Hey guys, so this morning I was talking with a friend at church about the desire to get married. My opinion was that if God puts the desire in your heart to get married, you should pursue it and, eventually, you will get married, at least that's what I interpret from the bible (Gen 2:18, 24 / 1 Corinthians 7:2, 8–9 / etc) but obviously I might be wrong about that interptration. And, she said that sometimes God can prevent it, even if you have the desire, because of his sovereign plan. She also gave a couple of examples of people in our circle who strongly desired to get married but never did, because God used them for other purposes that wouldn’t be compatible with marriage.

I told her that I don't see why God would put that desire in your heart only to prevent it, leaving you to live with that burden your entire life. She said that's similar to couples who want to have kids but can't: the desire might be godly, but God can ultimately prevent it anyway because of his sovereignty.

Of course, am talking about Godly and correct way of desiring marriage, not for some selfish reason for example.

So that got me reflecting for a while.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

I'm too tired after work to read, let alone read God's word. Like literally too tired, falling asleep when eating dinner. I mean sure I could mechanically skim through a chapter or two, but that's not what we want, right?

So, weekends are my only chance to actually read and comprehend the text. Anyone in the same boat? How do you handle it? Thanks a lot!

Hi all. :)

So i have a good friend ive known since freshman year of high school, (were both 24 now). He grew up in the Mormon church and left it around junior year id say. Now hes a little bit progressive in some views and is a lil hostile towards religion. Hostile is probably a bit of a strong word so take that lightly.

We hanged out today, and we started talking about religion. And he was saying how all the abrahmaic religions worship the same god and he started referencing the "broken mirror analogy" that mormons will talk about. He was saying how all abrahamic religions worship the same god, and how its all under the same umbrella just with smaller umbrellas and such.

He said i need to look at it from an outside perspective cause I was saying I think he's wrong. And then as he was leaving (i was dropping him off) he said hell send me stuff. And i was like if you send me something to watch/ read ill indulge if you indulge something i send you. And he said, hell watch or read something I send him if its from a "neutral position", and he woudnt watch something from a pastor. And he was saying agnostics are neutral. And i was like how do you expect to learn about Christianity authentically if you dont learn it from a Christian? And then he said he'll read something if it was from a christian from an academic perspective.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where i should go from here? I was going to start searching for stuff. The first person that came too mind was greg bahnsen. Im not familiar with him myself but ik he was a scholar, so I thought he might have some good things to say in his work. 🤷

Any thoughts would be appreciated! Prayers for my friend eli, please as well? :)

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These are go-to verses for believer’s baptism and immersion. I see this as a mode argument, not a credobaptism argument, but I am curious: How do paedobaptists, who pour water over the baby, interpret this verse?

If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Hey folks, recently, I made a post about understanding the reformed view of the sacraments. Since then, I’ve gotten a better understanding, but I’m still confused about one area. What does it mean by sign and seal? I tried asking AI, but I feel like that left me more confused than before. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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In the US, are clergy regularly drug tested? The only reason i am asking is because i know that the bible gives clear requirements for sober clergy but is this more seen throughout the life of the church or do they take an active role in insuring their ministers are drug free. I live in a state where marijuana is legal and so i wasn’t sure if the clergy are checked or if its a “follow the law of the land” thing or unspoken rule that you just dont do it but they arent testing.

Just genuinely curious about it. Im not accusing my pastor of marijuana use but im sure there has to be some out there that do and keep it quite.

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Never thought too much about this booklet but appears to be an original syllabus from van til. Just thought I’d share 😁

How does your church meet the practical needs of the body?
Our church is fairly big (over 700) and we have a mercy budget but it seems like it is mainly reserved for emergency needs. But there are many regular church members who have various needs that seem to go unmet because the way the deacons distribute the funds is, what I would graciously describe as careful but am tempted to describe it as stingy.
I want to talk to an elder or deacon about this at some point but was curious what other reformed church do or how they handle this.
I believe that when we say we are meeting needs of the body that means practical needs like:
someone needs to replace their glasses but doesn't have insurance.
someone needs help with a large car repair
someone has a burdensome medical bill
Usually when someone keeps needing help from the deacons they say things like “we can’t make this a habit” or “is there a way we can make changes for a permanent solution?”
I don’t know but that all kind of sits wrong with me.
Any thoughts or feed back?

Hello all,

I've been thinking of buying a study/ journal/ application Bible: all in 1 maybe( mostly in NIV,but IDK if that's a good choice though).

I want to truly understand the scripture I read, that's the main goal, not just read it vaguely.

Open to suggestions. Thanks:)

Hi everybody. The other day I went to Bremen and explored the evangelical church in the city center. It was magnificent, however, as someone who’s exploring Christianity I came out of that place with mixed feelings. On the one hand the architecture was genuinely awe inspiring, however, with so many statues and intricate carvings I can’t imagine how one can fully dedicate their attention and energies towards praying to God as there are many possible distractions around.
As such I wanted to know, which denomination has the least amount of ornaments and focuses the most in their attention towards praying to God? (Basically less focus on ornate buildings and more on the dedication of prayer itself)?

Are there any conservative reformed churches in Edinburgh, Scotland? Similar to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) but doesn’t necessarily have to be Presbyterian. Thanks!

How does your church meet the practical needs of the body?

Our church is fairly big (over 700) and we have a mercy budget but it seems like it is mainly reserved for emergency needs. But there are many regular church members who have various needs that seem to go unmet because the way the deacons distribute the funds is, what I would graciously describe as careful but am tempted to describe it as stingy.

I want to talk to an elder or deacon about this at some point but was curious what other reformed church do or how they handle this.

I believe that when we say we are meeting needs of the body that means practical needs like:

someone needs to replace their glasses but doesn't have insurance.

someone needs help with a large car repair

someone has a burdensome medical bill

Usually when someone keeps needing help from the deacons they say things like “we can’t make this a habit” or “is there a way we can make changes for a permanent solution?”

I don’t know but that all kind of sits wrong with me.

Any thoughts or feed back?

hello dear friends!

for context I’ve been researching Christianity, particularly reformed Christianity, for the past months.

i always think of becoming reformed Christian. but some of its doctrines, like predestination and irresistible grace, makes me backtrack from becomin one

so the question is. Can someone Be a Reformed Christian (e.g Presbyterian, any mainstream reformed denominations) While rejecting The doctrine of predestination and irresistible grace?

im open to being wrong and wanna learn more if the answer is No.

thanks in advance! Love you all ❤️!

In my area there are no reformed churches, mostly SBC, IFB, non denominational and various charismatic/Pentecostal churches. I only learned about reformed teaching through YouTube and some reading. Any church I have ever been in after the sermon has an invitation to anyone who wants to receive Christ and a few would add to it "see the pastor after service" so they could make sure you understood the gospel and knew what regeneration was. In a reformed service when the sermon concludes what happens if someone listening wants to receive salvation? I agree alter calls can be deceiving and lead to false converts but I've never seen an alternative method that didn't involve an invitation. Forgive me for being ignorant to just about anything in the reformed services but I would have to drive over 100 miles to attend a service to see what it was like. In addition I won't hide that most of my scriptural understanding beyond very basic things taught in most conservative church's is from self study and hearing teachers through YouTube (I was raised in a Charismatic home but separated myself from that belief system)

If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Looking for advice for Christian life in general as a young guy

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

I know Christians are split on this but I wanted to know what reformed folks generally think on this matter. It definitely says the Book of Life was opened...why would Christ need to open the book of Life if the people standing in front of Him were all unbelievers?

Please let me know what your view is! Biblically =)

I’m an elder in a Reformed evangelical church and would appreciate some counsel on a difficult pastoral question.

Can elders, as an exercise of pastoral wisdom and prudence, direct members in good standing to temporarily refrain from attending corporate worship and normal church activities in order to create space for healing and reconciliation?

In this situation, the elders would explicitly say that the members remain in good standing and that the separation is not church discipline.

How would you distinguish this from formal church discipline? Does Scripture give elders this kind of authority, and if so, what biblical principles or limitations should govern its use?

I’m especially interested in how Reformed churches and pastors would think through the distinction between pastoral wisdom and practical discipline in a situation like this.

UPDATE:

We have moved forward with the break. Communicating it to the church and the family thy they should refrain from attending and it’s not discipline. However, based on our observations, the break is not producing healing.

The elders have been communicating with the mediator about next steps, including whether a meeting at this point would be constructive.

We genuinely desire reconciliation and for the family to return. We’re asking the mediator to help us discern the most constructive next step, with the hope that a meeting can lead to genuine progress toward biblical reconciliation.

The family has tried appealing to us directly, including an appeal to love (see Philemon 8-9) and a request for a clear biblical path forward.

I am wondering about what experiences/thoughts you may have had on paedocommunion. I attend a quite evangelical Anglican parish near Pittsburgh and was quite surprised when a first saw small children receiving the elements instead of a blessing. When I was younger, this never happened in my experience until one was confirmed.

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028&version=NKJV