12 hours ago9 min read

Spirituality & Religion

Spirituality & Religion are cousins, in my opinion. Born by the same grandparents: God and your soul. Nurtured and educated in different ways. Spirituality is the base. Religions create the details: stories, messages and rituals. Whether it's Mayan, Aztecan, Egyptian, Dogma Tribe, Tao, Hindu, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or an individual's unique opinion of how our souls are connected to God and answers to life's mysteries.

Today's blog inspired by podcast debate between Billy Carson & Wesley Huff over one week ago. The debate spawned a huge egg of international attention, like a gigantic sockeye salmon depositing dinosaur-sized eggs in Alaska's Russian River. Even JRE (Joe Rogan Experience) got into the action, interviewing Wes Huff.

What was the debate topic? Christianity vs. Carson's spiritual beliefs. Basically, The Bible (according to Huff) vs. Carson. I watched the debate for about 30 minutes. That's all I could handle. Knew where it led: division and anger. Division, judgments, and anger remain humanity's first response to anything they don't understand. Or anything that challenges personal beliefs.

Personally, I don't feel humanity has evolved much - spiritually and emotionally. We want to! We're about halfway there. What's holding us back? Judgment, criticisms, not accepting others' perspectives, disrespecting people who disagree with you or hold different beliefs.

In the Carson-Huff debate case, each man holds different views of humanity's origins, biblical and ancient texts, humanity facts and belief systems. Huff's beliefs are based on The Bible. He's Christian. Carson's beliefs are based on The Bible and other ancient spiritual and religious texts. Carson isn't full-on Christian. He doesn't claim to be. His beliefs are vastly different than Huff's.

Like a Baptist debating a Catholic, or a Muslim Imam debating a Jewish Rabbi, no one is right or wrong. No one really wins.

You can't debate spiritual concepts and beliefs like debating the benefit of bitcoin, vaccines, air bags, or seat belts. Spirituality & Religion are profoundly personal and elusive. Religion requires Faith over facts. People's beliefs are profoundly personal. Your soul is unique and profoundly personal. Your connection with God, your soul, and ideas of your origins, peace and love - profoundly personal. That's why we rarely see Baptists debating Catholics or Imams debating Rabbis. What's the point? As long as both believe in God, have high moral values, don't intentionally harm others, hold high integrity, find peace, know love and help people connect their soul with God.

Why do details matter? Goes back to my first paragraph: religions create details (story, message, method-rituals). And the Devil is in the details. Details from different faiths can separate people. Individuals decide whether to use their Faith to separate from people or unite and love them.

God loves it when we respect our differences, listen to others' opinions, expand our consciousness and intelligence, and love each other, find value in each other. God loves it when we grow.

We grow when we listen more than talk. We spiritually grow when we see more commonalities than differences. We spiritually and emotionally grow when we learn new things - about religions, relationships, nature, psychology, and other topics that touch our hearts and souls. We grow when we see differences as exciting and new knowledge. Like K-12 school or college. We grow by learning new things each year until we graduate.

With spirituality, we were born with the diploma. Earth allows us to test our soul wisdom and connection to God. Sometimes that means we repeat tests until we get it. Free Will gives us the power to decide how many tests we want; what paths to walk; what experiences we want.

Back to the Carson-Huff debate. Huff threw out at least 2 spiritual-religious books that Carson bases his beliefs on. "Those books proven false by Christian scholars," Huff said. Leaving Carson's arguments and foundations of his opinions, off the table and flat as pancakes. That's not a debate. It's an intentional slaughter. When you debate someone, you don't toss out their facts. Especially on topic of Spirituality & Religion. You prove why your facts matter more. That didn't happen in Carson-Huff "debate." It rarely happens when debating religions or spirituality.

Three key differences exist in religions: the "story", the message, the methods (rituals). Each main religion has its own origin story, messaging and holidays, and practices that connect the person to God and ultimately your spiritual base. Basic Spirituality - your connection to your spiritual self, soul and soul source - needs no story, message or method. You already have those answers inside you. Religion can help you find those answers. Religion can bring you closer to Spirituality, when you feel disconnected or lost.

Today, more people are returning to religious roots, since western society pulled away from religion in 1990s. A thirty-five-year spread of time elapsed since New Age Movement usurped classical religions. People left churches en masse, especially the Catholic Church. People stopped trusting their church. Priests' pedophile abuses betrayed parishioners, betrayals and huge distrust. Other Christian religions also suffered. When one shoe drops, others follow. They replaced religious dogma with New Age books and attended spiritual-spirituality classes, workshops, conferences instead.

In 1990s, most of western society questioned stringent religious beliefs and practices. "Is there something more? Can I connect with my soul source more directly and freely? Thirty-five years later, the old cycle returns. Like bell-bottoms, leggings and boots.

During Carson-Huff debate, I watched their body language, listened to their views of the "facts", then read YouTube responses in the comments section. Saw judgments, lack of acceptance, irritation. When two people hold different views, using the same or different "facts", acceptance and mutual respect is important. Who's to say one person is right and the other person is wrong? Neither was right nor wrong. Circular debate. Throw out an opponents "facts", and the debate is over. Not because you "won". It becomes a waste of time. That's how I saw that "debate". A waste of spiritual time for everyone watching. If you're a Christian, you'll say Huff won. If you're a Carson fan, you'll say Carson betrayed you. If you watched debate to learn something spiritually new, you might have gained new knowledge. Careful of the details though. Most stories in The Bible haven't been proven true yet. Archaeologists still uncovering artifacts.

Human nature doesn't change: one person had to win that debate. Christians felt Wes won. And consequently, they felt Billy Carson was "outed" as a fraud. Not very Christian-like, in my humble Catholic opinion. Wes knew what he was doing. He initiated the idea of debating Carson. Wes was ready. Carson was not. But who can debate an opponent who throws out your premises and facts from the start? Huff throwing out Book of Barnabas and Carson ceding that: I knew debate was over. Huff would dominate the debate. Carson stopped caring. You can't argue or debate religions. Huff seems to believe you can. Huff is dead-wrong. And he was wrong throughout the debate. He was not Christ-like at all.

Lack of acceptance irritates me. Judgments irritate me. Especially on topic of Spirituality. Each of us, as souls on this planet, have the power to believe what and how we want. Tons of different Christian churches exist to fill needs of our individual spiritual base: from Baptist, Mormon, Methodist, Jehovah Witness, Episcopal, Lutheran, Catholic and non-denominational. Unlike Islam, Judaism, Tao, or Hindu, Christianity spins off many different sects. From one Bible source. Lack of acceptance, empathy and heavy doses of judgment are not Christ-like. Besides, a person's spirituality or spiritual views should not be judged. That's the number rule in Spirituality. Not sure why some Christians don't know that rule.

I'm a firm believer that God exists. Raised Catholic and attended numerous different Christian churches to expand my spiritual knowledge and learn about people and different views. Staying open-minded and respectful.

God exists. That belief has not changed since opening my psychic practice full-time in 2009. I also believe that whatever religious or spiritual practice you use, if those methods help you feel more connected to God and your soul energy, it's good. If your spiritual or religious practice reinforces the good in you, it's good. If it motivates you to be a good person, helping or inspiring others while aspiring to be your best "self", it is good. If it teaches you to "do no harm" to others, it is good.

If your spiritual or religious practice promotes judgment - self-judgment or judging others - it is not good. Jewish Faith sometimes promotes judgment against other religions. As does Islam and Christianity. "If you're not with me, you're against me." That's not spiritual.

Spirituality does not require a complex story, facts, messaging or particular methods. Spirituality is acceptance and non-judgment. While also teaching right from wrong. Don't kill, harm or persecute others.

Spirituality is the basis of all religions. Spirituality lives inside your soul; part of your soul essence. Spirituality is the practice of knowing your soul self, staying connected to your soul and soul source, while living on Earth. Spirituality lives inside you. It's not a "thing" to learn or grab from outside your inner essence. It's a way to connect with your inner essence and God-realm. Spirituality uplifts and motivates you. Spirituality is where your intuition and "gut" instinct comes from. You can practice spirituality in a crowded church or alone.

Some of us need ceremonial tools to tap into our soul essence, and our connection to God. Some of us need a story to rely on, when hard times hit and we need inspiration. Religions provide that for us. Religions are not bad. Like everything in life, we decide what works for us and what does not.

When you're strong in your Faith, no matter what Faith, you're more accepting of others' spiritual and religious views. You respect them. You see the Divine in yourself. And by extension, you see the Divine in others.

Judgments and division should play no role in religion or spiritual faith.

Growing up, my parents taught us kids to stay away from two topics with people: Religion & Politics. Why? "Because people have strong beliefs on those topics - different beliefs." I never understood that. If we all believe in God, who cares how we "get" there. Who cares what "story" or method we use to reach spiritual epiphanies and soul connection. As long as we "get there", understand who we are, understand the rules of life (do no harm), why does the "story" or church matter? It shouldn't. Truth: It doesn't.

Devil is in the details. Religions create detailed stories to make them different; or be "the main religion" of the planet. Just like One World Order doesn't work for humans on Earth, one main religion on Earth doesn't work either. We're all different. We're also all the same in certain ways.

As we move into this Number Nine year, it's important we accept different views. And even different facts. Religious facts can change like the weather. Each year, archaeologists discover artifacts that change our Human story. Some religions hide our human origin story in a basement where few travel or admitted. Like the Vatican and Israeli catacombs.

There is so much we truly don't know about ourselves as human souls. So much about our human history, soul energies and universal magic still undiscovered. Judging someone's religious or spiritual view does not help move your Spiritual needle. It retracts and strangles it. Judgments about spiritual faiths strangles your Earth experience. Just like political judgments have done last 30-50 years. Strangles society with biases.

I'm a psychic-medium who works in many realms since I was very young (age 5). Each day over last 55 years, I learn something new about Spiritual Realms and about our soul abilities. I rarely learn anything new about human nature since the 1990s. Maybe this year, human nature will surprise me. Maybe this is the year when humanity accepts and respects its amazing spiritual diversity. I am grateful that people are returning to their spiritual bases and religions. Do what's right for you. Practice what works for you.

Best way to determine if a spiritual practice works for you: does it inspire, empower or motivate you during your darkest hours? Does it lift you up when you're at a low point? Does it help you pop out of adversity quicker and better? If so, it's the right practice for you. If it does NOT help you during your darkest hours, change it. Fair-weather religious or spiritual practices are easy. That's not why they exist. They exist to help you during your darkest days and nights. To help you understand life or feel peace when the world is in chaos.

I'm not a die-hard Carson fan. I do respect and appreciate each person's individual spiritual views. What I don't respect or appreciate is Huff's obvious arrogance, lack of acceptance, "win at all costs" behavior. He's great at quoting scripture and giving his opinion and translation of The Bible. So are 95% evangelical priests or preachers on television. Huff is not a new phenomenon. He didn't move the needle spiritually. In my opinion, he divided and confused people - more than unifying and setting acceptance example as Jesus Christ would.

Some people got good knowledge from Huff during the debate. If that was you, wonderful! Learning new spiritual elements, religious information, expands your consciousness. Moves you closer to answers about your soul, Earth Journey, and God. That's your spiritual journey toward Enlightenment and soul connection. Congratulations!

Many Blessings To You -

Robin Amanda, Your Sedona Spirit Psychic-Medium