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

I'm not Christian, I'm an Orthodox Jew, but a lot that's here is recognisable. Religious communities can be cliquey and insular. I'm not really alone any more as I have my fiancee, but she's probably also autistic or AuDHD and we worry about finding a community where we'll be accepted, especially as I'm a lot more religious than she is and we worry that the mismatch will put people off befriending us. There aren't many Orthodox Jewish autistics out there, apparently. Hence I married someone not as religious as me, as the religious women tended to see me as weird (OK, I'm putting words in their mouths, but that was the vibe I had), not religious enough or, sometimes, too religious. And I wasn't getting set up on blind dates the way Orthodox Jews are supposed to be set up. I could never work out if people thought I was weird or not religious enough or just didn't notice me.

I could go into a whole thing here about not fitting theologically with ultra-Orthodox Jews, but the Modern Orthodox community in the UK not being so religious and, anyway, not being an ultra-successful career person or genius academic like most Modern Orthodox Jews seem to be. Trust me, it's very socially isolating.

Judaism is a very community-based religion, so being awful at community-based stuff (long periods when I didn't make it to synagogue at all due to burnout/depression/social anxiety/panic attacks) has left me feeling like a terrible Jew much of my life.

I have much more to say, but no time as the Sabbath comes in soon...

My faith was actually a focused interest of mine for many years, so much so that I spent 2 years at a live in college studying the bible in depth.  So I understand what you mean about Jesus himself- he was always hanging out with the outcasts.  Unfortunately much of my experience of church has not followed this example.  Having had a thorough exploration of many aspects of faith, I can no longer hold onto the teachings I grew up with, such as the idea of Hell and humans being inherently sinful.  I believe that if there is a god, then it is not possible for us to know them without our own experience and culture influencing how we view such a deity.  And nothing is more painful than praying for some kind of help when you are desperately suffering alone and then receiving none, and continuing to struggle on alone.

I'm glad that you've found a way to sail and that your faith brings you some kind of comfort, but I had to let my go and find other ways to live in love, service and radical acceptance.

As far as I'm concerned, the lack of Religion in modern society created a vacuum which was filled by Government, Human Authority and 'Science' as a means of worship; rather than a means of research.

America embraced Counterculture in the Sixties, but most other countries didn't play ball. So, the Counterculture types usurped the airwaves, and media, to get their way. Now, the world is devoid of identity and sovereignty. 

Thank you, Glitter.

My faith got stronger when I eliminated the middle men and petitioned God directly for guidance so I could be a part of the plan.

I'm quite unreligious past the basic insistance that I did indeed find enough evidence to convince me that we are living in a creation.

Life has knocked a lot of the arrogance out of me, such that I realise that there's no way I can actually understand the plan or have a meaningful discourse with God, any more than I can with a snail, but I'm bright enough to know that if there is a creator then there is a reason for why people get cancer, or die in war etc. and I'll get an explanation in due course, but for now my "job" is to try to believe in a creator and love my neighbour as myself. 

I'm sure I'm as much of a sinner in the eyes of God as you are, I possibly just have different less visually obvious quirks to account for.. 

It is clear across the board whichever religion you adopt (even satanism!) that God has a requirement that we believe in him as a creator and a provider. Perhaps it was a sin, but I insisted in being given adequate information directly to assess the matter for myself. That it took me so long, and I had to experience so much suffering along the way, is partly my fault directly and partly seems to be "the way it works". 

If Christians take against you because your are gothic queer and Autistic, is it the faith or them that has the problem. Read the gospel of Matthew when you have a bit of spare time, and consider how would Jesus have treated you if he met you? Would he have looked down on you for your gothic autistic Queerness??

Or would he have drawn your attention to more important matters perhaps, and it not even been an issue? 

Unlike many people I can't claim to know very much or speak on behalf of anyone, but I can keep trying to stick with the plan, as fast I discover the little bits I can understand, and which do make sense. 

God made me the way I am and I need to know WHY I am doing something, not just enough to know how to do it to a minimum standard.. It took me twenty years of asking all sorts of both secular and theological  questions to get to a position of functioning "faith" but it has delivered satisfaction in a way that thirty years of effort expended in the field of aviation and other so called high end, priviledged secular stuff, did not. 

I've learned that most of what we desire is actually useless to us when we get it. I didn't even realise how fortunate I was at the time, either. That's the nature of "godlessness" it seems. It's like trying to sail or glide* when you have no knowledge of the medium in which you propose to travel.  

Many people do not know this, but even a hang glider can be kept aloft with nothing other than knowledge of meteorology, and a suitable launch point.

You can sail across the atlantic with no engine, but you need to know a bit about the wind and water and how your boat works first..

Religion tries to be a "how to" manual for everyone, but just like learning how to glide or sail (metaphors for getting through life without an "engine", I guess!) you can teach yourself, or find someone who knows and learn from them, the main question is can we be bothered to learn these skills or are we happy to just keep our feet on the ground, and stay where we are, doing what we do?

And now I need to go practice riding the unicycle. It's way easier than believing in God and loving all of you as myself...

I have been buying Holland and Barrett supplements, religiously, since 2020; even before, I popped in; occasionally.

I did seven, or eight, COVID tests. All negative. All done au naturelle.

I'm grateful that I kept a low profile, during the madness.

Give it a go and TELL ME how it works for you, please.

We people who try to pass on little known truths (whether medical or not) have a bad reputations (sometimes deserved) for glibly passing false information.

I need a bit of honest feedback both positive or otherwise, sometimes just to be sure I'm not one of those. I've only ever had positive or no feedback for my seatone recommendations. 

Vicks "vapor rub" IME also works way better than Canestan for foot fungus... 

Vitamin D (which I started as part of my personal Covid prophylaxis strategy, which seems to have worked so far) has reduced my propensity for mouth infections.

There's a whole list of stuff that works, that the "professionals" never tell you about. 

It's the same with your car and all sorts of fields dominated by the "professionals" and their rituals.I only ever pass on anything that I've personally proven or closely observed for myself unless I add a great big disclaimer.

During COVID the "professionals" never told you just how damn useful it is to replace your hall light bulb with one that emits UV-C light did they?

You walk in, take off your coat and and hang it up, turn on the light, close your eyes and rotate a few times just to burn off the stragglers, then go wash your hands, leaving your coat et al to "sunbathe" for a bit longer". it's a ridiculously short time (depending on which published figures your believe and how good your bulb is) to burn off the virii and so easy and cheap to do. By having a (hastily assembled) plan, upping my vitamin D and having the actual useful (but prohibited) meds to hand and of course reducing my exposure to people and places, I was able to largely ignore Covid-19 and all the shenanegans and idiocy around it, but it has left me with a reduced respect for the general publics ability to think critically, and I see more clearly why you are all so quick to look to "authorities" to provide "solutions". (Which has always mystified me up until Covid in combination with attaining the insight that I'm Autistic showed me how little the average man relies on his own mind & experience to make critical decisions). 

I'm terrified about what horrors we will accept next... But I think there have always been people like me and just because I know a few often hidden things doesn't really mean I'm any better than the provable idiots and criminals we have running things now. But I have over, and over again, shown myself to be "a safe pair of hands"... All I can do I guess is peddle low cost remedies that work, and tinker with our table top fusion device...

Ironically we could probably deal with bubonic plague better now. Unless it developed an antibiotic resistant strain of course...

I am same, avoiding covid like the plague. online shopping from Waitrose, and online orders. 

Thanks, that's one I'd not come across before.

I had a very strong faith when I was younger, and felt very alone.  I believed that I had God with me, but I needed "someone with skin on."  There were issues with my home life, school was hard, but I felt it worst at church where people were supposed to be a spiritual family, and I used to sit around after ther service being completely left out.  This happened in a few difference churches.  I just didn't know how to join in.  There was even one where I tried to join in a group of people talking in a circle and they just closed the gap in front of me with their bodies so that I was left staring at their backs.  

There have been some Christians who have shown me that it's not all like this.  I went to a multicultural bible college and that was good because everyone there had different experiences, ways of doing things and talking.  People made an effort to include everyone, and my efforts to join in were noticed and accepted.  But that was very much an unusual experience.  

Generally I think I make a lot of Christians with traditional values uncomfortable.  I dress like a goth, I'm autistic and queer.  It makes it very hard to find a place where I'm accepted.  My faith has mutated over the years and I now find some expressions of faith very triggering.  

I’m a Christian whose faith lessens feelings of being alone when I am in isolation. 

Ah ha! Arthritis!

My nan was a seamstress.

When it started to take her fingers she thought she was gonna have to give it up, but then a friend told here about Holland and Barrett's "Seatone" capsules.

She was able to resume work after a short time, and continue literally into her late eighties, making curtains and swags and tails for her many clients.

Other people in my life who have actually gone away and tried it report similar results, although it aint cheap and DO NOT SMELL THE BOTTLE!.

Hi I Sperg. I am often isolated and feel alone just as often. I can't say I support it as well as I used to when I was younger. I guess I was able to distract myself more when I was younger. These days I quickly become lonely. That said, I don't have any faith in religion, nor do I have much faith in much. That sounds a bit desolate, and I suppose it is.

I think recently I can say that I fit both criteria I’m both a Christian and isolated.

I didn’t always used to be so isolated I think age has a lot to do with it when I was younger I was quite active in our churches young adults ministry and I think that when I got to a certain age I was encouraged to move out of that, no one told me I had to but at the same time it became less and less accessible to me time wise. once you get out of the young adults ministry in our church there really isn’t anything for single people.

Everything is really aimed at couples and people with families. There are men’s groups and women’s groups but they really focus around stereotypical men’s and women’s activities, and typically the activities of men and women who are in middle-age and often with kids which tend to be quite different from younger men and women. At the same time the young adults ministry was moving in a kind of culturally odd direction where it was turning into more of a young professionals ministry. I think you know the type, the kind of young person whose idea of a good time is a salsa night or a wine tasting. The kind that like the idea of acting mature.

Our church has been very big on trying to organise and encourage people into small groups but again they’ve all tended to be built up based on the same demographic pattern.

Now given the opportunity I would still go out and dance in a nightclub or play video games or watch some anime, I really have no great interest in discussing mortgage prices or school catchment areas or the cost of people carriers or whatever it is it happens at these events; I think a lot of it is football and knitting type stuff.

Maybe the lack of suitable groups wouldn’t be as big a deal if I wasn’t in one of these so-called mega churches where you have over 1000 people quite often at a Sunday morning service. That said I think in a smaller church, and I have visited smaller churches with family members, you have the opposite problem that is to say the variety of people is so narrow that you really don’t see there’s anyone in the church that you can relate to.

For medical reasons I really don't want to catch covid because I have a higher than average risk of getting long covid and it has a higher than average chance of causing more than a little inconvenience. I don't want my arthritis made any worse and I don't have any energy to spare. I am not afraid to die, but the thought of my existence being reduced to being trapped in a pit of pain without even the distraction of study due to brain fog and being even more useless than now is worse than living a half life where I can still cycle and study and at least do online church and see friends online and outside. And it's not as if catching it once gives any protection, but rather the opposite, each time you catch it increases the chance of long covid, and also seems to make any colds worse too. Even long covid itself doesn't stop someone getting covid again and setting back any recovery from long covid even further!

So it's online shopping and still washing what can't be quarantined, and avoiding going inside with others unless it is medically unavoidable, like blood tests, urgent dentistry and the vet now the cat is sick.

Dad also doesn't want long covid. My husband would probably be OK himself but if he got it I don't see how I could avoid catching it from him.

Indeed, never truly alone. I do see the Biblical ideal as a loving community who carries each others' burdens, but also there are times in the Bible where people had to spend a deal of time alone or away from the community for various reasons.

Cats help too!

I would be really interested to see that video if you can find it

I will look for that thanks. I now occasionally attend church in person but mostly am on line. I can cope with socialising in small groups but a lot of church is based on larger social activities. I presume this may be the same for other religions too.

I'm a Christian, but am more an Individualist than a Hermit.

No one bothers me, and I don't bother others. I sometimes visit my neighbour, or a select group of friends.

Whenever I was a young man, I wanted to be everyone's friend. In the end, I upset too many; being that way. Quality, over quantity, nowadays.

I'm not alone - I live with my boyfriend and cat. I'm housebound due to physical/medical problems so I only see other people when I get deliveries and when I go to hospital appointments.

I am a Christian and my faith has got me through terrible times during my entire life. Prayer is important to me and I also pray for all my online friends to be safe and well.