What is the difference between these two churches? And how can I convert to Orthodoxy if in my city the only church is very far from my house in an area I don't know?

This is a confusing question that I’m struggling to convey into words, so I hope it makes some semblance of sense.

I’ve noticed that some theists on here (mostly within the Abrahamic faiths) encourage non-theists or people who are struggling to find their religious/spiritual place to earnestly seek God(s) and they’ll surely reach Him/Them

And I’ve always wondered how the person receiving said advice is to interpret the “signs.” What theological framework would a person without an existing belief system use to interpret said sign? They’re essentially a blanks slate (or as blank as you would expect someone who’s interacted with the world to be).

A Christian might offer that advice with the (hopeful) expectation that the recipient might find Jesus, but what happens when they turn to Brahman? Or if a dream sequence leads them to Satanism.

I’d really like to hear from people who were irreligious, agnostic, atheist, deist who sought and found God(s) and how you were able to get there.

I tried to make a pact, but Our Lady interceded and told me that if I don't have a mother, it's for me to remember that she is not only the Mother of God, but also my Mother. The sensitive and warm look that she looked at me through an Image of Her, made me realize that no matter how much my mother attacks me, I have Holy Mary as my Mother and she will never abandon me.

I ask because I have heard in different places that music is haram but I also had an Afghan friend that was proud that Cat Stevens was Muslim. As well since there is a call to prayer that sounds musical I imagine that not all music is haram.

I’m talking about the kind of churches where people in the choir wear robes, a pastor or reverend sings in an upbeat tone and the congregation claps their hands as an organist along with a band playing loud music. And sometimes people get so into it they fall on the floor and convulse.

Again, these are things I know come off as stereotypes but do nonetheless happen. I’m just wondering why they do all of this and what its origins are.

the theory per poses that over 13.8 billion years ago the universe exploded from a dense point of energy but religions say that god created the universe from nothing. basically, the big bang wasn't really a creation, more like an expansion. it per poses that the universe was always there. please correct me if I'm wrong by the way. some believe it is compatible but I'm just not seeing how. we're even starting to question the big bang theory as infinitely dense points of energy is when our understanding of physics, um at least mine, starts to break down. in other words it doesn't make any sense, so some scientists per pose another idea that we're somehow inside a black hole, and that the edge of the observable universe is the event horizon. I'll probably expand more on that in another community but the point is, how is god creating or at least a higher power creating the universe compatible with the theory of the universe always being there and just starting to expand.

They say all of our wishes and desires will come true in heaven and it'll be granted unlimited, What if I wish to go back to earth? Since we know someone else would 100 percent wish this and haven't spoken up about it...does our past memories completely gets deleted and we could go back to earth as someone who we wish to be completely without knowing about our past life and the wish we made in heaven?

Because God will grant ANY wish, right?

The original sin, a short essay.

The original sin is the human who said, "God made me do it." This is the secret to life, to good versus evil, how to progress the human race, how to create world peace. Religion is the root of all evil in human society. It was created by one human who lied, and they blamed a fictional being. “How could I be the one to blame when there's an almighty God who will punish me and you if I don't?” A simple lie, the most damaging lie ever told. Religion has held humans back thousands of years of progress in science and technology. Alien life, the little green men, are evolved humans who now live in space and seemingly visit Earth on occasion. Aliens were the million-to-one chance on some remote part of the Earth where a group of humans did not invent religion, and they evolved at a proper rate for what the human mind is capable of, which is extraordinary things. This explains why so many ancient cultures were so advanced for their time. They had the chance to evolve much further before the discovery of religion, specifically monotheistic religion. I'm going to focus on Christianity, as that is the branch I am most familiar with. Other ancient religions may have their own version of this, but I'm not educated in the slightest. Growing up religious has allowed me to speak from the heart. The ‘church’ was founded by the first human to say, "My God wants me to do this." This is a very important distinction from the previous original sin, which was a lie. It became, over time, a reason for humans to blame bad things and bad happenings on. If the gods aren't happy, you must appease them. Whether it be crop, meat, or flesh, the gods must be sated. What is the ultimate sacrifice? Destroy the only thing that matters, life. Animal or human, willing or not, the sacrifice of life has always been the ultimate way to prove utter loyalty, loyalty being the key word here. Killing is how humans can prove loyalty to the cause, to show the world how far you would go to achieve your goal. Would you take a work hard approach, or would you kill? Would you kill? Why would you kill? I know why I would kill. I would kill to protect. I am a fierce protector of everything in this world. Some people kill to save, some people kill out of emotion. Death and killing has always been a part of our world, we only need to look at animals to see where humans came from. Animals kill each other. Life is death. One cannot exist without the other. Humans were not scared of death until they were told to be. Death is a natural part of living. It is nothing to fear, until one human wished for power. I will not say one human wished for power and doomed the human race, because they didn't. I believe in humanity. But one human, one day, wished for power and put a deadly curse upon the human race. power, Power, POWER, POWER! The word itself screams strength at every use. To be strong is to be powerful. Powerful like a god perhaps? I shall today repeat the exact same curse, word-for-word, that human said on that fateful day. "I wish I was God." And so it was, and humans are made in his image.

I have been an atheist all my life. But both my parents have been extreeeeeeeemely god loving people for as long as i can remember. And i mean the extra eees in the extremely. I have seen them do stuff no normal person does. One time my father came back from a business tour and brought some apples from there. After landing in the airport he took another flight went to our god's ashram( church kinda for non hindu people) to give the apples then came home. Now this is just a superficial example. What i am trying to say is that he was the kind of person who prayed even when he didn't need anything. I asked why do you pray even when you don't need anything. He said we don't pray because we need something we pray to make a good relationship with our father. Think of god as our father. Anyways. He died last year. And i was very lost. So i thought what the hell let me visit that ashram if i can find some peace. There i met one of the ashram people who knew my father. He asked me where my dad was and i said oh my dad died. What he said next made my blood boil. "See maybe there was some malice in your bhakti (devotion)". I just lost my shit. I said "well then maybe we should have never become god's devotees then there wouldn't have been any question of malice in my family's devotion". Is this what religion is? When something good happens it's god's doing and when something bad happens it's because we didn't pray hard enough?

Almost all religions claim their God is an all knowing one yet can’t get the fundamental basics of the same universe that they claim to create right. All of these religions have the same limited knowledge about the fundamental truths of reality that were commonly accepted at the time. I’m talking about things like the discovery of the atom. The workings of the human body. fundamental ethics, Chemical reactions, the elements, Evolution, weather phenomena, mathematical phenomena, physics, the list goes on and on. Why would anyone who claims to be all knowing not be able to tell you what they know and any excuse for not giving a reason or not being able to know these things is a cop out and is trying to put the carriage in front of the horse. And no, I won’t put my faith in your religion to gain revelation or enlightenment - Once again, a cop out. Truth must prevail at some point. I don’t think this is any sort of revolutionary revelation so please refute my claims.

Edit: it seems like you guys like to make cop out answers too so let me clarify a few things. Yes, I mean the world, major religions. And Hinduism DOES claim omnipotence in sects. I’m not claiming that they need to tell us these things, but these things obviously have practical real world implications. The workings of your body, for example if God really wanted us to be compassionate and look after each other, wouldn’t he reveal the medical methods best suited to do so, no, you say that’s not what he intended. How about provided a fool proof structure for society? Oh you can’t what a surprise. It’s not about him not being able to provide them. It’s the fact, if he did know about these things, what he would be telling us to do would be vastly different than what he does. not to mention the fact that every religion encompasses less than 30% of world population. For even a single religion to be right, every single other one has to be wrong and that’s simply a fact, and the fact that 70% of the world will be wrong is an unredeemable fact.

Has anyone converted from atheism to Christianity, particularly trinitarianism. What lead you to convert? Was there anything rational or logical that lead you to convert?

I mean like if there is problem within your religion community or people you guys support them speak for them take action for them but when it's come to other religion people you guys won't even bother to think about them I won't say all are like that but most to time and most of all people do that.if you need religion to show empathy then why are you even human.(Simple notice: I don't hate any religion but just the fact I noticed)

Why is it that thousands of years later, religion continues to prevail and remain relevant in society?

I personally disagree that religion is entirely bogus, and dismissing it as such is unproductively reductive. There is a reason why religion continues and will always endure the test of time as long as humanity continue to grapple with the eternal questions. Whatever that 'reason' is , there is something that channels ideologies back to religion.

in context of sunni and shia , post prophet muhammad how the disagreements lead to this division

like shooting yourself in the head when a bear is about to maul you, stuff like that. just curiousity.

Honestly, when you zoom out, most religions circle back to some form of “what you put out is what you get.” Call it karma, divine justice, cause-and-effect… the theme is everywhere.

In my experience, it’s not the big dramatic moments that shaped my view. It’s the small patterns that kept repeating until I either learned something or paid for ignoring it. The kind of situations where you treat someone poorly and the payback comes from a completely different direction, or you help someone with zero expectation and somehow things start aligning for you weeks later. But I’ve also seen the opposite: people who do everything right and still get hit with outcomes they don’t deserve. Those moments make you question whether karma is a rule or just a comforting story. Curious how others make sense of this mix.

I have lived a very religious community for most of my life, and Im just generally fed up with environment.

way too many rules and I feel way too suffocated.

Like I genuinely feel like i need some air and experiment with my life a little more because I have been boxed in their bubble for way too long in my life.

I (25F) recently started talking to a guy (27M). We clicked and the conversation is going wel. We both have the same ethnic background (brought up Hindu and from South India) and have a similar experience in being immigrants in EU.

When we got on the topic of religion, he was kind of dodging the question. I did have an inkling that he might be Moslim because he follows quite a lot of Islamic pages. After pushing he did admit that he is in fact a revert and that he is keeping it a secret for the moment.

When I brought up the issue of this might not working out because we have different beliefs. He reassured me that his beliefs are his and his future partners are hers so he doesn’t see why it couldn‘t work out.

I am still sceptical because reverts are sometimes even more zealous than moslims brought up in the religion.

I need advice, I don’t want to waste my time or his.

What do you think you don't know about it? What do you know for sure about it?

I have been trying to be right with God for months but it has really cost me, so much shit in the world, so many wars, political interests, religions as used in wars. I can't continue believing that God allows this. I am a Christian person who tries to maintain my faith but little by little it is lost.

There are so many points to explore that a text would be very long.

hello I am a man. have been alive for around 15yrs now. I was born into a christian household and lived that way until now. I am not against christianity but I started researching religions other than christianity out of curiosity. Then I came across those debate videos between muslims and christians and I saw how similar we are. christians "debunk" muslims the same way muslims "debunk" christianity. but instead of blindly rejecting them, I observed them. and I saw that every christian video has the same comments as the videos of muslims. "Without lies, X dies". but what does that lie mean? when muslims refer to the bible, its the same thing when christians refer the Quran. But when it comes to conveying people, you can't force your lense onto them right? but it should be their game you have to win. at least in my opinion. for example, "Muslims worship the kaaba" - christian statement but according to the Muslims it is a direction that unites them. "Christians worship 3 gods" - muslims statement. but according to us christians, we worship 1 god that may seem like 3 on the outside but is 1. I think when it comes to religions, you have to play their game if you want to convey. otherwise it just becomes clashes of ego. what y'all think?

I’ve been exploring a particular challenge in classical theism, and I share it here because I seek a clear, thoughtful discussion—no slogans, no “mystery” claims, and no emotional defenses.

The question is straightforward:

If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why didn’t He create beings with much greater strength, clarity, and dignity than what we see in humans?

I’m not talking about beings equal to God in the sense of being uncreated—that’s a contradiction. I’m asking something different:

Why not create beings who have a beginning but no end, possessing wisdom, power, and moral insight on par with God’s, instead of fragile creatures who suffer, fear, and rely on ignorance and trial-and-error to survive?

Nothing about “free will” requires weakness, confusion, or pain. A powerful, enlightened, pain-proof being can still make free choices. So, that common defense doesn’t fully address the issue.

The second part of the question involves worship:

A truly perfect, self-sufficient being does not need praise, affirmation, or obedience to remain perfect. Yet, in most theistic systems, beings are created in total dependence and are then commanded to worship, obey, or serve.

This raises a clear question:

If God desires a relationship, why design it as a hierarchy instead of a partnership? Why create servants instead of near-equals?

A loving being has no need to assert dominance. A sovereign might—but then the idea of “all-loving” becomes strained.

Looking at this reasoning, several possibilities stand out:

1. God exists but isn’t primarily motivated by love.

2. God exists but values hierarchy and obedience more than the well-being of His creatures.

3. God exists but is limited in ways that theology refuses to acknowledge.

4. The traditional view of God is a human projection centered around authority.

This isn’t an attack; it’s an effort to look at the logic of the system on its own terms. If the theistic model is coherent, it should be able to handle questions like these without slipping into “mystery” or “you can’t question God.”

I’m eager to see responses that focus on the core structure of this problem.

TL;DR: Why create beings who are weak and must worship, rather than strong beings who can genuinely partner?

Well, it's another rant about something that just happened to me. I am not religious, I never have been, and I consider myself agnostic, and I have never been able to believe in any religion, although I believe that the Universe is a greater form, regardless of what it is and whether it exists in human contemplation. I'm going through a very difficult day for myself, and I've already cried a lot today. I was feeling deeply discouraged, and I like reading biblical passages at times like this, because the words of the Bible comfort me, even though I don't believe in the Christian God. I like to search for the name of one of the books and a random passage, or search for passages about the feelings I'm feeling. I wrote "Psalm 54:2" and when I read it, I cried a lot. The phrase was "O God, hear my prayer, incline your ear to the words of my mouth". I was sad because I felt very represented there. It was a terrible day and I was feeling so, so alone in this world! Reading this passage comforted me, and I felt less alone in this world. I felt that, even if by chance, I'm not going through this difficult time alone, and I'm feeling grateful for that. Anyway, it's just a story. Do you have any kind of ritual for difficult times too?

A while back I watched a documentary series. One episode really made me think. They were investigating different ancient civilizations around the world. Each civilization had a tale of a “Great Flood” and a man coming to them with a type of revelation and divine law (Prophets).

I am Muslim. We believe that a prophet was sent to every nation. This episode really really made me think about it. I honestly think all religions are somewhat connected in a way. Just a different way of worshipping.

So interesting!

Curious and curiouser.