Jim Palmer took the words right out of my mouth with
his recent Facebook post describing Five Things Not to Feel Guilty About on
Your Spiritual Journey. These five things accurately describe
my journey since my exodus from inside to outside the walls that
began abruptly six years ago. In the header of this blog I tag
myself as a Free Range Believer. I think this describes what I mean by
Free Range. I believe in Jesus, but I am not an advocate or participant
in any organized religious entity. I am a man without a religious
country and enjoy freedom I never would have imagined before.
Palmer says:
"As people
shed religion and walk in freedom, they can feel guilt about the changes they
are going through. Thinking about this I identified 5 things not to feel guilty
about on your spiritual journey."
"1. You
may discontinue your active involvement in a church or religious organization.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be some sort of judgment or condemnation
against the church or organization you were part of, but a choice you make
because your involvement no longer relates to or supports where you are on the
journey, or may be an obstacle and hindrance to it."
"2. You
may grow weary of incessant God talk. It’s possible there will be times when
you grow sick of the constant theological discussion and debate, and the
never-ending wheel of new and improved concepts, beliefs, understandings,
teachings, etc. At some point it all might sound like, “Blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah…” You might fall dead to the need to be constantly figuring out things
with your mind or in your head. One day you might wake up and say, “Okay, I’m
done!” Don’t feel bad about this. It actually may be a very important milestone
in your spiritual journey. In my view, theology is not even the best way by
which God and spiritual truth is known. It may be that subject of “God” as a
whole feels a bit overdone and boring, but this is only because you were taught
to equate God with all that blah blah blah stuff."
"3. You
may find that the very people your religion judged and condemned are the people
you find the most interesting and enjoyable. Once you come out from under the
judgmental labels, views and stereotypes you learned through religion, you
start realizing how much you truly like and enjoy the people you were taught to
hate. This is a good and liberating aspect of shedding religion. For too long
you were shut yourself off from a lot of beautiful and extraordinary people in
this world to enjoy and learn from."
"4. You
may find and express a rebellious or defiant part of you that has been dormant.
Don’t feel bad about this. Too often religion turns people into nice,
complaint, repressed, timid, inhibited, mannerly, obedient, fearful, amiable,
submissive people. By the way, I would not use any of these words to describe
Jesus. Here’s the deal, you can be a loving, compassionate, respectful and kind
person AND be a rebellious, defiant, passionate, disobedient, subversive,
nonconformist, mischievous, self-willed, fully expressed, freethinker, heretic,
and free spirit human being."
"5. You
may find less fulfillment in religious things, and more satisfaction in human
things. It’s okay and good to be human, and to enjoy each moment of your human
journey. Religion caused many people to create a false division between
“sacred” things and “secular” things. There is no such line. All of life is
sacred, spiritual, and divine. There’s no need to defend, theologize, or
spiritualize your human experience. Just live it! That is enough. Life is made
complete by you living each moment. There’s no need to maintain a running
commentary about how God is part of it. God IS part of it. Life and God are
inseparable. End of story. It’s okay to enjoy life, experience delight and
pleasure, do the things you enjoy doing, and that breathe life into you,
whatever those things may be."
