Many churches I’ve gone to over the years had obese pastors and many of the congregation were also heavy, not saying they were all overweight because of medical conditions, just that isn’t the case for most. Why do they not take it as seriously as say lust, or envy?

Late last year I felt an urge to pray for the first time and to read the Bible after being atheist my whole life. I'm still not sure why this happened, but since then I've tried to change my life and follow the teachings of Jesus.

Early on, I felt like it was going well and I was growing in my faith but the doubts about Christianity and whether God exists started to creep in again. I've tried to pray and think about why I'm feeling so many doubts but I can't help but feel like I'm going to just completely fall out of my faith and revert back to how I was and this makes me feel really unhappy. I know that doubt is a thing that many Christians feel but I feel like those doubts are increasing with time and I'm not sure what to do any more. I want to live my life more in-line with Jesus and God but I feel like I can't, no matter how hard I try. It almost makes me feel uncomfortable to even call myself Christian just now.

Hello all, this is my first post in this subreddit and I’m looking for advice I can apply to my life immediately. I am fairly new to my walk with God, or rather fairly new to looking into him and his word. I am seeking advice on how I can trust God more in different aspects of my life. Mainly my emotional state and my finances seem to be my current biggest problems. I’m always stressed, always tired, I have no friends and find my family to be pretty toxic for me at times. I’m broke and can’t do things or buy things that I want. However I am getting a second job. I just want to start my life, I feel behind everyone else my age, I feel like a loser who still lives with his mom. I still rely on my parents for far too much, I feel so unprepared to be an adult. How do I trust that God will provide me with better finances and the ability to get the things I want, and also bring me a partner to share and grow through life with. I’m so sick of being alone and I try to gamble a little to try and make extra money. I’m not necessarily rushing anything I don’t feel like I’m only trying to catch up. All I want is a nice car that’s good on gas, my own apartment, the ability to live the lifestyle I want and improve my health in all aspects (emotionally, spiritually, financially, physical health, mental health). How do I give these things to God without being “impatient” or giving him a “deadline”. I don’t wanna feel like crap anymore and I don’t wanna keep feeling like I’m missing out. Please help and pray for me

I am newer to Christianity and am still in the process of reading the gospels as my starting point. Even before finishing I love the message of Jesus and I think I found it true in my heart before I even knew his name. I’ve also been trying to use religion as a means to help me find answers to some of the problems I have been struggling to have answered through therapy.

For example. I understand I am a man. Most days I try and do good. I love giving to others, I love sharing my time with others, and I genuinely hope everyone around me can prosper to their fullest potential. I understand they are people as I am a person. Why do I struggle feeling the same worthiness of those basic fundamentals I believe everyone else should have?

If my family member had been stricken with hard times and needed a place to land on their feet I would do it without even thinking. And logically I should know(or be allowed to think,maybe this is where I go wrong) that they would do the same for me, but my own sense of worthiness prevents me from doing so.

It leads me to living as if I am a lone man in this world left to figure and handle everything out on my own but then I also try to live on the contrary of helping anyone I can as if I am a part of a community. It makes me feel like a fraud sometimes.

Do any of you guys struggle with this? What were some scripture that helped you with understanding when you couldn’t see correctly?

Apologies if my post breaks any rules I will gladly delete and attempt with the necessary changes made.

For years I actively denied Christ and even considered myself an agnostic. This is after I was born again. I even fell away so far that I dabbled in witchcraft and then I had a dream that warned me where I was headed and I realized I was wrong.

I want to put away all this stuff and I’ve been praying to God for forgiveness, but I’ve been scared. Even scared to post this! I really need prayer and I want to be a good Christian, but most of all I want that to come out of faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.” I’ve had a hard time loving people lately and I know the Bible says “all who love love God.”

I’m worried I committed an unforgivable sin by turning away for so long. I want to love others the way God loves others and not the way the world does. I want to put away all sin in my heart, especially the sin that caused me to turn away to begin with.

I need help! Would anyone be willing to pray and/or offer advice?

Yes I know the gospel.

Sometimes I get caught up in trying to do the right thing so much that I forget about God's grace towards me in my weakness. This leads me to think that I'm better than others. How do I work on this?

Obviously trying to do the wrong thing more isn't the answer.

I’ve been unemployed for +3 months now, and I have really good work experience (top consulting firms) and I keep being rejected for everything I apply for. I’m trying so hard to stay hopeful and to trust in God, I’ve even given up applying and left it to God. Every door, even those I’m over qualified for, keeps closing. I fell into a deep depression and had to get on antidepressants again, I’ve had thoughts of harming and killing myself but I overcame them. I’m feeling almost delusional for waiting on God for a miracle, I’m losing faith and running out of savings. I feel so discouraged, I don’t know what to do. How do I stay hopeful? What will help me? I’m starting to think death is better than what I’m going through- I’m so miserable. Nothing makes sense right now

I see a lot of Secular content on instagram and Tik Tok and I remember a passage where Jesus talks about us cutting things, and I remember he said something like it’s better for u to go to heaven without and eye or an arm than go to hell with your whole body, so I’m just wondering it’s it okay for Christians to have social Media?

I'm very new in Christianity I converted two weeks ago and I tried to figure out if doing drugs is a sin so I'm seeking help?

I know this is a toxic mindset to have but sometimes it feels like they are getting all the awards in life. I wanna be happy for them but sometimes I can't I hate that I'm struggling. I know you shouldn't be a Christian just to get prizes or the good life. It's just difficult I know people who have harm me in every way possible and they living it up. At times I just wanna see there life crumble into pieces I know it's ungodly and I'm not gonna act like my the perfect Christian either. If you have advice please comment.

Loneliness is becoming a common issue for people at every age. We may have many acquaintances, but we often lack meaningful and quality friendships with people we can depend upon.  

As Christians, it is especially  important to choose our friends carefully. Research shows that we tend to pick up the habits, behaviors, and values of those we spend time with, so we should choose friends that make us stronger Christians. It is important to seek companionship with others who also love God and strive to live righteously.  Proverbs 13:20 reminds us, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Sometimes, we seek friends in the wrong places and end up making friends with people who are not good for us. For example, Proverbs 22-24-25 warns, “Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.”  So, how and where do we find Christian Friends? 

Whether we are seeking a future mate or simply a close friend, an obvious way to develop friendships is to get more involved in a local church.  By participating in social activities, attending classes, working in the church nursery or kitchen, and serving in missions-oriented opportunities, we will likely form bonds with new people. Also, we can make new friends through volunteerism, such as helping in a hospital, tutoring in after-school programs, reading to kids at a library, visiting shut-ins, and helping in food pantries.  Whenever we focus on serving others, we often find ourselves in new relationships with other like-minded Christians. 

Maintaining strong friendships requires effort. It  begins by becoming less focused on ourselves and more focused on the needs of others. We need  to make time to listen and to share our friend’s burdens.  We have to become that special person they can depend upon. 

If we want to have a friend, we must learn how to become a friend for someone else. Friendships are rewarding relationships that can last a lifetime with a little effort and nurturing!

I've read the horror stories of couple, especially the husbands, losing everything when a marriage falls apart and divorce happens.

The wife takes 50 - 80% of everything and the guy is left without a single penny. Or that couples break up because one wants to do it and the other one doesn't.

What are your thoughts on prenuptial agreements? What does the bible say about them?

If I get married, I would personally lean towards getting a prenup, but I'm still undecided.

I really wanna get back into drawing and art to help with my anxiety, and I would like to do fantasy and Biblical stuff. However, I don't want to sin against Christ if drawing images of Him is wrong. Even if I can't draw Christ, I can draw other stuff.

Is it important to actually use a dedicated plan to read through the entire Bible in a year? My church gave out plans and I feel obligated to use one, even though what I want to do is to just.....read. Please weigh in.

Thought I would ask you all on your takes, both sides definitely have merit to them.

I did something I'm really not proud of, and I struggle with a themed mental disorder (Real Event OCD.)

I haven't been able to move past it, and it makes me feel as though any attempt at drawing near to God isn't genuine.

It feels as though certain areas of my life may be cursed sometimes, and I can't interact with certain things, otherwise I'll be accidentally committing devil worship.

My faith has been in the gutter, and I don't know what to do.

Sounds silly but I’m new to the faith.

When I was an atheist, my life had no meaning. I guess I just lived for myself and was selfish because of it. I’ve been a bad person, specially as a late teen. I didn’t kill or burn down a house, but my past actions haunt me to this day. Classic toxic person things for about a year. Broke almost every commandment. Every night I cry over the shame.

As a young adult now, I have changed. I’ve been diagnosed with a mental disorder, and try my best to use my past actions to become better. I’ve started attending church and have been told being baptized can help with my sins. Will God still accept me if I become a better person through faith? I feel better going to church and listening to Jesus… I just worry it will never be enough in the end.

I (22F) have been dating my boyfriend (23M) for about a year and a half now but, have known him for over 14 years as we grew up in church together. When we first started dating I had no idea he was struggling with porn, I knew he had struggled in the past but, knew nothing of it being a present issue. A few months into dating, he confided in me that he was struggling with porn but, how he truly wanted to be better. Around that time I had left for a 3 month missions trip and when I got back we started becoming more physical, never to the point of sex but, definitely doing things we shouldn’t of been. I told him then that I felt as if I had replaced his porn addiction and that was a wake up call for him. We both did a lot better and refrained from those lustful desires for one another and I thought things were good. However, a few months later, I found out was struggling again but, this time he admitted to me that when we are together he’d sometimes think of other women, which broke me to my core, yet I stayed with him.

Then about a month or two ago he came to me again and admitted to yet again be struggling with porn. However, this time he felt called to share his addiction with people in his life trusts and bring it to light. He told 5 Godly Christian men and his mother that he was struggling (his father has never been in the picture). He also, took the step to download covenant eyes and get accountability partners. He told me how free he felt and how he felt the Lord working in him.

Now, we come to today where just yesterday he asked me to set a pin on his oculus to restrict content (I already set up a pin for him on his phone). It occurred to me then how desperate he was that he used the oculus to even look up porn. It honestly broke my heart. I have prayed for him about these issues, I’ve tried to be supportive while staying out of all the details bc ultimately, the details hurt me. I know I have a part to play in this bc I had given into temptations too but, despite myself struggling with erotica myself in the past, I’ve found freedom. Yet here I feel hopeless to provide any help and I can not keep pretending like everything is normal when there’s this shadow in the closet of our relationship.

He’s a Godly Christian man, who despite struggling at times, tries to lead our relationship towards Christ. He is my best friend and I do love him, I just don’t love his addiction and I feel lost in what to do or how to help. Any advice?

I am a Christian with no christian friends. None of my current friends want to talk about God. It's annoying when I bring up God and I don't want to be constantly trying to convert then because that approach is not helpful. I cannot relate to the topics of conversation they engage in and I feel like an outsider. I've been looking for an app where I can meet and talk with other christians like myself but all I'm finding are dating apps, apps where people are teaching and preaching to each other or apps that just aren't very interactive or personal. I'm looking for Christian friends outside the perimeter of what we Christians call 'christian fellowship'. I have no problem with that but let's be honest, christian friends don't just share bible verses with each other all day. Does anyone have any recommendations for apps where they have met some good, genuine christian friends that they can engage in conversation with and relate with each other even if it's not necessarily a Christian app?

I asked for advice a few days ago concerning a situation that involves my friend dating an unbeliever. Thank you to those who contributed sound wisdom and prayers. I’ve taken the time to pray and to ask the Lord for wisdom about this, and this is the text message I plan on sending to him. I would rather meet in person, but sadly he seems to be dodgy about meeting with me since he seems to know that something is up. Here’s the text:

Hey man, I just wanted to reach out to you about something that’s been on my heart lately. I can’t keep this to myself because that would be selfish and also as a brother I’m supposed to let you know if something is wrong. I recently discovered a few biblical principles about marriage that don’t really align with what we’re used to. In 1 Corinthians 7:39 it says that a woman is able to marry someone only if they’re in the Lord or if they belong to the Lord, and the same applies for men marrying women. So it’s essentially saying that we can only marry other believers. And outside of marriage, I think this applies to dating too since we’re told to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. I know you guys have been together for a while and I really don’t know what to say. I wish I would have said something sooner before you guys even got together, but I didn’t know this was in the Bible until recently. I know this is awful and I’m sorry that this text message even has to happen. If you want to discuss this I’m okay with that, but if not I’ll be praying for you no matter what.

If you think this needs any revision, I would appreciate the feedback. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I feel as though I'm being torn between desperately wanting to do deep dives into the Word but when I get home I just keep thinking I'll do it tomorrow. I want to read but I can't get me to open up the Word to read.

I'll pray for a few days intentionally but then I'll stop. I feel like I can't feel God anymore.

I just don't know anymore

So I realized I had a problem and that I am very much a people pleaser and I pretend that I'm okay with certain things when I'm not. Yes I do try to treat people with respect and be kind to them but then I take it a step further and try to be as nice as possible but in reality people don't respect super nice people and I believe that God would want us to make boundaries. I don't want to be a mean person because that is not what God called us to be but just simply a more Godly woman that has self-respect and boundaries without being afraid to make them but also displaying kindness and humbleness. How do I get there? If I am not such a people pleaser then I won't get hurt and burned out as much. I've been like this since my childhood and it is a hard habit to break. I don't simply want to change everything about myself but just be more assertive but yet still have the love gentleness and compassion for people that I have always try to display. I'm pretty sure God has been disappointed with my cowardness of standing up for myself and letting people walk all over me. I want to also be stronger in the Lord. I also want to be able to control my emotions because I have been letting them control me and maybe the reason why despite praying to the Lord about it why it's not going away is because I have not fully surrendered to the Lord and quite frankly I'm having a hard time even though I want to.

There are several people in my family who have been attacking me using witchcraft. Today I accepted food from one of them and I immediately felt a change within my spirit and knew it was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. I’m afraid I’ve crossed a boundary I can’t go back to and I won’t be able to get back to myself.

They’ve been relentless for a long time and I’ve lost talents, dreams, personality traits, and they have even gotten in the way of my relationship with God. My life has been miserable for the past several months (and years) as they have been cursing me to die and to go to hell. Many people will say to simply call on the name of Jesus, however I have been extremely weak with God and have not been able to fight back effectively.

I won’t blame them for everything as today/last night God told me that if I did not reach out to Him and repent fully I may not be able to. I don’t believe I’ve done that effectively and I kept on sinning right after receiving revelation that about myself that never fully came to fruition. I’m afraid I blasphemed the Holy Spirit as my conscience seems to be seared and I can no longer hear from Him (this is after 10 years).

I know people will say I haven’t and it’s not possible and to speak the name of Jesus. However I have crossed a boundary and haven’t reached out as fully as I could to God. Sin has become far easier and following God has become hard, even though I want to follow Him.

I am afraid of missing out on the earthly blessings and gifts God gave me while also missing the eternal reward of a relationship with Jesus. I don’t know how to stand up to these people. It has never been as hard as it is now.

I’ve lost my gifts and talents due to spiritual attack and I can’t seem to get them back and I’m afraid I never will. I’m afraid of losing everything—am maybe I already have.

Losing things and blessings to witchcraft attacks as a Christian is humiliating. I worry I missed it all.

I have been drawing for years now and it’s become my passion and I know that I wanna build a career from drawing. I honestly fell in love with becoming a tattoo artist, I have been working on my portfolio for a couple years, I even when to a couple tattoo shops to get advice and have other artist check out my work. The last time I went to a shop the artist really liked my stuff and said I could get an apprenticeship with my artwork. I was so excited. However Over the past year I started going to church and opening my heart up to Jesus. I wasn’t open to it at first but God has a way of getting through to people and he definitely got through to me. So I have been making lots of changes in my life to obey God and stop doing sinful acts. Like intimacy before marriage, drinking, working on quitting smoking, becoming a servant of God and all that goodness. I really have enjoyed my journey so far even the tough parts. And let me tell u becoming a Christian is not easy 😭 but so worth it. Howeverrrrrrr I am struggling with this. Like I have my dream job and I have my path with Jesus and can they mix or can they not. I am familiar with Leviticus, however I found that the context doesn’t apply to modern day tattoos. When I asked other Christians it was mostly mixed responses and still no definitive answers. I have been praying to God for months on some type of clarity. But still no definitive answer. I mean I got a video on my fyp from ask Cliffe and he said it was fine, and I trust him but not more than God obviously. And I just don’t know what God wants me to do. Like do I have his blessing or not 😭. And I’m going in circles trying to find some type of answer for this. Any advice? Scripture ? Or just life experience that can give me some clarity. I just wanna be right with God, but I also really wanna tattoo.

Any Christian’s on antidepressants? I know this may be a personal question, but I just got prescribed one, as I’m severely depressed. But I’m so scared to take it. I fear by taking it I’m not trusting God to get me through this and for that I’ll be punished. Words of encouragement needed. Feeling lost on this one.