When I was in middle school, I was super quiet. Like, I would go entire lunch periods without saying a single word. I just didn’t realize that I might want to or be able to actually interact with other people. I had a cognitive impairment which stopped me from expressing myself, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I eventually realized in 8th grade that I could not hold an actual one-on-one conversation, and I decided that needed to change.

So I had to start by learning the basic conversation skills and such, and eventually moved to actually making jokes and stuff mid high-school. By the start of college, I could participate socially as a mostly normal person. I just caught up on all the social skills I had to re-develop, like making plans and stuff.

All this seems really simple, but it is hard to catch up when everyone else is already friends with each other. Now, I might be one of the most extroverted people I know, and I almost always talk to people whenever I get a chance. I accomplished my life goal when I was 20, so I am really happy about that and I’ve been riding that high ever since.

Yeah I don’t know any trans people irl so everything I know about them is from 196. I was in no way anti-trans before I started lurking. I would have considered myself the “middle ground” because of my unfamiliarity with it, not because I wasn’t sure if they should or should not have rights. I really think this whole post needs to be rephrased because it would have turned me away back then.

I am a Christian, and was raised that way. I’m going to be thorough in my explanation, since the quality of the other answers aren’t all that great, and hopefully at least something here will answer your question.

I attend church on Sundays and listen to a pastor talk about the bible and how to improve myself morally. This is a hit or miss, as far as both helpfulness and enjoyment goes. Every week, I go to “life group”, which involves discussing the bible, and hanging out with, a small group of friends. I’ve gotten to know them well over time and I always enjoy meeting. I try to have a personal quiet time each morning where I read the bible and pray a bit, it’s relaxing.

Generally, a faithful Christian will tell you that the Holy Spirit makes them want to do good things. Typically, when someone gets “saved”, they suddenly have a much easier time being kind and loving others.

The goal of Christianity, as far as I am concerned, is primarily to convert others and to grow my own faith/virtues. I want to form strong relationships with fellow christians so that we can encourage each other to do good things and discourage bad things. I want to form strong relationships with non-christians because I [1] genuinely care about them (see: holy spirit) and [2] to convert them.

The act of being and becoming a Christian is supposed to be entirely voluntary. I do not feel as though I am a slave to some rulebook. I chose my own beliefs, and it is easy for me to follow the moral principles which I think are right. I hold some beliefs which are counter to what most other christians believe, but I have received minimal pushback for these beliefs from the community I have chosen. (pro-lgbt, sex-positive, annihilationism).

I choose to surround myself with a community of other christians which I can always rely on. It is pretty easy to make friends in the churches which I have attended. I’m in college, and it was easy for me to get multiple strong friend groups just by joining organizations at my school.

Hope you have a wonderful day. If you want to ask more questions you are welcome.

He never said that they were “completely wrong”. Just casting doubt/sharing thoughts. Regardless, freedom of/from religion has only gotten better in the west for the last few hundred years. Please don’t let a few crazies in the US determine your perspective on an entire religion.