r/AskReligion

They always told me that God is merciful and dont torture kids, but I found out that in islam they torture siners once they hit puberty or if they didnt get it they start getting accountability in 14.5yo, in christianity some of theme think kids start being judge at 8yo and jewdism judge females at 12 and boys at 13.

If God is all merciful in all these religions then why he puts kids/teens in hell for eternity, in that endless suffering?

Im meanly talking with muslims and christians bc i honestly dont know what jews face as a punishment since they dont have hell I guess?

I've never thought about it before. But today in my tiktok feed I saw a lot of videos of the same type with about the same text: "if there was a God, would he allow all the shit that is happening in the world?", and then they showed pictures of starving Africans, women in Afghanistan, wars, polluted seas, sometimes even cited as an example the plague epidemic.

My question is this: why did people suddenly decide that if there is a god, he should care about us? What if God has never loved any of us and is not going to love us? Explain this to me as someone who has never interacted with believers.

P.S. I'm from Russia and my English may be crooked, sorry

I’m asking this because I’m in a family where everyone is religious to a point while me, my father, and one of my cousins are the only non-religious ones.

For me it always feels very isolating despite actually loving my family. I don’t hate my family by any means it’s just I fear what they might think of my actual self considering I’m not straight and other things so when I’m around them I change up my grammar like saying “Oh my gosh” instead of “Oh my god” as I don’t know who would take offense to that, I only say that as a figure of speech and not as a way to be rude.

I’m curious about other people’s experiences when it comes to stuff similar to this. If I do appear as rude or biased let me know.

We met in our early 70’s. He, a grandfather and widower, and I, never married, on my own. We love each other and intend to look after each till death do us part. At this stage of our lives, we do not seek marriage but to just live together peacefully for companionship and travels together.
I prayed for a companion as I was lonely. With him, I got to go to places and enjoy shared experiences. Basically we are good people; responsible, respectful, helpful and charitable.
I was baptised a Catholic and have attended both Catholic and Evangelist churches. He is a free thinker. He respects my faith and accompanies me to the Catholic Church I am now attending.
I believe God sent him into my life, and for me to help bring him to God.
I have a simple attitude to God. I believe that God is all Love. I do not believe in doctrines. I respect hierachy but need not believe in it when it overrides kindness.
My question is Can I still go to the Catholic church I am now attending and take the holy communion? I read that I have committed a grave sin. I feel stained.
Can I go to other non-Catholic churches? Or should I just keep to a personal relationship with God because, whatever, I believe in His love and goodness.

god’s no real. evolution’s how we got here, and there’s loads of scientific evidence backing it up. folk always say, “god made us,” but then what made god? usually the answer is that god’s always existed and never had a creator. but if that’s possible for god, then why couldnae the universe or us exist without one as well?

the bible also says all the evil in the world happened because of eve, basically putting the blame on her. but if god’s meant to be all powerful and all good, why no just get rid of the evil himself instead of leaving everybody to suffer because of one person’s mistake?

on top of that, there are plenty of passages in the bible that come across as sexist and promote ideas that a lot of people today would see as unfair or harmful. that’s one of the reasons i struggle to believe it’s the perfect word of a loving god.

If having a child creates a risk for that child to go to hell, surely the correct thing to do would be to be completely celibate/never have kids? No kids means no hell for them? Why don't religious people think like this?

Sure you could argue that you'd be disobeying God since he tells you to reproduce and thereby would risk yourself going to hell, but surely this would be the ultimate moral sacrifice, saving infinite people from eternal damnation?

EDIT: turns out Jewish "hell" is very different to Christian hell or Islamic Jahanam. More of a rehab centre, so my question is more targeted at just Christian's or Muslims now.

Within the last year I’ve really been torn between the two. It feels like I’m doing something wrong but also why can’t I like both things? Or can I?

I really value Christian beliefs as well as Mormon beliefs and enjoy their services, I cry when I’ve gone. I can truly feel God in the room and all the love for him. I never felt this way in the church I grew up going to and it saddens me because I have so much respect the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they are the kindest people but I just didn’t feel connected. I love God and know he’s real. But I also give thanks to the universe for having my best interest. I enjoy learning about Manifestation, the law of attraction, quantum physics just as much as I enjoy hearing about Christianity.

I have searched on the internet, but I can't grasp the concept.

Honestly, I never understood it. Growing up I was surrounded by religion, it was ingrained in the culture and traditions where I lived.

I remember when I was four, my grandma and I were walking around outdoors and I asked "Does God feel lonely?" And she was confused, "what?" so I asked again. "Does God have a Mom or Dad?" And she said no, I said "How?" And instead of a clear answer, she gave me something about how it's just the way it is. I still didn't understand, I kept asking why. I thought that if everyone had a mom and dad, it would've been reasonable if God did. But instead of explaining properly, she repeated the same answer. "It's just the way it is."

And growing up no one bothered to sit down with me and explain why I was supposed to pray, why we Praise someone who made us, and why God made strange rules. I also never understood His 3 great qualities. All loving, all knowing, and all powerful. How can one True diety be all loving if he cannot stop even the most smallest things in his perspective? Why do we refer to God by masculine pronouns? Why are there contradictions? Why are there metaphors in a book if it's meant to be clear and understood by all of mankind?

Jesus treated women in ways that were remarkably progressive for first-century Judea. He spoke with the Samaritan woman (John 4), accepted women among his followers (Luke 8:1–3), defended women publicly (John 8), allowed Mary of Bethany to learn as a disciple (Luke 10:38–42), and the Gospels say women were the first witnesses of the resurrection.

Yet he also chose twelve male apostles (Mark 3:13–19) and never explicitly said that women should hold the same leadership roles in the future Church.

If Jesus intended complete equality in authority as well as dignity, why didn’t he make it explicit enough that it couldn’t later be interpreted differently?

I’m genuinely interested in historical and theological perspectives.

Idk, but I found a lot of people that are not arabic change their name to a non arabic name, and idk but it gives me the feeling that it erase a part of their culture... so can you guys explain that?

Thank you for the response

I have some problem as my self with belive. So i want to cure it. I know there no one saw a god . So unable to sure he is god or not. But i want answer to this to least calm my mind.

I know in Orthodox Judaism it's a huge sin akin to murder. But what about other faiths and God in general?

I'm an agnostic and never was religious yet I attended to Christian outside of school events with friends anyways, I'm curious about learning your religions and Judaism. Thank you!

Has anyone ever proposed a theory that all religions talk about the same god but the teachings of them and their sacred texts only differ due to cultural and societal differences and norms of the regions and times they had originated from?

All flowery and poetic. If you’re quoting scripture, that’s one thing. But especially when proselytizing or whatever, why not use normal language that doesn’t make them sound crazy to outsiders?

There are multiple holy books through out the world.

But are they actually.. holy?

It's all just a thought so don't take it too siriously...

Take it if u want to.

So ... Wht do call a holy book ?(gita bible kuran etc)

What are they actually..a journal or a story written by a person... Fiction.

I think it's a fiction story... Got popular and spread through out the world...

But that leads how did it become ' THIS IS OUR RILIGION '

Only answer I can think of is that the older gen ... Like 100000 YEARS ago . They planted all this.

Give me some questions on it..

I'll try my best to give y'all the answer..