How many people here are both isolated and alone and also have the Christian faith?

As an older Irish gay man, I’ve lived alone in the U.K. for 21 years at age 52 now and I reconnected with my traditional Irish Catholic faith 18 years ago, having cut all ties with the wider LGBT community and also reconnecting with my extended family in Rural Ireland - I’ve always held (and renewed) my Irish passport the entire time I’ve lived here in the U.K. as my Irish identity is very important to me - during Covid, my Catholic faith deepened (some would call it a “passion” for the faith) as I’m also an Irish patriot, as the Covid restrictions in Ireland were far stricter and went on for far longer than they did here in the U.K.,so I connected online with Irish groups and prayed the Rosary daily which I still do (I was never religious in my teens and after I came out as gay, because at the time, I had a big problem with the corruption of the institutional structures of the Catholic Church, having been born after Vatican II in 1962) but it was only after I’d had a suggestion from a supportive Muslim friend whom I was out as gay to, did I give it any serious thought a few years after living in the U.K. - I’m no stranger to the gay scene and what goes on in gay clubs, gay pride, etc, so my extended family, many of whom are devout Catholics in Rural Ireland and who are parents of very young children themselves, constantly ask me for advice on gay issues that they see in the news - I do feel a huge sense of responsibility to give honest answers to questions that I get asked, as my main motivation for coming out as gay was to live up to the values of honesty and integrity with which I was raised - Covid and all of the issues around it have also been a huge thing, as I was diagnosed in 2021 at age 51 - and I honestly believe that the attitudes and behaviour of the LGBT community in relation to various issues since that time have been highly inappropriate to say the least 

During the early investigations into covid it was found the the severe respiratory part that was killing so many chinamen was due to their increased number of ace2 receptors which the virus was using to get a hold in the lungs.

It was found that Zinc blocked the virus propagating that way, but it needed an Ionophore to get it where t needed to be, that was hydroxcloroquonone (not 100% sure I have ever spelling right)

Later is was found out in india's uttar pradesh province that a more effective general remedy was found in Ivermectin, a common deworming medication that already has other off label uses. BOTH medications were thoroughly "discredited" by false testimony (which was eventually officially retracted long after the argument had been lost) and supporting information actually was censored  which I didn't think we were supposed to do in our "free democratic" countries... 

Weird times, they really are...

That nearly did happen. In Madagascar. Antibiotic resistence is making us a lot more vulnerable to bacterial diseases again 

Im a believer.

However, n some instances, you're absolutely correct.

Most people seem to have cultural Stockholm Syndrome after having been intergenerationally held captive to whatever forces are n control. And that can be true in churches too.

A lot of church folk just seem to want the power to be a boring beige bland sterile lot serving the same planet killing genocidal system as anyone else, and pray to be held in ignorant bliss, deluding themselves that they're innocent! Fueling the beast, so to speak.

 It's like fresh water when I find individuals or groups who are not like that, who see it for what it all is, and strive to be different, apart from, and hot dependent on all that.

But, right now I'm just isolated.

I find even with what be felt to be good churches, that I can only get so far.

And most churches, most too were just expected to be "audience".

I'm frightened, anxious, isolated, lonely, frustrated, all the time, every day mostly.

I can't break out of it, and am seriously concerned, and only have God's Promise to hold onto and that's it.

 I am intelligent enough to "cut it" n life and church, and community. But I just can't break out of all the useless traits that have compounded over the decades before diagnosis.

It's constantly UNBEARABLE.

I very much like to hear it read at a pace of about 2600 seconds for the whole thing. Forgive my precision on that and remember my name.

The fundamentals of the sayings in any translation are as opaque obscure and open to interpretation as each other.  That can be no doubt but they are thought provoking. Thought is good. Deepthought is excellent.

The context of the Zenith of the early Gnostic Christian centuries is what I really find compelling in terms of my wholly amateur and attention disordered efforts to research and understand the period and it's writings.

I have ears to hear.

Number

Gnosticism is sometbing I'm very interested in too, though I wouldn't know about reading the originals. Bently Layton published an excellent come dium, though his translation quibbles do slow down the full context of each context. 

Some of the apocrypha are in the Septuagint, or maybe all of them, I haven't really got round to studying them much, and I am not confident on what the overlap is between them, the pseudepigrapha and the intertestamental writings.

As a Christian I believe there was the true faith as taught by Jesus and various heresies which his followers were warned about. But for reasons I find obscure God has allowed various errors to creep in to all the denominations such that none of them have totally correct theology. I think in part it is a test (which is often failed) to see whether Christians prefer to fight over minor details or remain united in love, as that is one of the core tenets which is more important than many of the things which we have split over. It is difficult! And is one reason I wanted to study the Biblical languages.

That sounds HARDCORE sister !  I maintain more of a floating interest.  If you have a Catholic bible, much of the apocrypha is included therein.  It is only the more protestant Bibles that exclude it.

The Gnostic texts are my main driving interests - but you obviously need the context of the canonical gospels to be able to get your head around how they may once have fitted into various "Christianities" (a view that I do ascribe to) in the earliest centuries after the J-Fella met his end.

Ah, thanks, I haven't really looked into the gnostics, I haven't finished reading the NT in Greek yet and then I have the Septuagint and the early church fathers, and the apocrypha... And learning Hebrew...

I have learned to be shy about sharing this type of stuff.....people think I am a religious/Christian nut job - which I am not - but I am VERY interested in things that are old wisdom (as defined by people from bygone eras.)  I'm just as intrigued by Gilgamesh, Budda, various Pagan understandings, deep space etc etc.  I'm Autistic, don't you know !!

Religion does not make you a good person, your behaviour does. 

Peaches said:

I find it hard to not feel alone. I feel like I'm part of this world but separated from everybody else.

I completely understand what you mean, It's a crushing , horrible thing .

They are the key folk (that I have encountered) who provide scholarly commentary and translations on the Nag Hamadi Codicies and the various fragments found earlier in the dumps.  In the early hundreds CE, the Gospel of Thomas was very popular and prolifically written (by the standards of the day.)

I have family but I feel isolated, trapped and alone.

I'm Christian but not overly religious. I used to be very religious but lost my faith for various reasons.

I find it hard to not feel alone. I feel like I'm part of this world but separated from everybody else.

I Sperg said:

Most of us need to live a long life just to figure that out, then we die! 

True!!! I fear I'll be long gone before I figure much out...

Maybe we can continue tomorrow, or some other day - I wouldn't want to disrupt your beauty sleep but I do enjoy a good manuscript so would probably enjoy getting you started! I don't recognise your references though, will have to google those.

If I do give it a go I'll try and remember to tell you, but with my poor executive functioning I might not get to it right away and may well forget to let you know even if I make a note to... I do apparently have ADHD as well!

I have been taking vitD for a while now but not really noticed any effects. Must make a note of the Vicks tip for my husband!

I Sperg said:

having the actual useful (but prohibited) meds to hand

Which ones and how might they be obtained? Without resorting to the dark web... or is it not possible? Send me a pm if you don't want to say here.

Yes, the first one is Coptic.  PLEASE don't get me started, I need to retire for sleep !

The second one is the Oxyrhynchus Greek Fragment.

Blatz, Layton, Doresse, Attridge, Funk's Parallels.......I can wax lyrical about this stuff for hours and hours.

Is that Coptic?

From which document is it?

Translating is always tricky. 

Is the first one of those Coptic? I can't read it like I can the second, and it isn't uncial Greek.

Church isn't the building, it's the community, we are the living stones built into God's temple with Christ as the cornerstone, we are supposed to carry each other's burdens and love each other. Which ideal sadly is not what we experience in many churches as humans are flawed. We are all supposed to be priests though, that is not something which belongs in the church, Jesus is the intercessor between God and humans, so we can indeed talk with God ourselves.

Monks aren't totally isolated, they live in community with each other. Even hermits weren't completely cut off as people would visit them all the time to ask their wisdom. Isolation seems to be right for some periods of life but not for all. We are supposed to serve others as Jesus did.