20/08/2022
Hi friends,
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve been active on this account. I’m not sure if the podcasts can even be found on Spotify and such anymore.
I want to say thank you to everyone who listened, gave feedback and supported me during the time these podcasts were being made.
If it’s not obvious by the way this account moved, I no longer believe much of the things I used to believe. I always based my faith on four principles. Scripture, reason, tradition and experience. It’s those four things John Wesley and the Methodists base their faith on and it always worked for me. It worked for me because I blindly read the scripture not knowing their origins. I always trusted my pastors to tell me the truth. I “took God at His word” and “had faith beyond my understanding.”
My entire life, there’s always been unanswered questions. I would ask hard questions and if the leader didn’t know the answer, it went back to faith or Gods ways are not our ways. But then I found out I had just been asking the wrong people the questions. I had been trained not to be yolked with unbelievers because they can cause you to go the wrong way. And to be scared of any information that didn’t come from the 66 books in the Bible.
Then North Alabama Conference of the UMC required I attend seminary for further career advancement. So that’s what I did. And suddenly my world was opened to a world of other factual, historical, evidence that proves the book, I’d based every fiber of my being on, had literal and figural holes in it. And the Bible began to unravel as the perfect literary composition in which it had been sold to me as.
Now I go back to my bases of my faith. Scripture, reason, tradition, experience. My reasoning had already went away. Because remember God is beyond our reasoning. So that fell apart immediately. Now scripture has crumbled out from under me as I learned more and more about it.
That’s leaves tradition and experience. Both of these could get political and sticky real quick. And I don’t want you to miss the point of this. So let’s just say watching the people who taught me to love Jesus turn and give their undying love to Donald Trump along with being closeted for 35 years, took care of my experience. And once again historical evidence of the tradition of violence and colonization pushed by Christians throughout the centuries took tradition away from me.
All four of the pillars of my faith crumbled out from under me. All within a few years. And when those four things fell apart, I just could no longer practice the Christian faith.
And now, if I believe in anything, I believe in what those who practice Hinduism and Buddhism would call karma. I don’t know if I believe in a god or gods or nothing. But what I do believe in, more than anything in this goddamn world is love. Love sweet love.
I believe in loving my neighbor. Loving those who have wronged me. I believe in loving what Christians would call “the least of these”. I believe in loving my wife. Lila, and my daughter. I believe in spreading love in the world. And sending thoughts of love to those who need encouragement.
Now some of you may read that and try to say I believe in Jesus. You’re right. I believe there is historical evidence to prove a man in his 30s was murdered by the empire of Rome for being an insurrectionist. But that’s it
I was raised by two badass parents. (This whole thing is their fault. Doug and Cindy let me ask questions at home and they gave me as real of an answer as they could.) And while I may have walked away from the spiritual thing they wanted me to get. The thing that I hope they are most proud of is that they are who taught me to love. And so that’s what I try to do.
I try to love my wife as much as I can. I try to love daughter as much as I can. I know they question it sometimes but I try to love my siblings Adam, Carly, Jeremy, Cindy, my in-laws and their families as much as I can. I practice social justice very annoyingly on social media. But I also work for a company where every day I get to spread love to organizations doing the hard work actually feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and educating those in disadvantaged communities.
Side bad:(I also can lose my s**t when my medication is out of whack and bite your bleeping head off. But there won’t be bleeps. 😅 (yes I’m seeing a therapist and this is sooooooo much better than it used to be.))
Anyway… the whole point of this post is 1) to say thank you for your love and support through the years. 2) give a little insight to where I am. But 3) is the entire spark for this post.
Lila introduced a new artist to me last night. Mattie Zohm’s lyrics speak so deeply to feelings I carried for years. Her songs give words to emotions I could never express when I was feeling them. So I wanted to offer her words to those of you who may be asking questions. The church doesn’t like when you ask questions. Because they’re afraid someone will actually tell you the truth.
If you’re the one being shushed in the church. YOU NEED MATTIE ZAHN IN YOUR LIFE!! She will give you the words you’re looking for. She will put your emotions into words. So please give her a listen.
I love you all. I really do. And please don’t read this as me bashing you for practicing Christianity. That’s not what this is. Yes, I bash Trump loving conservative Christians all day every day. But the rest of you who don’t support the Donald, and are still walking the way of Jesus, I can’t blame you for that. If you find your peace and hope in Christianity then I 100% support you. And if you find your peace and hope in knowing that at the end, the lights turn off into nothing. I 100% support that too.
At the end of the day. The world needs more love and I do believe love can be the answer.
Love,
Andrew
Artist · 2.2M monthly listeners.
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