Have you ever found yourself shocked by the beliefs of people who follow the same faith as you? That jarring moment when you realize someone reading the same Bible has arrived at conclusions that seem completely foreign—or even extreme—to you?
I recently experienced what I can only describe as a "veil-lifting moment" after attending a Bible study where I encountered perspectives that felt extreme compared to my understanding of Christianity. This led me down a rabbit hole of research where I discovered an even wider spectrum of interpretations than I could have imagined. The experience left me questioning not just others' beliefs, but my own approach to sharing my spiritual journey.
What struck me most was how we all engage in the same behavior—trying to convince others our interpretation is correct while dismissing views that don't align with ours. Yet Jesus's central message couldn't be clearer: love God completely and love your neighbor as yourself. He even said people would recognize his followers by their love for one another. So why do we spend so much energy arguing and judging instead of understanding and loving?
This episode invites us to create space between receiving information that doesn't resonate and immediately reacting to it. I share my personal struggle with this challenge and invite you to consider how you might approach differences with curiosity rather than defensiveness. What might happen if, instead of jumping to correct others, we paused to invite divine guidance into our conversations?
Whether you identify as a Christian or follow another spiritual path, the question remains the same: How do we honor our own truth while making room for others to honor theirs? And, more importantly, how do we allow others viewpoints, those that resonate and those that don't, to continue to grow, heal, expand and mature on our own spiritual journey?
Join me as we explore these important inquiries together, seeking not to win arguments but to embody the love at the heart of Jesus's teachings. Subscribe to receive the free Welcoming God ebook at WelcomingGod.com and continue this journey of spiritual discovery together.
Music by Song Channel Music. Listen at SongChannelMusic.com
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Episode Transcript
Hey everyone, sarah here, just to let you know.
Sometimes I do use swear wordsin these episodes and we may at
times discuss adult content.
In case you happen to belistening around, little ones or
people that won't appreciatethat.
Thanks so much for listeningand let's get right into it.
Hi, and thanks for joining meon Welcoming God.
(00:28):
Hey everyone, sarah Haeckelhere.
Hey everyone, sarah Haeckelhere.
(00:50):
In this episode we are going totalk about Christian confusion.
I have recently had aveil-lifting moment around
Christianity and call it naivete, call it ignorance or denial.
I really have been in a cloudof my own world over here and
(01:13):
really did not realize the depthand breadth of beliefs within
just the Christian tradition,within just the Christian
tradition.
I recently was invited to aBible study and in that Bible
study I learned that some peoplein the group had very what
(01:37):
seemed to me extreme views aboutcertain things that I don't
have, and I felt surprised andshocked by that.
And then, as I walked away fromthat and had some email
interaction with the Bible studyleader, further sharing about
(02:00):
my thoughts or questions andhearing from them about their
beliefs, I started doing alittle research online and
realized that even somebody thatthis person was recommending,
who I thought had some moreextreme beliefs that I don't
necessarily have at this pointin my journey or life.
(02:22):
There are people out there thathave even more extreme beliefs
(02:43):
than this person and I made mewonder, contemplate, wow, what
(03:03):
is this all about?
And felt really surprising,unsettling, confusing, and I
thought here I am trying toshare my opinions and thoughts
about what I think is right withthis person.
They're trying to share theirthoughts and ideas and
(03:26):
perspectives and opinions aboutwhat they think is right with me
.
What are we all really doinghere?
Arguing with each other,arguing with each other,
fighting each other, trying topersuade each other into
different viewpoints that alignmore with ours, with what we
(03:46):
think are the teachings of Jesus, which, with what we think are
the right things to follow inthe Bible, the right
interpretations of the Bible,etc.
It just, I felt really confusedand it has helped me to see
(04:10):
myself in a new light as far assharing my own thoughts, beliefs
, opinions about what Icurrently believe as far as
spirituality and God and what'sgoing on here, which is very
little that I really understandat all, if I really understand
(04:32):
much of anything, but justsharing the things that I've
learned to help me in my life asI've opened my heart back up to
God, which I mean when I saythat the all that ever is was
and will be the one true sourceof life, of it all.
(04:54):
In your journey of spiritualseeking, what do you do when you
confront different people withdifferent beliefs, with
different ideas and perspectives, some of which may seem or feel
very wrong to you or extreme,some of which might totally
(05:21):
resonate, some which might feeltotally beyond where you're at
and weird and uncomfortable andscary?
How do you deal with the broad,wide spectrum of your spiritual
or religious tradition?
Even if you're not Christian,I'm sure you can probably relate
to this in some way, shape orform.
If you are in a differentspiritual tradition, maybe not,
(05:47):
but I have an assumption thatthere are certain traditions
that might also have a widevariety of viewpoints as well.
So what do we do with thesewide variety of viewpoints?
How do we process the truth,the reality that others see
(06:11):
things so differently than wemay see them?
You know, when it comes to theteachings of Jesus, I'm no
expert, you know.
I'm just really getting to knowwho Jesus was on earth and the
teachings that Jesus shared withus through the disciples and
(06:32):
what ended up in the book of theBible that we call as
Christians.
So you know I'm no Jesusscholar.
I mean, could I really say withany real authority like this is
what Jesus, you know, came hereto do?
(06:55):
And yet I do know andunderstand that Jesus taught us
how to love.
That was the gift of Jesus andthat is the continued gift of
Jesus.
Jesus is still actively workingthrough all of our lives.
If we choose to listen toJesus's teachings and follow
(07:20):
what he said.
As far as the most importantcommandments that we can follow
and I'm paraphrasing here loveGod with our whole being, our
mind, heart, soul, spirit, body,our whole selves.
To love God fully and to loveour neighbor as ourselves.
(07:42):
I mean, jesus said those arethe two most important
commandments.
And he also said that peoplewill know my followers by how
they love, by how they love eachother, by how they love others.
Paraphrasing again, totally,just go back to that.
(08:10):
So if I'm here to learn how tolove, to truly love myself, to
love others as I truly lovemyself, because I am a part of
God heart, body, soul and spiritand by truly loving me I can
(08:39):
learn to love others, make spacefor others, be able to hear
their different viewpointswithout just reacting and trying
to shame them or blame them orchange their opinion.
You know, I walked away fromthat Bible study wondering gosh,
I wish I had a little morespace there to just ask more
(09:05):
inquiring questions than justspeak my opinions or share where
I was at.
I felt bad about that.
But I learned something in thatexperience and I'm still
learning.
I'm still processing thisbecause you know it's like, yeah
for sure, I think that my wayis the right way, but others do
(09:27):
too.
So where does that put us?
It kind of puts us at astandstill.
But if I am able to just createa little space, just have a
little breath or breathing roomin between receiving information
that does not seem right orland well with me and then
(09:50):
speaking from a place of God'struth, being God-led like, even
just having space enough to say,oh my God, please help me in
this moment, how do you want meto respond?
And then truly just listeningto God's guidance, feeling it,
(10:11):
because God's guidance comes inmany different ways.
It doesn't just come frominside of me, it comes from
around me too.
I could be receiving a signalor a sign around me as well.
How do I just have just alittle more space, just a little
(10:31):
space to not just react to whatI'm hearing or seeing or
experiencing, but to let God in,say, okay, I'm not in this
alone, god is with me, god'swith all of us, god's working
through us.
How do I allow space for this?
So I'm curious how will youallow some space when you hear
(11:01):
something about a religioustradition that you follow or you
are a part of or you believe in?
Or you hear something you knowthat doesn't quite resonate or
land, even if you're not in aspiritual tradition, but you
hear something and you go, whoa,that's not what I believe.
How do we not just get intoarguments with others or try to
(11:27):
assert our own opinion, tochange people's minds, but also
try to understand where they'recoming from, so we can have
maybe a more guided intellectualdebate about something, as
opposed to just a full-blownshaming, blaming argument that
creates more fracture and moredivision and more division.
(11:50):
I am actively wondering thesesame questions myself and I just
invite us all, including me howwill we be gentle with
ourselves and gentle with otherswhere they're at, on their
journey?
I mean, I know there are timeswhere, in the Bible, jesus got
(12:12):
really mad and angry andsurprised people by his wrath.
And his wrath, his anger, wascoming from and through the
Father.
That's what Jesus, at least inthe interpretations we have of
the Bible.
That's what Jesus at least inthe interpretations we have of
(12:58):
the Bible they say you knowJesus kept referring to you know
, following the words of hisfather, that his father was
speaking through him, or hisfather was telling him to do
these things, or his father wastelling him what was going on.
So you know, how do we show upin a way that creates more space
for, ultimately, love, which iswhat I believe.
Jesus was here to teach us allhow to truly love, and not just
like in a Pollyanna way, but ina real, deep, true way, to love
(13:23):
God with all of our hearts andsouls and to love our neighbor
as we love ourselves fully andwholly, because we are what God
made us to be.
So I will leave us with thatfor now.
Thank you so much for joining mehere and remember that you can
(13:49):
sign up for the Welcoming Godemail list, where you'll receive
a free copy of the WelcomingGod ebook.
Just go to welcominggodcom andsign up.
You'll see a couple of spots onthe webpage at welcominggodcom
right at the top of the page andthen a bit lower down past the
(14:11):
podcast listening pageinformation To sign up for our
email newsletter.
You'll receive that free ebook.
That's a companion to the firstseason of the Welcoming God
podcast and I look forward toseeing you on the next episode.
(14:45):
Take care everybody.
Aloha nui loa and God bless.
Therapy or professional help Iam not a trained therapist.
I also have not studiedtheology in a formal setting.
This podcast is purely foreducational, inspirational
purposes, to share the goodnessof welcoming God back into my
life and all of the things thatI'm learning on this journey.
(15:08):
So thank you for joining mehere and I look forward to
seeing you on the next episode.
Thanks for joining me onanother episode of Welcoming God
(15:30):
.
Please subscribe to thispodcast wherever you listen and
consider leaving us a review, asit helps more people find and
benefit from this show.
Music by Song Channel Music.
You can listen and hear more atsongchannelmusiccom.
Until we meet again, aloha nuiloa, take care and God bless.
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