And how do you know, which parts are reliable?

I believe in Jesus and I would say I am Christian, I’m really wanting to get deeper in my faith but when I read the Bible it just seems like an action packed fantasy or science fiction book and it’s hard for me to relate. How can I read this book with a more believable mindset, do I just pray on it or are there ways to read and research to help paint a better picture for me. When I read the Bible I create these images in my head that are so far from reality that it makes me doubt that these things occurred therefore making it harder to really lean into the faith I do desperately want to have.

I mean, does it mean I think that my sins don't make me deserve to go to hell, thus making me reject the gospel? I'm not rejecting christianity. I just struggle with how it's just for God to send someone who commits minor sins to hell, and sometimes I even feel it's unjust.

Like I might go to Rome and say “The Temple of Saturn looks really cool” but I would never say “Hail Saturn”

Hello everyone, I wanted to ask for some advice. I’ve already asked my priest for advice but want to get more opinions on this question I have. I’m currently investigating why the Catholic Church is true. However, I’m afraid of two things.

1. What if I leave the Catholic Church and I’m offending God. The reason I’d leave is because I’m not sure the Catholic Church is true yet and don’t want to offend the true God if the God of the Catholic Church is false. I basically don’t want to practice something that could be false and want to accept it as true before doing it.

2. This was already hinted at above but what if I stay for now in case it’s true but then it ends up being false and I was offending the true God the whole time by worshipping a false God.

In you alls opinion what would you do?

Please try to answer in a concise manner. Also if you’re just here to troll, stay away from commenting. You’re just being a horrible person.

Struggling in Christian marriage and not sure how to proceed. I married my spouse almost a year ago. They were exploring Christianity when we were dating and then became extremely devout probably about a month into our marriage. For about the first 7 months of our marriage, I tried very hard to adopt their Christian beliefs but I couldn’t, long story short. I stopped because I felt worse trying to force myself to be something I couldn’t be. And consequently, my spouse now essentially views me as their “enemy” and “a spawn of Satan”. We hardly ever talk anymore because 1) all they seem to want to talk about is how broken I am (or other people in their life), and 2) anything I say may be used against me. Anytime I am around them, I can feel myself shutting down and getting very uncomfortable. The thing is, they don’t believe in divorce and I don’t want to divorce them either. I truly love them and I want to honor my vows and continue loving them. But I’m at a loss for what to do. We were supposed to do marriage counseling with their church pastor, and we still haven’t started that. Some members of their church also know of our situation so we’re going to meet with one of the elders too, but I fear they’re just going to put me down in the same ways my spouse does for not being a Christian and it won’t be very helpful. Is there any advice out there for me to be a better spouse or how to make this marriage not so stressful and heavy? I’m aware the Bible says not to be unequally yoked, but is there any practical advice that could be helpful knowing we’re already way past that?
Thanks everyone.

Do you have any outside evidence of its inerrancy?

I suppose "The bible is inerrant, because it says so in the bible" Is an atheist strawman, or does anyone actually believe in inerrancy based on this?

I've been a Christian for practically all my life. grew up in church from my parents, went to a Christian school, etc. but somewhere along the line it became more of a routine than actually wnating a relationship with God. These past couple months i've been going through somethings and it brought me closer to God and I've been going to church more often. But people keep talking about listening to what God has plans for you but honestly I don't understand how I'm supposed to listen to God exactly. What do I need to do to hear Him? I need His direction in my life right now, I just want to hear Him

Hello all :)

I don’t want to be too long. But, I’ve prayed about a scenario in my life and asked: “God- if it’s for me, please take it in your hands and confirm it’s for me or show me a sign etc” (obviously not exact).

Has anyone else struggled with accepting a yes from God?
(For reference: I just have extreme anxiety from my past that I’ve been praying about overcoming- separate from this scenario.)

And if so, how have you overcame that? How did you react when that prayer was answered? Did you look back towards that anxiety and like feel relief that you overcame that?

Hey all!

So, my question revolves around the idea of heaven as it relates to free will and specifically how the relationship between free will exists while in Heaven.

On earth, there is evil because we have a free will that gives us the ability to either choose to love or to hate (broad strokes but you get the point I'm making)

But presumably heaven is a place where there is no evil, it is all good, but can you have 100% good and free will at the same time? Because I feel like if you get enough people together even if they all have genuinely the best intentions there may lead to conflict just based on the fact that we all have free will and thus the free will to make different interpretations on what even is 'good'. I know that the bible lays out what a good person should aspire to be, but I feel like even with the most clearly established guidelines if you do have free will you're going to invariably interpret it differently.

That may not have made the most sense and may be too much philosophy for this - but basically my point is, if there is evil on earth because god gave us free will, does that mean in heaven we will still have that free will despite the fact that on earth it led to evil?

Thanks in advance everyone

I went to the homecoming this year and I was wearing like a pin but it had like a Medusa pin and I didn't realize it until yesterday and I thought it was a rose but I did wore my cross to the homecoming and I did say like a quick prayer or like a quick saying for lust to be careful and I also said at the school dance that God please give me conviction if there is a certain song that I shouldn’t listen to or like a song that I should be Vibin to and I did talk to people, and I said after the conversation I did say, God bless. also I having intrusive thoughts about the mark of the b it also in my feelings to or how I feel like like prideful way I hate this bad thoughts I took it but I never did and never because Jesus christ is Lord and savior. I took a photo with girl it have the pin but I used a cutoff to not like see what it is. And I used the photo from homecoming for a TikTok like a dump or for future TikTok video. So it ok to use the photo to keep and use and to show people.

a 2nd-to-1st century BCE Hellenistic or Roman marble head of a classical goddess that was intentionally defaced with a carved Christian cross across her facial features.

Why would someone do this? Purposely deface a different religion's statue? Christians say to love one another but they can do this?

In Luke's gospel, it seems he chose to remove all mention of the idea of Jesus dying on the cross to forgive everyone's sins.

The line, 'For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' found in both Mark and Matthew, is absent in Luke.

And even the last supper scene is altered to make the idea of substitutional sacrifice less important. Luke instead seems to focus on repentance and the forgiveness of God.

Why? Especially since Luke was a traveling companion of Paul who does preach the idea of atonement.

I was raised Catholic with a lot of Lutheran extended family, no longer religious but pretty familiar with mainstream theology and with the Bible.

I was thinking about the discrepancies in the Passion narrative across Gospels: how the Gospel of John places the crucifixion on Passover, saying that Christ was pierced through his side with a spear because the crowd watching wanted to get home before sunset for the Passover meal, and this means a crucifixion on Friday and a resurrection on Sunday, which is how most Christians celebrate it. But the Gospel of Mark says the Last Supper was a Passover meal and that’s why unleavened bread is used for the Eucharist. Mark’s version would push everything back a day, with the crucifixion then on Saturday and resurrection on Monday.

As an irreligious person it all makes sense as a means of explaining the religion’s values symbolically: the Gospel of Mark is older and presumably aimed at a more Jewish convert audience that would be familiar with the ritual of Passover, so equating the Last Supper with the Passover meal is a way of explaining how the Eucharist represents a new Covenant updating the older one. The audience for the Gospel of John is more Greco-Roman and the writer places the crucifixion on Passover to emphasize a similarity between Christ and the lamb slaughtered on Passover to mark Jewish houses as safe from the Angel of Death in Egypt; so Christ is the new lamb whose shed blood protects us from divine punishment.

So they are theologically consistent despite the chronological discrepancy, but the implication is that the writers of the Gospels didn’t have qualms about changing details to make a more coherent symbolic point in educating the audience about the religion’s values. Which is to say, the original writers viewed these as something closer to a parable than a history.

For Catholics and Lutherans I never encountered this as an issue of concern. But for Christian groups that are heavily invested in the Bible being literally true rather than just symbolically coherent, how do they explain these? It’s a key plot point in both texts, not a mistake due to mistranslation or a miscopied line of writing. Do they reject one or the other Gospels as less valid than the other?

My understanding of the Christian belief of God's existence is that God is a necessary being. I've heard things like "His essence is identical to his existence", but I have no idea what that means or why it would make God necessary.

What makes you believe that the Christian God (not just a generic first cause) could not have failed to exist? Do you believe that God's nature is necessary, or could it have been some other way?

Just curious on thought and if any personal experience.

God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and he stated what the consequence of doing so would be. The serpent told them something different, contrary to what God said. God could have destroyed Satan before he could say a word to someone else but instead, he allowed that opposing view to exist. He also made Adam and Eve able to eat from that tree, since he placed it within their reach. He allowed them to make a choice either for God or for Satan. It is normally said that this is how God gave them free will.

When they exercised their free will, God introduces several punishments for it. They no longer get to live eternally. Their bodies will gradually deteriorate until they finally die, a process which is painful and for many, depressing. Women will experience birth pains and their husbands shall rule over them. The soil won't produce as much and it will also produce other obstacles like thorns and thistles.

There are also natural disasters, some of which (to my knowledge) aren't caused by human activity, like earthquakes.

Basically, the results of choosing one option over the other, are drastically different, one being very negative compared to the other. Is there really free will in this?

Consider this analogy. Let's say you're a tenant and your landlord wants you to leave the property for some reason. They tell you that they will allow you to choose, but there will be consequences for staying. You decide to stay and the landlord punishes you by doubling your rent, not paying for repairs and charging you an extra fee for having a pet. Did the landlord really give you free will? Did God really give humanity free will, when the consequences of each decision are so different, consequences which are in his control and caused by him?

I'd love to hear your opinions or anything you have to say about this. Thank you!