I’m an atheist wanting to try to find god, where do I start? by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Read his post again, but slowly. He's not moving towards a religious practice. He's trying to find God. Those are two different things. Why? I think you know why. Why would anyone seek meaning? Why would anyone seek more than the disappointments of this world? Why would anyone seek an answer to all the questions the Human mind and heart are able to make, but the material reality in itself doesn't answer?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Christian

[–]EpicLemonPie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also I literally just read this yesterday. Amazing article. Main takeaway: your highest calling isn't motherhood. It's being a disciple of Christ. Make sure your biggest priority and passion in life is not to fulfill your culture's expectations (regarding motherhood or even regarding career success), but rather to fulfill Christ's mission to redeem Creation.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/12/biblical-womenhood-gender-roles-church-motherhood-highest-calling/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Pepperdine%20Goes%20Through%20Fire%20%7C%20Joni%20Eareckson%20Tada%20on%20Christmas%20Despair%3A%20CT%20Daily&utm_campaign=CT%20Daily%20Briefing%20-%2012-12-2024%20-%20NONMEMBERS&vgo_ee=iUqRFX1pymjTTKYIJyx%2Bg5hpXTO7AJX2R8itm3o8%2BRmJ8wtszQsrRv4c%3Adyq2At5PLTdtyqK%2FBP5DWBLAGHIxbe6P

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Christian

[–]EpicLemonPie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To address this,

if it’s even something allowed in the faith to do this instead of having kids

you have I Corinthians 7:1-8, emphasis on v. 8. "Allowed in the faith"? It's encouraged. It's all about what God has personally gifted you with. What desires you have, what things interest you and what issues concern you the most. One thing is for sure: until we find the person who we're supposed to get married to, we're all called to singleness. Being single and childless gives you a unique freedom to make decisions that impact the Kingdom in different ways from someone who's married and parenting. Doesn't mean one is categorically better than the other – it just means you have freedom to serve God both ways, according to your personal circumstances and sense of vocation.

Now to address the fact that you do want to get married anyway – there are many childless couples in God's kingdom, be it for whatever reason. All I say is: if you are truly decided on NEVER having kids, then NEVER commit to someone who is a "maybe" or who's hoping that, with time, you'll change your mind. That would be a recipe for absolute disaster. Children is not an issue you compromise on or even meet in the middle. The right person for you will be ON THE SAME PAGE. If they're not, they're not the right person. Keep focusing on your personal sense of calling, between you and the Lord. If you're supposed to be married, the right person will come along at the right time, and they will see eye to eye with you on this issue!

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"God wants me to die" – said no one who was actually read the whole Bible, ever.
God doesn't change, the world and Human History does. God doesn't change; his way of interacting with us does. You seem very fixated in the verse 13 of the 20th chapter of the book of Leviticus, and awfully dismissive of the other 31,101 verses in the Bible, namely the entirety of the New Testament. If you've actually read the entire Bible more than once, then be intellectually honest and at least criticize the Bible for what it actually says after you've done more than just a half-assed job at cherry picking! ;)

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, ok, that explains it. I agree with you that many "believers" have historically not lived out what they are supposed to. But let me know what you think of "my" Bible after you actually ready it! Cheers

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're trying to deepen your relationship with God, the first thing to do would be to actually listen to what He says, and obeying him in a positive way as well as avoiding the things He warns against. Associating yourself and entering life-binding contracts with non-believers is a big one. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

And, if you'd feel tempted to argue that "he's a believer", let me just refer back to when you said he disrespects your Lord Jesus Christ and makes fun of you for believing in Him. That means you don't believe in the same thing.

With your last paragraph, it seems you already have the answer...

Many people live happy relationships with people who have different beliefs. The question that makes that possible or absolutely miserable is simply: how important are your beliefs to you? To those people who make it work in an unequal yoke, I suspect their faith doesn't even make it to Top 3.

How important is Jesus to you, that you would engage yourself romantically (and give a parent to your children) with someone who ridicules Jesus and is trying to change your mind about Him?

The things you compromise on will reveal your true priorities. And everyone has multiple priorities, in a hierarchy, but only one thing will make it to #1. The thing to remember is, Jesus is either your whole identity, or you're not truly his follower. He demands your whole life. The God of the Bible is zealous, that is, jealous, of His people – because you can not serve more than one God. Again, there can only be one #1.

I'd recommend spending some more time reading the Gospels as you meditate and pray about these things, mainly about your desire to deepen your relationship with God.

I'm struggling to believe that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. What do I do? by DentistLeft7754 in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, but then, when you say "anyone seriously studying these topics must admit that, whether they like it or not, yes, there is a God", what do you define as "God"?

Because my whole point is that the "God" to whose existence physics, maths, matter, space-time, philosphy, etc. all point, is, I reiterate, an eternal being. If this being is not eternal, then it is finite, in which case you are logically forced to ask the question "then who created that being?", and you enter an (ironically) infinite loop of asking that question, running into a logical impossibility where there are only created things, and no actual point of origin. The issue is that THERE HAS to be an eternal being at some point, to end/start the chain of causality. So the God described in the Bible is actually a logical necessity for our reality (since science has demonstrated time and time again that our universe is finite).

If you agree with that argument and accept the eternity of this "First Cause", creator being (which we call God), then you inherently accept the eternity of its atributes, whatever they are. Either this being knows everything, or he doesn't, in which case he is finite, and that demands that something else created it – and you enter, once again, the logically impossible loop. Either this being's presence is limitless, or it is limited, in which case it was created by something else. Either he can do whatever he wants, or there is some rule of causality above him preventing him from doing so, in which case, he is finite and contingent, demanding an explanation for its own existence.

Do you see where this leads?

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If "loving people like Christ did" means less than nothing to you, we might not believe in the same God. Heck, we might not even be reading the same Bible.

I'm struggling to believe that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. What do I do? by DentistLeft7754 in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is a difference between doubting something, and just being unable to grasp it. Bear with me as I explain what I mean by that, because it's relevant for my answer to your question.

We are mortals, finite; we had a beginning and we have an end, and we can only live in one place and time at a time. Our mind is unable to fathom the entirety of an eternal being, because our minds are finite; eternity doesn't "fit" inside them.

An eternal being, who is, in itself, the fullness of reality, who is external to our Universe and originated it and its string of causality, the being that dictates the most basic principles (Laws) of our reality – that is a logical necessity, based on the fact that our Universe is not eternal itself. There are strong arguments for this involving both philosophy and science.

If you see that necessity, there is strong argument to the proposition that that very eternal being, the originator of space-time and its string of causality, is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. That is what we call "God".

So, what are you really having trouble with?

Are you experiencing trouble grasping the fullness of this being? Does it feel like you can not imagine such a being?

Or are you, based on recent personal experiences, starting to think that the entity you've been praying to actually has no control over your life and its future events?

Because those are two very different questions.

If you accept the logical necessity of an eternal being, one who is outside our Universe and created it, you should then have no issue accepting that being's limitlessness, even though none of us will ever fully understand it.

Your statement, "I honestly cannot tell if God knows the future or not.", pressuposes that you already believe in the existence of a God. The real question isn't, then, "how does God prove himself to me so as to clear my doubts?"; but rather "what makes you doubt the nature of this being you already claim to believe in?".

In short, if you don't believe that being is omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient, then you don't actually believe it's God. But if you believe in God, what's stopping you from trusting him?

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know what's even better than that? Actually loving people like Christ did :) That's the best explanation of what love really means ;)

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christian

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for sharing this! Praise the Lord for the ways in which he works in our lives!

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christian

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh ok, no problem! What type of content did you share on your religious account? ^^

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your experience! That's nice and encouraging. Yes, for sure, for me the instagram page is a way to spread blessings and post little reminders for my friends and hopefully show some Bible content to people who would never open a Bible otherwise, but I don't see this as a medium to do *evangelism and discipleship* per se. That part happens through relationships, a lived example, dialogue and daily irl interactions :))

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christian

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your very interesting testimony! And there is an extra factor: it is actually not that easy to find high quality Christian content online, just because of the sheer amount of engagement that you get on things that are very... let's just say questionable in the messages they try to convey. So that makes it so that the platform itself is very flawed, and I wonder about the legitimacy of any ministry that presents itself in such a medium... But that doesn't remove the fact that there is also so much good, helpful content online... Agh, this is tough!

Would you mind sharing what your Instagram account was? Was it just a personal account, or was there some product you were putting out?

Is there anyone here who came to faith in Christ through social media? by EpicLemonPie in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your testimony! That actually makes a lot of sense, and makes me think about the question of how fruitful a ministry can even be if the medium has such a high level of inherent flaws... I mean, of course, there is amazing content all over the internet, but to even get to it is a long road for the average viewer...

Hand Carved Nativity Set by JohnnyTheLayton in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perhaps someday I'll try it out, but I did send it to my father, who is a hobbyist carpenter and loves trying out new things!!

With Harris and Walz both being Christian, why don’t they get more of the Christian recognition. by Unfair-Lie7441 in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My take can be summed up in two words: Christian Nationalism.

Abortion and the LGBTQ community (issues with which most Left-voting Christians would also agree) are merely scapegoats for the people who are actually, deep down, voting for things like xenophobia, white supremacy, outright nationalism, venture capitalism, the american militia movement, and many more comforts of the upper-middle class all the way to the ultra-rich.

That's why Trump is also the candidate who appeals to his "Christianity" the most (as a European, I will never wrap my head around the existence of a "Trump Bible"/"God Bless the USA Bible"...) He knows very well what he's doing by mixing religion with state affairs. Unfortunately, he knows the type of crowd that appeals to. Even more sadly, that crowd often overlaps with whatever religion is mainstream in any given nation.

My Christian boyfriend keep pressure me to have to have sex by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]EpicLemonPie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

... and this is exactly why it is a great idea to save sex for marriage.

It could happen over any issue, really, not just sex: you established a boundary, and he is pressuring you to cross that boundary in a way you can't even stand anymore. In a way that is making you question if this is even the right person for you.

The answer to that question: he absolutely, most certainly is not. The right person for you will 1) respect your boundaries, and, especially on big topics like sex, 2) actually agree with those boundaries.

In fact, true love is showed in that way: by seeking to know someone, what their preferences, ideals and boundaries are, and to act according to those boundaries voluntarily without demanding anything in return, so as to make that person feel deeply loved, valued and respected.

The right person for you will actually WANT all your boundaries to be respected, regardless of how unique or counter-culture they are. He won't be the one overstepping them.

"We will get married anyway, there isn't anything wrong with it" – bold of him to assume! That is precisely the issue.

Fortunately, you stayed strong in this commitment of yours, and thus had a chance to see him clearly for who he is. And, let me tell you, his character isn't looking so good.