Hey everyone! Before I get into my newsletter this week, I wanted to welcome the new subscribers (HI! WELCOME! I’M GLAD YOU ARE HERE!) —and also say a big THANK YOU to those of you who have been sharing my substack via emails and social media. It means so much that you find my writings valuable enough to pass along to others. That was my hope when I started this little writing space. I write to process my own thoughts - and I hope that in doing so, maybe some of my thoughts resonate with you guys and gals as well. I also deeply appreciate any comments made. Although this blog is called “The Way I see It” - I truly do love hearing how YOU see it too.
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Now on to this week’s writing:
Many of my Christian friends recently celebrated Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, which commemorates the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert. It also leads us into the Easter season. Funny enough, I grew up Southern Baptist and we never observed Lent nor Ash Wednesday. If you wonder why one group of Christians would choose not to observe such a wide-spread religious (Christian) event - you aren’t alone. I wondered that too. Since many of you don’t care to go down that rabbit hole, I won’t go into that today, but here are a couple of articles that you can read should you be more interested in this subject. I’m not saying I agree with these viewpoints, just sharing info here:
Why I struggle with Ash Wednesday
Why I encourage people not to observe Lent
Although the churches of my younger days didn’t teach me about it, personally, over the last few years, I have enjoyed learning about and observing Lent, along with Ash Wednesday, at least in some shape or form. My feelings now are if something enhances your spiritual life or makes you feel closer to God, then by all means, do it. If it’s not for you, then that’s cool too. I am done with having my relationship with God dictated by some religious leader who tells me what is acceptable and what isn’t. I did that for many, many years. I followed the rules. I believed what the church leaders told me without questioning. And it kind of worked for awhile. Some rules can be helpful, especially for younger Christians. Just like baby humans need guidance to grow into adult humans, baby Christians need some kind of guidance early in our religious lives too. However, as we grow and mature as human beings, we should grow and mature as Christians as well. That seems like it would be a good thing, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that in some Christian circles, “growing” can be viewed as a bad thing. A very bad thing.
Should you dare find yourself questioning some of the teachings in your church, or maybe coming to different conclusions on theology than your pastor, elders or church friends, sharing your newfound views might just get you kicked out of the very circle where you once flourished. Suddenly you are viewed as a problem. You’ll be accused of “sliding down the slippery slope” or “backsliding”. At this point, you have two options. Try to abandon what your heart tells you is truth and stay silent so that you can continue to be in good standing with your religious community - OR stay on your path toward religious maturity, continuing to learn and grow at the risk of being branded a heretic. Neither option sounds great, does it?
Actually there is a 3rd option, which is one I took for awhile. That was to walk away from all of it completely. I had too many questions to stay quiet and just conform without any answers that made sense to me. “Gods ways are higher than our ways” can only go so far to someone who has grown enough to realize that some things you have been taught can’t possibly be true. And trying to sort it all out seemed too difficult a task to someone like me who had such limited religious knowledge. (I say “limited” because I was truly limited to what I had been taught and nothing more).
However, living life without having any spirituality in my life never felt right either. So I slowly started cracking open books (including, but not limited to The Bible) and I started learning. Learning about the Bible and its history. Learning about Christianity’s history and the difference in the Eastern and Western theological approaches, along with the six (or seven depending on who you listen to) branches and why Christianity has splintered so much through the years into literally thousands of different sects (some count 40,000 worldwide). Learning about other religions and the mystics and the church fathers and mothers, none of which I was ever taught about before. It fascinated me. I couldn’t get enough. I started understanding God in a brand new way and I started to see God in a brand new way! I realized how little the God of my previous understanding was. I’m not saying that that God wasn’t real. He was very real, but my new understanding of God made so much more sense and I felt a deeper connection to that Divine Spirit, of which we usually call “God”. Or Abba, Jehovah, Adonai, Yahweh etc…. Our Creator.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We are not called to simply swallow the teachings of whatever church our church of origin is without question. If something doesn’t make sense or doesn’t feel right in your gut, then research it yourself. Use your mind. God gave us brains for a reason. To simply follow along, even when something doesn’t add up is what people do in cults. This is not what the church should be. It should not be a cult. It should be filled with people who worship together, learn together, question together, and even doubt together.
Now and then I sometimes miss the comfort of the certainty that I grew up in. I felt protected in that bubble. We were SO SURE that we had God figured out. We knew who God loved and who He didn’t. We knew that OUR beliefs were in line with God’s word so we were going to heaven. All the other religions were false religions. End of story. But turning back isn’t an option for me now. It feels similar to the day when I realized that I could never move back in with my parents. I loved growing up under their roof. I felt safe and loved and I’ll always be grateful for my time under their care, but moving back in with them now that I had matured and made my own life as an adult made zero sense. I had outgrown that phase in life. And now I’ve outgrown my previous religious beliefs. I’m too in love with the bigger God, the more inclusive God, the mystery of God. And I love who I am more now too.
If you are in a similar place, don’t feel like you have to do this alone. There are so many others who love Jesus, but can’t do the Western Americanized version of Christianity anymore. I have found a new community of believers in the last few years who I’m learning and growing with. It’s so wonderful to be on similar paths with like-minded folks, but also feel free to develop my own faith journey. Don’t be afraid of growing, friends. In ALL areas of your life. Push yourself to learn and grow and never stop.
There is an anti-intellectualism movement in America that has grown over the last few years, which is so concerning to me. Finding fault in being educated??? Are you kidding me?? But yep, it is there! *There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, aided by the false egotistical notion that “my ignorance is just as good as your expertise and knowledge.” And this distain for intellectuals translates into distrust of everyone from medical professionals to scientists to educators and more. More and more people are drawn to leaders who don’t seem as educated (“cause they are one of us!”) and that is causing so many problems. We saw it rear its ugly head in full force during the pandemic. I see it in churches. I see it in politics. Even the backlash to the term “woke” is so confusing to me! The slang meaning of “woke” is simply to : **“be aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)” Why wouldn’t we all want to be “woke” to that??
I could go on and on about this movement, but I’ll let ya’ll dig deeper yourselves if you are interested. Here is a bit more info on anti-intellectualism:
Understanding anti-intellectualism in the U. S.
The Scandal of the anti-intellectual mind
Please don’t fall for the belief that you don’t need to keep learning! That mindset is completely fear-based. Don’t be afraid to learn about new things, new cultures, new religions. Don’t be afraid to make new friends, try out new recipes, travel to new places. We should all be learning and growing until our very last breath. It will help us become better and more compassionate human beings.
Sadly, I see too many pastors trying to control their congregations by encouraging the anti-intellectual movement. They use their pulpits to convince their followers that everyone “out there” can’t be trusted. They discourage any learning beyond what he is teaching from his pulpit. They discourage community outside of the church. And they discourage you from trusting your own instincts. This is so wrong, friends. Truly. The Kingdom of God is within. (Luke 17:21) It can be trusted! Practicing mindfulness, contemplation and self-discovery practices have brought me closer to understanding that truth.
The bottom line is that any real faith will grow and evolve as you learn more and more about our Creator. If your faith isn’t growing, then it’s stagnant. And what good is a stagnant faith?
I’m not gonna lie. The process definitely has its share of growing pains. Letting go of the rules is scary. Giving up on certainty is scary too. No one just wakes up one day and says, “Hey, you know what sounds fun? Deconstructing my entire belief system and then trying to put it all back together in a way that makes sense for me now!” Yeah, NOPE. No one chooses deconstruction. It chooses us. But developing a more mature faith and a deeper connection to the Divine makes it all worth it.
What I’m reading/watching/listening to this week:
BOOK: I was hesitant, but started Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare on audible and I gotta say, I’m pretty moved by his story. It pushed me to also take the time to watch the Harry and Meghan documentary on Netflix (which I thought I’d never do). Although I find the Royal Family somewhat fascinating (I loved watching The Crown and also Victoria on Masterpiece on PBS), I’ve never been a crazy royal watcher. But this book is a huge reminder that you learn best when you actually listen to someone’s story. I had one image of Harry and now have a completely different one. We all think we know so much just from the headlines, but my gosh, this poor boy. The chapter where he learns about his Mother’s passing in such a cold and stoic way had me in tears. I haven’t finished the book yet (it’s a l-o-n-g one- the audible is over 13 hrs!), but after watching the documentary and getting halfway through the book, I’m definitely #teamharry. If you aren’t, I encourage you to read his story. I think you might find a change of heart, like I did.
TV: Well, like most of the country, I’ve been fascinated with the Alex Murdaugh trial. I watched quite a bit of that this week along with the HBO documentary about the family. My gosh, my gosh. That whole family was messed up! I was shocked at how quickly the verdict came back - but agreed with the results. Now let’s see if they reopen the investigations into the deaths of Stephen Smith and Gloria Satterfield.
MUSIC: This has been my jam all week. His goodness has no end, friends. There may be much mystery to my beliefs these days, but this is a truth I still stand on.
*quote from The Rise of Anti-Intellectualism
**definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary
Love this so much!
I have truly believed, since my children were old enough to decide, that forcing them to “go to Church” with me, was all wrong. Giving them the seeds from the beginning, gave them enough information about God, so they could choose for themselves. My oldest continued to go, my youngest chose not to. All 3 of us have discovered that “belonging” to a church was not necessary. We belong to the big Church, God’s Church, which is found everywhere and anywhere. We can follow Him, wherever we are. We can talk to Him wherever we are. We can read the Bible wherever we are. We can sing His praises wherever we are. I do occasionally watch livestreams of services. I’m listening to one, as we speak. I enjoy singing the hymns with them and praying with them, but don’t always listen to the sermon. It depends on the topic. I read the Bible, I pray daily and more. I sing hymns, I praise Him regularly. It does not take a structured building to live and praise our Lord. I chose not to have a group of people tell me when, what and how to study and continue to learn about Jesus. I’m right there with you! My daughter-in-law spent months visiting different denominations, so she could choose where she belonged and she has chosen where she belongs. We should all learn from her. It’s our choice, no one else’s. Thank you for sharing!!!