Be respectful when answering, as always. This is a spot to give help, clarity, or to help someone understand new things about The Bible or following Christ!
Questions
12 posts in this topic.
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Hi! I wanted to make a new topic consisting of questions we may have for fellow members or a spot where people confused/lost can ask us questions for clarification!
Be respectful when answering, as always. This is a spot to give help, clarity, or to help someone understand new things about The Bible or following Christ! -
I was reading my Bible this morning. And I stumbled upon Mathew 27:52-53 which basically says that "holy people" who could have been prophets or something similar I suppose, were raised tom the grave and appeared in the city's.
I never noticed this before. I'm not sure if it was their actual bodies(seems like it) or just spirits of some sort. I'd love to look into it some more. If anyone else knows anything. -
Matthew 27: 52-53 describes one of the events that occurred upon Jesus's death, i.e. the temple curtains ripping, the earthquake. this specific event is many dead people rising from the dead (ESV says, 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many). i would assume this case is similar to other instances where people are raised from the dead, where they are returned to full health in their bodies.
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Would think this would be similar to Lazarus; a sort of partial resurrection / re-animation of the person's earthly body & spirit, but not a complete full redeemed resurrection as we will experience after the second coming of Christ. Since they are not mentioned again in the New Testament, maybe they did not stick around raised from the dead very long; but what a display of God's awesome redeeming power!
I wonder if their experience is maybe similar to some of those people who experience near-death or actual-death experiences, but become alive again after an encounter with God / heaven... Would be intriguing to read an account of one of the NT people who were raised from the dead. Cool novel premise? -
Hi, guys. You probably know me as one of the least likely people to post anything in this club, but I am feeling some kind of way lately, and some advice—not that anyone should feel obligated—would be appreciated. If you want to skip my weird open letter here and get to that part, just scroll down to the last paragraph in the spoiler, I won't blame you.
Spoiler
So, I know faith can be a very personal subject to a lot of people, so I really want to preface this: I have nothing but love, respect, even admiration for Christian people and what faith can bring for them, so what I say here is not me trying to come off as disrespectful in any possible way (I mean most of you know me, come on lol).
If you don't know, I'm Agnostic. I think there very well could be something beyond this life or science, yet I just lack that "switch" in my brain that would allow me to fully believe or commit. And honestly...I'm starting to hate it. More than when I identified as Atheist. I feel like I see nothing but the ugliest side of everything, and the world just looks so gross and evil—as if it really needs help with that. I don't belong in religious spaces, even the moderate ones, so I look the other way. But then it feels like so many have filled that void with this extreme nihilism and hedonism that makes me uneasy. So, here I am in the middle. I'm glad everybody's happy where they are, because even knowing there are people who stay comfortably in this in-between, I'm really not.
This isn't a mystery though; I come from a family of hardcore Atheists. I barely knew anything about religion growing up. Never a day of church, no scripture, no prayer, nothing in school, nada. And I was fine with that, I didn't question it as a kid. In recent years, though, I can't lie—I have been shaken about this.
Reflecting on this for a few days now, I have this want to believe, if only to have some reassurance that there is something still good and sacred in this world right now. And even though I still don't feel the most welcome or belonging in christian circles, I definitely don't feel any more welcome in the other circle.
But as I said, I know next to nothing about this stuff. I don't know if I can fully overcome that barrier either, but I want to at least learn. I want to know and understand what these ideas and concepts mean.
I also don't have great resources, not right now. I have almost zero income, I don't have open transportation, I don't even have any numbers of people I could talk about this to—I'm living like a freaking loser right now. And I don't openly identify as I do now in my house, lest I invoke something nasty. Honestly, this club is the only place I could even think to bring this up, so I'm incredibly sorry if it's weird or cringe, or even inappropriate to be posting this here, I just didn't know a lot of options.
So, do any of you know the best places/resources for people curious about these matters? Something that will make sense to someone like me (someone with ZERO experience or knowledge in understanding—much less practicing—religion)?
Thank you, sorry again if this is not a good place to be posting this! -
@Ravena <3
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Nothing in the least bit cringy or inappropriate in that message! It takes a lot of courage to come to a group like this and share such an honest message, so, kudos!
Most Christians are probably going to tell you that the Bible is the best free resource to start with, and they're right! But where do you even start within that? It's daunting!
Jesus is, obviously, foundational to our faith, and there are four Gospels that cover His story: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They each cover His entire life (and resurrection), just in a different way. I would begin by reading the Gospel of Matthew. It's probably the most approachable. Here's a link to start reading!
(Worth mentioning: the Bible has many translations, and the one I linked is the official English Catholic one, which is what I'm most used to as a born and raised Catholic.)
If you'd be interested in watching a dramatized account of Jesus' ministry, The Chosen is very very good. My fiance is Jewish and didn't know much about Jesus, and he's found The Chosen to be very well made and very informative. I believe the creators of the series put up the episodes for 100% free on their website. You can also totally pirate it if I'm wrong about that - PM me if you need some links! >:)
I'm just a PM/discord message away if you want to keep in touch about all this! I strive to always have an open mind and struggle with my own doubts aplenty, so I can assure you none of your questions or thoughts would offend me haha. I'm here for you, Raven! <3 -
Spoiler
*whew* Okay, glad that was received well! This is already incredibly helpful as you’re right, I did not even know how to approach the Bible point-blank.
I will read those gospels, and check out The Chosen. The latter definitely sounds interesting, I’m impressed somebody made what sounds like such an accurate show representation!
Thank you so much, Wolfi <333 -
Hey Raven! I definitely second what Wolfi recommended! And I really do appreciate you being so open about your feelings and thoughts. The Bible and religion are very daunting. I grew up Agnostic and got saved in early 2023, so I am still a "baby" Christian, yet have learned so much during that time. You can also always PM me, or anyone else who is willing, and I'd be happy to answer questions, comments, or concerns! I've been in your shoes before. I would love to hear updates on your walk and I'm thankful you feel this shift in your heart to want to know more! <3
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Thank you so much, Gen :') <3
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Also, can I suggest the Rosary? I know it's generally known as this traditional Catholic prayer, but like... we are happy to share it with all of y'all because it's AMAZING.
It's this beautiful, repetitive prayer in which you meditate on the life of Christ from Mary's perspective. So it starts with His Incarnation/Conception (in Mary's perspective, her saying Yes to God -- which is what we all need to do!) and ends with being received into the Glory of Heaven. It's like a mini Gospel, and it's a lot more easy to get into than like... reading the entire Bible. (Though, both are wonderful, don't get me wrong!) Plus, since you're praying to God simultaneously while meditating on the Gospel, it just... is such a powerful prayer, honestly.
Since you're a writer too! I want to suggest something called "lectio divina" which is just kind of... taking your time to imagine the scene while you're reading it. So you're not just reading the bible to read the bible. You're imagining what happens while you're reading the bible. Biblical stories tend to be very simple and quick to read, so as you read the story you stop and pray about it and try to imagine what is going on at the time.
For example, when the crowds lower the paralytic man to Jesus from the roof because the crowds are too big to get to Jesus otherwise, you stop and try to imagine how crazy it is to like... tear apart a roof. And then lower someone who is paralyzed to Jesus. Like, what were the logistics of that? Who was involved? Did they repair the roof? And just really try to get into the story and imagine how crazy/wonderful everything is. Because the gospel is crazy and wonderful and wonderfully crazy all the same!
Anyway, I hope this helps! -
Wow! Even though I'm a protestant, these are some beautiful practices, Snoink <3 Prayer is so powerful and I honestly have never looked into "lectio divina"
Sounds really interesting and like a special way to really understand God, Jesus, and the Word -
That's fascinating, Snoink! It sounds like a lovely way to pray ^^
I am like over a third of the way through reading the Gospel of Matthew, and it's already explaining a lot. I actually remember one part sticking out; "The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be!" I'm not sure exactly why, but that got me thinking for a while.
I can't say I feel any closer to that "awakening" moment (not saying it won't happen!), but already, reading this throughout the sleepless hours of the night instead of wallowing in misery feels just so amazing, and in a way fulfilling <33
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