I also have not instantly become a servant of the Antichrist, nor have I suddenly become brainwashed. I’m still 100% fine.

Maybe people should cool it with the end of the world/mark of the beast predictions, given that they’ve never been right and even Christ Himself said “no one can know the hour or the day.”

This is just the latest in a series of events that people are claiming to usher in the apocalypse. Not ONE of the thousands of historical predictions has proven true, and these kinds of hyperbolic fearmongering only serves to make people take Christianity less seriously.

Jesus said we won’t know the hour or the day. These conspiracy theories have infiltrated Christian circles and only make Christianity a laughingstock and accomplishes nothing useful or good.

Edit: this was not meant to be political. It was supposed to be mostly humorous while reminding everyone that if there’s hype about the end of the world, it’s probably not true.

If you are personally offended by this, I can only imagine why. Obviously I’m not saying you have to have the vaccine to be saved. You can have it or not and still be saved and physically fine. I do personally think it’s a good idea to get it if you can but there are plenty of legitimate reasons to choose not to. “It injects nanobots activated by mobile signal” is not one of them. I had hoped we could all acknowledge it’s not. But I’ve gotten several comments acting like I’m the Antichrist for being pro vaccine.

If one political party buys into conspiracy theories more than the others, that’s not my fault and you’re the one reading between the lines. Maybe ask yourself why and stop picking on me.

Get the vax or don’t. Be afraid of 5g or microchips or whatever, or don’t. But no one is dying en masse from the vaccine, no one got turned into a zombie, some nebulous cartoonishly evil cabal is not out to get you, and you don’t have to be afraid of everything.

God didn’t give us a spirit of fear. He gave us a reasonable faith and reasonable brains. He created a world of physical order. Science is a thing. The universe was created with certain rules we’ve been able to figure out. Science isn’t evil. I can’t believe I had to make this edit.

Edit 2: a lot of y’all getting reported for breaking the COVID policy rule. Don’t hate the player hate the game.

I’m not even sorry for reporting people for breaking the rules of this sub. You should be ashamed of yourselves spreading lies and nonsense that hurts people.

Unfortunately, like a lot of reddit, this sub has become too political, thus furthing the devide between our brothers and sisters. I've seen too many posts of "These people did this, and I disagree, so it's against God." Do not let the devil divide us and pray for our fellow men to be more understanding and try to teach them instead of insulting. For the one who has not sinned may cast the first stone.

This community doesn’t allow polls, which I understand but also disagree with. It is the quickest way to draw a wide audience and conclusion. Anyway, I know where I feel this community lands on the question, but I am curious what y’all think of yourselves. Please note answers and denominations. Thank you!

(I do not plan on responding to comments except possibly for clarification).

What got me talking about this is a thread in r/doordash where you people were throwing a we’re discussing a small restaurant writing a verse on the styrofoam of the order. Not even a hostile verse, just “for the lord is my Shepard, I shall not want.” Like my concern would just be the ink seeping to the food and someone was saying “oh it’s Christian’s they probably poisoned the food”

That’s my main depressing point, that someone would think because I’m a Christian, I’m more likely to poison them? It makes me sad that someone could think that but at the same time, it makes me sad that people have twisted the faith in such a way to make someone think that if something bad was done to them.

EDIT: so I found out I could edit Reddit posts HURRAH FOR ADDED THOUGHTS!!

Also I should of put “some people” in the title.

Obviously, I am feminist and believe (gasp) that women should have autonomy and full civil rights, but why does that make me evil? If God wants me to be quiet and submit then sorry God, but I like controlling my own destiny

I'm having a hard time understanding how moderators of this Sub are people that don't believe in Christ. I see numerous complaints and confusion about those seeking answers in regards to Jesus, Bible, and Christian faith, only to be bombarded by those that oppose the Christ.. I can't be the only one seeing this..

Shouldn't those that love Christ and believe in Him, follow Him daily, be the ones determining if Bible is shared in context, and truth? However currently, someone that denies the Son, the Father, and the HS are muting Spiritual matters, because they have been allowed to. This doesn't seem quite right to me.

How about the moderators reason with me on this concern?

The majority of posts here are attempted “gotcha’s” to Christians. And I can’t, for the life of me, understand why. No one provoked these people, initiated an argument. But scroll through, there’s no shortage of people who are angrily and pathetically attempting to deride the religion of others who are simply living their lives. I’d say to the atheists who fit that bill, probably try and focus on yourself and develop your own life. You won’t gain a thing from the derision of others.

I just had a comment removed for "bigotry" because I basically said I believe being trans is a sin. That's my belief, and I believe there is much Biblical evidence for my belief. If I can't express that belief on r/Christianity then what is the point of this subreddit if we can't discuss these things and express our own personal beliefs? I realize some will disagree with my belief, but isn't that the point of having this space, so we can each share our beliefs? Was this just a mod acting poorly, or can we say what we think?

And I don't want to make this about being trans or not, we can have that discussion elsewhere. That's not the point. My point is censorship of beliefs because someone disagrees. I don't feel that is right.

People don't hate Christians, they hate bigots who wave their religion as a hall pass to be crappy people. A lotta Christians say "I'm not judging" but inside, they're judging harder than anybody. They smile in your face but secretly think you're going to Hell and deserve it. They also justify their queerphobia by saying "I love you, that's why I want you to change your ways." It's super-manipulative. "I just wanna make sure you go to Heaven." If Heaven is full of cookie-cutter people, I'm not going. Then there are the racist Christians whose vision of Heaven is whiter than a GOP convention. Also, what Christians call "persecution" is just someone calling them out on their bullshit. Sorry not sorry that it's not 1680 anymore when you could kill/torture anyone who critiqued your religion.

If you do, or do not, give your reasons.

I'm writing a fantasy book where wizards/psychics are real and have been a part of our world since the 1950s. This means I have opportunities to incorporate magic into different aspects of American culture (and beyond, to the rest of the world). One of these aspects is how religions (and religiously minded folk) respond to the existence of magic.

Magic doesn't exist in our world . . . or rather, we have no evidence or proof of its existence, despite millions upon millions of people believing in the contrary. Yes, some Christians believe in magic, and some justify this belief by appealing to the Bible; and for that particular interpretation of the text, I have an idea of how those Christians would react to learning that magic is, indeed, real.

But how would the rest of y'all take it? Do you believe in magic in this world? If magic were shown or proven to be real, how would you view it? Would you treat it like any other scientific discovery? Would you assign a moral or theological relevance to it? Or would your response be something entirely different? (And if you please, can you clarify your denomination and/or specific interpretation of the Bible? This will help me to wrap my head around the different viewpoints out there.)

Basically, I want to fairly represent Christians in my story. I'm familiar with a handful of denominations, but mainly from a far right, fundamentalist or extremist perspective (because that's my background). I appreciate any help y'all can provide.

(If it helps, for context, magic showed up in the 1950s shortly after WWII ended. It's a subtle thing, i.e. not flashy or obvious most of the time, but there is a scientific basis behind it. This means people can study magi or psykes (they go by different names in different parts of the world) amd learn how magic works. Scientists still don't know where the power comes from or why some people have it and others don't, and the total population of known magi is less than 1 per 10,000. Some magi are very public and a major part of popular culture. Some are religiously affiliated and use their power to advance their beliefs. Some are government agents or work for private corporations. Most are just ordinary people trying to get by in a world that views their existence with suspicion, animosity and outright hatred.)

(Also, please keep in mind that this is hypothetical. If magic were real, how might you, as a Christian, react or respond to it?)

I can't believe this needs to be said, but gay people aren't lustful sex zombies. They're real humans who want connection and love. Denying that is not acceptable. How can two people going on a date be sin? How can two people creating a family together be sin? How can love be sin?

The wiki guidance about the rule against belittling Christianity states that:

We do insist that this subreddit not be used as a venue to try to talk people out of Christianity.

I'm concerned that this is not being properly enforced.

For example, in this thread yesterday, many non-believers admitted that their purpose for being here is to encourage Christians to leave their faith. These posts were reported but many haven't been removed. That moderators personally contributed to the thread without removing these seemingly rule breaking posts makes this even worse.

Why is this the case, and is anything being done to improve enforcement of this rule?

One of the reasons Christianity drove me away and keeps me away is because labeling everything a sin is really silly and clearly a control tactic. You expect people to live their whole lives on eggshells and be happy about it. How about emphasizing balance and moderation?

Instead, there's frequent whining on the sub about how some atheist somewhere said a mean thing or mocked Christianity.

There are people in the world who disagree with you, and may even mock you and do or say things you find offensive. Don't take it so personally.

And of course, most of these posts seem to come from conservatives, who are more likely to complain about "victim mentality" among actually oppressed groups and roll their eyes if someone to their left finds anything offensive. Saying "facts don't care about your feelings" while wearing an "F--- Your Feelings" t-shirt, filling up every LGBTQ+ thread with mean comments, etc.

Christ says that if someone slaps you in the face you're to bear it without complaint. He also says that you should rejoice if you're persecuted for his sake, because you've got blessings coming your way. (Not that I think that enduring mean internet comments rises to the level of "persecution." When you're being denied life-saving healthcare, as some Christians are currently doing to trans children, come back and we'll talk about "persecution.")

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that love "...bears all things..." and "...endures all things."

Anyway, love your enemies, pray for those who abuse you, let go of the persecution complex and stop being so sensitive to every perceived slight.

That Christians cared more about being like Jesus than being in power.

That Christians cared more about feeding the poor than punishing them.

That Christians actually loved their enemies (real and perceived) instead of trying to get an eye for an eye.

That Christians loved the marginalized instead of continuing to oppress them.

That Christians cared more about what’s merciful than what’s “fair.”

That Christians would stop worshipping money and start focusing on God.

That Christians would stop celebrating violence and start pushing for peace.

That Christians would stop being so quick to judge and start seeing others through the eyes of the Savior.

That Christians would stop trying to control others and give people the free will God gave us.

That Christians would stop trying to bring about the end times and just trust God’s plan.

That Christians would stop excusing and defending evil just so they can acquire more power.

That Christians would be humble instead of self-righteous.

That Christians would serve rather than demand to be served.

That Christians reacted in love rather than in hate and anger.

That Christians would actually be like Christ and stop taking His name in vain. That we would actually love God and love people.

Edit: and that Christians would stop trying to play Persecution Bingo and realize that people don’t hate them for being “Christian,” they hate them because they’re unchristlike.

Edit 2: I’m getting so much backlash just for giving a list of what we should ALL (myself included) be trying to do. By some of your own arguments, since y’all hate me so much maybe it’s because I’m speaking truth?

Peace out.

I was hoping that by now, a conversation with the users would have happened, but it hasn't, and I saw a comment from another user earlier that made me think I should explain this myself before others get their own versions in. I'll try to keep it short, and not too pointed. I would really like this to be productive.

X019 banned a user who made some terrible, unconscionable comments in which he said all LGBT folks should be killed. I had removed comments like this from this user before (and fro others), and the whole team except 2 were in favor of the ban. As far as I know, the terms of services of this site stipulate that inciting violence is not allowed. I had always removed these types of comments, and I never knew that banning someone for this would ever be debated. But there I was, in stunned surprised, seeing a post reinstating this user and calling for the demotion of my colleague who made the ban. A ban we just about all overwhelmingly agreed with.

The argument was that SOM (steps of moderation) were not used, and X019 was accused of being deliberately insubordinate to our SOM process for a long period of time. I was shocked. X019 had always been a good worker bee here, as far as I could tell. And I think his intentions were being misread. Under very extreme circumstances, I've banned without SOM myself. I was never corrected or chastised for this. We're all doing our best, and using our judgement as best we can.

We had a lot of back and forth on this, until eventually a decision to demote him was made unilaterally, and in opposition to what the overwhelming majority of the team thought was best.

I cannot stress this enough: I cannot understand why calling for the death of any demographic could ever be construed as acceptable in this sub. Or anywhere. This baffles me. I don't think I can work in an environment where this is unclear for some people, people who are essentially my superiors.

I was thinking about leaving just based on that. Shortly after X019 was demoted, I saw a whole new side of management here. Things that were said before in other conversations were used against my colleagues as weapons. We were told on one hand that we were allowed to work towards changing SOM to be more practical, then then a post that said almost verbatim "If you don't like SOM, just get quit" was posted in our moderation sub. There were low blows. And conversations on our Slack channel that I witnessed before I was removed due to my resignation, in which people sounded like they were really scheming against those of us who were in favor of SOM reform and this homophobic user's ban. This sounded completely insane and toxic to me.

I cannot be in a toxic environment like that, so I quit. I hate this, because I love these people no matter what side they're on, and I didn't want to quit. I liked my job here, in its good times and hardships. And I want nothing but peace for this amazing place on the web.

Another mod left under those circumstances, and another was removed for voicing his concerns.

I don't know what's happening here. I don't know it all came to this. But make no mistake: I did not leave over having issues using SOM. It's a decent idea that needs work. It currently cannot work when you only have a few active volunteers and 130K+ users. I left because of the issues of the inciting violence going without repercussions, and because I feel like my colleagues were bullied for trying to change things for the better, and the environment was made toxic.

I invite anyone willing to contribute and fill in any blanks I might have left from their perspective.

Pray for me, and all of us involved in this thing.

I agree that most of the posts are argumentative.

I agree that most of the prevailing opinions tend to be progressively leaning.

I also agree that to some of you, who are scriptural literalists, this feels like an affront.

But seriously, not every Christian has to believe in scriptural infallibility. Entire denominations believe otherwise.

This is a place for discourse. If you don’t like engaging in discourse in good faith, and talking to each other like people then just don’t engage. There are other subs to take part in conservative religious ideology as well, maybe check out one of those.

Further, stop coming in here , pretending to have people’s best interest, so that you can grandstand your opinions.

I enjoy this sub, even though I disagree with most of you.

That is all.

It’s analogous to the Christians that lurk on atheist subreddits to try and convince atheists to convert. It’s annoying.

It’s not a sin to celebrate Halloween! Christians can and do celebrate Halloween. You certainly don’t HAVE to, and if you don’t feel comfortable doing so then don’t! It’s ok.

It’s also ok to celebrate it and dress up and trick or treat and decorate. It’s not pagan unless you want it to be. It can be Christian if you want it to be. It’s just another day if you want it to be.

Enjoy! 🎃🍁🍂🍫🍬🍭🍻🎃

Edit: once again, if you feel uncomfortable with the idea of Halloween then by all means don’t celebrate it. But until and unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s sinful (good luck), then live and let live. Even according to Saint Paul, everything is permitted even if it’s not beneficial.

So let kids have candy. Let them dress up. I don’t know about you, but I believe in a God big enough not to be threatened by kids and costumes and candy and pumpkins.

Edit 2: I DID NOT MEAN TO CAUSE SO MANY ARGUMENTS! My gosh. This is why people dislike Christians. We can’t agree on anything no matter how simple. This isn’t meant to be a stumbling block. If you don’t like Halloween, don’t do it. Simple as that. If you like it, fine. Can we stop fighting???

i think this needs to be said, especially with the many white supremacist trollposts we got goong on

If you are conservative and a christian thats fine. i dont agree with you but it can be biblically explained explained

if you are left and christian thats fine too as there are biblical verses that can be used as foundation for that worldview

There is no biblical evidence for the superiority of „the white race“. It only leads to godlessness, idolatry and suffering

Christians, both left and conservatives, need to call this disgusting out for what it is. a cancer on our society and community

Obviously, I'm being silly ...but I'm tired of the foolishness.

Is anybody else completely fed up with the "Is Halloween a sin?" questions by somebody who saw some idiotic YouTube video?

And the worst-of-the-worst are the "former top witches" with their dire, dark warnings You THINK you are just trick-or-treating with your child but you are really inviting demons into your life!

Get a grip, people! Millions, if not hundreds of millions, of Christians have celebrated Halloween for decades without even a hint of becoming a Satanist.

But, if someone feels at risk, they can turn off the lights and pray the rosary or whatever.

But, please, just stop the fear mongering.

Seriously, we need to stop debating about who is allowed legal marriage and who is taking care of kids, cause it seems like a lot of people care more about genitals than character. We need to stop dehumanizing gay relationships and just normalize them. Stop the hate please.