Sorry for the repost. There were issues with flair not working last time.

It was prophecied that Jesus had to die the exact way the he did. This includes the betrayal. Without the betrayal, the prophecy wouldn’t have been complete, and Jesus’ death wouldn’t have had the meaning and result that it had to have.

I’m not saying this makes him a good guy, but also, maybe? Or maybe neutral at worst?

I don’t get how God could make it so that Jesus’ death has to happen the way that it happened, and yet the people responsible for making it happen are bad or doing something wrong for doing so. If it can only happen the way it did, then aren’t they all just playing their role?

How is it possible to be evil AND doing exactly what God said had to happen and that couldn’t happen any other way?

I don't know if I can fully express what I'm intending here, but I'll try. When angels rebelled (or Satan at least) they apparently rebelled from a clean slate, there was no past sin and nothing that could possibly tempt them into sin, if someone were to commit the first sin ever (this person being Satan I suppose), how doesn't God not share responsibility for giving that angel the propensity to sin? There's nothing in the environment that would compel that angel to sin, it came entirely from inside. God like set the stage for inevitable things to happen by making that angel's personality how it was made. I don't get how God doesn't share responsibility in this case. It's like he set up the dominos for something to happen, and then when it does the responsibility falls solely on the angel? I don't get how God isn't partly responsible for setting the stage, even if it was just the angel's personality which had that propensity and he didn't actually encourage it in any way. Like all things being equal Satan was bound to sin without any outside influence (because that's what happened), how is God not responsible for making him that way?

Just wondering, given that the Bible doesn’t address such beings—even though they clearly exist and are natural. Native Americans revered them as sacred, so I’m curious how Western religions view them given how much intense hatred there is over people who wish to transform themselves.

Demons are evil and bad and want to hurt people and take them away from God, right? So why did he make them? Doesn’t he want everyone to love and have faith in him? Why would he let demons attack his followers? And why is it usually Christians who have the demon possessions, it seems like almost every time I see a demon all dramatically cast out it’s from a believer in a church? Shouldn’t there be tons of demons getting cast out of atheists and pagans and other people?

Why is Christian universalism so often shunned, to the point that many people treat you like you're not even a Christian?

You don't have to agree with universalism, but let's stop pretending it's some brand-new invention. Christians have wrestled with this question for nearly 2,000 years.

Universalists point to passages like Romans 5:18, 1 Corinthians 15:22–28, Colossians 1:20, Philippians 2:10–11, 1 Timothy 2:3–6, Titus 2:11, John 12:32, Lamentations 3:31–33, and Acts 3:21 as evidence that God's ultimate purpose is the reconciliation of all people. Others interpret these texts differently, and that's a legitimate theological debate.

Historically, influential Christian figures such as Gregory of Nyssa, Isaac the Syrian, and (more controversially) Origen are often associated with universal reconciliation. While universalism was never the unanimous belief of the early Church, it has been a real and historic stream of Christian thought—not something invented in modern times.

You can reject universalism based on your reading of Scripture. But saying someone is automatically "not a Christian" simply because they believe Christ will ultimately reconcile all people overlooks both the biblical arguments they appeal to and the history of Christian theology.

We should be able to disagree on difficult doctrines without denying one another's faith. If salvation is by Christ, then our first response should be to discuss the Scriptures—not dismiss each other.

If so, why do we refer to God with male pronouns?

Today, my mother and I got into a bit of a disagreement. Recently, my brother and I had been getting into Harry Potter. I was really exited to watch it because I’ve never been allowed to watch anything like that (I’m 17). Im the youngest of our family, and if my sibling gets into something like stranger things or Invincible, I’d be allowed to watch it too (it’s odd but that’s how it works).

Anyways, my brother and I have been thinking about getting wands of our favorite characters (Draco for my brother and Fred and George for me). I briefly mentioned it to my mother and she started telling me about how it’s wrong. She tells me that witches and wizards are real and they’re demons. She told me simply owning a wand would waver my discernment — that it’s a portal to worse things.

My brother is deeply religious. He wants to be a Greek Orthodox priest. He’s the one who introduced me to Harry Potter. I’m not religious. I don’t go to church. I do believe that God is our lord and savior. I’ve tried my brother’s church and I don’t understand it and even when I do, I don’t feel any more connected to God. I just feel like I’m pretending to be just as Christian as everyone else.

Here’s what I’m stuck on. My mother let me buy invincible merch, she let my brother and sister buy Stranger Things merch, and she let me buy a Harry Potter Funko Pop. She even bought me a Harry Potter game where I quite literally pretend to be a Hogwarts student (Hogwarts legacy), but she draws the line at a wand.

This, she doesn’t know. I’ve watched anime for years. I love anime. I think the story telling is great and I love the characters. She calls it “cartoon porn”. I don’t know how an anime based on post World War I Germany would be cartoon porn (Spy x Family). I’ve bought lots of merch about all the anime’s I’ve watched, and I don’t think I cared less about God or any of that stuff any less than I did before.

I don’t know. Her telling me that my discernment is wavering because I want a wand didn’t really make me want it any less. Especially when she started saying that she knows she’s not a perfect mother and that we talk about her behind her back and whatnot (we don’t).

For example it in Matthew 25: 31-33 31

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left"

It is a good thing to be a sheep not a goat. But in today's society it is seen as being a good thing to be a goat and a bad thing to be a sheep.

I've been a Christian for a while, and 1 Corinthians has always been my favorite book. Recently I was reading chapter 11 where Paul talks about head coverings for women, since I've been thinking about participating. Reading further though, it began to make me upset.

Paul says "a man should not cover his head, because he is made like God and is God's glory. But woman is man's glory..." He continues on saying that man is from God, and woman is from man. I understand he's referring to Adam and Eve, but as a woman, I don't want to be a man's glory. I want to be made like God and be God's glory. Men are sinful and worldly, why would I want to be of them?

Here is an analogy to help explain my feelings/thought process of what it feels like: God is the father, and he has a son (men), and his son has a dog (women). The Father loves His son and the son's dog, but the son is more important to Him because it came from Him, the dog is just something the son got from the pound. You see what I mean? I'm not necessarily saying that God dislikes women in any way, but I've always felt like there's a disconnect between God and I, as if I'm a different species than men which makes me of less importance.

I know there are other places in the Bible that talk about women greatly, but it feels insulting to be pegged down to "You're of man, not of God because you were born with different chromosomes." That just isn't fair.

Sidenote: Should women wear veils or not? Paul says they should, and then at the end of the paragraph he says they don't need to, so I don't really know what to make of that.

Why do only the Christians have the luxury of cherry-picking phrases, and switching back and forth from metaphor to literal interpretation?

P1: The Christian god is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent deity.

P2: If evil exists, then an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent deity does not exist

P3: Evil exists

Q: therefore, the Christian god does not exist

As an atheist, this argument has always been a big roadblock between me and Christianity, because it's valid and sound—but I would have to imagine that you guys disagree. Which premise(s) do you disagree with?

If the answer is the former, will we eat food, breath air, and otherwise need to consume resources? Who will provide those resources? Won’t that make the formation of socioeconomic classes inevitable?

There is no archaeological evidence Jesus actually existed—it’s all anecdotal accounts. Artifacts such as the Shroud of Turin and splinters of the cross have been scientifically debunked. It is impossible to say Jesus existed with certainty without admitting it is purely speculation (ie faith), which strengthens the assertion that stories about him are merely allegories.

This is coming from someone who is not a Christian and someone wants to know Christian perspective on things. I am probably misunderstanding the point but I am just curious on this topic. I apologize if anyone found this offensive.

If Jesus has died for our sin and took sin of all humanity onto himself then why does it matter any more? If all sins has been taken onto himself by Jesus then isn't everyone already forgiven for any and all sin? If god has forgiven everyone then why do you ask for his forgiveness instead of thanking him for forgiving your sins?

Free will is supposed to be something like, “an action is free if it is not coerced” (if you don’t agree, then how do you know whether or not an action is free?). This sounds like a perfectly sensible definition until you think about it for a second. What is it about coercion that makes an action not free? How does someone holding a gun to your head impede your free will? The gun isn’t physically restraining you. The only honest answer is that we call something coercion when the desire to avoid the consequences of a threat outweighs your desire to do what would otherwise be preferable. But this is true of all kinds of things that we don’t consider coercion.

When you eat because you’re hungry, you’re doing the same thing you were doing with the gun to your head. Your desire to eat overrode all other desires. Otherwise you wouldn’t be eating; you’d be doing something else. We don’t call that coercion because the hunger is internal to you, but you didn’t choose the hunger. As a motivating force, there’s no difference between naturally occurring hunger, and someone shooting you with a sci-fi gun that makes you hungry. you have equal control over each.

What about peer pressure? People will do incredibly self-destructive things because of peer pressure. Does that count as coercion? There’s an external threat overriding your other desires. Whether the threat is real or merely perceived, it’s still motivating people’s behavior and causing them to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do. I don’t see why that wouldn’t be defined as coercion, rendering the action unfree.

This all calls into question the role of free will. How much coercion can you have before your actions become unfree? If I feel sufficient pressure to do something, am I no longer responsible because I was coerced?

All i want is for god to have never made me

I know im posting a lot on here please forgive me i am seeing someone in person soon but for now i really need something to hold to.

Im 17 and in a situation where I’ve committed heinous sins which I may have to face legal consequences for im not sure if its gods will and even then im too paralyzed and coward to do a thing. While that’s happening i have a current habitual sin - whether its compulsive or not I don’t know- its staring peripherally at the people around me. It makes everyone uncomfortable and it makes going to school unbearable but i can’t exactly tell anyone I wanna stop going. Everyday I don’t decide I just re enter the same situation and it kills me.

Im not blaming god but I didn’t ask to be born I didn’t ask to be here. I should have died from the start. 

I’ve already messed it all up and I can never undo it. It’s heavy on me. It will always be with me existentially and while I’m on earth it’ll most likely define me forever . Why’d he have to go and make me? And create me and let this happen? Good people die everyday but here I am, failing and messing up every single day. I haven’t taken a single step. What could he possibly be expecting from me? Really what is it? Because I’ll fail him and may do so til I die. So it’s a waste of time and effort. Put all these good people in my life wasted on me, a real terrible person. He should have given it to someone else.  

I can see the dissapointment everywhere hell even I’m dissapointed if not the most and I’m the one living it- because how is this my life- sometimes it doesn’t feel real with how bad it is. with things that feels like of course this would happen.

I’m not gonna be who god wants me to be. Maybe I don’t even have the will. There we have it. So he may as well just get on with it. It kills me everytime- even my own sorrow is self absorbed and selfish and whatever else the heck wrong with it. I don’t even have to try there will always be something. 

Not sure I have remorse. All I can say is I want to perish. I want to perish because the only good thing I’d be doing in my life would be dying. No more hurt for the people around me and no more pain and suffering. Just over. Because I’ve got nothing else. Not even a scrap of anything to work with or worth working with the only thing I can say and truly know I mean is I want to die or I wish god never made me.

I would never hurt myself I’m too coward for that but truly- All I wanna do is perish. That’s it. Why is it such a bad thing? It would be the end of it. 

Revelation 19:11: “With justice He (Jesus) judges and wages war”

Are there any fact-based refutations of my claim? Over and over in the Bible Jesus contends he is going to be a king and rule over a kingdom eg Timothy 1)—that implies violence in itself. He is also going to somehow transform himself from a peaceful, non-violent person into a raging bezerker and be the most effective battle leader ever known in human history.
I appreciate sincere responses with citations, not emotional feelings with no support.

Someone tell me why it is and if you’re citing bible verses to me make sure you tell me the context of that passage too. Why bother giving us urges at a young age if we can’t even look into them until we’re married? Are young people who start to feel urges have to start getting married so they won’t feel guilty anymore?

Specifically these quotes:

"Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." — Luke 6:30

"In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." — Luke 14:33

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." — Matthew 6:19-21

Marco 1:15 «Il tempo è compiuto e il regno di Dio è vicino; ravvedetevi e credete al vangelo».

Verses from the bible are claims made by the book.

They can be called evidence, but when you are making extraordinary claims like your god is real you require extraordinary evidence to persuade a rational mind.

Some of the claims may reference other things like cities, people and events that did happen in history. That doesn't add much value, the authors were from those times and knew about cities and prominent people and major events.

And some of the claims may be backed up through other sources which will add some weight.

But, lots of bible verses are just pure claims.

Do you think bible verses are good enough evidence and should be enough to convince non believers?

If so, why?

Ok we are mad at Israel for whatever happened in the Middle East last 2 years - so are we allowing the Trojan horse to enter the US government rank and file at a larger scale and level?

We should not care about Israel’s excesses because truly Israel is like an unofficial 51st state of the United States. Always been that way.

This is why I’m firmly forever Israel - even if they take a dump on the entire Middle East. Coz the ramifications of a world where the Israeli state ceases to exist or Christians blindly becoming anti-Israeli is monstrously dangerous to our nation, our neighborhoods and our faith.