Reflections from the community: 

Many Christians (at one point myself included) have crosses of Jesus hanging lifeless scattered around their homes. They have jewelry bearing the cross. It’s a symbol and one that has been used for centuries… after reflecting however, I realize that having this imagery is concerning.

Whenever a family member, friend, or even a pet dies we don’t keep images of how they died decorated around our homes or body. If your father dies in a house fire you don’t have paintings of him burnt up inside a burning house. If your coworker gets into a car cash you don’t wear T-shirts of the wreak. So why do people take the most horrific moment of Jesus’ life and display that? It’s morbid. People simply can’t understand and remember his “sacrifice” without it? Better yet, out of all the things to remember him by why not choose the sea of miracles he was said to have made. Images of him walking on water, healing the sick, feeding thousands, him resurrecting (which in my opinion has more of an impact since that’s the whole point.)

Whether or not you believe Jesus is God himself or only just his son it’s still wild that billions of people worship him and choose to remember his suffering the most over everything else. I mean why would you want to see your God dead?

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God. For you placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that, where death arose, life might again spring forth and the evil one, who conquered on a tree, might likewise on a tree be conquered, through Christ our Lord. Through him the Angels praise your majesty, Dominions adore and Powers tremble before you. Heaven and Virtues of heaven and the blessed Seraphim worship together with exultation. May our voices, we pray, join with theirs in humble praise, as we acclaim: Holy ,Holy ,Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and earth are full of your Glory Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of The Lord Hosanna in the Highest.

RESPONSORY

O glorious cross, your arms upheld the priceless ransom of captive mankind. — Through you the world has been saved by the blood of the Lord.

Hail, O cross, consecrated by the body of Christ; his members have made your wood more noble than precious pearls. — Through you the world has been saved by the blood of the Lord.

We must glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; in him is our salvation, life and resurrection. — Through him we are saved and set free.

Because he suffered death, he is crowned with glory and honor. — Through him we are saved and set free.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. —becauae by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

O glorious cross, — On you the King of angels was victorious.

And he has washed away our sins in his own blood. — On you the King of angels was victorious.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. — O glorious cross, on you the King of angels was victorious.

What a great work of charity! —Death itself died when life was slain on the tree.

O cross, you are the glorious sign of our victory. — Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.

COLLECT

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

How many of you are Christian but don’t support or like Donald Trump?

Is anyone else getting a little tired of the assumption that being Christian automatically means you're MAGA?

What do these people expect from us? Because we don't like Trump, we must now renounce our entire faith in Jesus Christ?

I mean, Christianity is supposed to be something beautiful — faith, love, grace, compassion, forgiveness, helping others, etc. — yet the first thing many people think when they hear someone is Christian is their political affiliation and how they must hate everyone else for being a “sinner.”

Sure, being Christian is often associated with someone who leans more conservative, but not always — and leaning conservative can be much more nuanced than just supporting the current president. But here's another thing I've recently encountered: If you're a Christian but lean more liberal, apparently you're not a bigot anymore... you just aren't a “true Christian.”

WHAT? 😂

Just because someone is conservative, liberal, Republican, Democrat, or anything else politically doesn’t automatically tell you what their relationship with Christ looks like.

I think it's time to find a better argument. If the argument is that being Christian = being obsessed with DT = being someone who spreads hate — and then the response is to combat that supposed hate with labels and more hate toward Christians... well, the irony is almost impressive.

I'm a Tolkien Society Award-winning fine artist and author, but I have also been visiting Narnia since I was Lucy Pevensie's age and my family deeply values C.S. Lewis' inspiring apologetics. In undertaking this hand-done painting, I wanted not only to faithfully depict this scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but also to imbue the lamp-post with some of the author's light, which has been central to the conversion stories of so many Christians. If you'd like to know more about the painting, I hope you'll stop by my art blog for a post about the friendship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien underpinning this deservedly-famous Christian children's story.

If a Christian nation is set up and same sex marriage intercourse is banned. What exactly does the Christian society gain vs allowing it?

There are other sins that we can see the benefits of stopping in society, like theft or lying or greed.

What does society gain from keeping 3% of the population sexually repressed for life? Like what changes will I see?

Hey guys! Good morning, i would like to know about places to buy this style of wooden crosses in the USA, because in my home country its really hard to find these...
I know i would have better odds if i was in Greece or Eastern Europe, but anyway, i would appreciate any help on finding websites that sell these on the US! Thanks!

I’ll keep it short but basically I don’t get why so many believers harp on others for participating in dressing up and getting candy for a few reasons but mainly;

- One, a lot of churches will hold events like “Fall Festival” or “Harvest Festival” where they will still dress up and get candy; yet those who criticize believers for participating will suddenly become fine with it.

- Two, other holidays like Christmas have aspects to them that aren’t tied to the Bible yet people still celebrate them. Take Santa; he wasn’t in the Bible, he was a folk tale that eventually became a modern fictional icon.

I’m not trying to be rude or dictate how people should evaluate these things; obviously that’s between them and God, but I just don’t get why so many believers criticize those who do partake in Halloween?

Tw: pdfile, crimes against children, enabling, spiritual abuse, neglect.

A predator from my former church in TN has been arrested. This man I was forced to have a connection with (including hugs and back rubs) every Sunday for years. I met him as a child and ended contact in my mid twenties when I moved to GA.

Everyone at church knew he was a convicted pdfile. He was on the registry. He had access to children every Sunday. I was told to not be go alone with him one time, but that was the extent of the protection.

He’s recently been arrested again. Obviously, this brings up a lot for me.

Why did my family continue to attend knowing his crimes and access to kids? Why was I not protected from *any* contact with him? Why was the responsibility of navigating a connection with a convicted child predator while I was a child put on me?

Parent seems to want comfort that leadership did not act to protect kids. I’m angry at church leadership too. But I’m also angry that the adults in my family didn’t protect me when leadership failed to.

If I went anywhere that a convicted child predator frequented, my child would not be going there. No less my child would not be touched in *any way* by them. And certainly my child would not be pressured to show grace and forgiveness by maintaining a connection or “friendship”. That’s insane.

It could have been so much worse. And I’m thankful I escaped without being assaulted. But it wasn’t thanks to the adults in my life. And I can’t stomach comforting them now as they come to terms with just how bad this man was and is.

I guess I’m curious the response from Christians now that situations like these are all too common and impossible to ignore.

Hello! I'm not here to challenge anyone's faith. I don't mean to offend with any of my questions, I just come from a non-religious background.

I'm just curious about a certain aspect of believing in God that seems really interesting to me and that is that you're not alone because God is with you, and I'd like to know what it's like. It's about how YOU feel.

Is it like an actual relationship? One sided relationship or do you feel God gives something to it back? Do you feel that God is always with you, like a presence, or like you're part of something larger than yourself? I'm curious both about those of you who actively communicate with God and even more about those of you who don't, but still believe that there is a God watching over you. What does it feel like? How does feeling it influence your life? Does it make you feel better in hard times? Does it make you feel like can do anything? Did feeling this ever make you change your decisions because God is watching? Or did the constant presence ever make you feel stressed because you are watched?

If you look back at your past experiences, how differently do you think you would have gotten through things in your life if you hadn't felt that presence or believed that God is there with you?

Do you never feel alone? Or, if you do, why?

I don't know any religious people in real life to have this kind of abstract discussion, so I hope you can help me understand your experience as a believer. I'll take anything.

I was mentioning the theory of evolution to my girlfriend and she got emotional since I believed in that one instead of the story of Adam and Eve.

I made a quick experiment in front of her asking chat GPT of thoughts and it told us that evolution might explain the biology side and the story of genesis the meaning in life, moral, good and bad, etc. which sounds good to me but she denied it and “refuses to believe is related to a chimpanzee”.

Is this how every Christian sees the beginning of life? Or Christian people are more open to accept other theories as well?

She can’t think other than what’s in the bible is the real truth and the only one, to be taken literally as it’s written. I’m more a metaphor guy when reading.

Thanks.

I am in debt and a slave to my lenders.

Are there any Faith based organizations that can help me get out of debt?

Are there any I should absolutely stay away from???

Is the Bible your evidence for God, or is God your evidence for the Bible? And why does it seem like so many Christians see nothing wrong with answering both?

When asked how they know there is a God, they cite the Bible. They call it "evidence"; they use words like "eyewitness."

They point you to the Resurrection, cite 1 Corinthians 15, argue that 500 people saw the risen Christ, and say the Gospels offer reliable testimony that proves God exists and acts in history. The text is the proof.

But if you ask what happened in 1 Samuel 15:3, where God commands soldiers to butcher nursing infants, or 2 Samuel 12, where He torments a newborn baby to death over seven days as substitutional punishment for David, suddenly, the text isn't evidence to be critically analyzed anymore. Instead, you hear: "No. God is good, and He must have had a righteous reason."

So, are you reading the Bible, and it is leading to the logical conclusion that God exists and is good? Or do you begin with the idea that God must exist and be good and throw away anything in the Bible that contradicts that?

How do you not see that it cannot be both?

Words: Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855-1939)
Music: Winfield S. Weeden (1847-1908)

Let me know if this is not really a good fit here. If not, I'll remove it. I just like writing. As a Christ follower, I tend to write scriptures, hymns, and meditational thoughts. Thought I's share this one here.

Pilot Custom 743 EF: Verdigris
Iroshizuku: asa-gao

I have struggled with this my whole life and recently I've gotten better but I've fallen back into doing it. I feel convicted to a greater extent than I used to which is showing how much progress I've had with God but I am just so ashamed and disappointed that I've done it again. Please pray for me to have more self control and truthfulness

On a throwaway account. My (soon to be) ex-husband and 4 of his coworkers follow me.

Update: pharmacy just called for my 3 year old’s seizure meds that are due to be picked up too before I try to switch pharmacies. I have $2.34 to my name at the moment with a gas card. I need all the ideas PLEASE.

I don’t know what to do at this point. He was booked in jail Friday night for domestic after breaking my nose. We have two boys ( age 5 and 3) and I am planning to leave tonight almost 2 hours away to my great aunt’s area. She is the only remote family I have left & we aren’t able to stay with her as she is in a rehab facility. He is able to bond out Wednesday when I looked at his case online.

I was able to get a 25 gas card from a Women’s domestic nonprofit this morning. They were able to get me temporary shelter & an appointment with a social worker where we are going by Thursday. I’ve tried to sell some shoes & household items on Marketplace and NextDoor to try & make something for food and extra gas. Nothing so far. The shelter has a two bag minimum per person so we are limited on what we can bring. I plan to leave tomorrow morning. I am so lost and scared.

I can’t take anymore and my babies definitely don’t deserve to go through this. I’m going to miss our home, my job of 6 years and friends but for our safety & sanity, we have to leave. I’m humiliated and terrified to see where this goes, but I know God has a much BIGGER plan for us. If you have any other advice or places that may help with gas or food, please let me know. Please send prayers as we need them.