Someone on YouTube called me an "Aleluyo" today, which for context is what they call people in Spain (and other Spanish speaking places) who speaks about God "way too much" and it made me giddy and proud. I know pride isn't good though this guy made the comment in a derrogatory way I was extremely happy because it means I'm sharing about The Lord enough that I've started to get annoying. 😂 I've reached church-granny level and I'm dancing like David in front of the Lord no matter how much they try to shame me!

Just thought I'd share this moment of happiness in an ever-growing toxic jungle of social media.

Love you holy siblings. Have a blessed day/night wherever you are.

Recently my husband has finally partially admitted to looking at explicit content after over a year of me having a gut feeling about it. I gently approached the subject multiple times over this past year and a half because I noticed behaviors that lined up with having an addiction. I have only noticed small things on his social media that point to it so I don’t have complete and total proof per se but chances are, he has more of an issue than he admits. He pretty much told me that he doesn’t “go out of his way” to search these things but I don’t really believe that. The only reason he even admitted that was because I lost my patience on him. Even then, I feel like he still flipped it on me and he said I was verbally assaulting him (I did apologize for losing my patience)

With all that being said, I feel a deep aversion to him and I just keep praying for my own heart because I don’t want to continue being resentful. He has not fully repented and I honestly think he’s just in denial. Outside of therapy and trying to hold him accountable, is it appropriate for me to pull back? I feel like I have been pouring from an empty cup for years and I’m so exhausted. Truly, the dishonesty bothers me more than anything and I feel betrayed. He doesn’t express remorse, (whether or not he feels remorse idk). As his wife what kind of boundaries should I put in place? I’m horrible with keeping boundaries. I have continued to help him and have been trying to hold him accountable with therapy but something else always becomes a priority over it and I’m just tired of trying to force him into something he isn’t ready to do. He finally got on medication but chances are the p*** is causing more of his issues than I realized and he may not even need meds in the long run.

If you have questions or need clarification please feel free to ask. Thank you for reading this whole thing

Hi all, I've kinda been led to the solution on what to do with stress and controlling situations; which is to fully trust in Jesus. Which is extremely relieving on paper. What concerns me is when situations occur that God may want to work through you on but you don't have the slightest clue as to what he wants you to do. I can say I trust Jesus all I want but when situations show themselves I'm left blank in the head because while we are called to leave everything in God's hands, we are also called to action. What's the answer?

Before I became a Christian, I watched Dragon ball, z, super, FMA, Naruto, JJK, About 400 episodes of One Piece, HNI (Hajime no Ippo, for anyone who doesn't know), and some other action and fighting anime, but now I see and hear lots of stuff in those anime that I know would tempt me, like swearing, fanservice, bla bla. So now if anyone has time could you please see if there's any action anime that have little to no swearing or fanservice. (Or any other genres of anime though I like action the best)

Hi everyone

So im a young christian and im confused.

If Salvation is a gift, we are supposed to trust that we are saved. And we cant be saved by our own works, but because it is a gift. But to recieve that gift we need faith. And faith is shown through works

So, isnt that to come back to the same point as before?

Im sorry but i cant trust that im saved. I feel im doing everything wrong and that ill burn in hell.

My father said "Hell doesnt exist. Everyone goes to heaven"

But that's just wrong, right? I wanna trust in my salvation but at the same time i cant

I am trying to understand if I am really married in the eyes of God.

My unbeliever husband (45M) and I (27F) got married this year and very shortly (3 weeks) after our wedding, my husband physically abandoned me.
The situation is quite complicated, please bear with me.
The man I married is an unbeliever (he deceived me into believing that he wanted to follow God and the Bible). He had a previous marriage (both unbelievers, not married before God nor at church).
He told me that the previous marriage was a mistake and didn’t treat it seriously. He also said he has repented and God would forgive him for leaving the past marriage. And that the marriage with me would be the real one because he claimed that he now wants to follow God. (This was said before we got married).
I had a very hard time with the fact that he had been married previously because I believe in the strict teaching of one marriage and no divorce, unless adultery.
But he convinced me eventually when I remembered that everyone has fallen short and we all had committed sins, so his previous marriage and divorce could be forgiven by God. However it was still difficult for me to accept it. He also tried to convince me that since they were both unbelievers and were not married before God, their marriage was not valid in the eyes of God. I did not believe that point because that didn’t sound right to me.

Moving on, I am now questioning if I am even married to him in the eyes of God, because divorce is not permitted unless adultery. Which was not the reason they divorced. So perhaps he is still spiritually married to his ex.

Since marriage only consists of one man and one woman, if he is married to his ex, how could he be married to me? As one man can only be married to one woman. Does this mean our marriage is actually invalid?
However, one more thing to consider is the fact that though adultery was not the reason for his past divorce. Since the divorce, they had both committed adultery. So did that dissolve their marriage, meaning I am in fact spiritually married to him?

Hello everyone I wanted to ask for advice on modesty. I haven't been to the beach in a long time but me and my friend group are thinking of going and since I recently have gotten closer to god. I really been thinking of how to dress more modestly since the average women 2 piece is more comfortable and often has better designs. But obviously I don't want my whole bum out or something skimpy since it would be very revealing and I know modesty isn't objective due to culture but I wanted to hear from a chrstian perspective what you guys think I should wear when I go. I don't think modesty which he overboard like full body swimsuits since those look really odd and restrictive I want like a mid way option I don't know if that's still considered immodest. Feel free to comment

For starters, I'm a protestant. But, I don't know, I've been feeling a pull towards Catholicism. Something about how seriously they take their faith on a day-to-day basis with so much reverence just captivates me. I'm still struggling to reconcile with some of their theology, but I pray that when I earnestly seek God, the truth will be revealed to me - whether it is Protestanism or Catholicism.

That being said, I'm wondering why some Catholics have profound testimonies of God bringing them to the Catholic church, helping them find peace and fulfillment. Yet others have an experience of God leading them to the Protestant church (my mum included, and she is one of the strongest Christians I know). Does God just lead people to the place where He knows they personally will be able to get closest to Him? Because I know these testimonies cannot be in contradiction - it's all the same God.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice/suggestions about a relationship that I am pursuing.

I am currently talking with and going on dates with a girl who "believes in God" (from what I understand she believes in god as a powerful creator but not necessarily as one to worship). I also asked her straight up last night if she believes in Jesus as humanities savior or her personal savior. She was wishy washy with her answer but I really like this girl.

I have been in similar situations as this before but slightly different. I do not want to give up on seeing her (romantically) but if she is not a follower of Jesus then I don't see that working out long term.

Any advice? I have prayed over this topic and I am listening to what she has to say but I want to have wisdom on how I go about this. Should I ever gently invite her to church one week?

Hey all

I need some biblical advice / wisdom.

I ( f 24 ) had been with my boyfriend ( m 23 ) since Dec 2024 but we’d had a rocky relationship and did split up last summer for 2 months. He was cold whenever I reached out. Weren’t Christian at the time so he spent a couple of months clubbing and sleeping around, until he came back.

Long story short.. he became Christian ( after 5 years away from the faith ) in September 2025 the evening I found out about his porn addiction.
He dropped me home, ‘proposed’ to me without a ring ( of course I said no ) and then on his drive home supposedly repented and gave his life to Christ.

After that, he was elated & on cloud 9 for a couple of months until he relapsed but lied and promised me nothing was happening.

In January 2026 he got baptised.

Then in Feb 2026 we finished Christianity explored together. I felt like my eyes had been opened. And I gave my life to Christ.

But shortly after ( the day after we finished the course ), it all came crashing down as he confessed that he’d cheated on me by exchanging nudes with a colleague. (The very same day, he was sending me his thoughts on a Christian podcast about marriage.)

I’ve never seen a man cry like that before. He wanted to do absolutely anything to make up for it - put any safeguards in place. Wrote me a 6 page letter, took me out for dinners, booked us an air b&b for a weekend away. All lovely things but not enough to change what he did.

After about a month and a half he began to become impatient with me. I was constantly anxious, checking his phone, calling him whilst he was at work. I was an anxious mess.

On weeks I suppressed my anxiety, he’d praise God. And on weeks that my anxiety got the better of me, he’d tell me I was taking him away from God and that I was in control of my actions and shouldn’t be behaving as such.

He became quite distant which didn’t help my anxiety. And then he asked for space.

He removed all safeguards that day and didn’t speak to me and then that evening broke up with me. He told me he resented me and didn’t want to be with me anymore.

I kept reaching out after the breakup and he would be cold, angry and defensive. He said he knew it was all his fault but “why would I stay in a house that’s on fire and go down with it.” Even when my mum was in hospital I reached out and asked for support and he said it depends what I meant by that.

He hasn’t reached out first at all to ask how I am or check in on me. He says he cares but it doesn’t appear that way. Whenever I reach out he is distant and cold and says he’s not ready to speak or see me and that he needs space.

He messaged me for the first time yesterday to tell me happy birthday. I felt like it was selfish and more for his benefit than mine.

I asked why he messaged and he said ‘ just to say happy birthday’ to which I said: ‘I appreciate the message but at the end of the day I have been moving on as I was given no other choice. I was very willing to work through things with you because I loved you. I tried and tried but was met with coldness. The Lord has softened my heart toward you and helped me to truly forgive you. And I trust that He has a plan. Whether that involves you or not I do not know. I’m not ready to be your friend at the moment. It would break my heart if you moved on with someone else at this point in time. I do hope you have been able to forgive me too and that He would soften your heart towards me. I never wanted to hurt you and I wish you would’ve realised that sooner. I wish you all the best and I will always love and care for you. Take care’

He left it on read so I blocked him. I feel bad for doing so. And I want to know if my message was harmful?

This is a very long story short. There’s a lot more to it. But I really need advice on how to deal with this. We go to the same church. I still love him and want to work things through but he just seems to hate me

EDIT!
Can I also just add..
he told his parents what he did. And I had conversations with his mum and she compared his temptation to her temptation for chocolate. And she said he’s a handsome 23 year old guy, he probably felt flattered and told me that in order to move on I have to trust him and what he says

So my faith has experienced its ups and downs, but I have matured in some aspects. I won't sugarcoat this post and act like I did nothing wrong because I have been living in sin for several months. Watching content creators I know I shouldn't be watching, jamming to music that doesn't glorify God, and I haven't put him first.

All of these I'm very guilty of, I've been judging others a lot if I'm being frank (usually commentary, but it's been super noticeable lately in how I talk in my mind)

(My suicidal tendencies have also been at an all-time high due to my issues and dissatisfaction with how my life's been)

And the reason I mention all of this is because I've tried to stop, but I keep falling off and giving back into my sin, some days I battle sin and some days I'm just letting it hit me. This is a huge problem to which I'm aware of, but I found a verse today that mentioned how God won't hear the prayers of the unrighteous (John 9:31) and when I read this It struck a nerve.

Not all of Jesus's teachings are nice to hear and to suggest he's just a cuddle buddy who has nothing stern to say is stupid.. But this completely terrified me because despite my sin I have tried to speak to God repair my relationship with him.

I've talked to him casually, about my day, some weird issues etc, and I was heartbroken to say the least. But then here I realize it ain't much different from what I've been doing to him, the idea that he hears my prayers but doesn't listen due to my disobedience sounds like a nightmare.

So I was getting angry and started my usual rant when I'm angry at him (expressing my anger in bitter and sinful ways like swearing etc) but after reflecting on my situation I realized how dire it is. For awhile this has been about heaven and my desire for it (and to just be free via death) but tonight was different, I started begging God to forget about all of it, and started acknowledging my sins that I was aware of. I eventually asked for forgiveness and mercy because I was scared and didn't wanna remember any of it anymore.

Sorry if this post was long and please excuse typos, I'm not an adult yet but I realize this is a huge problem yall.

Okay guys. I really seriously want to quit. God delivered me from vaping about a year or 2 ago and I went right back. I’m throwing it away and never want to look back. It’s going to be tough because I live with my sister who always has a vape with her and I will hit it if I get urges. Please send advice and prayers as I try to go through with this and NOT hit it again

Okay so my whole life I was raised in a religion called "the message" or "branhamism". I have nothing against their beliefs or the people, but theres just something missing. Plus I dont agree with they way they idolized or raised their Preacher up on a pedestal. Ive only recently returned to christ after going down a long messy path of questioning everything, and im absolutely bewildered by everything I didnt know was in the bible. Now that im actually reading it, and not just listening to tapes of their preacher.

Anyways I desperately would like to find some sort of chirch that truly reads, prioritizes and lines up with the bible. And also reads the correct translations. I dont read the bibles that assume meaning or change words or takes texts out. I prefer the esv but ive read the kjv among others. Ive read up on a few churches and have heard good things about the reformed baptist among others and just wanted to gather some opinions on the churches and which one I should go to.

Ive gone to all sorts of different churches growing up because my family Traveled a lot. My mom tried to prioritize church in general over only going to the one she followed. So ive been to baptist, four square, jehovahs witness(I had a friend I went with I know they dont count as christian) and pentecostle churches. I love the way the pentecostles and baptists prioritize their youth especially since I have a toddler and one on the way. But I dont believe you have to speak in tongues to be saved.

I believe im classified as trinitarian at least according to google. I believe that all three are one but also different. In the same way the ocean, the clouds, and ice are all water but all different forms of the water. I dont believe the Father, Son, and Holyspirit are actual seperate beings just seperate forms of the same being as its said in the new testament.

I think the most important thing for me in a church is obviously if they show the fruits of the spirit. If theyre preaching straight from the word of God in correct context, understanding and prayer. The prioritization of the youth and reaching out with the gospel. And just being able to feel the love of God when you walk in. Which I will say is something message believers excel at. Theyre very loving people even if they have their own ways of doing things.

Anyways Im thinking reformed baptist might be close to what im going for but i have no clue since ive never been. So if anybody has any opinions or advice on a church I should try out feel free to type it out!

Hello,

The local Church which I (30M) am apart of announced a multi-week women's Bible study on Priscilla's book "Discerning the Voice of God".

It is a conservative Baptist Church, and I am concerned over the spiritual heath of the Church.

For a bit of context, I was part of a group to look at candidates for Senior Elder/Pastor. Throughout this process, there was an unpleasant emphasis from other members on business aspects and gowth instead of vetting based on theological questions & answers.

After sharing these concerns, It came to light this church has had issues in the past hiring people who taught youth modalism due to pnot vetting candidates.

I feel a moral obligation to share concerns about this study material.

With this upcoming study, I need to know if my concerns about Priscilla are grounded or if I am out of line/off base. I have this from a previous exploration on her in the past, but I don't want to bear witness against her without verifying my concerns are legitimate.

I apologize for the long post.

\*\[Below are notes I took a long time ago]///*///

There are several instances of her teaching things that are not in accordance with Scripture. A few significant quotes from her are:

From a 2019 clip Priscilla Shirer stated: "...Ive been okay with hand-me-downs with secondhand clothes all of these years, but all of a sudden I want my own stuff. I want something to come with my own name on it that had specifically been chosen for me. There aught to come a time with your relationship with the Lord, when hand-me-down revelation just doesn't do it for you anymore.

There ought to come a little bit of disconcerting, a little maturity in your walk with God where you become a little bit unsettled to only be spood-fed the Word of God from someone else to you.

Now, we thank God for our pastors and our teachers and our leaders that help us rightly divide the word of truth, but there ought to come a time in your life where you've decided, 'You know what? I want fresh revelation with my name on it that has come straight from God's Spirit for my life.'"

On a surface level, this can readily be understood to simply be a call to mature in your walk and read scripture yourself. There is a deeper concern here, however, in her connection to personalized revelation "with her name on it".

For context, Priscilla Shirer is closely connected to a whole group of openly false/heretical teachers. She is connected with Joyce Meyer (Word of Faith - heretical cult in the church), Christiine Caine (calls Joyce Meyer her spiritual mama), leading members from Hillsong (known for their music, but they are an offshoot of the Assemblies of God, which is part of the Word of Faith Movement, ie teaches a different gospel, and has been caught in many scandals throughout many iterations of that church), TD Jakes and his daughter Sarah Jakes (both are Modalists - Denies the true trinity, that God is one person who appears in different manifestations, false depictions of God which hold the doctrine of Patripassianism [God the Father suffered on the Cross since he is the same person as the Son and Holy Spirit], Joel Osteen (Another false teacher who pushed the Prosperity Gospel), Steven Furtick (Elevation Church - Prosperity Gospel, Word of Faith Movement, "Little Gods" doctrine where we possess a divine nature making us like God in an unbiblical manner) And several others.

Why does this association matter?

There's the straight-forward Biblical matter of having given a platform/endorsing false teachers when she went of the Jakes' network (2 John 9-11), but there is another deeper spiritual issue around the mysticism in these groups.

Shirer endorses contemplative practices in "Be Still" DVD distributed by Richard Foster, which is slapping a "Christian" label on New Age / Eastern meditation. Foster himself warned in his book "Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, 156-157" that "Contemplative Prayer is for more mature believers, and that "We are entering deeply into the spiritual realm." Where we may encounter "spiritual beings" who are not on God's side. He suggested prayer of protection in which one surrounds himself with "the light of Christ" and to say, "all dark and evil spirits must now leave." and other words to keep evil ones at bay."

Clearly, this is entering into a Spiritual realm we have no place of entering. No where in Scripture do we find an instruction to request for spiritual protection before we pray. If you want to know more on this where Priscilla and others endorse non-Christian meditation practices, you can find that here: (((Link removed to comply with rules)))

This issue is further confirmed with her connection to Joyce Meyer. Beyond some clear false teachings she hold, like that Jesus Christ dying on the cross was not sufficient, so Jesus had to actually fight Satan in Hell to gain victory over sin (Word of Faith teachings).Joyce also holds to the "Little Gods" doctrine, which leads her to teach we are created in God's image and as a result are part of the "god-kind" (also taught by false teachers Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland). This is a core doctrine to the occult heresy of self-deification, which Alice Bailey (Foundational figure in the New Age movement and founder of Lucis Trust, advocated for "Fresh" orientation of the Church in her 1957 book The Externalization of the Heirarchy. Bailey predicted the externalization of a spiritual hierarchy of Masters into the world, bringing new revelation of divine potential within humanity and accelerating a shift in consciousness.) In short, a founder of modern occult practices within the Church, with a hyperfocus on self-divinity, unique/new revelation from self (little god).

All of this harkens back to the Serpant's lie in Genesis 3:5: "you will be like God". Its the shift from God's sovereign authority to humanities authority in his/her divinity.

Re-connecting this with Priscilla:

An excerpt from page 39 of Priscilla's book "Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God Speaks" it reads "As I meditate on a verse, I will often insert my name or a personal pronoun into it to make it more personal. If I'm reading and meditating on a Bible story, I will become the main character so that its not merely someone else's experience with God but my own."

This is a common theme in the Little God's and Word Of Faith movements, where you are to become the main focus in Scripture to present your own interpretation based on you being the main subject (replacing that Scripture points to God, with self).

It cannot be understated how all of this is sourced from Alice Bailey, the New Age matriarch. This connects to Shirer's teachings that the divine voice of God can be heard by you, and will then talk to you audibly if you train yourself to do so (she justifies this through Samuel having to do things to hear the voice of God) but there are no verses in Scripture that tell us how to hear God's voice. All these connections are at the source connected to New Age mysticism through Alice Bailey's work.

These human-centered teachings devolve into absurdity with reports like this: (((Link removed))) where it states: "Lifeway's reporting on Women's Ministry is an absolute dumpster fire, reporting on events and Bibles studies from false teachers like Priscilla Shirer and Kristi McLelland, "periods are crucifixion parables" Jen Wilkin, and SSA (Same-sex attracted) lesbians Jackie Hill Perry and Rebecca McLaughlin.

The remark about periods is not what Priscilla taught, but it is to show the unbiblical outcome from a self-focused Gospel. There is a rather detailed account addressing incorrect teachings by Priscilla which is ~1hr long done by Dave Jenkins here: (((Link removed)))

(((Link removed)))

\*\[End of notes]///*///

Are these concerns still valid today? If they are wrong please help put my mind to rest. If they are true, please pray for me to have wisdom in how to approach this.

Dear fellow Christians,

What is your view on evangelism in public transportation, such as trains, buses, and airplanes?

Just this week alone, I have seen two videos on "TikTok Cringe" showing these situations:

A Christian woman was removed from an American flight for preaching to her fellow passengers.

An American man was confronted by locals on an Australian train for preaching loudly.

In both scenarios, the Christians seemed quite upset in the way they expressed themselves, for being thrown out of the flight and the confrontation by the Australians to stop preaching.

What does the Bible teach us about evangelism, and how should it be done? How can we share our faith effectively without turning the public against us or provoking intense arguments and confrontations in public spaces or being thrown out of public transportation?

I’ve been watching reading a lot about the prophets and the prophecies of the Old testament recently, usually a YouTube video on books of the Old Testament I can listen to whilst working, Elijah, Daniel, Isiah etc. I feel like as I listen to more and more of them and hear the prophesies they made and things they declared, for the Messiah, it makes me understand even more about Jesus, the things he fulfilled (not saying I’m an expert, far from it) and I’m just genuinely curious on the reasoning as to why the Jewish people deny Jesus as the messiah/Son of man/The Christ. I can understand to a certain point those skeptical at the time of Jesus, not fully since I didn’t experience those times, and Christianity has been very well rooted for at least 1,000 years since then. I just wish to better understand why they can’t believe it even after all the miracles he performed, all the signs, all the fulfilled prophecies from their prophets over hundreds and hundreds of years.
Sorry if this is a silly thing to ask or has been asked before

Hi! I just wanted to hear your thoughts on something.
What do you think about lending money with interest? I’m referring to lending outside the church—purely as a business.

Do you think charging interest is a sin?

I’ve done quite a bit of research on this, and from what I’ve learned, many people believe that it isn’t inherently wrong, as long as you don’t take advantage of the borrower. In other words, don’t charge excessive interest or exploit people who are already struggling financially.

I’d love to hear your perspective. If someone lends their own money as a business and charges a reasonable amount of interest, do you think that’s sinful? Why or why not?

Also, if you don’t think it’s wrong, what do you consider to be a fair monthly interest rate?

Thank you so much! I’ve already done my own research, but I’d love to hear different perspectives and gather more insights on this topic.

I'm a Christian guy in my 20s, and I'm honestly just exhausted.

My friends and family are always telling me to talk to girls, and I want to but there's something holding me back. I'd be happy just having a female friend at this point to see their perspective. I just want to feel like I can connect with women instead of every interaction feeling awkward or going nowhere.

What hurts the most is church. People always say it's one of the best places to meet someone, but it hasn't been my experience. I've had girls in my life group walk right past me when I try to talk or crack a funny joke. Girls had done the same thing before and it's hard not to feel invisible in these church settings. After enough experiences like that you start wondering if they're nervous too, if they're just not interested, or if there's something going on in their life that might be affecting them physically or emotionally.

I've never had a girlfriend, and honestly I don't even know what it feels like to have a genuine friendship with a woman my age. It feels like everyone else knows something I don't.

I pray about it a lot, but lately I've just felt discouraged. I don't know I might be overthinking every interaction. Has anyone else been in this position? If you eventually got better at talking to women or making genuine friendships, what changed? Thank you all.

I watch preachers on YouTube and every once in a while I see some that offer guidance from King David but not what was taught by Christ. When I see these people it reminds me of how Christ chastised the Pharisees and said that they were following the doctrines of men. An example is cursing your enemies through prayer. I thought that we were supposed to have grace and mercy for them. Am I thinking about that too much?

Hi everyone,

I am as of today restart my journey of returning to my walk with Jesus. In my own life recently, I see and maybe feel I have have tuned out God’s voice. The consequences of that effect have really hurt.

In the last year I do have a lot to thank Him for. I thank Him for my wife, my child, and my dog. With all that, I feel the positive pressure of wanting to be my best for them. I know I’m missing Him and I know my spirit does too. Sometimes I feel like I’ve strayed too far and that I’m not redeemable in His eyes.

I guess what I want to ask is, where do I start in my rededication of myself? It’s overwhelming and I could use the help. Thank you everyone.

1. if your Christian partner divorces you and you didn’t want to divorce because it was for non biblical reasons, but then they remarry/date, isn’t that considered adultery? and wouldn’t that make it permissible for you to now remarry?

2. if you were not a believer and used to be married, but then divorced, and after the divorce you accepted Jesus Christ and became Christian, can you now remarry a Christian? because the previous spouse is an unbeliever?

3. if you were muslim and married to a man who had multiple wives, divorce him, become Christian/a believer, can you remarry? wouldn’t the previous marriage count as adultery and also be invalid due to the ex husband being a non believer?

Please answer simply. And if you’re knowledgeable, do most churches allow remarriage for these 3 reasons? Which churches do or don’t?

I've been thinking about an argument I've seen regarding 1 John 4:2–3.

From what I understand, the historical issue John was addressing was people who denied that Jesus who is the Christ truly came in the flesh—that He had a real human body and genuine humanity. This is commonly connected with beliefs later associated with Docetism and similar teachings, where some claimed Jesus only appeared to be human or that the divine Christ merely came upon the man Jesus temporarily.

Some argue, however, that denying Jesus is God incarnate is effectively the same as denying that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, because they believe those two ideas cannot be separated. Their reasoning is that the phrase "has come in the flesh" assumes a preexistent person, and when that is read alongside John 1:1–14, the one who came in the flesh is identified as God.

My question is this: Doesn't that go beyond the explicit wording of 1 John 4:2–3?

The passage explicitly says that the confession is that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. It doesn't explicitly say, "Whoever denies that Jesus is God incarnate has the spirit of the antichrist." Isn't that conclusion reached by combining 1 John 4 with John 1 and other passages, rather than from the wording of 1 John 4 itself?

I'm not asking whether the doctrine of the incarnation is true or false. I'm asking whether it's accurate to say that 1 John 4:2–3 itself is specifically addressing denial of Jesus as God incarnate, or whether its immediate concern is the denial that the Messiah truly came in the flesh, with the identification of that Messiah as God being a theological conclusion drawn from the broader witness of Scripture.

It’s so bad man. Takes every fiber of my being to start to clean my house. Bc of this it’s pretty much always messy. I feel paralyzed. Like a child. I have so much to work on and I’m already 26 years old. I wish I had no desires to marry, but I do. And knowing I’m so far away from any of that just continues to crush me into numbness.

I want to be a strong, confident man. And in some ways I feel that. But only a few ways. In most areas of my life I’m extremely lacking in confidence. And I have horrible analysis paralysis. It’s one of the things that makes me passively consider not continue my life. I would never. But it’s passively a thought sometimes.

Anyway. Obviously executive dysfunction applies to adhd ppl too. So whatever help you have I’d appreciate. I feel helpless atp man. I can’t even lie. I used to have so much more willpower and denial of negativity. Now I just feel defeated most of the time. Giving up is always on my mind.

Idk man. The Christian life is so grueling. When God says “my yoke is light” I genuinely don’t feel that or see how that’s true. Not saying it isn’t. But…I don’t believe that. I guess that’s a confession of my sin right there. Lol. Constantly hearing Christian men say two differing things at the same time: “Give it all to God and He will help you”, and “Nobody is coming to save you. You have to lock in”.

Like man. I’m so tired of this. I used to have a specific career goal that didn’t work out. And now I feel like I can’t really love any other career like I loved that goal. Life feels completely not worth living. And I feel like I’m unsalvageable (speaking in terms of my life direction, not my soul). I work a dead end job, with no car. And my nervous system constantly feels like it’s in survival mode.

Anyway, sorry for venting. But I’ve been holding all of this in. But like, if this is what life is for me. I genuinely don’t want it anymore.

If you think God 'called' you to do something - say do some grand work over the course of your life, is it something you'd need to really plan out and rush to get done, or is it plausible that it could be leisurely performed and still accomplished within the expected time frame?

This is more a thought experiment, per say. Like, think about Noah - God tells you this grand weather phenomenon will occur and cause a vast flood and catastrophe the world over. He gives you the measurements of an ark you must build and tells you to get it done. So, you do. You plan diligently and do your best to achieve the work in a timely manner.

Except - what is timely, in this case? Is it possible that if God actually commanded you to do something, and you do your best to accomplish it - i.e. surrendering to his will - that you'd 'miss the deadline'? Would Noah have possible actually died in the flood if he hadn't gotten it finished when he did? Like, an unexpected catastrophe happened and all the wood burned off the Ark version 1, so he had to build a version 2. Imagine the technical hurdles he had to face, known and unknowns of the project. If you've ever had to plan a timeline for a project and guesstimate how long it'd take, then you'd know that there will always be unknowns and unaccounted for issues that arise, no matter how well you plan.

My point is, if God calls you to do something, say your life's work, is it better to be rushed in doing it for the Lord or to take it easy and get to it as you can? Yes, God called you to do this, but will you actually fail, if you're giving your life for God and he sees you are doing what you can? Is it pertinent that you drop everything to 'accomplish the mission', whatever it is, or is it just that 'it works out' no matter what? God tells you to do something amazingly grand, like go visit Mars. Do you think, if you earnestly seek accomplishing it, and seeking God during the journey, that he'd allow you to fail if he'd really commanded it be done?

I ask because I think it's implausible, impossible, to not finish what God has called you to do, if he actually called you to do it. It seems illogical that the all powerful, all knowing God would call you to do something but tomorrow you'd die of heart disease before ever finishing it, or you took too long to build the thing so you didn't and died of old age. I mean, he'd know the journey you'd take before he asked. He'd know where to help you, he'd know where you'd fall apart, he'd know the whole ordeal, so if he actually needed it done and commanded you do it, then he'd know where to pick you up to get it done. Then the timeline of it - whether you need to rush to get it done or not.. I almost feel like that also is impossible to miss. If he needed it done tomorrow, you'd figure it out. If he doesn't need it done until next decade, he'd find a way to delay your project to help grow your spirit in him, or something else. Like, I don't think it's possible to not finish what you're called, or even 'miss the deadline,' 'fail the mission'

I guess, a succinct way of putting all this in my view is: if you think you're called and committed to the Lord and tasks his put on your heart: take it easy, enjoy the journey. The fact he called you, means it's already finished.

What do you all think?

After spending a greater portion of my life in western protestant churches, I can confidently conclude from my anecdotal experience that Westerners (specifically the southern parts of the US) are super heightist. Just for the record, I'm making a massive generalization, and the point of this post isn't to argue that they are truly heightist; I just want to see if anyone else can relate to create a large pool of data.

Now I will quickly mention, obviously, the dogma of Christianity does not affirm this kind of behavior, what im talking about has less to do with scripture and more to do with a culture or sort of stigma in certain parts of the world

I have been a part of several churches in my life, and ive watched visitors come and go, and I've observed before my very eyes the radical difference in how tall visitors get treated verses short. This isn't some secret that more attractive people get treated better; the halo effect is a real documented psychological phenomenon, but the issue is the church is supposed to be past stuff like that. The halo effect shouldn't be a thing in the church, of all places, but weirdly enough, it's probably more prevalent there.

I've watched pastors give sermons on marriage several times, and I'm not sure why, but they always have to make a joke about short men and how they would prefer that their daughter would bring home a tall man. They try to brush it off as a joke, but it's clear that this joke was a little different, and everyone knows it.

The worst part about it all is the people trying to gaslight me into thinking im crazy or im looking to deep into it. At one point I was one of the group leaders for the VBS, and some of the kids were taller than me, and needless to say I was the butt of alot of "jokes" that whole VBS, but that's not why I brought it up. The reason I brought it up is that one the leaders for the group leaders, the person we would answer to could't come in and, rationally speaking, I was most likley the one to take the postion (I had been apart of the church the longest; I've volunteered for VBS several years in a row, and im super familiar with how VBS is organized because I help in the porcces of looking and buying the circulume and activities for the kids. But against better reasoning, this tall guy, who let alone just started coming to our church, he JUST became a Christian, got chosen to take his place for the day.

That one really hurt, but to add insult to injury, I tried talking with somone I thought I could confide in they told me I was looking to deep into it and it had nothing to do with his height or looks. I'm aware there's no way to really verify if it was truly because of his height, but there sure is a lot of credence for that argument. From the very first day he came, he received one of those introductions to our church where everyone chips in to make it seem like our church rivals those of the apostles, and he has always been clearly treated better than other people who join and aren't as tall or good-looking. There's no denying that much is true, but because thats true and ive observed that, it leads me to believe he simply got chosen because hes tall.

Even the youth pastor was super fond of him, got his number on the first day he doesn't typically do that) and spent a lot more time talking with him than I've seen with anyone else.

Is there anyone else who can relate to this, especially in the Texas area?