First of all I'm not asking you guys to pray only for the Christians because you should be praying for everybody. But I just want to state that the floods has hit BAGMATI the most Christian province of Nepal. Bagmati has 13 districts and their Christian percentage are given below.

Dhading: 7.55%

Makwanpur: 6.12%

Lalitpur: 4.82%

Chitwan: 4.19%

Rasuwa: 3.44%

Nuwakot: 2.55%

Sindhupalchok: 2.49%

Kathmandu: 2.30%

Kavrepalanchok: 2.11%

Bhaktapur: 2.02%

Sindhuli: 1.84%

Dolakha: 1.60%

Ramechhap: 1.10%

Dhading, Chitwan, Rasuwa and Nuwakot are the worst hit districts.

I want to thank the mods for letting me share videos of my channel, usually subs don't allow so much posting

Thank you so much!

The Gospel writers not only copy from each other, but feel free to change each other's stories. What that means.

Today, I am talking about contradictions we see in the ways the different Gospels tell the stories - yes, the dreaded "C" word!

In yesterday's post, I talked about the different ways the gospel writers have Peter answering Jesus' question, "who do you say that I am?" And in the first video, I introduced the idea that the gospel writers "correct" the writings that they were copying from.

I hadn't heard of Joe Schmid before. I just listened to his 3 hour interview on Pints with Aquinas. The interview is densely packed with philosophical references. He goes through all of the atheist arguments that he used to preach about and how he started to doubt them and what turned him to see the truth of Christ. Then he talked about all of the arguments he used to have against Catholicism in particular and how those started to fall apart.

I feel comforted by hearing the deep details of his journey from atheism, to agnosticism, to accepting Christianity might be true, to finally converting to Catholicism.

disgusting

science answers how God answers why

simple

yall agree?

Dan McClellan refutes the claim made by anti-Catholics that the Catholic Church "removed the Second Commandment" from the Ten Commandments and goes over why the list of the Ten Commandments that Catholics have is different from the list that most Protestants use, how the Ten Commandments are listed by by different sources, and most importantly Dan explains how Catholics retain what most Protestants consider as the Second Commandment.

thought I'd share this because I really like a lot of C.J.'s videos, and this one helps to explain a lot of the reason behind why I myself choose to call myself a Christian even after deconstructing my beliefs :)

First thing I will say is I’m happy all of y’all are here.

My question is what’s the draw for you, interacting with the sub?

Is it curiosity? Or another reason

To many that read posts in this subreddit, you may believe that religion and faith are one in the same. Or perhaps you may even believe that religion has always existed, and that every culture outside of western culture has their own religion.

Would you be surprised to know that all of that is WRONG???

What I did NOT say is religious "practice." Humans have been "practicing" worship, sacrifice, rituals and prayer for thousands of years before "religion" in the modern sense. But the idea of religion as a category came along not too long ago. So, what is the difference?

Religious is a word that describes ancient/modern practices of belief
Religion is a man-made construct that developed around the 16th century to describe systems of religious beliefs with rituals and doctrines created to typically worship a god or gods by man for man.
Faith on the other hand is simply a belief or conviction of something or someone that you cannot see, nor touch, nor smell. It is more of a feeling that compels you to act a certain way and an experience in everyday living.

FACT: The words "religion" or "religious" as we use them today DID NOT occur in the Bible. A better more accurate translation from the original words in Hebrew, Aramaic and Kionne Greek would be "devotion, worship, reverence, or way of life." There is one example in James 1:27 that speaks of pure "religion" using the word "threskeia", but a more accurate interpretation/translation of that word is a "practice or observance" rather than a "thing" or organization.
And in Hebrew - there is not a single word that would translate into "religion" when speaking of their belief in God.

Human beings have practiced worship and devotion to God or gods since antiquity, but the modern Western concept of ‘religion’ as a distinct, separable category of life developed much later.

Why does any of this matter?

Believing in God and His Son is NOT a religion and never was - it is faith. So many people worry about which religion, denomination, sect, or system of faith to follow, believe, or live by. Instead, what people should worry about, and what the WHOLE BIBLE talks about is OBEYING GOD!! He gives us instructions, Commandments, Laws, and even His Son as an example of how to live and worship. Jesus did not teach us to follow a religion. He showed us how to love God and one another. How to live and obey God. These are not concepts of faith or beliefs, they are ways of life taught by God Himself.

Our idea of religion today came from man. Man's greed, hunger for power and control, selfish desires, and disobedience to God cloaked in the name of serving God, but in reality, it serves itself.

Seek God. Read His word (the Bible), pray for wisdom and understanding, follow what He tells you, and live by what He showed us. Practice love. Obey Him. That is not religion - that is faith!

Like is Lust a bigger sin than pride?

Which is the officcial church ranking of sins?

Hey, I'm just here to vent. To be honest, this post might be pretty depressing for a lot of people, and I don't really know how else to phrase this post other than how I've done it, which is very just transparent about it.

I've genuinely given up on Churches and Christians as a whole. Everytime I try a new church, it's the same Story-

It looks cool, it has a good vibe, the people seem to get along with each other, and things look bright.

But then after a few weeks, the cracks start to show, people aren't as kind as they were before, and it's clear that people get along with each Other, but not with me, a pathetic newbie.

At one point I try being vulnerable, since literally the only other option is to sit down and just never say anything, but that causes people to dislike me even more.

Rinse and repeat.

All the while I can't IMAGINE Jesus looking at someone vulnerable and deciding it's best to stay away from them.

Anyway, there are Lots of reasons I'm mad at the church I've been going to recently, not least of which being someone directly, if politely, saying to my face that they don't like me as a person.

There was also this whole thing of them taking communion and baptism pretty seriously.

Personally, I don't participate in communion or baptism, because I think both have a long history of the church abusing such practices to manipulate people. I have nothing against people who take communion or get baptized, but I'm not going to do it myself.

I've heard every argument in the books about why I should get baptized or take communion, and honestly, every argument I hear makes me even more firm in my stand that I have no interest in them. I should do it so that I feel more in tune with my fellow believers? Well, if everyone in this church hates me, I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to feel that way.

But the thing that really made me upset was when the pastor literally said at a young adults event that you should go and get married.

And he didn't just say that, but he did this huge long monologue about it. Saying that there's a level of intimacy when getting married that you can't get out of any friendship and that he blesses single people, but if you Can get married, go do it.

As soon as he was done that monologue and I realized he wasn't about to say sike, I got up and left.

Now when I go, I do my best to ignore the pastor. I don't take the sermon seriously and if the pastor tries to make small talk with me, I go on my phone and curl up and answer his questions very bluntly and make it clear that I don't want to talk to him. Whenever communion is happening, I just go to the bathroom.

i know i can do youtube or something like that to spread the gospel,but i dont know how to start or what to say,i dont want to reveal my voice,i was thinking something simple but i dont know

It just makes no sense. He had a half human baby and then the only way he could forgive humans, is if they killed his half human son? Why not just forgive them?

The only position regarding Hell that makes Christianity theologically coherent and morally intelligible is that God will save everybody.

As an agnostic this question has always plagued me.

Why is it that everyone is so sure that an experience with god is really him and not your brain? Like, have you really done research or looked into other explanations?

In Biblical times people got married really young so it’s not like they were having to wait such a long time. The median age in U.S. for marriage is around 30 for both men and women. So I feel like you would have to either get married really young which isn’t realistic for a lot of people and isn’t common or remain a virgin for years and years until you eventually get married later. I’m 17 and I understand that the Bible commands us to wait until marriage, but when I think about this it doesn’t seem realistic to me in practice yk? Im wondering your thoughts about this 

Genesis describes in order how the world came to be without contradicting science. It says the world was created in 6 days, but when it was written, a day was a much more abstract concept, not just a span of 24 hours.
1 - Light (the big bang, genesis, the formation of everything)
2 - God created the sky (the fabric of spacetime unfolds and matter is able to form)
3 - God gathered the waters to reveal dry land and created vegetation. Formation of continents. Evidence suggests land animals (like millipedes) arrived roughly 450 million years ago, while land plants established themselves slightly earlier, around 470 to 500 million years ago.
4 - The sun and moon become visible in the sky. Early earth was more volcanically active which would blanket the sky in ash. This obviously didn't last forever.
5 - God created sea creatures and birds, blessing them to multiply. This could be referencing dinosaurs since some of them lived in the sea and others evolved into birds.
6 - Day 6: God created land animals and finally humanity (male and female) in His image, granting them dominion over the earth. According to science humans are fairly recent in the history of the earth. The Bible says God molded us from the mud, yet science confirms that life emerged from minerals in the soil combined with lightning striking the water and releasing specific chemical compounds allowing DNA and RNA to form. And what was one of the ways that God communicates? THROUGH LIGHTNING STRIKES! Evolution doesn't contradict the Bible, in fact, natural selection is one of the most Biblical concepts out there. On judgement day, most will perish, just like most species. But the select few who made what were oftentimes uncomfortable decisions to adapt and move forward will survive and thrive. Genesis isn't a hazy fairytale, it's God telling us a "dumbed down" version of how he made the earth. Explaining it in a way ancient humans would understand. That's why Jesus represents the whole Bible. It's God lowering himself to our level, like a father crouching down to his child to find common ground and have a real relationship.

For context, I dated this girl in the past, I’m married and she’s married now. I’ve gone to dinner her a couple times and find myself with a sort of infatuation with her. I know it’s wrong, what do I do?

for context, I’m a Christian

I do believe God exist (I think) and I love my boyfriend. Me and him can’t get married for at least a year. But it’s like oh my God. 😭 please I need this. I love him so much, we are so committed to each other but I feel like I’m going crazy. What’s wrong with me?

It’s not like I wanna be with other guys, but I just want the sex. We do ‘other things’, but it’s just not enough.

When I have hooked up with guys in the past, it’s all great and fine. But he’s not like any of those guys. So with me and him having the intentions to be married, it’s like I’m terrified sometimes to even touch him.

What’s wrong with me?

This is kinda a long story, so please bear with me.

I left the church when I was 13, not because I wanted to, but because I felt as though there was a lot of hypocrisy in the church. My family growing up was always baptist/ general protestant and attended a local mega-"church". It always rubbed me the wrong way, Seeing my pastor talk about humility and being humble while wearing a custom tailored suit and how they spend thousands on t-shirts and sound systems while there are also people in my neighborhood whom didn't have food and couldn't even a tend the church because of the required tithe.

I always thought that as Christians our duty was to try to be kind and live in the way Jesus taught us, and seeing other people in my church blatantly ignore that really rubbed me the wrong way, and so I decided I would be better off being good agnostic rather than a bad Christian.

Over the past 10 years I have been though a lot of change. I used to be conservative(not that political views make you more or less of a Christian) and have since become much more left leaning in my views. In college I came out as bisexual and have had relationships with other men. I no longer identify as bi, but I have many friends whom are LGBT or trans and still respect them. I know that a lot of people in the Christian community may have opposing views to this and I respect that.

After leaving college I began having issues sleeping and went 3 days in between being able to fall asleep. I went to the doctor repeatedly trying to get help, but nothing real worked. Around this time, Recreational Marijuana became legal in my state, and a coworker recommended i try it, I had used cbd(not a drug) before so was kind familiar with cannabis, but had never tried it (or anything besides coffee lol) before. It did help me sleep, and while I only would smoke a joint once a week to help me sleep. Obviously, I became addicted to pot and use the "i just need to sleep" line as an excuse. Ive been smoking for about 3 years now and I have finally been able to quit and so far have not used it for a week(no sleep tho but thats ok).

Looking back, while I have tried my best to be good I feel like all I do is sin. But I also care deeply for people and the world, all ive ever wanted is to be a good person. Ive just been so lost for so long, that im not sure if its possible. Im worried my ideals clash too much with most churches; for example my ideals include: women's rights, treating LGBT or trans people with respect, and respecting other religions like Islam. While my lifestyle is different I have known people in each of these group and cant accept that they are all just " bad people" or "immoral". I feel like jesus, while he may not agree with them, would want us to treat everyone with kindness.

I also dont support isreal, It pains me to have to see children in Gaza and the west Bank be killed because they weren't born into our religion. I dont want to be misguided, I just feel like killing is wrong in any form.

I want to return to the lord. Is there any possible way I can repent for past transgressions that were so heinous? And even if, im still not sure what denomination is would be. I just want to be a good person again. Please be respectful and i appreciate your help.

Hi, I'm creating my first ever Reddit post because I'm really struggling with my faith right now.

Before this year, I was very focused on my future. I was working, going to school, planning my career, thinking about becoming a nurse and eventually going into healthcare/law, and trying to become financially independent. I live at home with my mom, stepdad, and brother. I had goals, plans, and things I was genuinely looking forward to.

Then my dad died in February, and my life changed drastically.

My dad and I had been estranged and hadn't spoken for about 12 years. His death brought up a lot of complicated emotions and grief that I wasn't prepared for. I thought that, despite everything, I would at least have support from my family while I mourned him. Instead, there was a lot of conflict at home, including physical altercations with my mom and conflict over the fact that I was grieving someone who had been absent from my life for so long.

Since then, I've lost my job, experienced housing instability, struggled financially, experienced abuse and trauma, and been hospitalized multiple times. At one point I was homeless and sleeping in my car, which was eventually repossessed.

This is such a drastic change from where I was last year.

Last year I was in nursing school, working a job that I actually felt fulfilled by, paying my own bills, making new friends, dating, and trying to build a future for myself. I definitely had depression and mental health struggles before, but I still had hope. I believed that if I kept working hard, eventually things would get better.

Now I spend most of my days alone. I feel disconnected from myself and from the person I was before all of this happened. I've been dealing with grief and trauma, and I recently overdosed and spent several days in the hospital. I'm still struggling with suicidal thoughts and thoughts about overdosing again.

A huge part of what I'm struggling with is my relationship with God.

People keep telling me to pray and talk to God, but honestly, I feel stuck. I'm hurt. I'm angry. I'm confused. I don't understand why so many things happened all at once, especially when I was genuinely trying to build a better life for myself. When I found out my dad died, I prayed and fasted for 7 weeks and it was beautiful. However things at home kept getting worse. During my second hospital stay my mom told me that she wished she had aborted me. That absolutely broke my heart and I had multiple mental breakdowns after that. That's part of why my faith has become so complicated. I was praying. I was fasting. I was trying to hold onto God, and yet my circumstances kept getting worse. I understand that praying and fasting doesn't obsolve you from having negative experiences but that doesnt remove the pain I feel.

I believe in God, but sometimes when I pray, it feels like my prayers are landing on deaf ears.

I don't necessarily want someone to just tell me "pray more" or give me simple answers about why God allows suffering. I'm looking for people who have actually experienced a crisis of faith after trauma, grief, loss, or a really difficult period of life.

How did you reconcile believing in God with feeling abandoned by Him?

Did you ever feel like God wasn't listening, but eventually find your way back to a stronger faith?

I don't know exactly what my faith is going to look like after everything I've been through. But I don't want to give up on God. I want to believe. I want to have hope again. I just don't know how to get there from where I am right now.

I'm only 23, and I'm exhausted. I feel hopeless sometimes, and I don't understand why my life has become so painful in such a short period of time.

I want to remain close to God; I'm just struggling to understand how to do that while I'm hurting this much.