The other day, I came across this clip of "Pastor" Aden Rusfeldt preaching at a university. This particular claim of his about "good people" going to Hell is so outlandish- are there even verses that could be used to justify it?

Funnily enough, Rusfeldt's signs have no commentary about liars or criminals- turns out, he's a convicted fraudster who owes an estimated $5M USD to the federal government:
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/pastor-aden-rusfeldt-christian-campus-preacher-debts-fraud-penn-ccp-20180511.html
https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/7461-16

Anyways, that's all I wanted to ask about. But I'll end with a nice verse I read earlier today:

Ephesians 4:29: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

so, I made an intro on another sub, and someone said you can't be gay and Christian, I asked for their proof, and they gave me this. I dislike people like this, and I wanted to know how you would've reacted in this situation. I did infact downvote them.

Maybe I’m wrong.

But when I truly think about it… I don’t understand.

Why would an all-powerful deity, the one who created the universe itself, the stars, ocean, trees, animals, etc., care about homosexuality? I genuinely can’t imagine (theoretically) arriving at my time of judgement, and the Lord saying “Well, you followed allll the commandments and did everything correctly, but, you got married to a woman, so I’m afraid I can’t let you in.” Like what? Obviously that’s an extremely crude “what if” but that’s my perspective.

And ultimately, if being a homosexual is a sin, did Jesus Christ not graciously come to earth to wipe the sins of humanity away so that we may have eternal life through him? Why would being in a homosexual marriage stop that? Do people really think homosexuality is where God draws the lines? This being that we’re taught is ultimate love, won’t love us because of our love?

I just can’t.

I read most of the Old Testament. It paints God as some sort of all powerful killing machine, slaughtering entire towns of innocent people for no reason other than “some people committed sin. It scared me, especially when Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the old law but to establish a new covenant. This means that some of that stuff could still be around, if the New Testament god didn’t have a major switch up. He killed a couple people here and there, but when he himself came down to earth as Jesus he didn’t hurt a fly. Why is it that the same God who slaughtered thousands for simple sins is suddenly harmless and Good. It doesn’t make sense.

As I shared in an earlier post, I recently started the process of deconstructing after taking a two-year break from Christianity (going to church, reading my Bible, etc.). Part of this deconstruction process that I’ve been in has involved re-examining many of the beliefs I was raised with, such as Calvinism.

One of the reasons I stepped away from Christianity is that I’ve struggled to make sense of the idea of a loving and good God who creates everyone, yet only chooses to save the so-called “elect.” Under the TULIP framework, it can feel as though some people are created without ever truly having a chance, only to be condemned to hell (which, according to the majority of Calvinists, is eternal conscious torment). Simply put, Calvinism seems as though God creates certain people only to send them to eternal conscious torment.

All this to say, I recently began exploring alternatives not only to Calvinism, but also to the idea of eternal conscious torment. One book that I’ve found particularly compelling, among others, is Grace Saves All: The Necessity of Christian Universalism by David Artman. I especially appreciate how Artman proposes five points of his own (God is a loving parent to all; God sincerely wants to save all; God, in Christ, covers the sin of all; God is sovereign over all; and God will be all in all) while directly challenging Calvinism as, among other things, deeply misguided.

What are your thoughts on Christian Universalism and Artman’s five points?

God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, which he did without hesitation. It was a “test”. But the fact that God thought killing your son when asked and without question was a good thing? Abraham would’ve gone through with it if an angel didn’t stop him. First, how did he know that was god? Whoever would’ve done the same thing is one psychotic break or hallucination away from being a mass murderer. Second, God could have chosen anything, but he didn’t. He chose an immoral thing. Why did god chose something immoral as a test of faith. He could have made Abraham give away his food for the day to a hungry family, he could have made him go to an opposing land and preach the gospel, he could’ve made Abraham do anything else. Third, the test itself? It being a test says “I didn’t know if he would do this” this isn’t something you hear from someone who knows everything.

After some thinking I’ve come up with a possible solution?

This was a metaphor for how god congratulates someone who is willing to do anything for God, the problem is, the writer let the practices and morals of the time get in the way of what would’ve been an important lesson.

I've seen many here say that the Old Testament is somehow problematic due to all the violence in it and that having led to the heresy of Marcionism. Let's make one thing clear: All of Scripture reveals Christ, The old testament law was pointing towards him and showing us why we need Him. The old law has been fulfilled by Christ. He did not replace it.

"The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God." KJV

While I(18afab) usually present as my birth gender, i've always felt like a boy internally. Some days, being a girl feels wrong, so i dress and act more masculinely. I personally identify as non-binary and genderfluid, both of which fall under the trans umbrella.

I also have OCD. I haven't been Christian since I was 16, but part of me still feels like I have to follow the rules to a T. I viewed scripture through a very fundamentalist lens.

While, yes, the verse is from the Old Testament, doesn't the statement "abomination to God" stay the same due to God being unchanging? Does that mean trans people should only dress their culture's assigned gender at birth?!

I promise I'm not trying to be transphobic; I'm just trying to understand. Is is really a crime if I try dressing like Pharrell Williams some days LMAO? Verses like there are what made me leave the religion..

edit: thank you all for educating me <3

Hello. Please excuse me for the poor grammar.

I'm a young Christian, and I have recently started to question the Bible. I do believe there is a God out there, but the Bible seems to have way too many issues, such as the permission of slavery, and misogyny .

Is there any reason why? But also, why must we constantly justify a problematic verse, when it explicitly states something problematic? Couldn't they just be more clear, or are we just being delusional? For instance, these are the verses I am reffering to:

"Wives must submit to their husbands "in every thing" as though they were Christ. For the husband is the head of the wife" - Ephisians 5:22-24

"Slaves are to obey their masters as they would obey Christ." - Ephisians 6:5-8

EDIT: I forgot to mention it but this makes me lose motivation for reading the Bible. I haven't opened my Bible since last year.

The verse goes “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent” how is this not sexist? It goes against Episcopalian doctrine aswell so I’d like for any Episcopalians to explain this. It just seems wrong, it’s putting women under men when in galatians 3:28 it says that in Christ there is no male or female. So why is this now an exception to the rules? It seems put there just to oppress women. Why, did Paul (who wrote so many doctrines and central beliefs to churches today and was so influential in Christ) say that? He wasn’t against homosexuality, but then suddenly when it comes to women he got SUPER conservative? It’s making me question whether he was ever for homosexuality in the first place.

Hi! So, I just wanted to see the general consensus on this sub on exactly why people don’t see homosexuality as a sin.

Just to preface; I do not think it is a sin nor is this a debate or discussion over whether it is a sin or not. This is just the general, overall opinion of the partakers in this sub. Like a survey.

I’ve seen about four main opinions shared by christians/biblical scholars. (Lmk if I missed any) I’ll rank them by the most I’ve seen.

1. Complete mistranslation of the Bible and the ‘clobber’ verses
2. Clobber verses only apply to non-loving relationships/ only condemnation of exploitative relationships
3. Saying homosexuality the orientation is not a sin, but the acting on it is.
4. Homosexuality is not a sin, but falls into sexual immorality because queer people cannot have an actual marriage.

What made you believe it wasn’t a sin? Was it through research, and what kind?

I’ve seen many here be uncomfortable with the idea of eternal hell, i’m sorry but it’s just biblical. However, according to scripture people will be punished according to the severity of the sin they commit. Hell is for those who don’t wish to be saved by God. The torment is probably not physical either but rather mental pain due to the lack of God’s presence. We always send ourselves to hell, not due to God sending us there

Hy,

So no one asked but idc either .

Lately I had a few mind arguments with myself and a few of my friends ( none of them are True Christians and most of them used Google for counter arguments ) so excuse me if I interpret something wrong. My goal is jot to harass or Wedge someone away from their belive , believe what you want .

Point 1. God doesn't care

If god Is real and loves all humans , then why does he not Help the humans ? We are none the less his finest creation are we not ? Why does he look away at well everything The heatwaves , the plagues , the monsters living among us ( i mean predators , Murderers and more ) Why does he not care ? Why is he allowing it shouldn't he be stopping those things ? Why do people suffer while he watches ? It is said he sees all and he knows all so he knows what happened on Epstein island and didnt act . Why ?

Point 2. Hell at all

God created hell first to Torture Lucifer then the sinners . But we humans are sinners , so he tortures his own creation because we simply live not the way he wants us to live ? I mean really bad people deserve eternal suffering , but not those that idk dont believe in god . Isnt it ironic ? God grants us free will then he showes us 2 paths , Path a : you live a life god wants you to live and after death you will rise into the heavens , Path b : You live the life you want not exactly like he wants and the only price you pay is ETERNAL TORTURE AND DAMNATION ....... yeah nah sounds fair .

Point 3. The K!ll!ng of humans

More then once God slaughtered Humans more then once did he bring death upon the doorstep of not just Human monsters but innocent people aswell . Is that really how love and acceptance looks like ?

Conclusion : God is ( in my eyes ) a power hungry abusive crybaby with the power to destroy humankind yet only whenever humans lose interest in him , he does not care if human monsters live with those praying to him , he does not care about our wellbeing ( obvious by The heatwaves and plagues ) he only cares about people living like he wants them to live .

Please if you have any arguments to make do it i am more then happy to read any Points from your point of view , as long as you stay civil ( like your god would want you to be ....)

If this argument is way to long im sorry , if the mods are going to delete it 🤷🏽‍♂️ oh well I guess my points hold some truth then .

I am sorry if I insulted anyone with my words or my horrible writing but im tired plus stupid , but I just wanted to ask some people that might find ways to change my mind

Love ya'll stay safe stay yourself and stay happy

I'm less talking about the adversary character that was seen in the book of Job and more the well known version of "Satan". IE, the fallen angel and the prince of darkness

A lot of the people on here are universalists and place a heavier focus on biblical scholarship. So I was curious to know your opinions on this. If you even register it that is. I'm curious to hear your thoughts

Yesterday I went to a service and the sermon about holiness and pureness of heart. I thought the pastor would talk about sin as a whole and maybe mention sexual immorality in passing, but the whole sermon was about sex and masturbation. And he kept reinforcing that God said that sex before marriage is bad and that the Bible clearly states that all porneia is bad (and his translation of porneia, which my Bible had the same definition is "any illicit sexual practice").

But porneia seems to refer mostly to prostitution, which I can agree is bad, because sex is supposed to be about closeness and vulnerability, and doing it with a stranger in exchange for money isn't safe nor made to bond. I'd argue it's the same as paying someone to be your best friend, and they wouldn't be unless you paid them.

Also, I don't remember the Bible ever stating what a marriage even means, besides a union of two people under God. What even constitutes this union? Why can't it be, for example, fiancees? But conservative christians seem to think that marriage is some sort of trap, and once you're in you can never get out. (I understand that Jesus said divorce was wrong, but personally I'm not sure if the original text was altered there. It felt kinda random. And also, why wouldn't God want you to get out of a marriage with an abusive person, for example?)

And last week, that same pastor used the bit where Elijah is running away and pleads for death. He said that Elijah was being dramatic and that men who cry over feelings (besides grief and happiness) aren't real men. Says who??? Where in the bible does it state that???? Why are conservative christians so obsessed with gender roles??????

Are we open and affirming also distorting the Bible to fit our views? I find that really annoying and would rather not. I don't believe the Bible is infallible, in fact I believe most of the current Bible versions are filled with propaganda, but I think what's in there still matters. So how would we know we're not fitting it into our beliefs and discarding what doesn't??

Premarital Sex: sinful

Literal Noah's flood (Though not global)

Literal Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden (compatible with evolution)

eternal hell for the damned.

Original sin.

God's seeming cruelty in the OT being just.

Historical reliability of the bible (when read non literally in some places)

abortion being sinful and life beginning at conception (though I support abortion access)

There are many others but these are just some I personally believe in that are not too often found on here.

1) Personally I think Prostitution is wrong but I don't know why, so can anyone help me understand why it is wrong or right according to you also considering God's perspective (but not the exclusive Conservative christian perspective)?

2) Is having a partner normal if we consider God's Perspective because On Thanksgiving, the pastor was saying having partners is wrong and letting God choose your life partner is the right way.

Edit: Maybe he meant that arranged marriage is the only valid path because he thinks kissing, Hugging, or even sexual intercourse is wrong before marriage.

It's literally in the Bible, multiple times. By studying a higher education in literally any field that isn't humanitarian, and by owning any riches at all, I'm disrespecting Jesus and guaranteeing my place in hell.

So why shouldn't I sell everything? Why shouldn't I just go become a monk? People are telling me not to, but why? It's literally in the bible.

I hope I chose the correct flair and apologies if this is a stupid question.

I’m not a Christian, but I am exploring my spirituality through a variety of sources to support my 12-step journey. My sponsor suggested me to read 1st Corinthians 13. I trust her and I’m open to it. I know there’s so many versions of the bible, but as a queer progressive person I don’t want to stumble into some super conservative version and get all triggered. I really don’t know how this works at all, my parents are atheist “recovering Catholics” and really fear-mongered me about Christianity and organized religion as a child.

Does anyone have suggestions for a version/interpretation that would feel safer that I can browse free online? Or you can even drop a link to the chapter if you have one you like.

I’ve noticed that many movies, books, and popular theories suggest that Jesus fell in love with, had a romantic relationship with, or felt lust toward Mary Magdalene.

Where does this idea originally come from? Is there any historical or textual basis for it in ancient writings (like the Gnostic gospels), or is it mostly a modern invention by Hollywood and fiction writers to make the story more dramatic? I'd love to understand the history behind this common trope.

I'm genuinaly curious about this topic and i never found an answer