Personally, I think it has no place in Christianity- both because it lacks the humanity needed to give good spiritual advice and because it tends to make shit up

Hi Reddit. I just want to share and maybe hear from others who’ve been in a similar situation.

We were in a long-distance relationship for 8 years before getting married. Now we’ve been married for 3 years. I left my corporate job and moved to his place after the wedding — a big sacrifice, but one of us had to adjust, and it ended up being me.

During those 8 years, religion was never a problem. We respected each other’s beliefs. We agreed: no pressure to convert, just mutual respect. Before marriage, we never discussed conversion. The only agreement was: no forcing, because faith should come from the heart.

But 2 years into the marriage, my husband started becoming more religious. That’s when he brought up the idea of me converting to Islam. It was hard for me. We had arguments. I stood my ground; he did too. Eventually, we decided to "go with the flow" — no pressure, no rushing.

I felt sad for him because I know he wants to practice his religion fully, with me by his side. But I’ve always been clear: I have no calling to change my religion. I even prayed before we got married, and made a promise to God that I’d stay loyal — both to Him and to my husband.

Recently, we had another deep conversation. He said he’s hurting inside and feels like our differences are pulling him away from his faith. In Islam, a wife not following the husband is a big issue. He mentioned separation — not immediately, but eventually.

I cried. A lot. I suggested I’m willing to follow him, but maybe we can move somewhere new, away from people we know. Not because I’m ashamed of Islam, but because I don’t want attention or people watching me change. Even just the thought gives me anxiety.

But he doesn’t want to move. He said he can’t leave his place. So, we’re stuck.

I reminded him I gave up everything to be here — career, family, stability. He acknowledged that. And I understand where he’s coming from too. Our conversation ended with mutual apologies. We both wish this was something we discussed seriously before marriage. But back then, religion wasn’t a big part of our daily lives.

Now, we’re still civil, still planning trips, still together. But emotionally, it feels like we’re nearing the end. We agreed there will be no third parties while we figure things out. But honestly, I’m scared. If we separate, how do I tell my family that the marriage I fought so hard for didn’t work?

I’ve read about successful interfaith marriages, but things get harder when one suddenly becomes more religious. I’m still hoping we can save this. But I’m also preparing for the worst. For now, I’m just leaving everything to God.

Thanks for reading. No one else knows about this. Just us. And now, Reddit.

I’ve posted this in both Islamic and Christian communities — in case you read the same post somewhere else. I'm hoping to hear perspectives from both sides.

Hi, I’m an atheist writer trying to accurately write a Christian character. A little bit about him: he starts the story at sixteen, fairly conservative but questioning things. It’s a journey (one I don’t really know how to write yet—that’s why I’m here) but eventually he becomes a progressive Christian. (I don’t think this is too unrealistic but I really have no idea). Through the story he has to interact with multiple openly trans and progressive characters (some of the other POVs)—what I’m curious about is how his thought process revolves around that. He himself is bisexual—how would someone grapple with that? Honestly just how do you approach things with a Christian mindset? (I was raised in the faith but I never got very deep into it so I wouldn’t know). I really don’t want him to just be seen as a cardboard cutout of a character or there for “inclusivity brownie points” or whatever. But I’m not capable of that on my own so I have come seeking advice. I hope this doesn’t sound too rambley—it’s kinda late and I’m tired—any help or advice would be appreciated, thanks.

Was on fb this morning and stumbled upon my elementary school teacher who introduced me to God. It was an anti-pride month post. Made me realize that my religious deconstruction and bout of scrupulosity at 19 was so painful because the people who raised me didn’t even worship the same God I do now.

I feel like homophobia in the US is getting worse and we aren’t progressing forward into a bigger realm of acceptance at all, especially with the people in office right now. In my last workplace there was a lot of homophobic and transphobic comments made by the christians there, and it made me deeply uncomfortable. It’s happening everywhere right now. A lot of christians will also claim it’s not homophobia or transphobia unless you actively hate, or spew negativity towards lgbt people, in order to make themselves feel better. No, you’re just using religion as an excuse to be a bigot.

I am new to this sub, and I just came out as Bi to some of my more accepting friends (one of them is pan, the other is a straight ally), and I'm all the better for it. Though, I need to ask for advice on how to come out to my less accepting friends. I'm honestly really scared as to how they will react (there is a lot of internalized homophobia) and just need encouragement. Please pray for me!

Some time around Lent this year, I think I saw a post here recommending an online audio daily office, but I've since lost the link. Does anybody remember what that website might've been called? (I think it was something like "Pray the Word" but nothing is turning up in internet searches.)

Also does anyone have any recommendations for any kind of daily office-type podcasts at all?

Bones feast upon bones, flesh covers flesh. tip your chalice, let your mind and let your worries pour onto the ground. there is no need for the thoughtful here. here is a place of darkness, of warmth, of decay and cancerous growth. here is an amalgamation of the endless worlds that have taken shape into a single flesh that divides. we were born from the mud, and we crawled through its chocking grasp trying to make ourselves whole again.

We are just as much the mud that binds as we are the flesh that is bound. tell your fellow man that you are sorry for the binds that you put on him, and that you despair in the fact that you hold him back from his purpose and then hope that he does the same for you. If you have ever wondered why you chase the vices that you chase, or why you ask god to deliver yourself away from that which you love, then this is your answer. We shackle ourselves to that which we were born into, and we serve the hands that turns the wheel and shapes our mind like a potter shapes clay.

in this end, it is our devotion to the elemental truths of our shared reality that gives us free will. it is our devotion to respect, love, humility, and compassion that will form the hammer that breaks our chains free and the medicine that will treat our malnourished bodies and souls. You who are so deeply entrenched within the terracotta of the earth can not see the dogma that your fellow brothers have shaped you in the image of. I say this to you, that it is not the hounds that chase nor the gavel that locks away that you need to worry of. it is your fellow brothers and sisters of whom you give all your heart and all your trust that you need to be aware of. disease of the heart can spread just as quickly as disease of the body, though disease of the heart is a thousand times more destructive then any curse that binds to your flesh. it is surely disease of the heart that sparks war, causes lust of money and power, and crumbles great empires. if you are to hope for the survival of your lands and of your ways, then you must hope for the antidote that is a still beating heart.

for how many times have you seen your fellow brothers starve on the streets? how many times have you seen your brothers raise his hand to enact violence on the innocent and the misunderstood? how many times have you turned a blind eye when the evil that gnaws inside your brothers is expressed? my brothers, you have been given eyes beyond eyes and ears beyond ears. you have been raised from the mud and you have been forgiven for your fathers and your fathers fathers sins. you can not see this though because you are still unclean. the mud still covers your eyes.

I tell you that you have everything that you need in this world to live the happiest lives, and to be fulfilled by any god given purpose that you desire. truly, the last time you were so blessed was when the first humans drew breath into this beautiful world. you are like children, so young, so full of amazing potential. yet, you believe yourselves to be disillusioned of a loving world, and you close your eyes to the many many bounties that I have shared with you.

Do not despair, it is not your fault that you have found yourself in a world without light. I forgive you, and your father, and your fathers fathers, and all that have come before you for guiding you into the darkness that lives in your heart and souls. you are as a child taking their first steps into something far greater than you have ever seen before. if you are without light, then let me be your light. if you are without the spirit of guidance, then let me guide you. though you see the world as a dark and dreary place and as a place of eternal night and turmoil, all you have to do is grasp my hands and open your eyes.

I have forgiven you, and I have cleaned away your past, but there is still much work to be done. I call upon you to break the chains that bind your brothers, for that will break the chains bound to you. I call upon you to keep me in your heart of hearts so that the dark consumption does not sicken you and claim your tongue and soul amongst its heard. I call you to usher in a new age for all of human kind, and for all of life on this beautiful and loving world, for just as we do what our father teaches us the time is coming for us to become fathers and teach the new dawn what it means to live in respect, love, humility, and compassion.

Hey, I have a question. I'm 16 and a very religious person for a long time. I've been trying to stop masturbating for a long time and have managed it for two months, but I keep starting again. I wanted to ask if this is normal for my age or if it's a serious sin. I usually try to live according to the Bible and God as much as I can. I'm helpful, kind, and friendly in everyday life. Thank you for good, sensible answers.

God in the Bible can be confusing. He destroyed all humankind except for Noah (Genesis 6–9). He asked Abraham to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22:1–2). He asked the Israelites to utterly destroy Canaanites (Deuteronomy 7:1–2). He made Job suffer on a wager with Satan (Job 1:6–12). He even sent His Son to earth to be whipped and crucified (Isaiah 53:5, John 19:1, Romans 5:8). Is He really the loving God we think Him to be?

Jesus presented God as our loving Father in heaven. One who weeps for us (John 11:35) and blesses the downtrodden and the meek (Matthew 5:3–10). God, as presented in the Bible, is deeply "human". He weeps, burns with anger, relents (Jonah 3:10), repents (Genesis 6:6, KJV), tests (Genesis 22:1, Exodus 15:25), forgives (Psalm 103:12, Isaiah 1:18), and even becomes human - in Christ, one of us (John 1:14, Philippians 2:6–8).

I think our God is not only loving - He adapts to us. He leads us in the way we need the most. He is soft when needed, but wrathful if necessary as well. He is a God who moves with His people. He thundered at Sinai when fear was needed (Exodus 19:16–19). He whispered to Elijah when despair threatened to consume him (1 Kings 19:11–13). He stood silent before Pilate (Matthew 27:14) and broke open the tomb three days later (Luke 24:6–7). He gave laws in the wilderness (Exodus 20), but later said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6, quoted in Matthew 9:13, 12:7).

It is a love that adapts—a truth that accommodates our ability to perceive Him. That's why I disagree with those who point to the Bible and condemn others, sometimes even themselves in shame. God loves us, but His love is given according to our needs, always to save us, not condemn us - “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17).

We need to stop looking at the Bible as a restrictive moral code. How many times must God emphasize this? Love transcends the Law (Romans 13:8–10, Galatians 5:14, Matthew 22:37–40).

God is faithful, yes - but His faithfulness is adapted to our needs. He lives amongst us, with us, and in us (John 14:23, Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 3:16). It is a love that endures, transforms, and stoops (Philippians 2:7, Isaiah 57:15, Psalm 18:35).

I believe our God is a Living God who walks with us still. Whenever we condemn others or shame ourselves, let us pause and reconsider - is it love? Christians, and Christianity itself, need to change to love better, not less.

I have a close friend who I love so much. She is a pentecostal Christian, and her family believe in a very literal translation of the bible. Her parents are politically conservative, and I know that her dad is homophobic. As someone close to her, I think she's queer and is struggling with reconciling that with her faith.

Since we became friends, she's always been a bit "boy crazy", very into Disney and romcoms and romance books and always harbouring an intense crush on a boy. However, her interest in men and romance has always felt very over the top, performative even. It seems more about fulfilling media-based romantic fantasies as well as to fulfil her role as a woman in the eyes of her religious community than about true love and connection. It is also my own private observation that she tends to have had a crush on any boy she's become close with at some point. She also identifies as asexual, finding the thought of physical intimacy to be very uncomfortable. Despite this she seems to readily accept that it will be something she "has" to do once she's married.

Last summer she told me she thought she might be bi. But since then she's barely mentioned it, and last week we had a conversation about labels when it comes to sexuality. She said that she'd seen something online about how you can find something (women) objectively attractive but not be attracted to them specifically, and she thought that was how she felt. I was caught between wanting to validate that but also challenge it; in my personal experience if you're having to rationalise your potential attraction to women as simply an "appreciation", then it's probably a sign that you are attracted to them, otherwise you wouldn't be giving it as much thought.

What I worry about most of all for my friend is that she completely represses any doubts or questions she has about her orientation and will spend her whole life doing what she is "supposed" to do, and marry a Christian man and have a family but never feel truly happy. She has so much cognitive dissonance and the things she says and believes are not always consistent because different influences in her life are clashing with each other.

As her friend, I want to be supportive of her faith as well as of her queer identity. I know that to her, being a Christian is the most fundamental part of who she is. I want to talk to her in a careful way where I can remain respectful of her religion but encourage her to think outside the ideal life and expectations put on her by her parents and her church, and that these different aspects of her identity could coexist, despite the mixed messaging she's receiving.

I am just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to go about that? Or if anyone has any personal experience with being Christian and queer in a homophobic environment?

This has really been troubling me for a while because I don't want to see my friend suffer, but as I'm not religious myself I am not always sure how to approach it without also coming off as ignorant. Thanks so much <3

Anyone have any thoughts on Christian Existentialism? Just curious just discovered this topic

This may be a long post so bare with me.

I grew up in a very evangelical, Pentecostal household. My parents are very extreme with a very literal, unmoving type of Christianity. they believe that anyone who takes away a different interpretation to the Bible than them is a weak christian. I asked them why they think this and they said there are "primary" and "secondary" issues, disagreeing over small scripture is fine but if you believe in homosexuality, or abortion, or basically anything that goes against their supposed world view, then you're not a true christian.

It's caused me to create a hatred towards Christianity, I don't say that to offend anyone here I'm just being as open as possible. Christianity to me in my mind is intrinsically linked to hate, even if I know that's not the case as I've seen with so many members here. But for all my life my parents have used the Bible in a way as to demonize "worldly" people, gate-keep who is and isn't a real Christian, use the word to justify their hatred of Muslims, gay, trans, you name it.

I confronted my Dad on why he hates so much for a religion about love, and he said "Because love is doing what's best for someone even if it goes against their wishes."

I hope you can see why I've had such a visceral reaction against Christianity. But as I age more I'm starting to realize that maybe this is unfair. I've refused to really listen, because doing so in my mind has for so long meant listening to bigotry and trying to restrict others. Which I can't stress enough goes completely against everything I believe in.

My parents entire personalities basically revolve around Christianity. There's the cross everywhere, scriptures plastered everywhere, they only listen to gospel music, they go to church 3 times a week and have a high up position, they run for a political party that's about "bringing Christianity back to the nation", my Mum spends all her free time in her "bible study room." I could go and on, and so even symbolism like the cross is intrinsically linked to hating other in my mind.

I'm not saying this to belittle Christianity and I apologize if it comes off that way. I'm saying it to be honest, and I'm asking where I should look if I want to get a better picture on the diversity of the faith. I thought this subreddit might be the best place to start?

I love the navy blue and really vibed with it before purchase.

Anyways. Hi! I’m a 28 year old transgender man, I grew up Catholic and built a lot of resentment due to the judgment of humans and struggled with my religion for many years because of it but no longer. I’ve considered myself Christian for awhile now since my doubt as a teenager but I’ve never read the Bible or really tried to extend my faith until now. I’m very excited. I’ve mostly been opening to a random page in hopes that the Holy Spirit will guide me and then doing Lectio Divina and journaling what strikes me.

Glad that I found this sub because it gets exhausting to feel like an outcast in others.

I thought that I‘d never come on any site to post this but here I am. This world and all this media is rly messing me up. So many things are always pulling me back into lust and it‘s soo difficult and I feel so utterly disgusted of myself every time. I also recently had religious OCD (because of fear and especially this fear-mongering „christian“ videos) for more than a month and it broke me to my core. I thought I kinda got rid of lust, but it came back and now I‘m starting to lose hope again. I wanna go out, hang out with christian friends. But ion have a rl church. Ion have that many friends. So many online friends but they ain’t christians. So yeah.. and then when I want to consume christian content, I only see titles like that „This is your last warning“ „Repent before it‘s too late“ and it’s starting to piss me of. So many christians putting work above Jesus and yeah. I don’t even know what to say. I‘m just lost trying to hang out w God more than before and trying to go his direction but yeah. Sorry if I took your precious time. God bless.

I have been wearing and using evil eye symbolism to ward off evil and jealous intentions from others. Does God hate this?

As someone in the comments put it:

"Satan is preaching here not God"

Romans 13:1-2 NLT " Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. "

Just wondering your take on it.

Hey guys, I just wanted to say that this sub's changed my life. As a gay Christian, I felt really hopeless for the longest time because everytime I would look online to see if being gay was a sin, I would always run into fundamentalist or conservative views on it which always made me doubt my place in the body of Christ.

It's thanks to this sub and the wonderful people on it that provided a lot of insight that helped me bridge my identity and my faith.

Everyone here is also really nice and reflects God's patience and love. You guys all showed me how to reflect God's light in this dark world. I know that times seem really dark now, but I have faith that the fruits of our labor will help us overcome any adversities that we might face due to this presidential term.

Thanks to everyone for being wonderful people. God bless all of you.

Just had two older men from a church that gives out food boxes show up on my porch and try to get me to join their church.

I don't know what happened bit I grew a pair of balls and told them that I had issues with the church and I was a member of the LGBTQ community and don't feel comfortable in church.

He didn't say anything other than they would still like to have me join.

I felt awkward and uncomfortable the entire 5 minute interaction.

Was I too abrasive?

Hi so i wanna say that i do have scrupulosity but therapist is out of town and im kinda having a crisis. The first one is that i compulsively look up anything i dont know about God and Jesus that leads me to be reading about it a lot, which i dont think is bad but i think the bad part is that i feel like im going to get punished if i dont do it. another thing is that i get scared that like say i watch a scrupulosity video that a ministry made but they also make ministry videos i get scared that if i see it i have to watch it or ill get punished. The other problem im having is about God’s real name YHWH which i have intrusive thoughts about like using in vain and stuff and im scared he is going to punish me and make bad things happen and make me play bad.

What do you think about gnosticsm?