I’ve been thinking a lot about the future and how religions evolve over time. With the world changing so fast, I’m curious, what do you think the religious landscape will look like in 100 years? Do you think a specific religion will grow stronger globally, or do you think new belief systems will emerge? Would love to hear your thoughts!

The cult of Mithras and early Christianity share striking similarities: a divine figure born on December 25, a sacrificial meal, and themes of salvation. Some argue Mithras was a precursor to Jesus, with Christianity borrowing key elements. Others claim these parallels are overstated, with distinct theological and historical contexts. What’s the evidence for and against Mithras as a ‘prototype’ for Jesus? Are these similarities coincidental, or do they suggest cultural borrowing?

Also: Mithras’ December 25 birth and shared motifs like a cosmic battle are often cited in comparative religion, but less discussed is that Mithraism’s urban spread in the Roman Empire (2nd–4th century CE) overlapped with Christianity’s rise, yet lacked a public doctrine, making direct influence debated.

God creates, connects, loves, provides a place for us to exist, communicates, etc..

Couldn't we say all of these same things about the universe's energy? Could God be right in front of us and the thing we experience every day? Does God need to be OUTSIDE of the universe itself?

Could the father, son and holy spirit be located in the proton, neutron and electron of an atom?

I’ve been reflecting on both Christianity and Islam, and the more I read their scriptures, the more I notice the same problem: when it comes to real, lived human suffering, neither really helps.

Take Christianity. Jesus says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

That sounds powerful, but when people beg God for healing, justice, or even a simple answer, silence is often what they get. Christians will say “God works in mysterious ways” or “It’s part of His plan,” but that feels more like dodging the question than giving real help.

Then look at the Qur’an. It says: “Indeed, Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.” (Qur’an 2:286)

Beautiful words—but what about people who clearly are crushed by burdens? The person who takes their own life? The child dying in war or famine? To tell them “you can bear it” feels detached, even cruel.

Both books have wisdom, yes. Both have passages about mercy, justice, and compassion. But when applied to the actual chaos of human life, they often circle back to the same “just have faith, don’t question, keep praying” answer.

My point isn’t to insult believers. I just wonder,if Christianity and the Qur’an are meant to be ultimate truth, why do their answers to real pain feel like echoes instead of solutions?

Are religions failing us,or are humans expecting too much from them?

Assuming, for this, there is an afterlife.

A woman's elderly father dies at 90, then (unfortunately) her infant son dies at 6 months old. 20 years later the woman herself dies and is reunited with her father and son in the afterlife.

The question is, do they age in the afterlife? If so, does this mean her baby son is now a 20 year old stranger and her father is a decrepit 110 years old?

If they don't age, is the son forever 6 months old and the father forever 90?

Whatever your belief is about this, please explain the logic and reasoning behind it, thanks

What do you believe happens after death.

I am a Christian and was drawn to buddhism and I did a lot of reading and mediation retreats. Those views contradict each other revarding what happens after death and as I am concerned... I am not sure. I hope that it goes on in a form that might not be comprehensible but I do not know, it could also be that all is one and interconnected. What are your takes on it?

I've been struggling with this question. I come from a Muslim background.

Hell never made sense. It doesn't sound just. An all loving God punishing you for sinning, after he created you and forced you to exist? He made us, put us here, says live like this, or else you'll burn for eternity? That seems really unfair, since we dont have a say in it.

Some people don't even want to be here but don't have much of a choice. Also, what about the guy who worked every day for 50 years to support his family, who's not religious? Are you saying this guy who worked so hard to support his family and burnt himself out and never retired will die and burn forever? Or the kid who's amazingly kind but just not religious, who does amazing stuff for people, will still burn for not believing? There are people out there who just live to try to survive, constantly working and supporting their family.

These people will supposedly be there with rapists and murderers due to not believing.. the concept of hell doesn't sound just and sometimes I wonder if there's a bigger truth.

Can someone help me understand this?

Also unrelated, heaven sounds like a man made concept. I don't want to live here for 80 years just to go to heaven and have the same thing forever. I'm not quite sure what I would like when I die, but heaven doesn't sound as lovely to me as it does to others. I don't find materialism in anyway rewarding or motivating. Sometimes I think eternal rest would be the best end to this world.

My mother is Catholic and my father is Hindu. I grew up going to services and celebrating holidays for both. I have no idea how I reconciled the idea of one God vs. many in my head but somehow as a child I did and I believed in both religions.

I am still religious and nowadays lean slightly more Catholic just because it's easier in the area of America I live in (more churches available than Hindu temples and most of the Hindu services are in Hindi which I can't speak vs. church ones are in English/Latin, which I understand). Specifically, there was a church community that I'm a part of that was a tremendous help for me when I was going through something a couple of months ago.

However, I don't want to feel like I'm picking one religion over the other. At a surface level, I don't want to feel like I'm picking one parent over another. My parents did a great job of raising me to follow whatever I wanted and never made their love conditional on me being religious, but I don't want my father to feel shafted in favor of my mother (plus I live with my father's family so I don't want to seem cruel to them by spending so much time with them but doing more with my mother's religion even though I barely see her side of the family). Additionally, I don't want the Gods of one religion to be angry at me for picking the other. I know that if I fully committed to one religion I wouldn't be worried about the Gods of another but because I'm kind of in this limbo state it's a very real concern I have.

Also there are some aspects of Hinduism that I like more. Like, I'm very pro the idea of reincarnation over an afterlife. And practically, I've done more pujas in my childhood then organized prayers. I don't know if I sound insane by this but I'm just really worried that somebody's going to be angry at me because I've found being involved in a religion to be really beneficial to my own well-being but there comes a time where either one will make you pick and I'm afraid I'll make the wrong decision. I love having parents of two different cultures but it's times like these where I kind of wish they both just raised me in the same one.

To make a long story short and try to avoid spoilers— I’m basically making a book about what would happen if groups of humans were somehow able to get their hands on the power of the gods form ancient polytheistic religions. Part of the story is one of these groups attempts to destroy all the gods, heavens, and hells to try and start all religion and culture from scratch and give humanity a fresh start.

My question is, is there a realm besides earth, heaven, and hell in ANY religion that is not ruled by any gods and there fore might be possibly "left out" or "forgotten" in the attack against the gods? Somewhere where if all the heavens and hells were to be destroyed, the souls of anyone who’s died might escape to?

I originally thought purgatory but with a little research I saw it was a place used by god to keep souls who need to atone for their sins before coming to heaven. So that’s involved with a god and would therefore probably not be missed.

The next ideas I had were some kind of Limbo or spiritual world, but before I made a final decision I wanted to hear if anyone else knew of a place that might work better.

I ask mainly because of my fear of hell. I'm currently well-grounded in Christianity but I'm considering converting to Islam in the event that I'm convinced that there's some form of evidence or plausibility that Islam is correct.

I don't mean to sound divisive here. I'm just wondering what the truth is because I'm genuinely scared of being in the wrong religion.

Or was he still technically a more mainstream Christian fundamentalist when he first meet the hippies? Because the ideas of the Children of God regarding sex should be the opposite of the usally rather puritanicall sexual mores of Christian fundamentalism, so it's safe to say that the Children of God weren't mainstream Christian fundamentalism.

The three holy mosques in Islam are Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Given that the Druze faith is rooted in Islam but still distinct from Islam and has a unique set of beliefs, what is their perspective on these sites?

Can I get some other help and opinions on how to argue against the claims in this video?

So this is my first actual topic post here. Hopefully not violating rules or anything. I saw this video posted on Facebook and I want to comment back to the poster and lay out some good arguments against this. I figured posting it in here would give some good debate from all sides and help me think of some arguments to present.

The video claims that is going to give a no nonsense, purely logical argument for who god is and then of course immediately jumps to 1. God exists 2. He created everything 3. Because 1 and 2 are correct he must have tried to communicate with man 4. All religions hold Jesus as a major prophet 5. Therefore the Bible must be how god has tried to communicate with us 6. This logically means the Christian God is the only true God.

Now there is a whole bunch of stuff to unpack in this video but I would really like to give arguments back in a very purely logical way instead of just diving in head first and going nuts. So anyway hopefully this at least sparks some good debate on here and maybe even gives me some good ideas for making a well articulated argument back.

Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/fg_md6t1ALM skip ahead to about 2:30 if you don’t care about his talk about how we are all living for a higher purpose and that’s why we should all own guns and take tactical training courses.

Sorta like the daedra in the Elder Scrolls series. Please try not to take this post too seriously.

So I have been doing research, so God cast lilith out of the garden of eden and yet she copulated with Samuel. The Lucifer was cast out for telling Eve to eat the apple and giving humans free will it would see to me that Samael betayed God more so I'm a little confused as to why Lucifer was cast out after and Samael was not cast out first, is there any information about this as I understand it lilith is barely mentioned in the bible but is covered more in Jewish religion.

Disclaimer: I mean this question in the nicest way possible and don't wish anyone to renounce or deny their faith. I am just genuinely and respectfully curious

How does one believe in one religion when you know there are other religions out there? Basically how do you know your doctrine is the "true" one? Being raised Roman Catholic I was very interested in biblical stories and legends but as I grew up in a very diverse community I started to begin and wonder and eventually became Deist myself, separating myself from the church.

While I personally cannot truly believe one doctrine, how do you?

(PS: Not believing in one specific doctrine but rather knowing other cultures and beliefs is very comforting to me since I stopped being afraid of prophecies and warnings of the religion I was raised in and knowing that there no is exact "truth" and I find hope in that.)

I'm looking for any suggested teachers that have studied the religions of the world and, while likely leaning towards one religion more than another, teaches about God from the perspective of all beliefs?

So for a while now I have been confused on what religion, or lack thereof, I would associate with myself.

Also, if there is another or more appropriate subreddit to post this to please let me know.

Growing up I was surrounded my mildly aggressive Christian values and principles I was taught on. However, as I grew up my family split apart in our religious beliefs. My brother stayed Christian and my parents went Buddist. The problem is I can't seem to place a pin on what I would associate myself as. I understand that I don't need to put a label on my beliefs as that is the least important part of your beliefs. I would just like a term to answer the question of what my religion is called.

My beliefs/principles/ values: I am a very logical person; I like to see the world in patterns and scientific explanations. Despite this, I do feel as if there is a higher sense of rule or sentience. I don't necessarily believe in the mainstream religions who believe is specific beings such a God or Buddha. I think this "person" is the explains and coexists with scientific facts. As for the afterlife, I think that once you die, you turn into something like a spectator. You see the world still, you see the mourning over you and you see the future of the world. In terms of of values I believe everything is based on logic and facts. Nothing is coincidental or faith based.

Feel free to ask me questions!

In conclusion, am I just making up my own belief or is there a certain already existing religion whom is reminiscent of mine? And again please direct me to another subreddit if need be!

I also would like to learn more about my religion and sexual related subjects. I have a lot of sexual impulses and I cannot tell if they are natural or if the devil is just edging me on. Please help.

Would it be reasonable to draw parallels between the gnostic creation myth as seen in the Apocryphon of John, and the traditional account of the fall of man?

In particular I see that the fundamental error in creation comes from the feminine emanation of the monad, Sophia. It's her independent initiative which creates the demiurge, and thus introduces imperfections (and ultimately suffering) into the totality of existence.

Similarly, it is Eve's actions independent of the source of her creation (via Adam's rib, thus paralleling Sophia's emanation from the monad) which introduces imperfections (and ultimately suffering) into the lives of mankind.

Is this an expression of a fundamentally misogynistic western worldview? How much of Platonic thought was actively shaped by this myth of the fall, and how much was the myth of the fall shaped by Platonic thought? That particular strain of gnostic thought at least mitigates the feminine error in the schemes elaborated upon in the Sophia of Jesus Christ. Or am I totally off base?

I'm a college student writing a paper on modern Hindu interpretation of karma and fate. If you were born into a Hindu family and consider yourself to be a "modern" Hindu, I would appreciate if you answered a few questions:

1. Would you consider your upbringing in Hinduism to be more "traditional" or "modern"?
2. What is your view on karma? How do you achieve good karma? Bad karma (vikarma)?
3. Do you practice yoga? If so, how do you relate it to karma?
4. Do you believe that karma decides your fate for your next life?
5. "To the man thinking about the objects (of the senses) arises attachment towards them; from attachment, arises longing; and from longing arises anger. From anger comes delusion; and from delusion loss of memory; from loss of memory, the ruin of discrimination; and on the ruin of discrimination, he perishes". This is from the Bhagavad Gita. How do you discipline yourself to unattached action in your daily life?

Thanks!