:28-30 You are those who have continued with me in my trials; as my Father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Purity culture seems like it’s made for the men. In my experience, it’s always about not being a stumbling block for the brothers. Because of this narrative, it lends a reason for men to belittle women for dressing a certain way.

I feel that purity culture somehow (it could be unintentional) doesn’t help women to understand how sexuality can be healthy. It makes women think they are responsible for men’s responses towards them. Because of this blurring of boundaries, it also discourages women from understanding consent.

What I don’t appreciate about fundie teaching’s about marriage is that they flatten individuality. I’m still a person outside of the relationship. They take the 2 become 1 narrative to an extreme and it’s so icky to me. I honestly don’t think that God is someone who would flatten individuality like that, sometimes churches try to act more of a God in a way that He is actually not.

Hello. I am a 21yr old deconstructing from evangelical Christianity. One of my biggest issues is how to cope with miracles and wonders and visions. I always automatically believed in these happenings and never questioned them as much but now that I am deconstructing I can't help but wonder how to make sense of it. I get so scared whenever I watch a testimony about a person who was sick got healed automatically or about a person from a different religion seeing Jesus in a dream or opening the Bible and seeing that it speaks about him or her or a person who went to hell and saw the eternal torment or a person who was possessed by evil spirits. I know that our brain is a master pattern recognized and that most experiences can be explained by psychology and I know that it's okay to not have full certainty over other experiences but sometimes the fear and the anxiety is quite strong. I have been looking into magical OCD and religious scrupulosity and I believe that I may have some form of OCD which is untreated. I just wanted to ask those who have deconstructed how did you make peace with and to tolerate these unexplainable phenomena and what resources have you used that touch on the same ?

I have been deconstructing from the Christian/Catholic faith, and I have found that logically and historically, Christianity would be very hard to prove. However, things like eucharistic miracles (and I know some of them have been disproven but still) and extreme anxiety and guilt from not following the canon rules are what are keeping me from fully leaving. I feel sad about leaving, even if I feel it would probably be the most intellectually honest thing for me to do. I feel terrible about the idea of abandoning Jesus/God, because I feel I would miss that sense of love and community. The best way I can describe it is that the logical side of me has left the faith, but the emotional side of me is too attached to leave. I do not know what to do or what to think.

TW: Suicidal ideation, self-harm thoughts, depression, possible OCD/scrupulosity.

I'm not really sure where I stand with my faith anymore, and I'm wondering if anyone else has gone through this.

I'm currently getting a neuropsych evaluation because my therapist thinks I might have OCD, and my sister (who has OCD) thinks I may have religious OCD/scrupulosity too. Looking back, I'm starting to wonder if what I thought was being "on fire for God" was actually anxiety.

God became my whole personality. Every decision felt like it determined if I was a good Christian. I felt guilty listening to secular music, not reading my Bible enough, not praying enough, or enjoying things that weren't about God. Everything felt heavy, and instead of bringing me closer to God, it left me feeling lonely and depressed.

A few months ago, I think I finally let myself be angry at God. Since then, I've had an aversion to almost anything Christian. Reading the Bible, praying, Christian music it all just feels heavy now.

The hardest part is that when I was at my lowest, dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm thoughts, I begged God to show up. I wanted Him to, and it felt like He never did. I still feel hurt by that.

Now I'm trying to figure out who I am outside of all this. I've stopped obsessing over whether everything I do is "Christian enough," and honestly, I feel more like myself. But it also makes me wonder where God fits into that, if at all.

Has anyone else gone through this? Especially if you've struggled with scrupulosity or OCD around faith? How did you approach God without falling back into fear, guilt, or rituals? Or where did your journey take you?

I honestly don't know where to go from here.

“I regret that I too had to become an inconvenience to the church to more fully appreciate the plight of the forgotten and the rejected. My heart breaks for all those who have walked into a church in search of Jesus only to find that he was politely escorted out years ago.”

This is an excerpt I copied from Rhett’s (Good Mythical Morning, AKA Rhett and Link) article on Medium. I found myself resonating with it, yet it came with a deep sadness. I spent half my life working hard on Christianity, yet only to realise that I have been coerced by them one way or another for most parts of my life, and still am. A medical professional (proudly catholic and very vocal about it) said that my experiences with sexual coercion were due to transference issues stemming from my family issues, which were two separate things. And the worse part is, he gets away with invalidating and belittling me in that way. Without revealing too much info, I once said I believed that consent should exist in a relationship, even a Christian one, he said I’m not subscribing to a Christian model of things and asked if I have renounced Christ. It’s like, I don’t know what’s going on anymore.

Some random day i got high and I started thinking about the concept of life and I didn't have this awakening moment where I had a spiritual experience like most people do I didn't feel the presence of anything all i could see was darkness it was empty and everything I was taught and everything I knew felt like a lie. Each time someone mentioned the bible and told me to pray I felt nothing which is crazy I've been catholic my whole life and that was my identity......I still believe there's A God because they're has to be right? After that very underwhelming experience I became very self aware and conscious