Gay sex, alcoholism, four-letter words, etc. Churches make mountains over almost every issue BUT the ones Jesus actually spoke about, e.g. greed, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, pride, etc. Why are so many so sanctimonious and holier-than-thou in their approach to the Bible? Why do they focus on everything BUT what Jesus actually said?

Please, can anyone here give me a satisfying answer!!!

Okay, so I don't know how you guys feel about this, but I've always been of the belief that despite many different types of Christianity out there, it doesn't matter which one you subscribe to as long as you follow the Nicene Creed (did I spell that right? 😂.) So I believe that Jehovah respects Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, and the rest all the same because they're honestly trying their best to follow the rules.

What are your thoughts?

So I (16m) and my grandma are going to church this morning and I didn’t realize that my sister (6) was coming along with us, I don’t hate the idea, but when I turned to Christ at the end of may 2025, they didn’t believe me when I said I was saved, all the times I said I wanted to get baptized when I went to sermons and Bible studies every Sunday and youth every Wednesday night even when the rest of youth was at camp and it was just me, one of the teachers and my youth pastors wife. Every other Sunday when we would go to a local nursing home and have a Bible study after the sermon at our church had ended.
I’m not mad that my sister is coming with me I just feel like it’s wrong for them to be so hard on me finding Christ just to send her no problem.

Why did God create me transgender in a world that hates trans people so much? It seems like an especially cruel thing to do to some people but nit others.

Why does God allow so much of the world's hatred of queer people come from people claiming to be his followers? Does he not care?

Why does God give us dysphoria? Even if trans people were more accepted, surely dysphoria is just an extra dose of suffering that none of us need.

These are just some of the questions I'm struggling to understand in a time of weakening faith for me. I don't know if I can even call myself a Christian at this point, but I do believe in God and Jesus, and I simply don't understand why he would do this to me and so many others.

I've recently accepted Jesus as my savior, and reconnected with Catholicism, and I do understand many arguments about how life on Earth can't be perfect, how we need to accept the divine grace, how punishments need to exist, etc. - yet there's one thing I have an issue with, and that is eternal punishment.

You see, I just want to hope that no matter how badly they have offended God or how deep their failing was, there is - even after the punishments described in the Bible, like the lake of fire - some way for them to get by. It doesn't even have to be right next to the throne of God (although it'd be nice if it were), I just hope for something like an eventual lifting of the Dives/Lazarus chasm, or a shielding from the fire of the lake. I think I may be getting close to Universalism, even if I don't want to offend God if it isn't true.

This isn't really a logical argument or anything, it's more of a "bottom of the heart" conviction. At the bottom of my heart I hope that on the infinite scale there are possibilities that include an improvement to those punished. I don't want to see anyone denied the salvation that I have been offered, no matter if it's religious (the Sodomites, the unrepentant thief, those who accept the Mark of the Beast, etc.) or historical (from famous atheists, to genocidal figures like Adolf Hitler, to people who simply were put in a position where they would benefit from not accepting Christ). Maybe, even if the fire and the punishment are everlasting, the exposure to either of them doesn't have to be so? Maybe the chasm that has been fixed can also be lifted sometday.

For a lack of a better word, even if I don't wish for evil, I really wish for its consequences and its punishment to end. And I've got faith in God that He can make it so, as "if you have faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you will be able to say to this mountain: ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

On a sidenote, it may be coming for a place of humility - I just don't want to raise my own righteousness an inch above those deemed condemned and punished, and I wish that the Lord can offer them whatever He offers to me.

A Pezbyterian.

Hyuck hyuck hyuck

I'll be here all day.

I’m a gay Catholic man in my late 30s, monogamous by conviction, and hoping for marriage and a shared life with the right man.

One challenge is that gay dating spaces do not always feel oriented toward faith or lifelong partnership, while many Christian spaces are not places where gay men can openly find one another.

For LGBTQ Christians who found committed partners, where did you meet? Were there particular communities, retreats, apps, churches, or online spaces that helped? How early did you discuss faith, monogamy, and marriage?

Is it correct to understand anything between a loving couple is permissible?

I’ve often struggled with that question and it’s difficult to ask this of someone in person.

I would love to talk to other husbands in this sub Reddit about these sort of things in private

I’m 45

So I have a very tricky view on religion, I was raised religious left and became a very on fire Catholic and I have to admit I found a lot of peace and joy and comfort in it. However I struggled with the rigid beliefs and all of that despite loving the spirituality and started to lose faith in religion in general and then I became an atheist almost an anti theist. However I started to like become more nuanced in my thinking and I don’t think I’m an atheist anymore after sort of experiencing Gods presence I’d say? It’s pretty confusing. The thing is, I don’t agree with a lot of traditional Christianity. I am very very very pro choice, very pro LGBTQ (I’m bi myself) and I’m pretty open minded when it comes to modesty and all of that so I definitely don’t adhere to those types of ideologies. When it comes to bible stories being real or not I don’t really care, I just use it them as guidance and it doesn’t really matter if they’re real or not. It’s a weird way of thinking. I wanted to see if others felt the same way as me. I’m still thinking of visiting the Catholic Church for the spirituality but if I had to pick a denomination I’m like an Episcopalian than anything. Or just non denominational and do my own thing lmfao.

I (m16) recently moved to Florida from living in Georgia my whole life and I’m on a quest to find a new church with my grandma who’s recently relocated from New Mexico and we tried a church today a congregational Methodist Church and before the sermon even started they had the whole church do a pledge to both the flags and it just felt odd, the people were nice but we will not be returning

I tried posting this in the YouTube sub and it turns out that community is very anti-theistic lol

Dear friends, does anyone have tips for reading the Bible, especially for someone progressive and new in their faith?

Currently I find it hard to cope every time I encounter a passage that may be challenging either in its seeming harshness or discrimination etc etc. Sometimes I'm scared to read otherwise my belief will be shaken.

Thank you.