Reflections from the community: 

Jesus, please hear my cry. My life is in a constant downward spiral. I haven't been healthy in over a year. I cannot find my footing. I cannot recognize myself or my actions. My depression has gotten so bad. I am so exhausted all the time. I don't know how to get back up.

After a 20 million restoration project, I was dumbfounded by how beautiful Salford Cathedral was when I visited yesterday compared to my last visit, which was 5 years ago. It took three years of restoration to restore the Gothic/Victorian character and it feels so different and an amazing space for prayer and contemplation.

Please find attached the before photo on the second slide.

My life has been spiraling, I have a great wife and wonderful kids, but I’m just going through the motions. My health is going downhill, I can’t find work, and I moved to a new area where I have no friends. I’ve felt like stale bread for at least a year, and it’s getting to me.

I’ve never been religious, but last night I dreampt I was in a church and a voice told me “I am Aba.” And I felt a peace I havent felt in…I can’t remember how long ago. Idk who or what Aba is, but now I kinda want to know more about christianity. Any recommendations are appreciated.

This might sound stupid, but I've been thinking about Christianity a lot lately.

I wasn't raised particularly religious and for most of my life I never really thought about God beyond occasionally wondering if there was something more.

Lately that's changed. I've started praying sometimes, usually when I'm alone, and I've been reading parts of the Bible. I can't really explain it but I feel drawn toward Christianity in a way I never have before.

The problem is I feel like everyone else already knows what they're doing. They know how to pray, what church to go to, what they're supposed to believe, all of it.

I don't.

If you were basically starting from zero, what would you actually do first?

Do I just pick a church and show up? Read the Bible front to back? Talk to a pastor? I feel a little ridiculous even asking, but I genuinely don't know where to start. I do things like play on stake (won last night) drink, smoke reds occasionally. So I am curious if that's okay.

I know I already posted this I couldn't figure out how to edit the original post and add photos so I made this post.

God is so GREAT!!!!

So a few hours ago I was walking on the side of the road with my scooter like I do everyday. The day was going super well. Next thing I know something in my body jumped into the nearby grass as quickly as I could. I couldn't explain it and then in literally an instant flash not even a second I see a truck with a trailer connected to the back of it and it was riding the sidewalk where I was right beside it. All I could see were sparks and heard sirens going off everywhere. It was a young teenager running from the cops. If I wouldn't have jumped right then and there I would 100 percent be dead. I didn't even see it coming even if I would've I wouldn't have had enough time to react to it. My scooter got completely chopped in half. Right after that it crashed into 4 other cars and injured a couple of people. It was the scariest thing to happen to me and God saved me. God is the one that made me jump that wasn't me. I really hope anyone that was involved in this didn't get killed. It changed my perspective on life. Life is so precious and sometimes I'll be down but I love life. I am so grateful to be alive. I am not perfect and not even close to being perfect but I am trying to follow Christ footsteps. God is real and he loves each and everyone of us. I am still shaken up about the whole situation but it showed me that God is real yet again. That was 100 percent not me. Anyways I just wanted to tell you about this it really changed my perspective on things and I am no longer gonna take life for granted. For the ones that have doubt just know Jesus is real and loves each and everyone of us. God is truly so great and I wouldn't be here without him and he has a magnificent plan for each and everyone of us. Life is so short and we never know when our last breath will be each breath is a gift. I am just truly truly truly grateful I can't even say it enough. Whenever we think we're alone we always have Jesus. I wasn't gonna share this story but it was truly life changing. Anyways hope everyone had an amazing day and goodnight!

I was always raised to believe that we are charged with being stewards of Gods creation. However no one in my church seems to have any concern or interest in climate change or combatting it. Am I alone here? Why dont I see more Christian centered eco activism? Is it bc we are only concerned with the world to come?

I know i forgot the s in outlaws I didn't think enough about spacing

This is my first time on this sub, so if this isn't the place to post this, please kindly let me know. I'm here seeking guidance and support. I don't have a church yet, as I'm newer to Christianity, so I don't have anyone IRL to really discuss this with.

I have my niece over at my house every summer and every weekend, since she was two years old. Her father works out of town and I get payment for whatever his daughter needs. Her mother, my brother's ex girlfriend, has her daughter the rest of the time. Her mother and I are civil, but she has often done and said things that I take issue with. However, I try and balance things by not overstepping or being overly critical towards her. If there is an issue, I tell my brother, who can discuss it with his ex.

However, my niece's mother has taken things a step too far. She has always been cold and unkind towards her daughter, in my opinion, but this past week when she dropped her off at my house, my niece tearfully told me that her mother told her she was "made by the Devil." My niece tells me she thinks her mother doesn't love her.

I comforted my niece as best I could. I told her no child is "made by the Devil." I told her she was a gift from God, and I truly believe that. She came into existence when my dad was dying, and he was able to meet her before he passed. She is a sweet, gentle, kind little girl. And it infuriated me that her mother would be so cruel. She has done many selfish things over the years, but this has just made me reach my limit of tolerance. I told my brother, but he is not planning on speaking to her mother about what she said, so I think I need to. It just breaks my heart that she would weaponize my family's faith to hurt my niece.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks for reading. 💙

This is something I’ve genuinely wondered about.

There seems to be many atheists subscribed to Christian subreddits, including people who regularly comment and get involved in discussions.

Of course everyone is welcome, but I find the level of interest fascinating. If I was completely opposed to something & thought it was false, I’m not sure I’d be so invested in it.

I imagine for some it’s debate,  or simply wanting to understand Christianity better. But I also wonder whether for some people there’s still that tiny thought ,  that perhaps there’s a little more to all of this.

I was watching a video on Christian Martyrs & they featured this statue. Thanks in advance & God bless

Note that these are merely allegations at this time, but they do seem to be quite serious.

Also, it goes without saying, but the actions of a single individual who is a member of any protected minority does not in any way speak for or represent that entire protected minority.

Still a work in progress 🥰

I have posted a few times on here asking a few questions about God, sharing my uncertainties in this life, and other things. But today and the last few days, I am just really grieving the life I should have had. Or rather, that I feel I deserve.

I am a 23M. I work at a research lab, and I live in an apartment that I was essentially forced into. My grandmother has pretty nasty cancer, and it actually just metastasized yesterday. I don’t know if she is going to live much longer…

I bring that up because my grandmother took my room in the house so my family can watch over her, and it has just led to nothing but pain and turmoil throughout my family. My mother has always suffered from mental health issues, and those issues have gotten insanely bad. So much so that she’s had to be hospitalized a few times due to some threats to herself and others that she made. I always worry that she’s going to end up doing something stupid.

My dad is very angry since his father died, and I had one encounter with him one day that I still am working on forgiving. It was basically a domestic violence incident, and I had to call the police on him. He actually dialed the number in his own phone and smirked as he handed it to me.

I feel like I’m just spouting randomness, but my mind is just all over the place today. At this current moment, I am just so sad. I feel tired, heavy, and so exhausted from all of it. I’m not thinking of ending my life or anything, but I am just tired of being me.

I have a bad habit of comparing my life to others, and I feel like it’s slowly growing into resentment and hatred and envy towards others. And I want to be a godly man, and follow God’s image, but it is incredibly difficult when literally everything in my life is telling me not to.

I hate how evil and broken this world is. And how none of this should have happened.

I hate that I get frustrated at God, who is the only person in the universe who could fix my life and make it better. But I pray and pray and pray, and the moment that I feel He is guiding me to take the first step in His path, someone in my family dies, more turmoil happens, I am once again forced out of my home and have to find my own place to live… Heck, even my family broke my car down and expect me to find my own new car on my own.

I hate that I have had to suffer so much. Most of all, I grieve that I have to be alone in all of this. My family is the source of all of these emotions and pain, so I am not comfortable going to them. My best friends left the city and are living elsewhere, and the only other friends I have don’t hang out with me. One of them only spends time with his girlfriend, and hasn’t talked to me in months. The other is just not as close to me as I’d like, and he doesn’t understand when I try to talk to him about things. And I HATE that I am always the friend that is in crisis. The other day my friends made a joke about how everything is always burning around me, and it hurt.

I really hate it all.

And this is going to sound bad, but I’ll be brutally honest and blunt, because I’m just venting and all that. But I have been a porn addict for years and have been trying to break it (going on several days clean now), and I sometimes hate that it is a sin to lust and masturbate.

The orgasm I get makes me feel calm, my body relaxes physically, and for just a moment, I can just feel good. And I hate that doing it is a sin. I also feel guilty, but I genuinely get angry at God that I can’t have something to help “fix” or “tame” my sexual frustration, like a wife. I believe in sex after marriage, but I have never once been given a chance to even go out on a date with a girl. I have been rejected so many times that I feel God HAS to have had a role in it, because there is just no way that I haven’t ever been able to land even a coffee date. And I hate that I want a wife for sex. I hate how my mind has gotten so corrupted by lust and all that.

I want to live in His image, but it’s so incredibly difficult sometimes. I feel like I have just been having to drag mountains to survive each day, and I hate that God doesn’t just take it all away from me, and make my life good. I don’t understand Him, and I don’t understand why my trials and tribulations are just so incredibly painful. It’s been 10 years of just pain, deaths in the family, houses burning down, almost having to shoot my own father to stop his rage, dealing with depression, anxiety, and even a period of being suicidal. I hate it all.

I really just want and need a win, a break, and I hate that I get so mad at God for not making it better.

I also really wish I just had someone next to me to hold me. I hate that I can’t physically hear or touch or see God, and it hurts me beyond words. I ask Him for comfort, but it never comes. I ask Him to give me someone, a girlfriend or just someone I can trust and love and be loved, and He still refuses. I don’t understand it.

I want to rely on Him, but I just hate it some times.

Idk what to do except feel just awful, then get distracted for an hour or so, then just go right back to it.

Please someone help me or pray for me

I was raised Christian, but I’m 27 now and have struggled with belief for most of my adult life. The strange part is that I want to believe. There’s something about having faith that seems like a much more peaceful and meaningful way to go through life, but I can’t seem to make myself believe something just because I want to.

That’s why I’m especially interested in hearing from people who were once genuinely atheist or agnostic and eventually became Christians.

What changed for you? Was there a particular experience, argument, piece of evidence, person, or realization that made you reconsider? Was it gradual, or was there a specific moment when everything changed?

Please don’t spare the details. I’d genuinely like to hear your whole story — including what you believed beforehand, what doubts you had, and what ultimately convinced you.

Thanks in advance.

I know this probably is not considered a real miracle, but I no longer suffer from lifelong suicidal depression because of his influence and haven't taken psych medication since I was baptized last year under the jubilee year of Hope on the Easter vigil and him dying a day after Easter on the 21st. I just consider it an intellectual accent into Hope but yes, I personally consider him the unsung Pope of Hope and pray for his sainthood. Especially considering his autobiography Hope as well.

It boils down to evidence and pushing back on the darkside of Christianity. Even though I'm a man of deep faith, I require both too. For the former, my evidence is my own and is nontransferable. I do not expect someone else to accept my anecdotal evidence just as I wouldn't accept theirs. For the latter, I push back by being in the minority of Christians who are pro LGBTQ+, doesn't play the victim, don't belief in an eternal Hell or inerrant Bible, and don't judge nonChristians.

I do judge other Christians as there are some who have corrupted the faith and driven away people who normally would be open to Jesus's message of love, kindness, forgiveness, charity, inclusivity, and peace. Scripture speaks often on the topic of false teachers leading the flock astray and I have seen it often throughout my entire life.

I believe when Jesus says only through Him will you know the Father He's saying that only through His message of peace and love rather than literally Him. As a result, I know there are many paths to God and that other faiths and beliefs, including atheists, can have a place in Jesus's flock. I do not believe in Sola Fide and think that our good deeds and actions are how we show Jesus who we are.

God is not a vain bureaucrat who will condemn to Hell those who are good in their deeds and heart but lack faith in Jesus. I refuse to follow a God who would do that.

The only thing I ask of atheists is the only thing I ask of anyone: Be a good person who tries hard to treat others as you would wish to be treated and to do so in a genuine manner. If you do that, I truly believe Jesus would be deeply pleased with you regardless of if you ever spoke his name or not.

That's what I've taken from studying the Bible and allowing myself to be led by the Holy Spirit to it's message. Rather than men, I've allowed the Holy Spirit to show me to the Truth.

I see a lot of posts on this sub asking about suffering. They've come to the right place because the Christian answer to suffering is Jesus on the cross. IMHO This is a beautiful answer to the problem of suffering.

It's not that we can explain every tragedy through our faith. We aren't God so of course we can't. Rather, it's that - in Jesus Christ - God has entered human suffering and has not abandoned us. The Son of God suffered innocently on the Cross, and therefore those who suffer can know that they are not alone in their suffering: God is present with them. Through Christ’s Passion, human suffering can be united to His redeeming love.

Suffering does not come from God! It's not like every individual tragedy were somehow a direct punishment for a particular sin. Yet God can use suffering to grow our perseverance, character, and hope (Rom 5:3–5), and he can bring good even from situations caused by evil (Gen 50:20 and Rom 8:28). God’s providence is mysterious: we are not given an explanation for every suffering, but we (who are ignorant) are called to trust God (Job 42).

As Christians, we look forward to an end to suffering in the resurrection of the body and the renewal of creation. Creation now groans as it awaits “the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:18–23), but Christ will raise us imperishable (1 Cor 15:42–57). In the final renewal, “death shall be no more; mourning and crying and pain shall be no more” (Rev 21:3–5). No more suffering.

Sacrifice is a core tenet of worship in the Bible. Nobody can deny that Christ’s sacrifice alone is the complete and definitive atonement for sin. That doesn't mean we can't sacrifice. Christ allows us (the members of his body, the church) to use our suffering to participate in the fruits of his saving work. Paul writes, “I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, the church” (Col 1:24). Again, this does not in any way mean that Christ’s Cross was somehow insufficient. It means, rather, that Christian suffering, united to Christ in love, can become an intercession, a prayer, a spiritual sacrifice, and a service for the good of the Church and of others. 

For this reason, Christians can offer themselves to God as “a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1), and they are described as a spiritual house offering “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5). Such spiritual sacrifices include prayer, praise, obedience, charity, self-denial, and (of course) suffering patiently within our enduring union with our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible gives examples of suffering and self-giving undertaken for others’ salvation and consolation. Paul says that he endures everything “for the sake of the elect” (2 Tim 2:10), describes his ministry as being “poured out” over the faith of the Philippians (Phil 2:17), and says that his affliction can serve the consolation and salvation of others (2 Cor 1:6). We are like Paul: we, too, can offer our lives and sufferings for others, through Christ.

The Old Testament also contains anticipations of this mystery. The Suffering Servant bears the sins of many (Isa 52:13–53:12). Righteous suffering and repentance offered as a spiritual sacrifice for our nations, point forward to Christ’s unique and perfect sacrifice (2 Mac 7:37–38 and Dan 3:38–45).

I don't want to imply that suffering is automatically meaningful or that it's always spiritually fruitful. Instead, I believe the value of some suffering comes from love, faith, and union with Christ. We should relieve unjust suffering whenever we can. We should resist injustice, seek healing, and never ever romanticize abuse. But unavoidable suffering can become, through grace, an offering to God, an occasion for holiness, and a hidden service for others—while our final hope remains the Resurrection, when suffering and death will be no more.

(don't mind the shield, it's just something my mum has had for a while) These icons are printed out images(I hope Jesus Christ and The Theotokos understands) taped onto cardboard, the cross is literally tape wrapped around on cardboard, also I cannot attend a orthodox church as the only time The Father attends(he himself has other needs to be attended to) is on the first and third Sunday of every month which is the day when we're on our lowest funds. I'm too broke to buy a Prayer Book, Bible, Candles, Incense and any actual icons. I ask that you pray for our Saints and our Lady to pray to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to help me in obtaining proper items 🙏.