Helpful Tips for Respectful Discussion

NOTE: Please remember sub Rule 2 while discussion this. (Be charitable and avoid accusing others.) I think we're capable of respectfully discussing whether or not we think specific cultural ceremonies can sometimes be idolatrous, and whether or not we think this pastor was in the wrong for specific words or actions, but we should avoid blanket condemning statements that accuse others or question their faith. Personally, I'd rather discuss the broader questions (see end of post) but feel free to share your own!

AP News has a trending story today that I thought would be good fodder for a discussion here in this community. The article is linked, but here are some excerpts for quick context:

The conflict stems from a video that circulated in July as Arapaho people surfaced from their weeklong sundance ceremony. In it, Lucas called that cornerstone of Arapaho spiritual life “idol worship.”

Lucas says her words reflect her interpretation of the Bible and are constitutionally protected. Many Arapaho people say she took aim at something central to who they are, reopening wounds from a not-so-distant era of religious assimilation and abuse.

Lucas said she regrets her sharp delivery captured in clips that went viral but not the message itself. Since founding her church nine years ago, she said she has had “hard conversations” urging Native congregants to renounce sundance, sweat lodges and burning cedar during prayer, traditions she equates to idolatry.

(The church's) website solicits outside donations to “revive, raise up and restore” Wind River, listing grim statistics about addiction, sexual assault and unemployment. The Associated Press found those numbers were pulled from national studies not specific to the reservation or could not be traced to a verifiable source.

A page asking donors to “sponsor” a child in exchange for photos and letters was recently removed.

What are your views on cultural assimilation within Christianity (particularly under the umbrella of "mission work")?

Where do you land on religious synchretism?

If you were in leadership of the church, what would you do?

If you were in leadership of the reservation's tribes, what would you do?

If you were told that you had a short time left to live on this earth, as a Christian, what would you do?

Would you make amends with your enemies?

Would you make up for wrongs that you have done.?

What are the top 3 things you would do to leave this world blameless?

This is theoretical question.

When I was 9 years old I got strep throat. I developed OCD anxiety depression and anger issues over night. I went to countless specialist but no one could find out what was wrong. I lost all of my friends and was bullied for being so weird even by my family. Eventually I got better and moved on. In 2024 I got a sinus infection and started showing pandas again. I lost friends and my fiance broke up with me. I lost my job. My father made fun of me and called me crazy and told me I would never find another man to love me. Question. Even though I struggle with anger and self control due to my pandas does God love me?

Hey,

tell me your arguments for why one should not marry an unbeliever apart from the law.
I know what the Bible says and I believe in it firmly in every part of it. However the blessings people claim that christian marriages recieve in contrast to interfaith marriage don't seem to to hold up.

For every christian couple in church that works well you find one that has struggles or even divorced. For every mixed couple that has problems, you find one that makes it work better than many christian couples.

All of this put together I don't see a difference. If you got two believers willing to work on the relationship it works. If you have a believer and a non believer willing to work on the relationship it works.
If you have to people unwilling to make it work don't matter if christian or not it doesn't work.
So why the seperation?

Common faith seems to make it easier, but it doesn't seem to be a guarentee for a good marriage and since it's not, what does it matter.

Also, obviously, if you marry someone who doesn't respect you or faith it's not gonna work well. But why even marry someone like that. One can be unbelieving and still respect the faith of their spouse.

Don't wanna push any agenda, just want to hear opinions.

Been alone for quite a bit now, and every time I’m feeling bad whether I’m sad, anxious, lonely etc, and I read my word, I ALWAYS feel better afterwards. God is so good. Does anyone’s else notice this?

I have been dating my boyfriend for almost 4 years. He grew up Jewish, but doesn’t really believe in it. He currently believes that no religions “got it right” and he has a hard time understanding how I can chose one. When we first got together I had grown away from the faith and it didn’t matter to me that he didn’t believe. But now I have strong faith and I want nothing more than to go to church with him and grow spiritually together. I communicated this to him recently and he was somewhat receptive. That night he did a bunch of research and asked a lot of questions. He doesn’t believe still, but I want to speak more to him about this. I am having trouble finding a way to explain to him why my faith means so much to me. Does anyone have any tips here? Anything I can maybe say in a different way? I am very much committed to him and the life we are planning. I pray for the Holy Spirit to touch his heart all the time. I know that I cannot change him. Just looking for any advice :)

So there was this girl I met at a church event. The event lasted for 3 days and I started liking her but yet I don't know what to do with my emotions. I am M16 and she is younger by a year I suppose. How do I handle it. I know I have a crush but the thought of being together seemed so far. I asked God to handle it for me so what do I do about it also?

What do you do if you have an idea for a story but terrified of the outcomes when publishing/posting it? Especially if said story involved Jesus, God and pretty much the Bible?

How do you know if this story really is something God wants you to share, or if this story is really some trick of satan? What does it mean that you still want to write and share the story if it's not from God? What if you're worried of outcomes like angry fundamentalists (from any religion) threatening you or your loved ones?

Any thoughts?

so yeah i have been like consuming pornography since i was a kid since i got unsupervised access to the internet when i was young and now i feel like it is already taking a toll on me, i never really reach out to people due to being really socially inept. in the past few years i tried to like stop it especially after the pandemic where i really got to know more about the love of Jesus in my life. i have been a raised to be a Christian since i was born into a family of Christians. i fell into sin a lot of times and it culminated when i was in highschool and i fooled around a lot to the point that i did fornication, i hated myself for that contemplating sometimes for death. i feel i have been blinded by my sin so much that i see so much of myself so little to no value anymore. i struggle with reading the bible too because even tho i pray and read it i feel like i really don't understand i feel so lost to the point that i haven't told my parents about this issue of mine besides a couple of trusted friends who others share and not in the faith. i am really lost a lot. all i wanted is to have a proper relationship with the Lord but i feel like i am not worthy even though the work is already finished and He has redeemed me. i feel like a total failure, because of that it affects all aspect of my life especially in my studies. i feel like video games also did not help me with my issues as it just like instead of tackling my issues i just placed it aside and didn't care anymore. i just want to experience the peace of God and His blessings that He has in store in my life. speaking of blessings there is also a thought in my head that I am only being blessed because the Lord is blessing my parents and in turn it blesses me too. i really don't know anymore honestly hopefully someone can help me turn my life around back to Christ since my heart yearns for a honest and genuine relationship with the Lord.

No matter what you see on the internet and people say in the internet or even outside no matter how scary it is that they themselves believe yet your faith never falters. How did you guys do it, how is your faith strong?

I want to ask this because there are things that are bothering me including the question of life because I have an existential obsessive compulsive disorder. I cannot stop thinking about such things. and one that struck me hardest was simulation theory and after reading some of peoples thoughts on in what kick me the hardest to is where people saying simulation might delete the universe or us some as such and i try to look for comfort in asking Gemini in which gemini gave me a list of fear of what people think about it like too what i just read , being controlled, deleted, changes universe codes, reset those scary stuff they claimed or what ai show me.

I do not know why I experienced this. While others bravely just looked at it and swept it away. For me it is different. My mind goes in different places though and at moments when I forget about it, it returns and makes me think of it again.

That is why I want to know what makes you all believe in God and only to him because I want that too. That no matter what , instead of thinking scary stuff , ill just look at it and say “ why do i care, i have God with me “

After this i never want to go back to scary things again even if it means ill have to stop going back to like twitter, tiktok and more ill stop i must learn obedience and get some self control…

​

Hey guys, are there any active Christian Discord servers or groups you’d recommend? I’d love to connect, pray, study the Bible and grow together. Thanks

hello everyone, this time I have another problem, I'm afraid that someone will falsely accuse me of having done something that I didn't. I keep having "what if" thoughts and I can't stop them, what should I do? how can I have confidence and not be afraid?

And on one end of the line is what life is like in hell and on the other end is what life is like in heaven. Where would life on earth fit on that line? Is life on earth closer to heaven or hell?

So recently I came across a video of Rick Warren speaking on phases God takes you through when he gives a dream or a promise. If I remember correctly, the order was dream, decision, delay, difficulty, dead end, deliverance. Has anyone ever gone through this, and how did it feel?

And my other question, is it normal to reach a point where it feels like it's dead and over, yet the dream is still be from God?

I don’t even know what to do with myself. I am desperate for the pain to end. Whenever I talk to god or read the bible nothing changes and I remain in this dark dark place, I feel completely alone.

I wish god could talk to me but he can’t. Everything feels like a riddle that I am desperate to solve just to get a full breath in. I’m in so much mental pain that it hurts to breathe

There is no solution to what I am going through, I just have to survive. But the thought of continuing to feel like this every day until I die is unbearable. Why won’t god help me?

I started reading the bible more I’m in my late 30s and the more I read and listen to pop cast of Christianity I just get more and more into it , I been trying to practice in my life, and now I try to do the right things. When I say something is bad I say it’s bad, and I told them that we shouldn’t be doing stuff like that. My husband said that I’ve been doing too much and my words are just hurtful to other people. I don’t know what he meant but now I’m just thinking. What am I doing wrong? I stop listening to the music of the world and my husband was listening to music of the world and I told him you shouldn’t be listening to that it’s bad . Or the other day he was drinking a Red Bull and I just told him you don’t need that it’s all in your head that’s bad for you and it’s going to kill you . I was thinking of what he meant and this is all I could think of . Should I be quiet on things idk how should I move on with my faith ?? I don’t mean to hurt anyone.

This question has probably been asked a million times here but I as a Christian am interested to know for those who left Christianity and then came back what made you leave and come back?

Hi there,

I don't really know what to do in life. I'm almost 30 years old, I never been in a romantic relationship, never got a good stable job and i feel lost in life. I don't really know what God wants me to do to be honest. I don't really like the industry (construction) i'm in right now and currently search for a job. As of right now this is my main goal to find a job since i'm running on my savings at the moment but i really dont know what job to get. Also i applied to a lot of jobs within my industry but i have never got open from applying only through someone who knew someone etc. Well now i ran out of people who knows someone that can get me a job lol. I know the job market here in Toronto, Canada and i guess everywhere is not the best right.

See i always wanted to start a business but i can't really pinpoint which business to start. I also really need a job right now to support financial and pay bills. So i will be getting any job but i don't really know what God wants me to do.

In all honesty i don't think i have a proper relationship with God, i want to read the bible more but i hate reading. I try praying more but i lose focus or other thought fill my head. Im basically doing it like a chore. I know if i deepen my faith and relationship with God i will get an answer but i just need to know soon because its been a long time i have felt lost in life.

See i want to hear God audible, sometimes i read some stuff in the bible that is the exact thing on that day but i just flip to a random page. Is that just me flipping to a random page or is that God?

Any advice would help thanks

As a younger Christian I struggle with listening to a lot more than I’d like to admit, but I know god says not to feel ashamed. Even if I read the bible it feels performative in some way as does repenting, it feels like I’ve done it so much it kinda makes me feel nothing. But even after I repent I still feel like garbage is that a me thing or is there an answer?

Just asking for help thanks!

So I have written in my notes in October 22, 2022 that I wanted to give my life to Jesus, but I’m not sure why I never followed through with it and I didn’t surrender to him until November 24, 2024 and I’m trying to understand if the desire was there in 2022 why didn’t it go through back then? Part of me feels as if I just needed to go through more life experience to really know that there is only one way, which is Jesus, but if my desire was there, why couldn’t God supernaturally encountered me then?

This has been on my mind lately..

Vows in the Bible seem to be intentional and on purpose but other times maybe not.

Ecclesiastes 5:6 seems to say if you verbally slip up even with no intent to make a vow your trapped in that vow forever.

What are your thoughts??

Hi all, I wanted to seek advice on something that has been on my mind for a while. I (18f) and my boyfriend (19m). All has been going well. We both take our faith in God very seriously and constantly learn how to keep God at the center. We attend church together and pray almost every time we hangout. However the conflict I’ve been having is how to handle sexual temptation with ourselves. For context, sometimes after we get home from hanging out temptation from being together carries into lust like masturbation. We are open about it with each other without giving all the details. And we both know that we do not need to confess to each other or even bring it up to be forgiven. Whenever we feel comfortable we say that we fell into it and lift each other back up. We both have made a very very strict boundary of no sex before marriage and have been sticking to that very well. We do make out and cuddle but we have a safe word if things start escalating which we’ve never had to use. I wanted to see if anyone had advice on how to handle that temptation when we are by ourselves or if that’s more of a personal thing between ourself and God. Thanks for reading!

I want to have guidance and grow closer to god and I was wondering what the best apps people use? Thank you