got baptized yesterday and it was such an awesome experience! From a long term Hindu to now in the body of Christ! I accepted Christ into my life on 10/1/2025 and since then it has been a great time (slightly over a year 🤩✝️). PTL for all He has done for me and I cannot wait to see what the Lord does in the future!!

Admittedly, I’m not a Christian anymore. I’m also a Dave Ramsey hater based on the way he illegally treats his employees and his overall “boomer” mentality towards younger people, but this is just downright evil in my eyes. Using God to justify your blatant greed on your Christian program shows a lot about him and his attitude towards Christianity.

Painted by Sister Teresa a Carmelite nun in Tokyo

I saw it somewhere, and found it so exceptionally beautiful.

Hello everyone. I’m a Japanese girl who has recently started learning about Christianity and reading the Bible.
Growing up in Japan, I had very little understanding of Christianity. As I’ve learned more about it, I’ve started reflecting deeply on my past, my values, and the kind of person I want to become.
I’ve struggled with loneliness, unwanted sexual thoughts, and feelings of guilt and shame. I also spent a significant amount of money seeking spiritual advice because I was desperate for reassurance and guidance.
Recently, I’ve been having frightening recurring dreams involving demonic figures. These dreams have made me anxious, and I’m trying to understand how to cope with them without becoming overwhelmed by fear.
I’m interested in learning about God’s love, forgiveness, repentance, and how to live a meaningful and compassionate life.
I don’t want to judge or condemn anyone. I simply want to understand Christianity better and find a healthier way to deal with my fears and struggles.
Could anyone recommend Bible passages, prayers, or practical advice for someone who is new to Christianity and struggling with guilt and anxiety?
Thank you for reading. I would really appreciate your kindness and guidance!!

What is the extent to which images shall not be used in any church imagery or worship of any kind?

I’m a Christian, and I genuinely believe in God and Jesus. I want to have a strong relationship with God, and my faith is really important to me.

But lately, I’ve been struggling with this terrifying thought: What if when we die, there’s just nothing? What if we simply stop existing?

I don’t want to believe that. I believe in heaven and eternal life, but sometimes my mind starts questioning everything, and it scares me. I start thinking about how nobody truly knows what happens after death, and I get overwhelmed.

I also struggle with anxiety and intrusive thoughts, so sometimes it’s hard to tell whether I’m genuinely questioning my faith or whether my anxiety is making me obsess over the uncertainty.

I want to feel confident in my faith. I want to trust God without constantly having that little “what if” in the back of my mind.

Has anyone else experienced this, even while genuinely believing in God? How did you work through it?

I’d especially love to hear from Christians who have struggled with the same fear and found peace in their faith. I’m not looking for arguments or debates, just genuine advice and encouragement.

The more I question Christianity, the less sense it makes to me.

After four years in Bible college, major health challenges, racism, and ostracization, I have spent a lot of time reconsidering what I was taught about God, morality, suffering, and human nature. I genuinely do not believe in God anymore, and there are some fundamental problems with Christianity that I cannot reconcile.

If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good, why does so much unnecessary suffering exist? Why are children born with painful diseases? Why do innocent people experience abuse, violence, and devastating illnesses? Why would an all-powerful God need suffering to teach people lessons or develop their character? And if God's reasons are supposedly beyond our understanding, how can we confidently claim that everything He does is good?

Then there is the question of free will. If God created humanity, knew beforehand that humans would sin, and had the power to create us differently, why did He create us this way? If God cannot sin because His nature is perfectly good, why couldn't He create humans with the capacity to make meaningful choices without being capable of horrific cruelty? Why is the ability to commit evil supposedly necessary for love to be genuine?

And if God knew Adam and Eve would disobey Him, why place the tree in the Garden of Eden in the first place? Why allow the serpent to deceive them? Why should generations of people suffer because of the actions of two individuals? How is inherited guilt compatible with perfect justice?

The moral questions are equally difficult. If God is the ultimate authority on morality, what makes something good? If an action is wrong when a human commits it but justified when God commands it, what is the actual moral standard? And if God is good because everything He does is good, isn't that circular reasoning unless we have some independent way to evaluate what goodness means?

Christianity also teaches that salvation depends on Jesus, yet billions of people have been born into different cultures and religious traditions. Why would a loving God make something as consequential as eternal destiny depend on beliefs that people cannot simply choose to find convincing? Why would sincere disbelief be treated as rebellion? And how could eternal punishment ever be proportionate to the actions or beliefs of a finite human life?

Then there is the Bible itself. It contains different portrayals of God, difficult passages involving divinely commanded violence, and accounts that require considerable interpretation. Christians disagree about what these passages mean, how literally to read them, and which theological explanations resolve the apparent contradictions. If the Bible is supposed to be God's authoritative revelation, why is determining what God actually means so dependent on fallible human interpretation?

And what about prayer? When something good happens, people credit God. When something terrible happens, they say His ways are mysterious. When someone recovers, it is a miracle. When someone dies despite years of prayer, it is part of His plan. If every possible outcome can be explained as God's will, what evidence could ever demonstrate that God is not intervening at all?

I also struggle with the gap between Christianity's teachings and the behavior of Christians themselves. Christianity teaches love, compassion, justice, humility, and care for vulnerable people. Yet I experienced racism and ostracization within a religious environment that was supposed to embody those values. I know that Christians are imperfect, but repeatedly explaining away harmful behavior as human sinfulness does not erase the harm or answer every question about the system itself.

I no longer believe that morality requires religion. Empathy, human dignity, fairness, and the consequences of our actions provide meaningful foundations for ethical behavior. People can be compassionate without believing in God, and religious belief does not automatically make someone compassionate.

Ultimately, I cannot accept something as true simply because I spent years studying it, because people I respected believed it, or because questioning it was treated as a spiritual problem.

I spent four years in Bible college. I gave Christianity a serious chance. I studied its teachings, lived within its community, and tried to make sense of its claims. I am not obligated to continue believing simply because I invested so much of my life in it.

Deconstruction saved my life because it gave me permission to question the belief system I had been trying so hard to reconcile with my reality. I no longer need to interpret my suffering as God's plan, my limitations as a spiritual test, or my experiences of mistreatment as something I must forgive and endure to prove my faithfulness.

I do not believe in God, and I do not need to replace that belief with another religion or pretend I have all the answers.

I would rather acknowledge uncertainty than manufacture certainty. I would rather evaluate claims critically than accept them out of fear. And I would rather build a meaningful life based on what I genuinely believe than spend the rest of it trying to force myself to believe something that no longer makes sense to me.

My life has value whether or not a God exists. My suffering matters without a divine explanation. My morality does not require a supernatural authority. And I do not need to believe in an afterlife to recognize that the life I have now deserves to be lived honestly.

I lost my faith, but I began reclaiming my ability to think for myself.

And I am no longer willing to sacrifice that freedom just to preserve a belief system I no longer find convincing.

Hello. I am a Japanese Shintoist and Buddhist who dislikes Christianity. For as long as I can remember, I have been subjected to a great deal of brainwashing education in Japan that criticizes Christianity.
For example, in my textbooks, I was taught that Christian missionaries once invaded Japan, and that Japanese daimyo who had converted to Christianity made money by selling Japanese women overseas as prostitutes. To put a stop to this, a clever Japanese man named Toyotomi Hideyoshi forced foreign ships and Christians to trample on images of Christ and executed many of them.
As a result, I’m very skeptical of Christianity. If not believing is a sin, did our ancestors go to hell?? In Japan, we have a culture of visiting graves, and every summer vacation, we always go to our ancestors’ graves to express our gratitude to them.
That’s because we exist only because of them.
Besides, I’ve heard that many Catholic priests sexually abuse and assault children.
Deep down, many Japanese people think Christianity is nothing more than a “religion of neo-Nazis that glorifies colonialism, justifies slavery, and justifies the slaughter of livestock.”
Furthermore, Japanese people believe that many religions are harmful and that they’re all cults designed to swindle money from people.
I’ve also heard that Christianity promotes gender inequality—that men are supposed to act “manly” and women “feminine.”
In my Japan, there are plenty of drag queens and transgender women on TV, chatting happily, and there are also lots of female idols appearing on TV.
Plus, Japan is tolerant of the LGBTQ community, and there are many drag queen bars and gay bars.
And Shinto⛩️ doesn’t have any specific teachings on this.
Also, in Christianity, they say you should give thanks to God before eating, but the fact that we’re able to eat is thanks to innovative agricultural technology, the farmers, and the livestock that were slaughtered.
That’s why, in Japanese culture, we always put our hands together in prayer and say “いただきますItadakimasu 🙏” before eating, giving thanks for the lives of the cows and pigs that were slaughtered, and then we eat.
What do you think about this aspect of Japanese spirituality??

Just curious to hear what you came away with. When I studied world religions in college my perspective on the formation of Christianity changed a lot, even though I’m still Christian. I just find the history more messy than we’re usually taught (as is always the case).

My name is Michelle and I need your prayers tonight I’m very depressed I don’t know where e to find more strength I have two children that need me.

A modern take on ancient wisdom. Changes denoted by [bold brackets]

Luke 10 (NRSVUE)

²⁹ ...who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “An [immigrant] was going down from [Philadelphia] to [Washington DC] and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a [Texas Senator] was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a [Tennessee Congressman], when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a [Manhattan atheist] while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two [thousand dollars], gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

I am a feminist. I am a Christian, and I have started seeing people point out bible verses like these: 

-1 Timothy 2:12 – "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet."

-1 Corinthians 14:34–35 – Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

-Ephesians 5:22–24 – "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church..."

-Deuteronomy 28 -29- “If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.”

Honestly, I thought that feminism was something that elevated  Christianity over Judaism and Islam. I don’t think I could follow a religion in which I am treated as inferior or as an object owned by men because of something as dumb as the chromosomes I was born with.

I can’t do this anymore. I’ve been patient, I’ve loved Jesus, I’ve loved God, I’ve prayed, I’ve tried my hardest but I cannot accept it anymore. I cannot accept that an all loving God sends imperfect individuals into an eternal life of torture and agony.

You’re all scared, because you’re all imperfect, that’s the only reason you belive in God, you wouldn’t follow him if you didn’t have the fear of hell and that’s a fact, you say you feel his ‘peace and love’ but where is the peace and love of just constantly pressuring yourself to be different and believe you’ve got a ticket to heaven because you’ve gone by the books. You believe in him because biologically you WANT love, peace and attention from someone in a beautiful warm place, and the concept of Hell being real; a place so terrible makes you terrified into believing.

I can’t look at my gay friends and believe they’re going to hell, I can’t look at my atheist friends or friends of other religions and believe they’re going to hell all from a book that was translated hundreds of times. I can’t believe an ‘All loving’ God would send his OWN children to a place of eternal pain. And don’t try to sugarcoat it, don’t say he’s forgiving and merciful, not everyone is sorry to a man they don’t believe in. I can’t look at my OWN FAMILY, who by the ‘rules’ would be judged into hell. I would be too.

I somehow feel shame when I say I’m christian to somebody. Because today’s society of christianity is quite frankly disgraceful. So am I going to hell for supporting the LGBTQ community?

If I am such a lovely, loyal and helping person my whole life, but I might’ve been lustful at some stages or had some pride in my life but didn’t ask for forgiveness or believe in him, I’m judged straight to hell? Then someone who did no good but judge others based on their religion and identity their whole life’s; but because they asked for forgiveness of their ‘sins’ they’re judged to Heaven? It’s stupid. It’s a harmful ideology.

My aspect on Christianity as a child was very different as I was brought up in an Open Christian household, so I thought nothing of ‘sins’ or ‘evil’. Even my siblings are bisexual. All I knew was bad people and good people. Good people go to heaven, Bad people go to hell. But being a good and bad person is WARPED in Christian beliefs. All I knew was that Jesus was loving and he loved us all, that he kept the bad away from us, like murder, grape, sa, abuse.

Ever since coming online and seeing this community for what it really is has opened my eyes, all I came on for was to find others to worship and love with, I wish I never did. It’s disgustingly judgemental. I had a stage of worrying and feeling guilty over every tiny thing I did and felt like I was walking on eggshells but now I don’t care, I’m being me, I’m living free, worshipping how I want to. The community and people are disgusting online, abusive and thinking they’re of a higher power just because they’re ‘close with god’ by ‘asking for forgiveness of their sins’ so they’re automatically guaranteed a seat in heaven above the ‘losers’ who they criticise online and in real life.

I can’t believe even a few weeks ago I saw a post on here of a guy in extreme deep heartbreaking grief just because he believed a lovely friend of his who had died had gone to hell BECAUSE HE WASNT CHRISTIAN. The man saved peoples lifes, he was described as compassionate and amazing and made a mark on peoples lifes for the good, yet everyone in the comments even said this guy WOULD be considered in hell because he refused to believe in God. If somebody at your last moments of death tried to convince you into being muslim or a jew would YOU convert immediately? And even so, the concept of a man that’s done such good and was so giving his whole life is in the flaming pits because he didn’t accept God? You’re all brainwashed. I hope this post gives some people some decency.

I’ve lost a great faith in being Christian, I’m trying to feel anything but I’ve lost most of my feelings towards it. Hell is a disgusting concept I think used to control, scare and manipulate many people into believing something they don’t believe in— a threat of ETERNAL punishment and agony for basic human biology most of the time. I’m going to be honest, I even looked into the rules of Judaism and I’ve got to say they’ve certainly got it better than this. I don’t know what comes after death now, I’m not sure what to believe at all, but my image of Jesus and God is completely hijacked and gone. I’ll always worship God and Jesus as I have for many years and I could never erase them out of the equation, but this will always be a big scar on my beliefs and opinions.

Please stop trying to scare others with the concept of hell just so you think because you’re spreading the ‘gospel’ you’re automatically GOOD. Your bible quotes are taken out of context and heavily translated by a man’s hand.
Have some consideration of others and not just yourselves, that’s what I always thought being good was but it’s been modified.

Sorry this was a long one and not meaning to attack anyone in anyway, I’m just getting my thoughts and opinions out there on how this side of Christianity has turned toxic and harmful. Love and peace to you all ✌️

The amount of hate and homophobia gay people get from straight christians is absolutely nuts. By the way, judging and hating is actually mentioned so many times by Jesus, and gay people are never mentioned by him. Are Christians absolutely nuts for bullying gay people? Turns out, the sin isn't being gay; it's judging gays for being gay. All of the verses that mention homosexuality are not aboout love!:

1. Violent Assault & Aggression

​Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19): A mob of men attempts to gang-rape male angelic visitors. This is a story about violent assault, host hospitality norms, and mob brutality.

​The Concubine at Gibeah (Judges 19): A horrifying story mirroring Genesis 19, involving mob violence, gang rape, and murder.

​2. Ancient Cultic Laws & Purity Codes

​Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13: Part of the ancient Israelite "Holiness Code." These laws were focused on ceremonial cleanliness, social hierarchy, and distinguishing Israel from neighboring pagan cultures (who used cultic sexual rituals). The concept of two men in a loving, committed household did not exist in this legal framework.

​3. Exploitation & Power Dynamics in the Roman World

​Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10: Written by Paul in the Greco-Roman world. In that society, same-sex sexual behavior almost exclusively took the form of pederasty (wealthy older men exploiting young boys), master-slave abuse, or prostitution. The ancient Greek words Paul used (malakoi and arsenokoitai) addressed male prostitution and sexual exploitation, not two equal partners sharing a life together.

Why create someone whom He knew in advance would end up in eternal suffering in hell?

I had a melanoma removed last year. I get scans every few months to make sure it didnt spread.

My scans have been clear thank the lord 🙏

Monday is my next scan and im scared.

Could you please pray for me that it will be clear like the others? I appreciate it God bless everyone. 🙌

The Parable of the 11^th hour workers in the vineyard always bothered my mother because she thought it unfair to the workers that were there all day.   Amy-Jill Levine has an interesting reading of that parable that has resonance with todays economics.

From Short Stories by Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine

How do we hear the parables through an imagined set of first-century Jewish ears, and then how do we translate them so that they can be heard still speaking?

Matthew 20:1-16 ( NRSVue )

Chapter 7, The Laborers in the Vineyard

The householder not only fulfilled his contract with those he first hired; he also paid a full wage to those who might not have expected it. With these two moves, he proved himself sufficiently clever as to foreclose, in the honor/shame and patron-client system, any harm to himself. The only point that the workers could make about him was that he was generous to others. And in making that point, the workers learned their own economic lesson: the point is not that those who have “get more,” but that those who have not “get enough.” One does the work—in the labor force, in the kingdom—not for more reward, but for the benefit of all. The next day, perhaps the first will be last, and those who grumble in the evening about bonuses will be desperate in the morning for any job at all.

Although we can see the laborers as “among the poor for whom the kingdom of God would bring change,”   the parable does not promote egalitarianism; instead, it encourages householders to support laborers, all of them. More than just aiding those at the doorstep, those who have should seek out those who need. If the householder can afford it, he should continue to put others on the payroll, pay them a living wage (even if they cannot put in a full day’s work), and so allow them to feed their families while keeping their dignity intact. The point is practical, it is edgy, and it a greater challenge to the church then and today than the entirely unsurprising idea that God’s concern is that we enter, not when.

Jesus is neither a Marxist nor a capitalist. Rather, he is both an idealist and a pragmatist. His focus is often less directly on “good news to the poor” than on “responsibility of the rich.” Jesus follows Deuteronomy 15.11, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” However, there is regulation: the rich who fail to open their hand will receive eschatological punishment.

Jesus is not an individualist, and his address presumes a corporate (yes, that is the word) personality. Just as God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matt. 5.45), so the righteousness of one person or group benefits not only that group, but others as well. Each group needs the other: the workers need the money, and the owner needs the labor. But the corporate point is even stronger.

The prodigal son benefits from the work of the elder brother; the sinful tax collector benefits from the righteousness of the Pharisee; in Christian tradition, sinful humanity benefits from the righteousness and sacrifice of Jesus. In this parable, the last hired benefit from the contract made with their coworkers; they benefit from an employer who pays a just wage to those who labor; they benefit from an employer who is generous with his money. Thus, not only do householder and laborer need each other, the work of some laborers benefits the lives of others. In the end, all have enough to eat, and the rich recognize their responsibility to those who are less well off, a responsibility that includes not simply giving a handout, but hiring “workers” who can thus preserve their dignity.