June 13, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode, the Bald Brothers discuss the differences between eastern philosophies and Western religion. Specifically, we focus on the origins of Christianity and the timeline of its creation in relationship to other practices. In addition, using personal stories, we discuss how religions claim to be the only and the correct path to heaven. Our discussion follows through with the question, "Are we required to pray to Jesus to get to heaven?"
This episode finishes with a story from one of our listeners describing a difficult time in their lives. As always, we believe that one person's lived experiences can serve as a playbook for some else going through similar difficulties.
Help us to help others. Support our podcast and invest in someone's life. Send your support via CashApp to $cirquedusoul444.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Yeah, that's mind, body, soul.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah, that's mind, body, soultook some discipline, repetition
and some self-control.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
Whoa.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
Hey.
Yeah.
That's Mind, body, soul tooksome discipline, repetition, and
some self-control lies.
(00:23):
Be the tribe soul.
Welcome to Cirque to Soul.
The only Uncut, unedited podcastthat is dedicated to helping you
to find spiritual peace in yourlife.
Kim, last week we finished ourseries of Is There A God?
And from that we decided that,hey, we now focus on the origins
(00:45):
of religion, persistspecifically the differences
between Western religion andEastern religions.
Yeah, it should be a good one.
Uh, I'm glad we, we finishedthe, is there a God, uh, maybe
people just kinda opened uptheir hearts and minds and look
at things differently, but this,Eastern and, Western religion,
Gary, I, I did some research totry and understand the
(01:07):
differences between Westernreligion and eastern religion.
And I have two definitions.
First, the Western religions,which includes Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam.
Are defined as monotheistic andmonotheistic means that they all
believe in one God.
In addition, they emphasize alinear view of time in history.
(01:30):
This means that there is abeginning, a middle, and an end
to history with the focus on thepromise of a future afterlife.
So Western religions emphasizethe importance of faith and
obedience.
Eastern religions on the otherhand, are practices, include
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Tism.
Are polytheistic, meaning thatthere is more than one God.
(01:53):
In addition, these practicestend to focus on enlightenment.
Now, enlightenment, we'vementioned that before.
Enlightenment means theawakening to ultimate truth,
leading to freedom from thecycle of suffering and
reincarnation.
Ooh, yeah.
The state of enlightenment isalso described as a state of
supreme happiness and peace.
(02:13):
This state is achieved throughmeditation and spiritual
practice.
Wow.
That's it.
That's it.
Okay.
Alright.
Where to start?
Um, last week we said, we weregonna explore this because, in
my life and in yours as we'vetalked, uh, we sort of straddle.
Uh, we had a mixture of theChristian view and the, and
(02:34):
Eastern philosophies.
We both have faith and webelieve there's a God, but we
also believe in meditating andtrying to find.
Spiritual peace within ourenlightenment, right?
So we wanted to start adiscussion to understand, the
basis of these differentreligions and see where it takes
us.
So let's start with Judaism andChristianity.
(02:56):
Here's a good question.
Here's a question, and youprobably know this, but did you
know that Christianity was notthe first Western religion?
Yeah.
I, I started studying differentreligions and, uh, I was kinda
shocked, but, uh, yeah, Judaismwas the first Western religion
and the Torah was their Bible.
And in addition, they had the,the Hebrew Bible, which were
(03:18):
stories and traditions passeddown through time.
And these stories and traditionswere compiled and written down
over a period of time.
Hmm.
So Christianity is just anoffshoot of Judaism.
We know Jesus was a Jew and hepracticed Judaism.
I don't know if people knewthat, but I didn't know that
either.
Okay.
Right, right.
Early followers of Jesus wereJews and practiced Judaism.
(03:41):
Well Christianity.
Christianity started as a Jewishmovement within the larger
Jewish community.
So Jesus' life, teachings anddeath are the foundation of
Christianity.
Okay.
Correct.
Okay.
And of course, you know me.
I have, uh, lots of questionsstarting with the Bible and how
it came to be.
Mm-hmm.
(04:02):
The reason I'm asking thesequestions is because our faith
and what we believe uses theBible as its foundation.
Right.
And so, for me, the firstquestion is, were Adam and Eve
really the first humans onearth?
Ah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And so the Bible as we know ittoday, it contains writings from
the Torah.
From the Hebrew Bible.
(04:24):
Now, the Torah, which you'vealready said, it's the first
five books of the Bible, are theOld Testament now, the New
Testament, it evolved.
That evolved from accounts ofJesus life and teachings of the
teachings of what we callGospels, and from the writings
of Paul and the other Apostlesand various other writings, so
not just Paul and the Apostles,but various other writings.
(04:45):
Right now, before we go downthis path of the origins of
religion and the origins of theBible.
Something I read, and this isgoing to, put a little light on
what we discussed in some, pastepisodes.
Mm-hmm.
The differences between scienceand religion science's, primary
method, which is called thescientific method.
(05:06):
It involves, uh, observing.
It involves testing and drawingconclusions based on evidence.
So we get back to the agnostic.
Okay.
Right now, this method.
It really is limited to thenatural world, and it can't be
used to definitively prove ordisprove the existence of God.
(05:26):
Our supernatural events are thetruth of, um, religious texts,
like the Bible right now.
While some of those aspects ofthe Bible.
Might seem the conflict withscientific findings, and this is
where I guess I am, I, I seeconflicts.
Mm-hmm.
A lot of these conflicts,they're often due to, different
(05:47):
interpretations or maybe amisunderstanding of the Bible's
intended meaning.
So for example, uh, the Bible'saccount of creation, it's not
intended to be a scientifictextbook, but rather a
theological statement aboutGod's creative power.
And so I iquest How does anyoneknow that?
(06:08):
What do you think?
Right?
Yeah.
Um, man, that's, uh, you'retrying to get the signs and
religion trying to connect thetwo together.
Sometimes it's kind ofdifficult, uh, especially when
you grow up, being taught acertain thing in religion and
that's what you.
Been programmed to believe,right?
(06:30):
Then all of a sudden, here comesscience with this, uh, pesky
facts, right?
So, to try to find a balancebetween the two, uh, may be
difficult.
But, uh, I think, uh, I thinkwe've talked about this maybe
the first one, hopefullyeventually, it may take years
and years, but they'll finally,connect with each other and
(06:53):
we'll know for sure, right.
Okay.
Let me go back to that laststatement.
Mm-hmm.
Um, the Bible's account ofcreation is not intended to be a
scientific textbook mm-hmm.
But rather a theologicalstatement about God's creative.
Who was it that decided thatit's not scientific, but that
it's, uh, a theologicalstatement?
(07:14):
I'm just asking a question.
I know you don't have theanswer, but that's a question
that I would ask.
Yeah.
Well, you know what, and thismay be, this is maybe a little
off the topic or whatever, but aquestion is, who wrote Genesis?
Who wrote the creation story?
Well, the, remember they saidthat's the first five books were
(07:34):
the Torah and write You Goingback, but Who wrote the Torah,
right?
Yeah.
Who wrote it?
Yeah.
Who was there to.
I mean the, write that down andknow that according to them,
that Adam and Eve and thatstory, you know who wrote that?
Look, you know what?
I don't know where to begin.
(07:54):
I really don't know where tobegin.
I think in order to understandthe origins of our Western
religion, we really need to takea deep dive into religion in
general.
And that's a big topic and Ithink.
If we were to do that, we wouldsee that Christianity, it's a
relatively new religion whencompared to most Eastern
practices and Judaism, in theWestern world.
(08:17):
Yeah.
So here, let's try to make thisa little easier.
I'm gonna ask the question, doyou think that Jesus was or is
the only prophet?
And'cause I asked that questionbecause Judaism does not believe
that Jesus is the son of God.
I know, man.
That's crazy, isn't it?
When I first learned it, I'mlike, what?
(08:38):
I'm like, okay.
So Jesus was Jewish.
Okay?
And according to the Bible andthe Torah, whatever, the Jews
are, God's chosen people, AndJesus was a Jew and he came
along and did the miracles andeverything, but.
They don't believe he's the sonof God.
That just blew me away when Ifirst heard that.
(08:58):
I'm like, how could that be?
And that's those things youstart questioning, And so, uh,
do I think Jesus was as the onlytrue prophet?
Growing up, I just didn't seeJesus as a prophet.
I just saw Jesus as the true sonof God.
Right.
And so when we said profit,that, kinda, I guess it's kind
of uncomfortable for me, but uh.
(09:21):
The more you get into it andstudy religions, then you know
that, uh, Jesus told us how toget, how to try to become one
with God and he wasn't the onlyone.
So having said that, no, I don'tthink Jesus was the only one.
Okay.
What do you think?
What do you think?
Well, my personal belief, Ithink that we've had many
(09:43):
prophets.
And as I stated before,Christianity, it really is a
relatively new religion comparedto some of the others.
Mm-hmm.
We already know that Buddhapreceded Christ by almost 500
years.
Right.
And so Buddhism was, 500 plusyears before Christianity.
It may even, and let me even addthat a lot of these, uh,
(10:05):
scientists or historians believethat Jesus visited, uh, India
and studied Buddhism Right.
And then came back at the age of30 when he started his ministry.
Absolutely.
Okay.
Go ahead.
Right.
Yeah.
So, one prophet study underanother prophet, I mean, I don't
know.
Yeah.
But the, the fact is that,Buddhism preceded, Christian
Christians Christian religion by500 years.
(10:28):
And then some of the otherEastern religions and practices,
they're even older thanBuddhism.
Yeah.
So the question is, why would webelieve that Christianity is the
one and only true religion?
And I think it gets back to whatwe said a few weeks ago.
Everyone sort of has to choosetheir path.
Yeah.
Correct.
I think, uh.
(10:49):
A lot of it is just how you growup and what you, and what
you've, been taught and, yoursurroundings.
And, we've been, we were taughtChristianity from, babies on up
and that's just what webelieved.
And, that's just what peoplebelieved.
I guess some of those, somethingthat just got me was when they
said.
Only Christians are gonna go toheaven.
(11:10):
I'm like, well, what abouteverybody else?
I mean, right.
You're right.
Couldn't I just couldn't fathomthat.
So I think it's just how yougrow up.
Yeah.
What you've been taught.
You what you've been taught.
Well, what you just said was,that was my next question to you
is Yeah.
Why do so many Christians saythat our way is the only way to
find God?
That's the only way to get toheaven.
Yeah.
(11:31):
That's just the way we grew up.
It's just what we believe thatJesus, when Jesus says, I am the
way, the truth and the life andno man goes to the Father, but
by me.
Yeah.
But that's, again, that's that,interpretation.
It's how you interpret that.
And you can interpret thateither way.
Christians say, well, Jesus isthe only way.
That's it, or most other.
(11:51):
Historians and religions willsay, what Jesus was saying is,
I'm gonna show you how to getthere.
You just follow me.
'cause I, I'm there.
I'm gonna show you how to getthere.
Not meaning that, uh, I'm theonly way to get there.
I'm just showing you how to getthere.
Right.
So, in the very first episode Itold, you,'cause there were some
things that I hadn't talkedabout before, in this 13 year
(12:13):
journey that I had, after thecar accident.
Mm-hmm.
Now I described how, I hadstudied and participated in
several different religions andpractices, but in the end I came
to the conclusion, at least formyself, that God is found
within.
Mm-hmm.
I learned that everyone was on ajourney.
What was distressing was thefact that so many people tried
(12:37):
to convert me to theirparticular faith or their
particular religion.
Mm-hmm.
I was told, I don't know howmany times that if I really
searched my heart, then I wouldknow that their faith or their
religion was the only way totruly know God.
Now, I don't believe that Godmakes mistakes.
So I believe that he gives us,many ways to find him.
(13:00):
Mm-hmm.
But in my mind, I, I justthought it was very arrogant to
hear someone say that, our wayis the only way when we have all
these prophets.
So who do I believe you are?
Do I believe you know God whoput all these prophets there?
Right, right, right.
Yeah.
That's, when growing up, that's,I remember going to Western and
this guy was, he was an atheist,basically saying this and
(13:22):
saying, I'm like, how can younot believe you have to follow
Jesus.
He's the only way.
I said, what if you are wrong?
And I was just going at it, andI don't know, just, it just hit
me one day that, Kim.
You know what?
Everybody's on their ownspiritual path.
I can't judge anybody.
Whatever path you are on, ifthat's working for you, God
bless you.
(13:42):
You stay on that path.
We are all trying to evolve andreach that, that God-like level.
So whatever journey you are on.
You do you and I'm I'll backyou, I'll support you, but let
me do me right.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I I'm not gonna be arrogant justto say I I know I'm the only one
that knows.
Right, right.
(14:02):
You know what, I got anotherstory here.
Uh mm-hmm.
Uh, it's something in a fewyears back, I would get these
regular visits from Jehovah'sWitnesses and that was usually
on a Saturday morning.
And, I would always invite themin and we'd have different
discussions.
Well, this went on for a fewweeks.
The sessions would always endwith me asking a question that
(14:23):
they couldn't answer.
Hmm.
They would always say, well,we'll get back with you and
answer, and we'll be back nextweek.
Mm-hmm.
And they would always come backthe next week.
Well, it was on this particularSaturday, we're having a
discussion about 20, 25 minutesin, and one of the folks there,
there was usually two or threeof them.
(14:45):
He asked a question, he said, doyou think religion can solve the
world's problems?
And and I flat out told him no.
Mm-hmm.
And they kind of looked at mesurprised and one of'em said,
why?
And I told him, I said, as longas each religion claims to be
the true path to God, thenyou're creating this.
We they scenario.
Hmm mm-hmm.
And when you create a we theyscenario, then someone is right
(15:08):
and somebody's wrong.
No one wants to be wrong, so noone wants their religion or what
they believe to be wrong.
And so, there's this battle linethat's already formed between
the various religions.
I mean, we see that.
We see that, right?
Right.
So I said, how can you solveproblems, our experience, love
and unity, if you already havethese battle lines drawn because
(15:30):
you think you're the right andthe others are wrong?
Mm-hmm.
Now two of the Jehovah'sWitnesses that were there, they
said they understood and theyleft.
And you know what?
They never came back to thehouse again.
Hmm.
So what conclusions, do I drawfrom this?
Uh, do I believe, do you believethat Chris's religion can solve
(15:51):
the world's problems?
What, you know?
Yeah.
You know what I, I have aFacebook page called Everyday
Wisdom, and one of the quotes onthere was that.
If all the religions, felttheirs was the right one, then
why is there so much division inthe world?
Right?
Yeah.
If they all believe they'reright, and if they all believe
(16:14):
preach, love, love for oneanother, then why is there so
much division in the world ifthey all would just come
together and preach love?
I mean, really preach love andthen judge, and allow people to
be on their path and.
I get it.
Yeah.
We could all do it, but it's notthat way right now.
And, as long as, like I said, aslong as each religion believes
(16:35):
they're, they are the right oneand nobody else is.
Right.
You have that division.
Yep.
Yep.
So what do you believe?
I, I'm sort of there too.
Here's another factoid for you.
Did you know, I'm gonna ask youa question.
Do you know how many differentsects of Christianity there are?
Oh, no, I don't know how many,but I, I, there's quite a few,
(16:57):
I'm sure.
1200, 1000, 200 different sectsof Christianity.
Wow.
And most of those startedbecause someone didn't agree
with the teachings of thisparticular church and they went
out and started their own sectand those groups.
Right, right, right.
So even within, the Christianreligion, there are issues.
Yeah.
But you know what my.
(17:19):
I'm grounded in my faith.
I believe that there's a Godnow.
I pray to God.
Yeah.
I believe that.
Like you said before, Jesus,he's one of the many prophets
that's been in our world.
Mm-hmm.
Now this is gonna be somethingthat may, shock people or sound
a little, outta line forChristianity, but I don't
necessarily buy into the ideathat the only way we can get to
(17:42):
heaven is by praying to Jesus.
I believe that the life ofJesus, you said it earlier,
Jesus life is more of an examplefor us, uh, on how to live right
now.
I also believe that, uh, we door should try to find God
through meditation.
Meditation.
(18:02):
Mm-hmm.
Uh, Jesus meditated, right?
Buddha meditated.
So did, and so did Moses on themountain, and so did Moses on
the mountain.
There you go.
I, I forgot all about that one.
Yeah.
But their meditation helped themto attain this higher level of,
spirituality.
Our Yeah.
Our enlightenment.
Yeah.
Now the Bible tells us that wecan become enlightened if we
(18:26):
have the faith of a mustardseed.
Mm-hmm.
The Bible doesn't sayenlightenment.
It just says, if you have faith,you can do these other things.
Right.
But I think, if, if we canbecome enlightened, if we have
faith Right.
If we have faith, then we findit.
So, we've been told that we're apart of God or that God lives
within us.
Mm-hmm.
So I believe that these prophetshave been put on earth not to be
(18:50):
worshiped, but to show us, theway to enlightenment.
I don't believe that they are Igateway.
You have to pray to them to goto heaven.
Yeah.
Yeah, I, yeah, I agree.
Uh, I, you always see this,Jesus wasn't a Christian, Buddha
wasn't a Buddhist, that's justterms we came out with because
(19:11):
they were so great.
They were Enlighten that, that'swhat we're trying to get to.
So we came up with a name forit.
Um, and this is something, thinkabout this Gary, and this may be
off subject a little bit too.
Has anybody ever asked what wasJesus' last name?
And and we don't know, but wealways said, Jesus Christ and
(19:32):
Christ.
Is that highest form of God,like, Yes.
Yeah.
And Buddha, that wasn't his realname.
His real name was Soda, Guan orsomething.
Something like that.
Guana.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, Buddha is the kind of,means the same thing as Christ.
'cause they always said, you canbe a Buddha.
You can be a Buddha, or you aChristian.
(19:53):
Be a Christian.
Be a Christian.
It's the highest form of God.
Like we wanna be one with God.
One with God.
And that's where the meditationcomes in.
Because think about it, Mosescouldn't perform all them
miracles unless he had been tothat, to the highest level, that
meditation, the highest level.
Right.
And he said, he performed a lotof miracles too.
So yeah, I don't think they, ohman, you, that's tough.
(20:17):
Because if we said they're nothere to be worship, woo woo.
That's why I say it would be aproblem.
But yeah, really, I believe, whydoes God need somebody as a
gateway?
Right.
I believe these prophets wereput here as an example to show
us how to get to God.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Especially when you know, andJesus said, he said, the kingdom
(20:39):
of heaven is within you.
Right?
Within you, which he is showingus how to connect to that
kingdom of heaven and be onewith God.
That's what they came here for.
Yeah.
That's their purpose accordingto what we believe.
I'll put that in or what webelieve.
You talking about you and I?
Yes.
(20:59):
Because in the Christianreligion, they believe you have
to pray to God.
You have to pray to Jesus to getto God.
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Yes.
Jesus is the gateway to to God.
Yes.
Okay.
And again, that's fine.
That's what you believe.
That's fine.
You are on your own spiritualjourney.
You have to do what's best foryou at this period of time in
your life.
This is just what we kind ofevolve to, and it's what we
(21:21):
believe.
Right.
I need to speak to somethingreal quick, before we, close
this segment.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I need to respond to one ofour listeners.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, she had commented that ourpodcasts states that, we're
trying to help people to findspiritual peace in our lives.
Mm-hmm.
But it seems that theconversations that we're having
(21:42):
are causing people to doubt whatthey have always believed are
causing them to question theirfaith.
Hmm.
Okay.
Now.
I can understand that, and thisis how I want to answer that,
and I want other people to hearthis too.
Mm-hmm.
Um, what we're doing with thispodcast is hopefully, causing
someone to strengthen theirfaith or begin to ask questions
(22:05):
so that they can be able tocreate a path to enlightenment
and creating, that purposefullife.
That's what we talked about inthis early episode.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I, I was on a 13 yearjourney.
I went from, being this Baptist,Christian, young man, boy, to
(22:26):
actually going out and askingquestions and experiencing
different faiths and differentreligions, uh mm-hmm.
Which started me on a whole newpath.
And I'm more at peace now than Iwas before.
Mm-hmm.
So to answer this, thislistener.
Yeah.
Our podcast is not to down anyone religion.
(22:47):
It's to ask questions.
Right.
And hopefully, open upconversations and have you to
think about where you're at andif you're fine where you're at,
that's fine.
Yeah.
If these questions, make youthink about where you're at,
then that's good.
Right.
At some point in time, the hopeis that you find this spiritual
peace and able to create thispurposeful life.
(23:09):
Like I said, it took me 13years.
A car accident cracked me wideopen, so, yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, I agree., If you arelistening and you're at peace
already, God bless you.
I mean, God bless you.
That's great.
But I would just say this, I'mgonna ask question, wouldn't you
wanna be one with God thenJesus, when he prayed in St.
(23:31):
John, God let them be one withus as I am one with you and me.
Me and you.
To be able to experience that tome is just the greatest thing
you can experience, and just tobe one with God and bas and
basically that's all we'redoing.
That's all we're trying to do isto open your heart and mind up
and just see if we can keepevolving and get to that, that
(23:53):
God-like level.
But like Gary said, if you're atpeace right now, God bless you.
We're not trying to change youor anything.
We're all on our own spiritualjourney.
Absolutely.
God bless you all.
I agree.
Alright.
Oh, go ahead.
No, I was gonna say I agree andI think, we're just peeling back
layers.
At least for myself, peelingback layers of my belief and,
(24:14):
and just trying to understandwhat it means.
That's all.
Yeah.
And well, I'm, I know we'reabout running outta time.
Yeah, that's okay.
And it just, I saw something, Iread it or I saw it or
something, and they said, whatis the purpose?
There we go.
What is your purpose of life?
And you know what this oneperson said, what is to live
life the way you wanna live it?
(24:34):
And I'm like, wow, okay.
And so this whole spiritualjourney thing, do you, whatever
you are on your own spiritualjourney, God bless you, right?
God bless you.
We just trying to get, trying tohelp everybody get to that.
God, like peaceful level.
That's all right.
I agree.
I agree.
Alright.
Alright, Gary, think that we'rejust about outta time for today.
(24:56):
It was a good one.
Yeah.
Hopefully we can continue thisconversation next week.
I think we can.
I think we will.
So, okay.
Well, all right.
Okay, so, so now time for ourfavorite part of the podcast.
We share one of our listenersstories of a storm in their
lives and how they were able toconquer overwhelming odds and
doubt to bring peace in theirlives.
(25:17):
Okay, today's story is fromSherry.
Sherry writes, I never thought Iwould survive the day I lost my
son, Caleb.
The moment the doctors told mehe was gone, the world collapsed
around me.
I had always believed in God'sgrace, but in that moment I felt
abandoned.
How could he let this happen?
(25:40):
How could I go on breathing withmy child?
My beautiful boy no longer did.
The first weeks were a blur.
I drifted through each day in ahaze, unable to function beyond
the most basic task.
My husband, David, tried to holdme up, but he was drowning too.
Nights were the worst, thesilence, the absence.
(26:00):
I would wake up and for afleeting second, forgot that
Caleb was gone.
Then reality would slam into me.
I stopped going to church.
I stopped answering calls.
I didn't want to hear words ofcomfort or hollow assurances
that Caleb was in a betterplace.
This place was here with me, andnow he was gone.
(26:20):
But grief does not exist inisolation, not truly.
As much as I tried to shut theworld out, it kept pressing in.
One Sunday morning, nearly threemonths after Caleb's passing, my
neighbor Mrs.
Lane, knocked on our door.
She was in her seventies.
A small woman with the quietstrength that I had always
admired.
Come to church with me.
(26:41):
She said, simply holding out herhand.
I shook my hand, my shook myhead, but she didn't.
She didn't leave.
She sat with me, pouring me tea,telling me about her own loss,
her daughter taking too soon.
Decades ago, I.
You think it will break you?
She said, but it won't.
It will bend you, reshape you,but it won't break you, not if
(27:03):
you don't let it.
The following Sunday, I went.
The moment I stepped into thesanctuary, a hush fell over the
congregation.
People turned their eyes filledwith love, with understanding.
No one rushed me.
No one bombarded me withplatitudes.
Instead, they simply surroundedme a hand on my shoulder.
A quiet nod, a whispered, welove you.
(27:26):
The weight of my sorrow wasstill there, but for the first
time, it felt shared.
Faith wasn't an insecure.
I wrestled with my anger, mydoubt, but slowly I began to
pray again, not for answers, butfor peace.
That peace, yeah.
I asked God to guide me throughthe storm.
Even when I couldn't see theshore, the community carried me
(27:47):
in ways I never imagined.
They brought meals, they satwith me in silence when words
were felt too heavy.
They helped me remember Caleb,not just in sadness, but also in
joy.
Do you remember when he dancedin the rain?
Mrs.
Lane laughed one evening.
Oh, how he loved the rain, andjust like that, memories of my
son became something more thanpain.
(28:08):
They became moments of love Icould cherish faith and
community.
Didn't erase the loss, but theygave me strength to carry it, to
find purpose again.
To live in a way that honoredCaleb's life rather than drowned
in the sorrow of his absence.
One morning, nearly a year afterhis passing, I stood in the
church and lit a candle for myson.
(28:29):
The flame flickered warm andbright, a symbol of the light he
left behind the love that wouldnever fade.
As I looked around at the facesof those who had carried me
through my darkest days, Iunderstood grief didn't define
me.
Love did.
Wow.
Thank you Sherry, for sendingyour story.
We hope that you have found somepeace and purpose in your life.
(28:51):
We believe that your lived lifeexperiences someone's playbook
for dealing with the storms intheir lives.
Your story will help someone tofind the strength to deal with
the storms in their lives.
Great.
Yeah.
Alright.
This will close our podcast fortoday.
Thank you for joining us todayon CDU Soul.
We hope that it sparked some newthoughts about the purpose of
(29:12):
life.
If you would like to send ussome questions for discussion or
if you would like to send yourstory, please email those to CDU
soul444@gmail.com,C-I-R-Q-U-E-D-U-S-O-U
l444@gmail.com.
If you found value in today'sepisode, please share it with
someone who might benefit fromit.
(29:34):
Don't forget to like andsubscribe so you don't miss any
future episodes.
And remember, your spiritualjourney is uniquely yours, but
you are never, never alone.
There'll always be others tohelp you through the storms in
your life.
So take care of yourself, bekind to yourself, and be kind to
the world around you.
And until the next time, have agreat day in paradise.
(29:57):
Down to the, I'm praying forthings to change Lord, and I
need it to happen to happenright away.
But you sit so as I wait on you,Lord, for your, and drop my.
Yeah, that's mind, body, soul.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah, that's mind, body, soultook some discipline, repetition
and some self-control.
We connected with the globe.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
Whoa.
Yeah.
That's mind, body, soul.
Hey.
Yeah.
That's Mind, body, soul tooksome discipline, repetition, and
some self-control lies.
(00:23):
Be the tribe soul.
Welcome to Cirque to Soul.
The only Uncut, unedited podcastthat is dedicated to helping you
to find spiritual peace in yourlife.
Kim, last week we finished ourseries of Is There A God?
And from that we decided that,hey, we now focus on the origins
(00:45):
of religion, persistspecifically the differences
between Western religion andEastern religions.
Yeah, it should be a good one.
Uh, I'm glad we, we finishedthe, is there a God, uh, maybe
people just kinda opened uptheir hearts and minds and look
at things differently, but this,Eastern and, Western religion,
Gary, I, I did some research totry and understand the
(01:07):
differences between Westernreligion and eastern religion.
And I have two definitions.
First, the Western religions,which includes Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam.
Are defined as monotheistic andmonotheistic means that they all
believe in one God.
In addition, they emphasize alinear view of time in history.
(01:30):
This means that there is abeginning, a middle, and an end
to history with the focus on thepromise of a future afterlife.
So Western religions emphasizethe importance of faith and
obedience.
Eastern religions on the otherhand, are practices, include
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Tism.
Are polytheistic, meaning thatthere is more than one God.
(01:53):
In addition, these practicestend to focus on enlightenment.
Now, enlightenment, we'vementioned that before.
Enlightenment means theawakening to ultimate truth,
leading to freedom from thecycle of suffering and
reincarnation.
Ooh, yeah.
The state of enlightenment isalso described as a state of
supreme happiness and peace.
(02:13):
This state is achieved throughmeditation and spiritual
practice.
Wow.
That's it.
That's it.
Okay.
Alright.
Where to start?
Um, last week we said, we weregonna explore this because, in
my life and in yours as we'vetalked, uh, we sort of straddle.
Uh, we had a mixture of theChristian view and the, and
(02:34):
Eastern philosophies.
We both have faith and webelieve there's a God, but we
also believe in meditating andtrying to find.
Spiritual peace within ourenlightenment, right?
So we wanted to start adiscussion to understand, the
basis of these differentreligions and see where it takes
us.
So let's start with Judaism andChristianity.
(02:56):
Here's a good question.
Here's a question, and youprobably know this, but did you
know that Christianity was notthe first Western religion?
Yeah.
I, I started studying differentreligions and, uh, I was kinda
shocked, but, uh, yeah, Judaismwas the first Western religion
and the Torah was their Bible.
And in addition, they had the,the Hebrew Bible, which were
(03:18):
stories and traditions passeddown through time.
And these stories and traditionswere compiled and written down
over a period of time.
Hmm.
So Christianity is just anoffshoot of Judaism.
We know Jesus was a Jew and hepracticed Judaism.
I don't know if people knewthat, but I didn't know that
either.
Okay.
Right, right.
Early followers of Jesus wereJews and practiced Judaism.
(03:41):
Well Christianity.
Christianity started as a Jewishmovement within the larger
Jewish community.
So Jesus' life, teachings anddeath are the foundation of
Christianity.
Okay.
Correct.
Okay.
And of course, you know me.
I have, uh, lots of questionsstarting with the Bible and how
it came to be.
Mm-hmm.
(04:02):
The reason I'm asking thesequestions is because our faith
and what we believe uses theBible as its foundation.
Right.
And so, for me, the firstquestion is, were Adam and Eve
really the first humans onearth?
Ah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And so the Bible as we know ittoday, it contains writings from
the Torah.
From the Hebrew Bible.
(04:24):
Now, the Torah, which you'vealready said, it's the first
five books of the Bible, are theOld Testament now, the New
Testament, it evolved.
That evolved from accounts ofJesus life and teachings of the
teachings of what we callGospels, and from the writings
of Paul and the other Apostlesand various other writings, so
not just Paul and the Apostles,but various other writings.
(04:45):
Right now, before we go downthis path of the origins of
religion and the origins of theBible.
Something I read, and this isgoing to, put a little light on
what we discussed in some, pastepisodes.
Mm-hmm.
The differences between scienceand religion science's, primary
method, which is called thescientific method.
(05:06):
It involves, uh, observing.
It involves testing and drawingconclusions based on evidence.
So we get back to the agnostic.
Okay.
Right now, this method.
It really is limited to thenatural world, and it can't be
used to definitively prove ordisprove the existence of God.
(05:26):
Our supernatural events are thetruth of, um, religious texts,
like the Bible right now.
While some of those aspects ofthe Bible.
Might seem the conflict withscientific findings, and this is
where I guess I am, I, I seeconflicts.
Mm-hmm.
A lot of these conflicts,they're often due to, different
(05:47):
interpretations or maybe amisunderstanding of the Bible's
intended meaning.
So for example, uh, the Bible'saccount of creation, it's not
intended to be a scientifictextbook, but rather a
theological statement aboutGod's creative power.
And so I iquest How does anyoneknow that?
(06:08):
What do you think?
Right?
Yeah.
Um, man, that's, uh, you'retrying to get the signs and
religion trying to connect thetwo together.
Sometimes it's kind ofdifficult, uh, especially when
you grow up, being taught acertain thing in religion and
that's what you.
Been programmed to believe,right?
(06:30):
Then all of a sudden, here comesscience with this, uh, pesky
facts, right?
So, to try to find a balancebetween the two, uh, may be
difficult.
But, uh, I think, uh, I thinkwe've talked about this maybe
the first one, hopefullyeventually, it may take years
and years, but they'll finally,connect with each other and
(06:53):
we'll know for sure, right.
Okay.
Let me go back to that laststatement.
Mm-hmm.
Um, the Bible's account ofcreation is not intended to be a
scientific textbook mm-hmm.
But rather a theologicalstatement about God's creative.
Who was it that decided thatit's not scientific, but that
it's, uh, a theologicalstatement?
(07:14):
I'm just asking a question.
I know you don't have theanswer, but that's a question
that I would ask.
Yeah.
Well, you know what, and thismay be, this is maybe a little
off the topic or whatever, but aquestion is, who wrote Genesis?
Who wrote the creation story?
Well, the, remember they saidthat's the first five books were
(07:34):
the Torah and write You Goingback, but Who wrote the Torah,
right?
Yeah.
Who wrote it?
Yeah.
Who was there to.
I mean the, write that down andknow that according to them,
that Adam and Eve and thatstory, you know who wrote that?
Look, you know what?
I don't know where to begin.
(07:54):
I really don't know where tobegin.
I think in order to understandthe origins of our Western
religion, we really need to takea deep dive into religion in
general.
And that's a big topic and Ithink.
If we were to do that, we wouldsee that Christianity, it's a
relatively new religion whencompared to most Eastern
practices and Judaism, in theWestern world.
(08:17):
Yeah.
So here, let's try to make thisa little easier.
I'm gonna ask the question, doyou think that Jesus was or is
the only prophet?
And'cause I asked that questionbecause Judaism does not believe
that Jesus is the son of God.
I know, man.
That's crazy, isn't it?
When I first learned it, I'mlike, what?
(08:38):
I'm like, okay.
So Jesus was Jewish.
Okay?
And according to the Bible andthe Torah, whatever, the Jews
are, God's chosen people, AndJesus was a Jew and he came
along and did the miracles andeverything, but.
They don't believe he's the sonof God.
That just blew me away when Ifirst heard that.
(08:58):
I'm like, how could that be?
And that's those things youstart questioning, And so, uh,
do I think Jesus was as the onlytrue prophet?
Growing up, I just didn't seeJesus as a prophet.
I just saw Jesus as the true sonof God.
Right.
And so when we said profit,that, kinda, I guess it's kind
of uncomfortable for me, but uh.
(09:21):
The more you get into it andstudy religions, then you know
that, uh, Jesus told us how toget, how to try to become one
with God and he wasn't the onlyone.
So having said that, no, I don'tthink Jesus was the only one.
Okay.
What do you think?
What do you think?
Well, my personal belief, Ithink that we've had many
(09:43):
prophets.
And as I stated before,Christianity, it really is a
relatively new religion comparedto some of the others.
Mm-hmm.
We already know that Buddhapreceded Christ by almost 500
years.
Right.
And so Buddhism was, 500 plusyears before Christianity.
It may even, and let me even addthat a lot of these, uh,
(10:05):
scientists or historians believethat Jesus visited, uh, India
and studied Buddhism Right.
And then came back at the age of30 when he started his ministry.
Absolutely.
Okay.
Go ahead.
Right.
Yeah.
So, one prophet study underanother prophet, I mean, I don't
know.
Yeah.
But the, the fact is that,Buddhism preceded, Christian
Christians Christian religion by500 years.
(10:28):
And then some of the otherEastern religions and practices,
they're even older thanBuddhism.
Yeah.
So the question is, why would webelieve that Christianity is the
one and only true religion?
And I think it gets back to whatwe said a few weeks ago.
Everyone sort of has to choosetheir path.
Yeah.
Correct.
I think, uh.
(10:49):
A lot of it is just how you growup and what you, and what
you've, been taught and, yoursurroundings.
And, we've been, we were taughtChristianity from, babies on up
and that's just what webelieved.
And, that's just what peoplebelieved.
I guess some of those, somethingthat just got me was when they
said.
Only Christians are gonna go toheaven.
(11:10):
I'm like, well, what abouteverybody else?
I mean, right.
You're right.
Couldn't I just couldn't fathomthat.
So I think it's just how yougrow up.
Yeah.
What you've been taught.
You what you've been taught.
Well, what you just said was,that was my next question to you
is Yeah.
Why do so many Christians saythat our way is the only way to
find God?
That's the only way to get toheaven.
Yeah.
(11:31):
That's just the way we grew up.
It's just what we believe thatJesus, when Jesus says, I am the
way, the truth and the life andno man goes to the Father, but
by me.
Yeah.
But that's, again, that's that,interpretation.
It's how you interpret that.
And you can interpret thateither way.
Christians say, well, Jesus isthe only way.
That's it, or most other.
(11:51):
Historians and religions willsay, what Jesus was saying is,
I'm gonna show you how to getthere.
You just follow me.
'cause I, I'm there.
I'm gonna show you how to getthere.
Not meaning that, uh, I'm theonly way to get there.
I'm just showing you how to getthere.
Right.
So, in the very first episode Itold, you,'cause there were some
things that I hadn't talkedabout before, in this 13 year
(12:13):
journey that I had, after thecar accident.
Mm-hmm.
Now I described how, I hadstudied and participated in
several different religions andpractices, but in the end I came
to the conclusion, at least formyself, that God is found
within.
Mm-hmm.
I learned that everyone was on ajourney.
What was distressing was thefact that so many people tried
(12:37):
to convert me to theirparticular faith or their
particular religion.
Mm-hmm.
I was told, I don't know howmany times that if I really
searched my heart, then I wouldknow that their faith or their
religion was the only way totruly know God.
Now, I don't believe that Godmakes mistakes.
So I believe that he gives us,many ways to find him.
(13:00):
Mm-hmm.
But in my mind, I, I justthought it was very arrogant to
hear someone say that, our wayis the only way when we have all
these prophets.
So who do I believe you are?
Do I believe you know God whoput all these prophets there?
Right, right, right.
Yeah.
That's, when growing up, that's,I remember going to Western and
this guy was, he was an atheist,basically saying this and
(13:22):
saying, I'm like, how can younot believe you have to follow
Jesus.
He's the only way.
I said, what if you are wrong?
And I was just going at it, andI don't know, just, it just hit
me one day that, Kim.
You know what?
Everybody's on their ownspiritual path.
I can't judge anybody.
Whatever path you are on, ifthat's working for you, God
bless you.
(13:42):
You stay on that path.
We are all trying to evolve andreach that, that God-like level.
So whatever journey you are on.
You do you and I'm I'll backyou, I'll support you, but let
me do me right.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I I'm not gonna be arrogant justto say I I know I'm the only one
that knows.
Right, right.
(14:02):
You know what, I got anotherstory here.
Uh mm-hmm.
Uh, it's something in a fewyears back, I would get these
regular visits from Jehovah'sWitnesses and that was usually
on a Saturday morning.
And, I would always invite themin and we'd have different
discussions.
Well, this went on for a fewweeks.
The sessions would always endwith me asking a question that
(14:23):
they couldn't answer.
Hmm.
They would always say, well,we'll get back with you and
answer, and we'll be back nextweek.
Mm-hmm.
And they would always come backthe next week.
Well, it was on this particularSaturday, we're having a
discussion about 20, 25 minutesin, and one of the folks there,
there was usually two or threeof them.
(14:45):
He asked a question, he said, doyou think religion can solve the
world's problems?
And and I flat out told him no.
Mm-hmm.
And they kind of looked at mesurprised and one of'em said,
why?
And I told him, I said, as longas each religion claims to be
the true path to God, thenyou're creating this.
We they scenario.
Hmm mm-hmm.
And when you create a we theyscenario, then someone is right
(15:08):
and somebody's wrong.
No one wants to be wrong, so noone wants their religion or what
they believe to be wrong.
And so, there's this battle linethat's already formed between
the various religions.
I mean, we see that.
We see that, right?
Right.
So I said, how can you solveproblems, our experience, love
and unity, if you already havethese battle lines drawn because
(15:30):
you think you're the right andthe others are wrong?
Mm-hmm.
Now two of the Jehovah'sWitnesses that were there, they
said they understood and theyleft.
And you know what?
They never came back to thehouse again.
Hmm.
So what conclusions, do I drawfrom this?
Uh, do I believe, do you believethat Chris's religion can solve
(15:51):
the world's problems?
What, you know?
Yeah.
You know what I, I have aFacebook page called Everyday
Wisdom, and one of the quotes onthere was that.
If all the religions, felttheirs was the right one, then
why is there so much division inthe world?
Right?
Yeah.
If they all believe they'reright, and if they all believe
(16:14):
preach, love, love for oneanother, then why is there so
much division in the world ifthey all would just come
together and preach love?
I mean, really preach love andthen judge, and allow people to
be on their path and.
I get it.
Yeah.
We could all do it, but it's notthat way right now.
And, as long as, like I said, aslong as each religion believes
(16:35):
they're, they are the right oneand nobody else is.
Right.
You have that division.
Yep.
Yep.
So what do you believe?
I, I'm sort of there too.
Here's another factoid for you.
Did you know, I'm gonna ask youa question.
Do you know how many differentsects of Christianity there are?
Oh, no, I don't know how many,but I, I, there's quite a few,
(16:57):
I'm sure.
1200, 1000, 200 different sectsof Christianity.
Wow.
And most of those startedbecause someone didn't agree
with the teachings of thisparticular church and they went
out and started their own sectand those groups.
Right, right, right.
So even within, the Christianreligion, there are issues.
Yeah.
But you know what my.
(17:19):
I'm grounded in my faith.
I believe that there's a Godnow.
I pray to God.
Yeah.
I believe that.
Like you said before, Jesus,he's one of the many prophets
that's been in our world.
Mm-hmm.
Now this is gonna be somethingthat may, shock people or sound
a little, outta line forChristianity, but I don't
necessarily buy into the ideathat the only way we can get to
(17:42):
heaven is by praying to Jesus.
I believe that the life ofJesus, you said it earlier,
Jesus life is more of an examplefor us, uh, on how to live right
now.
I also believe that, uh, we door should try to find God
through meditation.
Meditation.
(18:02):
Mm-hmm.
Uh, Jesus meditated, right?
Buddha meditated.
So did, and so did Moses on themountain, and so did Moses on
the mountain.
There you go.
I, I forgot all about that one.
Yeah.
But their meditation helped themto attain this higher level of,
spirituality.
Our Yeah.
Our enlightenment.
Yeah.
Now the Bible tells us that wecan become enlightened if we
(18:26):
have the faith of a mustardseed.
Mm-hmm.
The Bible doesn't sayenlightenment.
It just says, if you have faith,you can do these other things.
Right.
But I think, if, if we canbecome enlightened, if we have
faith Right.
If we have faith, then we findit.
So, we've been told that we're apart of God or that God lives
within us.
Mm-hmm.
So I believe that these prophetshave been put on earth not to be
(18:50):
worshiped, but to show us, theway to enlightenment.
I don't believe that they are Igateway.
You have to pray to them to goto heaven.
Yeah.
Yeah, I, yeah, I agree.
Uh, I, you always see this,Jesus wasn't a Christian, Buddha
wasn't a Buddhist, that's justterms we came out with because
(19:11):
they were so great.
They were Enlighten that, that'swhat we're trying to get to.
So we came up with a name forit.
Um, and this is something, thinkabout this Gary, and this may be
off subject a little bit too.
Has anybody ever asked what wasJesus' last name?
And and we don't know, but wealways said, Jesus Christ and
(19:32):
Christ.
Is that highest form of God,like, Yes.
Yeah.
And Buddha, that wasn't his realname.
His real name was Soda, Guan orsomething.
Something like that.
Guana.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, Buddha is the kind of,means the same thing as Christ.
'cause they always said, you canbe a Buddha.
You can be a Buddha, or you aChristian.
(19:53):
Be a Christian.
Be a Christian.
It's the highest form of God.
Like we wanna be one with God.
One with God.
And that's where the meditationcomes in.
Because think about it, Mosescouldn't perform all them
miracles unless he had been tothat, to the highest level, that
meditation, the highest level.
Right.
And he said, he performed a lotof miracles too.
So yeah, I don't think they, ohman, you, that's tough.
(20:17):
Because if we said they're nothere to be worship, woo woo.
That's why I say it would be aproblem.
But yeah, really, I believe, whydoes God need somebody as a
gateway?
Right.
I believe these prophets wereput here as an example to show
us how to get to God.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Especially when you know, andJesus said, he said, the kingdom
(20:39):
of heaven is within you.
Right?
Within you, which he is showingus how to connect to that
kingdom of heaven and be onewith God.
That's what they came here for.
Yeah.
That's their purpose accordingto what we believe.
I'll put that in or what webelieve.
You talking about you and I?
Yes.
(20:59):
Because in the Christianreligion, they believe you have
to pray to God.
You have to pray to Jesus to getto God.
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Yes.
Jesus is the gateway to to God.
Yes.
Okay.
And again, that's fine.
That's what you believe.
That's fine.
You are on your own spiritualjourney.
You have to do what's best foryou at this period of time in
your life.
This is just what we kind ofevolve to, and it's what we
(21:21):
believe.
Right.
I need to speak to somethingreal quick, before we, close
this segment.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I need to respond to one ofour listeners.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, she had commented that ourpodcasts states that, we're
trying to help people to findspiritual peace in our lives.
Mm-hmm.
But it seems that theconversations that we're having
(21:42):
are causing people to doubt whatthey have always believed are
causing them to question theirfaith.
Hmm.
Okay.
Now.
I can understand that, and thisis how I want to answer that,
and I want other people to hearthis too.
Mm-hmm.
Um, what we're doing with thispodcast is hopefully, causing
someone to strengthen theirfaith or begin to ask questions
(22:05):
so that they can be able tocreate a path to enlightenment
and creating, that purposefullife.
That's what we talked about inthis early episode.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I, I was on a 13 yearjourney.
I went from, being this Baptist,Christian, young man, boy, to
(22:26):
actually going out and askingquestions and experiencing
different faiths and differentreligions, uh mm-hmm.
Which started me on a whole newpath.
And I'm more at peace now than Iwas before.
Mm-hmm.
So to answer this, thislistener.
Yeah.
Our podcast is not to down anyone religion.
(22:47):
It's to ask questions.
Right.
And hopefully, open upconversations and have you to
think about where you're at andif you're fine where you're at,
that's fine.
Yeah.
If these questions, make youthink about where you're at,
then that's good.
Right.
At some point in time, the hopeis that you find this spiritual
peace and able to create thispurposeful life.
(23:09):
Like I said, it took me 13years.
A car accident cracked me wideopen, so, yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, I agree., If you arelistening and you're at peace
already, God bless you.
I mean, God bless you.
That's great.
But I would just say this, I'mgonna ask question, wouldn't you
wanna be one with God thenJesus, when he prayed in St.
(23:31):
John, God let them be one withus as I am one with you and me.
Me and you.
To be able to experience that tome is just the greatest thing
you can experience, and just tobe one with God and bas and
basically that's all we'redoing.
That's all we're trying to do isto open your heart and mind up
and just see if we can keepevolving and get to that, that
(23:53):
God-like level.
But like Gary said, if you're atpeace right now, God bless you.
We're not trying to change youor anything.
We're all on our own spiritualjourney.
Absolutely.
God bless you all.
I agree.
Alright.
Oh, go ahead.
No, I was gonna say I agree andI think, we're just peeling back
layers.
At least for myself, peelingback layers of my belief and,
(24:14):
and just trying to understandwhat it means.
That's all.
Yeah.
And well, I'm, I know we'reabout running outta time.
Yeah, that's okay.
And it just, I saw something, Iread it or I saw it or
something, and they said, whatis the purpose?
There we go.
What is your purpose of life?
And you know what this oneperson said, what is to live
life the way you wanna live it?
(24:34):
And I'm like, wow, okay.
And so this whole spiritualjourney thing, do you, whatever
you are on your own spiritualjourney, God bless you, right?
God bless you.
We just trying to get, trying tohelp everybody get to that.
God, like peaceful level.
That's all right.
I agree.
I agree.
Alright.
Alright, Gary, think that we'rejust about outta time for today.
(24:56):
It was a good one.
Yeah.
Hopefully we can continue thisconversation next week.
I think we can.
I think we will.
So, okay.
Well, all right.
Okay, so, so now time for ourfavorite part of the podcast.
We share one of our listenersstories of a storm in their
lives and how they were able toconquer overwhelming odds and
doubt to bring peace in theirlives.
(25:17):
Okay, today's story is fromSherry.
Sherry writes, I never thought Iwould survive the day I lost my
son, Caleb.
The moment the doctors told mehe was gone, the world collapsed
around me.
I had always believed in God'sgrace, but in that moment I felt
abandoned.
How could he let this happen?
(25:40):
How could I go on breathing withmy child?
My beautiful boy no longer did.
The first weeks were a blur.
I drifted through each day in ahaze, unable to function beyond
the most basic task.
My husband, David, tried to holdme up, but he was drowning too.
Nights were the worst, thesilence, the absence.
(26:00):
I would wake up and for afleeting second, forgot that
Caleb was gone.
Then reality would slam into me.
I stopped going to church.
I stopped answering calls.
I didn't want to hear words ofcomfort or hollow assurances
that Caleb was in a betterplace.
This place was here with me, andnow he was gone.
(26:20):
But grief does not exist inisolation, not truly.
As much as I tried to shut theworld out, it kept pressing in.
One Sunday morning, nearly threemonths after Caleb's passing, my
neighbor Mrs.
Lane, knocked on our door.
She was in her seventies.
A small woman with the quietstrength that I had always
admired.
Come to church with me.
(26:41):
She said, simply holding out herhand.
I shook my hand, my shook myhead, but she didn't.
She didn't leave.
She sat with me, pouring me tea,telling me about her own loss,
her daughter taking too soon.
Decades ago, I.
You think it will break you?
She said, but it won't.
It will bend you, reshape you,but it won't break you, not if
(27:03):
you don't let it.
The following Sunday, I went.
The moment I stepped into thesanctuary, a hush fell over the
congregation.
People turned their eyes filledwith love, with understanding.
No one rushed me.
No one bombarded me withplatitudes.
Instead, they simply surroundedme a hand on my shoulder.
A quiet nod, a whispered, welove you.
(27:26):
The weight of my sorrow wasstill there, but for the first
time, it felt shared.
Faith wasn't an insecure.
I wrestled with my anger, mydoubt, but slowly I began to
pray again, not for answers, butfor peace.
That peace, yeah.
I asked God to guide me throughthe storm.
Even when I couldn't see theshore, the community carried me
(27:47):
in ways I never imagined.
They brought meals, they satwith me in silence when words
were felt too heavy.
They helped me remember Caleb,not just in sadness, but also in
joy.
Do you remember when he dancedin the rain?
Mrs.
Lane laughed one evening.
Oh, how he loved the rain, andjust like that, memories of my
son became something more thanpain.
(28:08):
They became moments of love Icould cherish faith and
community.
Didn't erase the loss, but theygave me strength to carry it, to
find purpose again.
To live in a way that honoredCaleb's life rather than drowned
in the sorrow of his absence.
One morning, nearly a year afterhis passing, I stood in the
church and lit a candle for myson.
(28:29):
The flame flickered warm andbright, a symbol of the light he
left behind the love that wouldnever fade.
As I looked around at the facesof those who had carried me
through my darkest days, Iunderstood grief didn't define
me.
Love did.
Wow.
Thank you Sherry, for sendingyour story.
We hope that you have found somepeace and purpose in your life.
(28:51):
We believe that your lived lifeexperiences someone's playbook
for dealing with the storms intheir lives.
Your story will help someone tofind the strength to deal with
the storms in their lives.
Great.
Yeah.
Alright.
This will close our podcast fortoday.
Thank you for joining us todayon CDU Soul.
We hope that it sparked some newthoughts about the purpose of
(29:12):
life.
If you would like to send ussome questions for discussion or
if you would like to send yourstory, please email those to CDU
soul444@gmail.com,C-I-R-Q-U-E-D-U-S-O-U
l444@gmail.com.
If you found value in today'sepisode, please share it with
someone who might benefit fromit.
(29:34):
Don't forget to like andsubscribe so you don't miss any
future episodes.
And remember, your spiritualjourney is uniquely yours, but
you are never, never alone.
There'll always be others tohelp you through the storms in
your life.
So take care of yourself, bekind to yourself, and be kind to
the world around you.
And until the next time, have agreat day in paradise.
(29:57):
Down to the, I'm praying forthings to change Lord, and I
need it to happen to happenright away.
But you sit so as I wait on you,Lord, for your, and drop my.
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