I'm trying to understand the Islamic religion and I don't know where to start. I have a copy of the Quran but idk if I should just jump right in, if I need to start at a specific section, or what not. Help? Tips? And if you can, can you explain your religion for me? I understand the basics like the hijab/niqab is for modesty and to feel closer to Allah, you pray 5 times I day and you have Ramadan but past that I'm clueless and I really want to learn more. Thanks!

For context, I was born a Christian but eventually became a Muslim in 2022 at first to marry a Muslim woman but that fell through and I found myself staying Muslim for myself for years after that marriage plan failed.

But I recently have been thinking if God answered my prayers when I was a Muslim and when I was a Christian I feel like he exists. But I don’t think I want to be a Christian or Muslim I just want to believe in God.

The thing that’s making me kind of scared is according to Islam I will go to hell if I leave Islam but according to Christianity the day I became Muslim I was doomed for hell anyways so I’m just kind of scared and lost.

My favourite is Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai for his Tafsir al Mizan and devotional Sufi works. He also wrote a great introductory work to Shia Islam

I grew up in the UCC Protestant denomination in a part of New England that has a fair degree of religious diversity. I'm no stranger to attending Reform synagogues or the occasional Eid service if a friend invited me, my Catholic college held space for Muslim students to pray in a part of the campus rather than mandating if they pray it must be done in the chapel.

Yesterday I went to an LDS service out of curiosity because it was billed as "non-trinitarian" and the missionaries strongly suggested I could meet people around my own age. I'm in a very transient community so while exploring my faith it seemed like an innocuous thing. The service was 2 hours long broken up into 3 blocks, and truthfully it was the most low church setting short of Quakers I've experienced.

What I've come to wonder is how exactly did the more liberal mainline Protestant denominations I grew up with manage to seemingly cease to exist outside of New England?I know that there was generally a decline from 118% to 10% over two decades but in the last few years I would've thought as Gen Z gets more progressive the appearance of progressive pastors online would bolster attendance a bit. Instead at least locally there are 6 "community churches" with essentially self ordained ministers for every 1 Anglican or Lutheran church.

Hi I am M20 I am absolutely mortified to die. I have panic attacks ever so often if I think about it. Sure I don’t remember before I was born but that’s fine because NOW I got to experience. Now I am an actual person whom thinks I know what I like and dislike I have personality. If I lose those whom I love and those whom have made me me I just can’t comprehend it. I’m so worried even typing this but I need to ask questions. I am not religious I used to be but I found flaws into how the consciousness behaves on earth. Firstly when someone gets Alzheimer’s or similar illness it changes who they are now all of a sudden those families they had they don’t remember and they seem to be ok with this. How would this make sense for a religious person to once they pass is it like poof they know who they are and they get to live with God for eternity? I’m trying not to cope but I would like opinions. Sorry for messy paragraph I’m really not thinking right now because this will set me off. :(

KJ V Bible reads ..."behold, the kingdom of God is within you"

New English Bible reads ..."For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you."

I've two questions, not necessarily in the right order.

1. Which of the above is likely to be correct, or if you prefer, true? The KJV, the NEB or both.

2. If you don't especially like the word God, what word would you replace it with?

Like what is it consisted of? Like who or what created it? What do you have to do to get in there? If the afterlife is permanent, would you like to stay there forever?

Can someone explain prayer to me, what the expectation behind it is, in the context of a faith centered around an omnipotent being ? I will use the name "God" here even though my question may apply to faiths with a different term, but it's possible that my question only makes sense within the context of the Abrahamic faiths.

God is all-powerful and wills things to go a particular way on Earth: hence, people explaining things with "it was God's will". God doesn't need to be asked to do God's will. By definition, if something someone wants is already God's will, it's already going to happen. We don't need to hope that it happens or ask him to make it happen. It will happen.

Alternatively, if something someone prays for wasn't already what God had in mind, then it amounts to begging God to change his mind, possibly even arguing with him. I know there's precedent for that, at the very least when Abraham begs God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, so I understand that God isn't going to smite people for questioning his plans. Even so, a prayer for something that isn't already God's will gives the impression that people think they know what God's will should be better than God does. Seems rather arrogant.

In summary: Praying for something that's already God's will has no effect. Praying for something other than what's already God's will is second-guessing God. What do people who believe in prayer see missing from this analysis?

I’ve been thinking about women in the Bible lately, and I wonder whether Jezebel could be considered one of the most powerful — perhaps even the most influential — women in the Bible.
Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab and queen of Israel. She wasn’t simply a queen standing in the background; the biblical account portrays her as a woman who actively used her position to influence the kingdom and pursue her own agenda.
Here are some of the things she did:
Promoted the worship of Baal: Jezebel supported Baal worship in Israel and provided royal support for its prophets, challenging the worship of the Lord (1 Kings 16:31–33; 18:19).
Persecuted God’s prophets: Elijah told her that she had been killing the Lord’s prophets, and Obadiah had hidden a hundred prophets in caves to protect them from her persecution (1 Kings 18:4, 13).
Confronted Elijah: After Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Jezebel threatened to have him killed. Elijah fled for his life (1 Kings 19:1–3).
Arranged Naboth’s death: When Naboth refused to give Ahab his vineyard, Jezebel took matters into her own hands. She wrote letters in Ahab’s name, arranged a false accusation of blasphemy against Naboth and had him put to death so Ahab could take possession of his land (1 Kings 21:1–16).
Faced Jehu defiantly: When Jehu arrived in Jezreel to overthrow Ahab’s dynasty, Jezebel painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of the window. She taunted him by referring to Zimri, another man who had killed his king (2 Kings 9:30–31). Even at the end, she did not greet him with a plea for mercy.
Left a lasting legacy: Her name appears again in Revelation 2:20 as a symbol of corrupt teaching and idolatry. This is generally understood as a reference to a woman called Jezebel in the church at Thyatira, using the infamous Old Testament name.
God’s warning against Jezebel 👑
Jezebel was so influential that God specifically named her in a warning through the prophet Elijah. In 1 Kings 21:23, Elijah declared that dogs would eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel, a prophecy fulfilled in 2 Kings 9:36–37.
Her influence extended into the royal court: 1 Kings 18:19 tells us that the prophets of Baal and Asherah ate at Jezebel’s table, showing the royal support she provided for their worship.
God’s judgment against her was also remembered in Revelation 2:20, where a woman called Jezebel was condemned for misleading God’s servants. This is generally understood as an allusion to the infamous queen, rather than necessarily the same woman.
It is striking that Jezebel’s name became associated not only with royal power, but also with idolatry, persecution and divine judgment.

What’s particularly fascinating about Jezebel is that her influence didn’t end with her death. Her name has lived on for centuries in literature, music, religious discussions and popular culture.
Music: Her name appears in songs such as Jezebel by Frankie Laine and Sade. The Faces song Stay with Me also famously uses the phrase “mean old Jezebel,” showing how her biblical reputation became part of popular music.
Everyday language: The name Jezebel has often been used as a label for a woman perceived as wicked, manipulative or seductive. This reputation has made her one of the more recognisable female figures from the Old Testament, even among people who might not know all the details of her story.
The “Spirit of Jezebel”: In some modern Christian communities, this phrase is used to describe what they view as manipulative, controlling or spiritually corrupt behaviour

I want to say other women, such as Mary, Deborah, Esther and Athaliah, also exercised power in very different ways.
So what do you think? Was Jezebel the most powerful woman in the Bible? Or was another woman more influential, courageous or dominant ?

Hi, I’m posting this as a recent Catholic convert growing up not religious.

I’m just curious as to those who this may be relevant. What made you/makes you doubt the Christian faith/Jesus as God?

Before converting myself, I think I just never understood Jesus being human but people claiming that he is God. Of course now as a Catholic I understand the true Divine and Human nature of Jesus as what we believe.

It just got me curious as to the doubts and questions other people may have. Whether it be coming from a different religious perspective, or someone who has also newly converted to the Christian faith!

I think the idea of human free will falls apart if God also knows the future, makes the rules, and creates the punishment. My argument in short:

1. If God created everything, he created the rules, and he created hell too.

2. If God knows the future, he knows before creating anyone who will end up being punished.

3. Creating people anyway, and then punishing them for choices he already knew they would make, isn't real freedom. To me it's control with extra steps, and it looks cruel.

The rest of this is how I got there, plus some related things I can't make sense of: Jesus, prayer, Satan, and why God went quiet.

How I got here was kind of random. I was chatting with an AI (Gemini) to understand some Marvel multiverse stuff. You don't need to know Marvel for this, here's all that matters: in the comics there's a being at the very top of everything called The One Above All. He's basically the creator god of that whole fictional world. He lives outside of it and almost never steps in. Whole universes die and he just lets it happen, and the story treats that as part of the design. Now and then he shows up disguised as a random person to comfort one character, and that's about it. (I'm going off what the AI told me about the comics, so Marvel fans, correct me if I got something wrong. It doesn't change the main argument.)

Quick note so it's clear: I'm not posting this because an AI told me something and I just believed it. Most of the thoughts below are my own. I used the AI to explain things I didn't understand and to talk my ideas through, kind of like discussing it with someone, and the conversation just kept going deeper than I expected.

I asked the AI why he doesn't help the other universes, and the answer was basically that he's like an author, and to an author a tragedy is just a chapter in the story.

My reaction was: okay, but I'm not the author. If I'm a character inside that world, I didn't write those rules. Why would I have to think like the one who wrote them? If my universe is dying, that's my family and my home, not a "beautiful chapter". It feels like the idea that you should accept it comes from the one who benefits from the story, not from the people living in it.

Then I realized this feels almost exactly like how God is described in religions.

The thing that bothers me is the experiment part. If someone creates living beings that can actually feel pain, love people, lose people, and then sits back to watch how it turns out, that feels cruel to me. We already think it's wrong to hurt animals in a lab, even when it's "for knowledge". And if God already knows the future, he already knows how the experiment ends, so what is it even for? It feels like the only thing left is the suffering.

The difference with Marvel is that Marvel's creator almost never talks to anyone. In the Bible God talks to people all the time. He guides them, gives rules, "do this, don't do that", and still says you're free. And that's the part I can't get past. It sounds like "you're completely free, but if you don't do what I say you get punished". To me that's not freedom, that's control with extra steps.

And if God created everything, then he also created hell. He made the rules, made the punishment, and knows ahead of time who is going to end up there. So calling that "free will" feels rigged to me. It's like building the track, building the train, knowing exactly where it will derail, putting a fire at the bottom of the cliff, and then saying "well, you chose it". I also keep wondering, if he can see the future, why does he mostly give rules for right now and not just stop the bad future from happening?

The Christian version has a few more things I get stuck on. First, Jesus. As I understand it, Jesus was born as part of God's plan, and Jesus is also God. So the father is God, the son is God, and they're the same and also different at the same time. I know the official answer is the Trinity, one God in three persons, and that even Christians call it a mystery. Fine, but to me that just sounds like a way of saying it doesn't fully make sense, and I find it weird.

Then there's the reason Jesus died. The way I understand it, the father let his son die so that people's sins could be forgiven. That honestly doesn't feel great to hear. I know the reply is that Jesus went willingly, and since he's God, God is basically paying the price himself. But why did a death have to be the price at all? God is the one who set the rules about sin in the first place, so why couldn't he just forgive without anyone dying? And if it was Jesus's own choice, I still don't get it, because God can see the future. He saw all of it coming, the death and also how humans would turn out, and made everything anyway.

And what was the point of it? This is the part I might have wrong, so correct me. My understanding is that his death forgave the sins of the people who lived before him and around that time. But he only died once, and he can't die again, so what about everyone who came after? I know the Christian answer is that the one death covers everyone, past and future, for those who believe. But then why did it have to happen at one specific moment in history, and what was the point of it?

Also, before Jesus, God talked to people directly, like Noah. After that it basically stops. Now he's in hiding, or maybe he's just shy? I know believers say he still talks to people through prayer, the Bible, or personal experiences, and philosophers even have a name for this question (divine hiddenness). But I've never seen anything like that myself, and it's strange to me that a God who used to be so involved went quiet.

Another thing I don't get is prayer. Praying is basically talking to God and telling him your problems. But if he knows everything, including what's in everyone's mind and even our future, why do we need to tell him anything? I can see why it helps people. It calms you down, clears your head and comforts you. I know believers say it's about having a relationship with God and not about giving him information. But why on earth do we even need to pray to him if he already knows? And in some places, especially in some branches of Christianity, I've seen people pushed to go to church every day, kids most of all. I don't think it happens everywhere, but where it does it feels like forcing, and I don't think anyone should be pushed into prayer.

And why does Satan exist? Who made him? As far as I know the story is that he was an angel who rebelled, but God made him, and God can see the future, so he knew what would happen. That's honestly the thing that annoys me most about all of this: God can supposedly see the future, but doesn't act like he knows it. Maybe there are reasons, I don't know.

Then the other thing I really don't get is why people believe all this the way they do. I don't think most people actually sit and think hard about the story. My suspicion, and it's only a suspicion, is that a lot of people have doubts in private but go along because everyone around them seems to believe, and nobody wants to be the one who says it out loud. Everyone's kind of pretending together. There's actually a name for that in psychology (pluralistic ignorance), so I don't think I'm making it up, but I know it doesn't explain everyone. A lot of people probably believe for real, for reasons that are more about family, community or comfort than logic.

I also can't ignore how much money and politics is tied up in religion. Looking at history, a lot of it looks more like power and finances than just belief. And it makes me think about priests and other religious leaders. Their whole job is studying one book and its rules. Their house, income and place in the community depend on it. If one of them started honestly doubting, it would cost them everything, so it's hard to expect honesty from that position. I'm not saying every priest is faking or stupid, I really don't know. I just feel like if you spend your whole life on this stuff, you must have run into these same questions, and I'd want to hear how you deal with them.

What I really want, from anybody, is just to use our brains. I know not everyone is a genius and that's fine, but thinking is basically what we have as humans. I'd rather people try and question this stuff than just repeat whatever they were handed because it's comfortable.

I know there are answers out there. I've heard the "free will needs real choices, and real choices allow real harm" argument, and that God might be outside of time, and that some versions of hell are more like a choice than a punishment. Honestly none of them have convinced me so far, but maybe I'm missing something. A lot of my other questions probably have answers too, and I'm only asking because I don't know them. I'm not trying to attack anyone who believes. I'm just saying that from where I stand, as a character in the story who never signed up for the rules, a lot of this doesn't add up.

One more honest thing: the AI agreed with almost everything I said, and I don't take that as proof I'm right. A chatbot agreeing with you doesn't mean much. The questions and the doubts are mine, I was just using it to think out loud, and that's exactly why I'm posting here. I don't want a yes-man, I want actual people to push back.

So if you have a good answer to the "freedom but also punishment" thing, or why a God who knows everything would set it up this way, I'd really like to hear it. Whether you believe or not, I'm here to understand more, not to attack anyone.

I am LDS, but, honestly, a whole series of circumstances is making me lose interest. On the other hand, for me, concepts such as complete chastity before marriage, total fidelity afterward, the centrality of the family, etc., remain fundamental. In which other religions are these themes equally central?

I just noticed that homophobia and hatred or distrust towards sexually divergent individuals are more commonly practiced in places where people are ardent followers of Abrahamic religions. Places that were once animistic or pagan/polytheistic were pretty much tolerant of gays and lesbians.

For example, in island South East Asia, people once practiced Animism coupled with ancient Buddhist and Hindu customs and traditions. It was documented that gays, lesbians and transgender people were respected and tolerated in Pre-Abrahamic South East Asia, most especially in the Philippines and Indonesia where transgender women were animistic shamans and priestesses and they wield considerable power and authority in society. In the Philippines, they were called Babaylan/Katalonan, while in Indonesia they were called Bomoh in Malay speaking communities, and Dukun in Javanese speaking communities.

The persecution of homosexuals and transgender people began when Islam reached Indonesia and the said nation converted to Islam in the 15th century, and when the Philippines embraced Christianity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gays and transgender people have to hide their identity to escape religious persecution.

I really wonder, from an anthropological sense on why Abrahamic religions are more homophobic than other religions.

Hi everyone,
I just has a really interesting conversation about God with my Boyfriend who is a religious christian going to church on a regular basis, while I do believe in a bigger godly power, though I don’t go to church regularly anymore. I do live in a christian community and did go to church regularly before Covid-19. This came to a halt because of me not being happy with my local church and the people there. I did ask this question quite a lot of people back at that church but never got an answer.

Now my Boyfriend does go to church on a regular basis and he now is one of my only contacts that I can talk about and critique the belief system with. But though him giving me an honest answer, we both weren’t really satisfied and therefore decided to come on reddit to get more opinions about this:

How is it possible that there is a god that is all loving, accepting everyone and is there to help everyone and anyone that is willing to accept that help, if there are still so many people and religious people dy. innocently and suffering on a daily basis?

My example for this was a young woman living in afghanistan, who is religious and lives her belief in every day. She though, due to the political situation in afghanistan, isn’t able to speak freely and lives in a strict society that doesn’t allow her to live her life.
When having the opportunity to get herself out of this situation, she looses her life. Now if god helps and loves anyone and everyone, how is this possible? How can a world like the one we are living in and this power of god coexist?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, please note, that I don’t want to question anyone in their substance here, I also don’t want to be disrespectful towards anyone with this question, it is an honest question that I have carried with me my whole life.
So please remember to also be respectful in the comments :))

with love,
C

Why is that text in the Quran? Are there any Muslims who actually believe this verse? If so why?

I’m having a bit of a spiritual conundrum lately, and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it.

As a child and into my early teenage years, I was pretty involved in Christianity. I attended youth groups at several different churches, although I rarely attended traditional Sunday services. Most of my experiences with religion came from evening youth groups, worship nights, and church camps.

There was one church in particular that I absolutely loved. I remember participating in worship and feeling this overwhelming sense of happiness, comfort, and belonging. I attended church camp, was baptized, and was even told that they saw potential in me to become a youth leader someday. At the time, Christianity was a pretty significant part of my life, and I genuinely enjoyed being involved in it.

Eventually, though, I fell away from the church. As I got older, I began developing beliefs, values, and perspectives that didn’t necessarily align with Christianity or what I understood it to mean to be Christian. My actions and lifestyle didn’t always reflect those teachings, either. Over time, I found myself exploring other spiritual paths, eventually finding paganism and witchcraft.

I’ve developed a deep appreciation for nature and the spirituality I find within it. I’m also a member of the Satanic Temple, which I understand may seem contradictory to some people, but my beliefs and values have evolved considerably since childhood. I genuinely feel connected to the path I’m on now, and I don’t necessarily see myself abandoning it to return to Christianity.

Here’s where my confusion comes in. Every so often, I’ll find myself listening to the worship songs I grew up with, and I experience this almost overwhelming sense of longing. I remember how those songs made me feel when I was younger, how much I loved worship, and how connected I felt to something bigger than myself.

Sometimes, I genuinely miss it. What I can’t quite figure out is whether I’m missing Christianity itself or simply the experiences and emotions I associate with it. Do I miss having faith in God, or do I miss being a child who felt so completely at home in a religious community? Am I experiencing some kind of spiritual conflict, or is this simply nostalgia for a chapter of my life that meant a great deal to me?

I don’t necessarily feel compelled to abandon my current beliefs, nor do I suddenly feel that paganism is the wrong path for me. But I also can’t deny that Christianity still seems to hold some emotional significance in my life, even after all these years.

I suppose I’m wondering whether anyone else has experienced something similar. Have you ever left a religion, found fulfillment elsewhere, and still felt yourself longing for certain aspects of your former faith?

Is this what a crisis of faith can look like, or am I simply grieving a version of myself and my spirituality that no longer exists?

I’m genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives, whether you’re Christian, pagan, atheist, or anything in between. I’m not necessarily looking to be converted or convinced that one belief system is better than another. I’m just trying to understand what I’m feeling.

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on an assignment for my Comparative Religion course, and I'm looking for 2–3 people who would be willing to share their personal experiences, beliefs, and perspectives on their religion.

A few things to know:

• Must be a Christian, Jewish, or Zoroastrian.
• I'll provide a set of questions. Some might be a little challenging or thought-provoking, but there's no pressure to answer anything you're uncomfortable with.
• Any online platform works! We can just have a casual chat.
• Our conversation will be screenshotted for documentation as part of my assignment. If you'd prefer to remain anonymous, that's completely fine. Just let me know what name or pseudonym you'd like me to use.
• I'm not here to challenge anyone's beliefs or start a religious debate. I simply want to understand different religious perspectives, learn from your experiences, and broaden my understanding.

This is purely for academic purposes, and I want this to be a respectful and open-minded conversation. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have before we start!

If you're interested, please drop a comment or send me a DM. I'd really appreciate your help!

Thank you so much!

i was raised Christian and we were always told that praying to basically ask god to win you a football game is considered disrespectful to god. I know a lot of football players will pray to Christian god, but they are more so thanking god for a win or praying that they are safe and can play to the best of their abilities. I wanna know if there is a religion where you can basically say explicitly “god I want you to put you to interfere with this football game and make my team win.” also how do you convert to this religion?

Religion has always been a contributed to my OCD. I converted to Roman Catholicism as an adult, and it sent my symptoms into overdrive. Now, a year and a half later, I still have no peace.

I have tried every Christian denomination. Just kept going. Now I'm in stage where I am looking into every religion simultaneously and I cannot stop.

I have no peace. I don't know what the truth is. I don't want to be an atheist I also don't want to go to Hell. Islam. Buddhism. Hindusim. Bahai. All of it. It's exhausting and my brain won't stop being obsessed with it. It is what consumes my entire day, just absorbing reddit and YouTube about all these different faiths trying to find the right one that brings me peace and comfort. That is all I want.

I'm a grown man I should not be dealing with this. It's causing stress for me and my family. I want this all to end so that I can be happy and normal.

Please help me.

These days, I've been feeling really connected to God. I think there is something really profound about believing I have a purpose and am part of a grander plan. Certain bible verses have made me think about my life: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" and "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

However, I've had one pressing question: Why does God love us?

I cannot imagine that kind of love towards an imperfect creature. The fact that even if we mess up, he forgives us through his divine grace is bewildering. If we are such an imperfect species, why should he make us prosper over the rest? Couldn't he have made a better Human?

Lastly, I don't consider myself a religious person, but I do believe in God. How can I serve God without being attached to a specific religious affiliation?

I a very recently learned about Gnosticism and was wondering how and why it's the opposite to agnosticism or if the names aren't related at all. My understanding is that Agnostics are unsure of God's existence, but Gnosticism seems to be about seeking a universal truth we inherently feel is right. I'm probably grossly misunderstanding one or both of these beliefs, so forgive me if there's some core aspect I'm missing.

I was raised secular, but after a religious experience I converted to Mormonism. Soon after my conversion I lost my faith in Mormonism, but I kept my faith in Christ. First I was attracted to Dutch Reformed, because it seemed close to Bible. I still thought Christianity was the only true religion and looked down on Jews, because they didn't believe in Jesus, while the Old Testament seemed predicted him.

Later Jews pointed out to me that the verses in their scripture that seem to point to Jesus are taken out of context. I didn't knew how to react to such claims, because I so stuck in my Christian interpetation. I then realized that the people from which this scripture is and who studied this for 1000s years couldn't be wrong. I also realized that Christianity is such a contradiction to the Tenach. And most importantly that Jesus is essentially a false prophet, because he predicted that he would come back within a generation of his death, what obviously didn't happen. Because I still believe in the god of Abraham and Isaac and serve Him, I am thinking about becoming Jewish.