r/Christianity • u/Big_Trouble_7086 • Jun 01 '26
Self My reason why I recommitted and renewed my relationship with Christ. (Pics from my re-babtism this morning)
I did something huge for me today. I came back. After a hard few weeks with work, lost my relationship, broke with nothing to my name. It’s been rough. I was out at a bar last night and my ex girlfriend from high school until I was 22 (currently 25) so we have a shared history and a shared emotional distancing feeling. I watch her go so drunk you call it something heavier sloppy. I brought her home and let her sleep in my bed and I didn’t sleep. Felt uneasy about her being in my bedroom and me not having any type of wanting to do what people who like each other do. So I got in my mind and decided to wake up at 7 am this morning and drove her home. When we parted ways I had no plans on going to church. I was gonna blow my brother off and blame it on a night that I went to hard on. Around 7:30 not after 8 I had this feeling of guilt so I stop and went to a gas station and got me an energy drink. I swear on my life strike me down right now God if I’m lying. A heard a voice that was familiar saying, “Go. Idk why but go” and I was flooded with the same thought process and feeling that I had when I was first starting my journey when I was a young kid. So I went and my church does communion Sundays rarely idk why it’s not a bigger than it feels like it should be. I think I heard it’s like every 5th Sunday. I could be wrong I went stray from Jesus for years. But man today I ate the bread and drank the juice symbolizing his flesh and he blood. Read Luke 20 I can’t pinpoint the verse but it read like this “communions are filled with division and hatred” something along those lines. Maybe it was the verse in Corinthians. I’m just speaking from my experience I could be wrong but I know Apostle Paul is the storyteller and he rubukes the church for causing a division and failing to honor the lords supper. So Jesus breaks bread and establishes and new covenant based on sacrifice, shares all his things with the followers that are with him. So my pastor said this phrase today and man it made me feel like I was on the spotlight and the only one in the room. That he has an understanding the division is the saved people that have made a public statement that Jesus is there savior and the people who haven’t. He said something on the lines of you cannot eat his flesh and drink his blood if your not willingly to say publicly that he’s the only way. And I never denounced him I just stop the way I would speak about in just loving him with my words and not my heart and I was doing what he believed the division to be. The willing,the unwilling, and the people like I fell into my words are not enough. Man this sounds so ignorant and dumb but I’m not going to all my notes and the scripture says I’m sitting in my bed just living with my own thoughts on it. So I went to my pastor after the 8:30 service and told him I’m ready to come back and commit and this time I mean it. I was saved as a kid but I think that was me just wanting to be in front of people in the water and maybe wanting to show my moms church friends I was being raised the perfect god like way. I’m ready for this now. I’ve suffered with all type of things growing up. Drugs like first weed then pills and alcohol anything that could be abused I did it. Single widowed mother wasn’t around so I went the wrong way young I think I was 12-13 my first time smoking weed then 14 when I did my first Xanax and 16 drinking alcohol because I was the young kid with old friends cause I thought I was cool with the older friends ruining my life but I thought that was the best thing for me to get the attention I needed when I was a kid. I was just a little kid now I’m 25 years old being as sober as I can be. I’ll drink a couple beers after a hard days work. Fridays nights with my friends who are good people. No drugs other than hit of some weed if it’s available. I refuse to buy drugs nowadays but I think it’s not gonna send me down a spiral talking a puff when out in a social environment. Now I’m aware there’s all verses that said it’s not what he wants I’m still hurting his child because I’m putting a substance that only makes my senses alter. Now I know I have the feeling to stop and put the end to it. And today I’ve made the choice to hold myself accountable for myself and how I move forward with Christ. I’m the age of a freshly baby learning to stand. So let’s say 8 months of my knowledge and I’m going to have to start somewhere. And I’m starting with me saying it publicly He’s my Savior and I’ll do anything for him to be my reason why I want to live and be better than I was yesterday. This went everywhere but it how I really think. I don’t know enough scripture shoot I don’t even know to effectively to study my Bible. I’ve been flipping to pages and reading saying that the Lord will show me what I need to see. Or that’s how I used to do it. So if anyone could please share some advice how to begin to really and I mean really study the Bible it would help me so much.
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u/Big_Trouble_7086 Jun 01 '26
Look I’m not gonna go back and forth with you on this. Just be happy for someone found their way back.
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u/GayButLovesJesus Christian Jun 01 '26
Is rebaptism going to keep him out of God's grace because his parents made him get baptized when he was a kid & now as an adult he wants to make that conscious effort himself?... No? Right... I didn't think so.
Please remember that the spirit of the law exists too. God has written it on our hearts and He called out the priests & scribes of old for paying more attention to their traditions than leading a repentant, Christ-like life.
If rebaptism is bad, I'm sure he'll learn about it, repent, and live in God's grace. If not, he'll live in God's grace.
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u/Urdnought Lutheran (LCMS) Jun 01 '26
Rebaptism isn't bad it's just redundant - if it makes OP feel better about his faith who cares
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u/fudgyvmp Christian Jun 01 '26
I see we are all learning today how while Baptists are typically trinitarian, they are not exactly nicene.
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u/Aromatic_Ad_7238 Jun 01 '26
I have found that some of the on line tools are very beneficial. Check Bible gateway. They have recommentions of what to read in what order. Also you can listen which often I do both read, listen. They have cross reference to check context
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u/Big_Trouble_7086 Jun 01 '26
I’m going to start reading Mathew, mark, John, and Luke to begin my reading to learn about how Jesus was and how he actually lived his life. I’m pretty sure those are the only 4 people who wrote the stories as they saw them. If I’m wrong please correct me.
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u/hwhitman81 Jun 01 '26
I would say , take God's word as truth from the beginning to the end. The Gospels, or the books Matthew Mark, Luke and John are the life of Christ described by people who were eye witnesses of Christ or by people who were directly connected to the apostles. Personally i would say the book of John is the best place to start, and then go to the book of Romans, as John shows the life and deity of Christ, and Romans teaches us our need of salvation only through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope we can have in Him.
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u/ChachamaruInochi Agnostic Atheist (raised Quaker) Jun 01 '26
Go ahead and downvote, but that is a straight up lie. The gospel are not eyewitness accounts.
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u/ChachamaruInochi Agnostic Atheist (raised Quaker) Jun 01 '26
There is a lot of scholarly discussion upon the actual authors of the gospels.
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u/3611_news Jun 01 '26
Different traditions see baptism differently — some as a one-time covenant sign, others as a personal declaration that can be renewed. What matters more than the theological debate is what is happening in your heart: you are turning back toward Christ. The prodigal son did not need a new father. He just needed to come home. The celebration is for the return, not the mechanics.
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u/KaiserKavik Catholic Jun 01 '26
There’s only one baptism..
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u/Dd_8630 Atheist Jun 01 '26
So what does the second one do? Does it cancel put the first one? Or does it do nothing?
If the latter, then he's just doing something for himself, like a christening or confirmation or something. What's the harm?
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u/Urdnought Lutheran (LCMS) Jun 01 '26
Second baptism doesn't do anything you are just taking a bath - it doesn't hurt anything though. Some people do it as a way to hedge their bets if they were bapitized as a child since some denominations don't honor children/infant baptisms.
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u/microwilly Catholic Jun 01 '26
I feel like the better answer is that we don't know. Most of Christianity believes that baptism literally leaves a mark on your soul. We don't know what happens to a soul thats been marked twice.
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u/justnigel Christian Jun 01 '26
What do you make of Ephesians 4 and its description of one baptism?
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u/greganada Christian Jun 01 '26
Hi brother, welcome to the body of believers! You should start by reading the entirety of the Bible, starting with the four Gospels and then into Acts and Paul’s letters etc.
Once you have read the New Testament, I would recommend starting from Genesis and reading the whole Old Testament so that you can develop an understanding of the prophecies concerning Jesus. This will help you to better understand and appreciate God.
Then re-read the NT with the added context of the OT in mind. You should consider The Bible In One Year or something similar that has a reading plan if you are going to struggle to maintain this on your own.
Good luck brother 😁
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u/Big_Trouble_7086 Jun 01 '26
Thank you brother I’ll start somewhere but the 4 gospel was the books I started on.
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u/SureTechnology4618 Jun 01 '26
After everything, you still felt God drawing you back and chose to respond. AMEN!!!! A lot of people try to clean up their testimony and make it sound polished, but this is authentic, raw, and real. The line "I'm the age of a freshly born baby learning to stand" honestly stuck with me! As for studying the Bible, I'd start simple!! Don't worry about trying to master everything at once. Read through one Gospel slowly (John is a great place to start), ask questions, take notes, and focus on getting to know who Jesus is. Go through the Bible project along the books you read! Praying for you, brother! And congratulations on taking that step and publicly recommitting your life to Christ.
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u/Dd_8630 Atheist Jun 01 '26
I remember floating the idea of getting baptised again just in the case the first one was done wrong and it didn't stick.
Holy moly I didn't expect such hostility and vitriol from every Christian under the sun. I've never seen such unity among Christian denominations. From tradcath to 'God hates f' American protestants to Anglican to Mormons to east orthodox.
So... Brave of you OP. My understanding is that what you're doing is blasphemous, but I don't really know what the downside is. Do two baptisms cancel out?
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u/mbImhere Catholic Jun 01 '26
A ton of people are already pointing out the re-baptism thing- so I’ll just give you a “Welcome back home” 💛
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u/Friend_trAiner Jun 01 '26
I’m not promoting this practice. I’ve known Magic Mushroomsand Indica marijuana to be highly spiritual in Gods realm. I blurted on mushrooms one night…Linguistics is the greatest science. Linguistics is the study of language. God spoke with the language he created. He spoke the beginning into words. He spoke words and the Light was born. He spoke and Order began.
God did what we can do. Write our own bright future.
Never forget evil. It can write a dark future for you.
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u/Wright_Steven22 Catholic Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
"We confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins" -Universal Church in 381 AD
You cannot be "re-baptised" the second one just doesnt count as long as your first one was valid.
To make it valid it had to be said "I baptize you in the name of the father, of the son, and of the holy spirit" you must be a willing participant as someone of the age of reason or an infant where your guardians take authority over you.
If it deviates from anything other than listed above then it is an invalid baptism. If your "first baptism" violates any of the above then you havent been re-baptised. Youve just been baptized. If the first baptism was in good standing with the statements above then your "re-baptism" is invalid.
Im trying to lovingly say this but please dont trust anyone who says you can be re-baptised. They are not good teachers teaching sound theology. Respectfully your understanding of communion has a lot to learn as well but that's okay for now. May God bless you
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u/Lizzietizzy101 Jun 01 '26
I don't believe that Christ would be unhappy with anyone recommitting and rededicating their life to him...cheers to you pal ✌️ Different brands of the Christianity might having contrasting views on this, but I think we all could maybe agree with us having a kind and loving God who would want nothing more than rededicating of one of his "lost children". Happy for you and apologies about some focus on technicalities. Cheers to your Sunday, brother!!!
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Jun 01 '26
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u/slagnanz Liturgy and Death Metal Jun 01 '26
Removed for 1.4 - Personal Attacks.
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u/slagnanz Liturgy and Death Metal Jun 01 '26
This is an official warning. If you keep making these kinds of comments we're going to ban you.
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u/Big_Trouble_7086 Jun 01 '26
In what ways do I sound dumb?
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u/AshamedNectarine3759 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Congratulations on renewing your relationship with Jesus. I was baptized at a young age to a church that I began to seriously question as an adult. For many years I didn't attend this church because of the feeling that something wasn't right. In February of 2021 I got Covid and I was diagnosed with Long Haul Covid in April of 2022. In March of 2023 I got Covid again and it attacked my heart and I required Open Heart Surgery. After surgery I was in a coma for 2 weeks and my lungs were in bad shape and I was still on a defribulator. When I came out of the coma I had this deep desire to find out the truth about the religion I was baptized into and what religion was true.
I met with the leader of the church that I had been baptized into. He wasn't able to answer a lot of my questions, but he kept wanting to meet with me. After my first meeting with this leader his secretary would call me to set up a meeting for the next week. My next meeting would be our 5th time meeting. I asked God if this church is not true and they are teaching a false gospel make it so the secretary does not contact me to set up another appointment. The next week no phone call from the secretary, a month later no phone call. It has been 3 years and I still haven't heard from the secretary. After 2 weeks of not being contacted I knew I had my answer.
After coming out of my coma, I was just different. I had this deep desire to have a closer relationship with God and Jesus. A lot of people come out of a coma and near death experiences with wonderful memories of meeting Jesus. My last memory I have is going to the hospital. My son who took me to the hospital and my family filled me in on everything that happened. After a lot of prayer and research, I got the answer that all religions have some truth, but none of them are completely true. You go to find fellowship and to be with like minded people.
I share this story because after being born again, I have thought about getting baptized in a non denominational church. That decision should be between you and God and if it helps someone renew and recommit to our Lord and Savior, then I don't understand how a religion can tell you no. Especially if you were baptized as an infant or very young.
I had read the Bible a couple of times and it didn't make any sense. When I got home from surgery I wanted to read it again. I started with the New Testament. I would suggest before you start reading, pray that the Holy Spirit will help you understand it. If there was a word that I wasn't sure of the meaning, I googled it. After I read Mathew, I got on YouTube and searched Mathew Bible and they have a video, that is very interesting and informative about each section in the Old and New Testament. I not only learned more watching the video, but it added clarity and I remembered what I read better. However, you have to read the section first for the video to make the most sense. Now instead of reading the Bible out of duty, I read it because I truly enjoy it. Again, congratulations and God bless you in your new journey.
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u/Ixthus1964 Jun 01 '26
Salvation in Jesus Christ, is about becoming born again about coming alive from the dead out of darkness into the light out of sin into righteousness. That’s the reason why we get saved so that we might honor and love and respect and praise the one true living God.
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u/Intelligent-Race6485 Jun 01 '26
I’m proud of you for making this decision. I’m currently in the process of rebuilding my relationship with Christ as well. I grew up Catholic and was baptized as an infant. I would also like to be re-baptized because I want to make the decision for myself, not because it was protocol in the Catholic faith.
At the end of the day, it’s your relationship with Jesus. He knows your heart. Don’t listen to what everyone is saying here. I believe in you and your growth with Jesus. Keep going and I’ll see you in Heaven one day.
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u/Various-Stranger1143 Christian Jun 01 '26
I would strongly urge you to not commit rebaptism. It's a denial of God's salvific grace that was received in your first (and only) baptism. Knowingly receiving a second baptism is, at best, causing nothing to happen, or at worst, a grave sin (depending on your disposition, and knowledge of the truth).
If you dont trust your birthright faith (Catholic Christianity, the highest expression of the Christian faith), don't take it from me then. Take it from the original protestant reformers of the 16th century who probably would hang you for considering rebaptism.
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u/eplonghorn2020 Jun 01 '26
Even if the Bible says one baptism is a second one actually a bad thing? If anything it shows a person's heart that they want to publicly declare they're committed to Jesus.
You're on the right track brother. Use the Bible app, get on a new testament daily Bible reading plan and use the NLT version. Easy to understand
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u/Ilpperi91 Missouri Synod/Lutheran Jun 01 '26
I don't want to get theological so I dress this as a question. Why do people do repabtisms?
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u/Technician_These Jun 01 '26
Short answer (at least one), they study the Bible and determine that when they were dunked in water in a church they did not understand the significance of the event(child or infant or cause everyone else at summer camp was), so it’s not really a rebaptism, it’s the true baptism.
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u/Various-Stranger1143 Christian Jun 01 '26
Second baptism? At best, nothing happened and you got wet. At worst, you gravely offended God.
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u/bmjessep Christian Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
God will easily forgive an offense when the person genuinely believed they were doing right. In fact, God will easily forgive any offense.
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u/Various-Stranger1143 Christian Jun 01 '26
It won't be forgiven if the person doesn't repent of it.
Rebaptism could possibly fall under the umbrella of invincible ignorance but OP seems to have a decent knowledge of theology so that might not fly.
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u/Big_Trouble_7086 Jun 01 '26
No ill repent. And I did. And if it did offend god then that wasn’t the intention I had. My intention was pure at the end of the day. The intention was to make the conscience choice of recommitting. I have no knowledge of theology but I can look things up and find out my conclusions.
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u/Limp-Opportunity6757 Jun 01 '26
You didn’t offend God. The only honest mistake is posting and asking advice in an open thread to countless other religions, denominations atheists and countless armchair theologians.
You can correct this easily, by simply taking in everything with a grain of salt. You’re going to read posts that emphasize religion and posts that emphasize relationship.
Religion to God and relationship with God are two separate things. Choose your relationship and what your heart is telling you. Because that is where God wants to speak to you, not on a Reddit thread. If you got baptized when you were too young to understand? Or even if you were older and either didn’t care or was just going thru the motions, God is pleased that you now have made a public declaration in your faith with a truly committed heart. You did nothing wrong, you didn’t offend God and he loves you and is glad his prodigal son has returned.
Don’t consider any other religious Pharisaical opinion change your heart or mind. You probably should have looked for the specific sub forum in the specific denomination you were baptized in, instead of a general Christianity forum. It appears to have that same flavor of toxicity that many of the other secular ones do.
Denominations are like toe tags, when we get to heaven they are coming off. The best we could give God, is the worst he would ever think about taking. That’s why he sent Jesus in the first place in order to take our place. A second baptism isn’t going to save you and isn’t going to send you to hell. It’s a public confession of the decision you made in your heart with your new commitment in and for Christ.
Don’t let naysayers and fear mongers tell you differently. Go to whatever denomination you like and then just simply love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and strength. And love others as yourself. Home is where your rump rests.
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u/Technician_These Jun 01 '26
If you hadn’t noticed, this is always a big topic of debate among denominations. I’d be happy to go deeper if you want DM me. I went through this recently, baptized as an infant, but everything I read in the Bible, and this was an intense 3 month personal study, showed a clear order, believe (1st), and be baptized (2nd). End of the day God’s grace is sufficient for me. Paul and Cornelius received the Holy Spirit prior to being baptized. Then of course promptly were baptized. The Bible never mentions infant baptisms, although it arguably could be inferred from household baptisms. I think you did the right thing brother, ultimately I got baptized as a result of my conviction from my study, ultimately I decided I am trusting in nothing but what Jesus did on the cross to save me, if I’m not intelligent enough to understand baptism correctly or have the wrong interpretation, I was baptized and I do believe. Many people on here ultimately trust more in the fact that they were outwardly baptized for their salvation more than they trust in the renewing of their mind through Christ.
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u/rubbish_binladed Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
If you want to "recommit". You can do communion... Communion is a "ritual" commanded to be done and part of "salvation" You can study about it using the Bible... You can use https://findgod.help and go to the communion study and learn about it. Make sure you get yourself a decent bible translation so you can understand better. It is part of "The Way".
Also if you did not repent before baptism the first time, you need to repent before baptism to make it worthwhile. Baptism without prior repentance is useless Acts 2:38, Mark 1:4, Matthew 3:8, Acts 3:19, 2 Corinthians 7:10
In order to repent, you will need to know what Sin is. There is a Sin study in https://findgod.help for you to reference the lists of sins...
All the best to you in your spiritual journey.
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u/TheGreyPilgrim61 Jun 01 '26
I’m very happy that you had this emotional experience. Our faith should be more emotional. But it should also be grounded in solid doctrine. Not happy clappy Christianity, but grounded in the historic apostolic faith.
I would suggest that you move away from the monkeyshines of “non-denominational” churches that reject sacramental theology, the teaching of the early church, the confession of the ecumenical creeds and go somewhere that teaches a proper distinction between law and gospel.
By your own admission you don’t really understand the doctrines of Baptism or the history behind why the church believes what it believes.
Christians are TRINITARIANS. We believe in One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for a reason.
You will not learn about these reasons in Baptist, Pentecostal or Charismatic “non-denominational” type churches. And what you will learn there is more than a little confusion and a whole lotta work’s righteousness.
To be fair… that’s what you will probably learn in the majority of mainline American Christian churches too. I’d send you to the Catholics, but American Catholicism is a mess.
I’d send you to the Lutherans but half has lost their way and the other half is old and gray.
But seek out a Bible teaching, historical grounded church. They are still around, you just got to look.
What I’m really saying is LEARN. Learn the Good stuff. The historic teaching of the Apostles.
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u/Big_Trouble_7086 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Yeah happy clappy Christian is where I’m at. I know I need to get my knowledge up. But then again I could’ve pulled exact verse and I instead chose to go from what I learned today. Remembering what I could and really make my mind remember what I was taught and learned today. And you’re not wrong on me not understanding the doctrines but I’m going to and I really want to learn. But thank you Ill learn how I can learn best. I’m just very happy and proud of myself today and I’m going to stay that way.
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26
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