u/Unlucky-Drawing-1266

I could ask on the equestrians subreddit but I’m concerned about it being too inappropriate-
So I ride horses and as a woman I’m a little embarrassed to admit I’ve always wondered how men handle their balls when riding. Especially in a western saddle, wouldn’t they be in significant danger of being crushed between your body and the saddle? What about jumping when you’re in the two point position? Riding in upper levels in general require a lot of moving around in different positions, with an extra appendage on your front would it not get uncomfortable?
I apologize in advance for this question- this has been question I’ve had for years and never had the courage to ask

Just something that spooks me. I know there’s the explanation about bacteria causing false AB positives, but I still can’t help feeling spooked that things like the shroud of Turin or Eucharistic miracles always test as AB

It seems for most of church history people believed in the bread and wine having the real presence of Jesus and thought if you denied this you were going to hell. I’m scared for all my friends and family who believe it’s symbolic

I saw a sentence that’s provoked some thought in me. On the subject of if enjoyment outside of God is sin, “Only IF we believe those interests to be the “source” of joy, happiness and fulfillment.”
That’s made me think about something. The depravity gospel, declaring everything that isn’t praying or worshipping or studying the Bible to be sin, isnt a happy way to live. No one who depraves themselves fully of hobbies and non-sinful secular things is really happy, not normally.
Yes those only without God make life just as unhappy. My view of joy in life has always been based on the book of Ecclesiastes, where the theme is that the things in life that bring us joy can only really bring us joy if their meaning is found in God. If I have wealth but not God I can’t be happy. But if I have God then wealth suddenly takes on an entirely different purpose and meaning; along with just indulging in things for myself I spend it helping others, giving to God furthering the kingdom all with the knowledge and gratitude that it’s a blessing from God, and knowing that it’s not all there is to life as there’s a greater treasure in heaven.
I guess like a candle I could liken it to. An unlit candle is just a lump of wax. That’s worldly things without God, and God is the flame. When you light it suddenly gives light and warmth and comfort to the room it’s placed in.
But then for that candle to exist it still has to be the lump of wax first. I’m really ashamed to word it like this but this worldview is kind of like, worldly things without God can’t bring joy, but God with zero worldly pleasure doesn’t bring joy either. And that scares me. And if I’m right to be scared then what am I supposed to do about it? Deprive myself of all worldly pleasure? And I don’t think it’s as though I’m ignoring God too much for worldly things; I think about God 24/7, my “doomscrolling” usually involves a mix of typical internet content and Christian sermons or trivia or just looking up Bible questions. I attend Christian college so most of my academic life has God tied into it, I spend Friday evenings volunteering at the church. All just to say that I wouldn’t consider myself “lukewarm,” I couldn’t live without God. But I don’t think I could live a life avoiding anything that makes me happy- and I’m not talking about if I were suddenly made homeless either, as the Bible teaches us about being happy in all circumstances and I think Ecclesiastes can be applied even to that even though it’s from the perspective of a king, because what pleasures you do get when you have nothing are made all the more joyful when you have God to thank for it.
I mean more, am I in sin to think I couldn’t be happy without stories to think and entertainment myself with? A lot of my down time is usually spent on some sort of creative media, like a book or a show or a video game, and if I’m not thinking about responsibilities or God then thinking about whatever fiction I’m obsessing over is how my brain entertains and comforts itself. Am I in sin to think I couldn’t be happy if all of a sudden I weren’t allowed to engage in any of those things that make me happy? Am I supposed to deprive myself of all of those things now to fix it?

Sorry if this is incoherent it’s 5am and I haven’t slept

I was talking with a non Christian who claimed Bible translations all shift the meanings as time goes on to fit with modern day values. I said that people would notice if Christianity was being manipulated so widely like that because the original translations plus church history is so accessible, but it did get me thinking. So, for you guys who have read the Bible in its original form, which English translation do you think is most faithful?

It’s a common argument that Protestantism can’t be true because it’s recent and not historical, which gets me thinking. Did the Protestant reformers get their views from old traditions and teachings, or did they make them up themselves based on their reading of the Bible?(I don’t want “they got their views from the Bible” as an answer)

This one apologist Protestant channel, his comment section is nearly all Catholics either arguing or saying “he’s going to become Catholic I just know it” and I’m confused as to why. I don’t see this in other Protestant channels

TLDR; my brother '22M' and his wife '22F' refuse to believe I've 20F grown up, not sure how to continue this relationship
I believe it's been around two weeks now. My brother and his wife were going out of town for the weekend and I was going to look after their dog for them. The day before they sent me an extremely rude "rules list" that was littered with cheeky backhanded comments in () and with big check and x emojis. The rules included
- don't sleep over at our apartment
-steal food from our pantry
- go through our drawers snooping at married stuff
-have (boyfriend) over at our apartment
- DO NOT GET IN OUR BED
You would think I'd done something to warrant them have to say these things but... no. I can't exactly produce evidence of my innocence so you'd just have to take my word for it, but I've never done anything that could warrant them having to say any of this.
But I am autistic, and throughout my childhood was always lacking socially. A list like this might be valid to send to my kid self, but I'm not that kid anymore.
And more specifically, I had to work very hard to not be that kid anymore. I went to therapy to learn social skills and pushed myself to be independent when I'm just not good at it naturally. I'm now living on my own at college(still dependent on my parents financially but that's normal for my age), I'm earning a degree in nursing and hold down a job over the summers. Ive come a long way and I worked very hard to get there. But I'm a normal functioning adult, and my autism isn't noticeable anymore.
But it seems my brother and his fiance refuse to acknowledge that. I told them how rude and insulting their "list" was, and told them what I said above about my autism.
"I'm not mad at you for having rules, I'm mad at you for sending this extremely patronizing list(seriously?
"No snooping around our apartment?" Do you realize how insulting that is to think you even have to say that in the first place?)"
My brother said | "often don't respect unsaid boundaries and rules" which confirms he is thinking of my child self. As I said, this would be valid if it were several years ago, but I talked to my parents and boyfriend and they confirmed they thought this was untrue about me.
"This list says that you have a rather low opinion of me. To think you even have to clarify those things to me says you think I'm rude and stupid and incapable, and I'm very hurt by it.
"don't respect boundaries and unsaid rules." This clearly says what you do think of me. This would probably have been applicable to me years ago, but I've made huge strides in overcoming my social ineptitude, and becoming mature and independent.
It feels as though you didn't pay attention to any of that, as though your perception of me didn't change from when I was a kid."
They apologized for being rude, but in their apology doubled down on feeling it was necessary to vocalize their rules.

"We have no doubt that you have made lots of strides (yay you!) but from our perspective we haven't seen them firsthand enough (part of that is we simply haven't had the opportunity to since we were apart all summer!) We thought our rules were justified to vocalize although we could have said it nicer and softer and I am sorry about that. We were just trying to be unmistakably clear so that there were not any misunderstandings between us that we could prevent."
I told them why this situation was so hurtful and they refused to acknowledge it and doubled down on their stance. I didn't respond to their "apology" and haven't spoken to them since.
I don't know what to do. I feel if I were to be the one to go confront them, it would validate their image of me as some whiny little child. We've been very close in the past and I don't want to lose that, but I also just cant be with people who think of me this way.
And I am 20 years old. They refuse to see and treat me as an adult, and I don't need to tolerate that.
I don't know where my SIL got this opinion from. She met me after l'd gone through therapy and got a job, I've never been that little autistic kid around her. I can only assume it's my brother that influenced her to think this way.

I mean misinformation about Christian’s, not misinfo among ourselves. I’m just here to complain, it makes my blood boil, but I suppose that’s not very Christ-like of me.
I was just reading some Reddit comment thread where someone claimed the Bible justified slave owning, wife beating, and children beating, claiming Christian’s slaughtered gay people and perpetuated slavery and all that typical nonsense. Most laughable part- they were claiming Christianity is more dangerous than Islam, that were a “threat” and were denying gay people rights.
I’m not going to get into whatever history you can point to, because it’s true some awful events can be tied back to Christianity. But open a Bible and a Quran and read them side by side. There’s a rather noticeable contrast between them, just a little tiny bit.
The “wife beating” thing is especially laughable to me because not only is that blatantly wrong and the Bible actually says quite the opposite, but the Quran DOES, in fact, permit wife beating. I don’t recall the exact verse and I’m too lazy to look it up right this second, but it goes something like if you have a quarrelsome wife, rebuke her, deny her sex, and if that doesn’t work, then beat her.
All the “kill the gays” stuff people fear monger about Christian’s doing- that’s commanded in the Quran. That’s Islamic doctrine. But no one ever calls Muslims homophobic, how strange

So irenaeus talks about all church’s submitting to the authority of the Roman church, appealing to it being found by Peter and Paul. There seems no way around this for Protestants. And I don’t accept the argument of “well he’s not scripture” because Irenaeus was close to the apostles and Jesus than any of us ever will be, having been taught by Polycarp who knew John. Even if the Bible proved heresies existed in the early church, why should we still assume we would know better than the guy taught by a guy who was taught by a guy who knew Jesus

I wanted to hear other christian thoughts on this. I came across someone on the true Christian sub claiming all pleasure is sinful. Hobbies, “indulgent food,” entertainment, any and everything that you do purely out of pleasure, because the Bible tells us to “deny ourselves” and warns against the “lusts of the flesh.” They cited several verses that I’ll list

Romans 8:5-6 KJB "5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
Romans 8:12-13 KJV "12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.'
"
Galatians 5:24 KJV "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Like 9:23 KJB "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
Hebrews 5:9 KJB "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;"

Romans 15:1 - "We then that are strong ought to bear the
infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." Romans 15:3 -
"For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." 1 Corinthians 10:24 — "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." 1 Corinthians 10:31 — "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Galatians 5:24 — "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Galatians 5:16 — "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:17 - "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh..." Titus 2:11-12 — "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." 1 Peter 4:2 -
"That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God."

Luke 9:23 - "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 14:33 — "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Romans 8:5-8 — "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit... Because the carnal mind is enmity against God..." Romans 8:13 - "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Philippians 2:21 — "For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's."
Sorry if there’s any repeating verses I just copy and pasted what this person had said.
I brought up Ecclesiastes- they said that it doesn’t apply because it’s in the Old Testament and is now void. I brought up the passage in Galations listing what the works of the flesh were, they replied it wasn’t an exhaustive list of sins, only listing a few.
Jesus himself as accused of being a glutton and a drunkard because he loved partying, but this idea does still worry me, you could take all those verses to mean we aren’t allowed to seek pleasure and there are a lot of them. And Jesus didn’t seek pleasure for pleasures sake, but that’s something we do every day, playing a video game just cause it’s fun or eating something just because it tastes good. I don’t really trust my reasoning for justifying pleasure to not just be my biased sinful nature not wanting to give it up

Because as I grow older and more mature In my walk with Christ, I have more questions. Verses or doctrines that are hard to understand. And I feel like I can never find an answer to me that feels like it’s from God because there’s always a bunch of different interpretations, and how can I know what God really meant if people keep taking different meanings from one statement? If you say “I like oranges,” and fifty different people are asked what this means, and they give fifty wildly different answers, how can you possibly know what the sentence actually means? In trying to interpret the Bible myself, I’m reminded of “lean not on your own understanding,” and it really feels like that. I feel lost, like I’m stumbling around in the dark trying to find God.
So Catholicism sometimes feels tempting, because sometimes it seems like it makes sense for God to have one singular body to keep the correct interpretation of his word.
I know the Holy Spirit is supposed to have that role, but I struggle with what this means to, because every denomination can say with confidence that they felt they were led by the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit can’t be leading everyone in different directions. It’s another thing I question- is human delusion too strong? Does God choose to let us be given over to our biases? It seems like it’s way too easy to delude yourself, even unintentionally, into thinking the Holy Spirit is saying something it isn’t, and I’m struggling with trusting God to guide me because of all of this. I hate it, but I don’t know how to trust God

I saw an analysis on the famous “I have not come to abolish but to fulfill” statement that said that the word used here for fulfill and the cultural understanding of contracts meant that when something is “fulfilled,” it is no longer binding on both parties. I wanted to check here if this analysis was accurate, mostly in regards to the Old Covenant and the idea of it not being binding on believers today

So the timespan is 20 years and the region is suffering from severe thunderstorms- it’s raining more often than not, but not constantly, just near constant. How would the plant and wild life and terrain change?

I should probably specify- I’m not looking at regions that are already adapting for this. Take like, the climate and environment in Oklahoma as an example- fields, occasional forests, gets rain every now and then, that sort of place. If it suddenly got hit with 20 years of extreme rain, what would it look like at the end of those 20 years?

I sometimes have a subconscious feeling of unbelief- I don’t quite know how to describe it? Like when you read something fictional and your brain quietly but deeply reminds you “that’s not real”? Sometimes when learning or thinking about God I get that feeling, and I try to correct myself and dismiss it.
I was thinking this morning about what my basis for belief is and I’m worried it’s too weak- I was raised Christian, live in a deeply Christian family. I started believing in God not because I have something I can definitively point to that convinced me, but because it’s just simply what I’ve always known. When I see atheist arguments, the anchor that keeps me from panicking is the thought that if I die and find there isn’t a God, I’ll have lost nothing, and even if someone could prove 100% God wasn’t real I’d still be a Christian anyways, because I think my life is better for it. I like having a guidebook to follow for how to live my life and I like having a God to be loyal to and to cling to when things are rough. So I don’t need 100% proof of his existence because if I believe and find I was wrong I’ll have lost nothing
But I worry this isn’t a good enough justification for my faith. I think about God all the time and worry all the time about sin(it’s a problem really) and living life the way Jesus wants, but what if my faith isn’t real? What if I’m just going through the motions and I’ve deluded myself into thinking I have real faith? I could point to all the ways my life is devoted to God as evidence, but theoretically I could do all those things and still not believe it in my heart. And I know someone will point out I’m talking a lot about works here and not what Jesus did on the cross- I can choose in my conscious mind to say “that’s real and I believe in that,” but what if my unconscious heart doesn’t believe it? You could choose to tell yourself in your head “my bed is lava” and then live your life treating it as such, but somewhere in your mind you still know it’s not lava and your just acting. What if that’s what I’m doing?
And if I really am deluding myself, how can I be saved? I know the story of the man who said “I believe, so help my unbelief,” but salvation depends on our hearts genuine faith in Jesus. I could imitate all the things someone with real faith does and even tell myself in my head that I have real faith, but if my heart still chooses not to believe then I can’t fix that no matter how hard I try. I’m hesitant to say my heart 100% without a doubt believes in Jesus, and it doesn’t matter if I choose consciously to keep obeying the Bible because if my heart doesn’t follow it’s all for nothing. Basically, if I can act like a Christian apart from faith, then what if I really don’t have faith and I’m deluding myself?