With 10 episodes at our back and you the listener gaining a feel for this podcast, I thought it best to take an episode and lay out developmental theory in a way that you could grasp the trajectory and the characteristics of this path of growth. So today we explain human faith development by helping us see how we human work through from Ego-Centricity to Ethno-Centricity to World-Centricity and finally to Cosmic Centricity. We talk about how religious institutions see this development and how one will be understood as they move through this as well! Hope this is helpful. Also tons of sources here on our site to help one on this journey
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This is such a helpful podcast. It explains so many issues with regards to a faith crisis. Understanding this is crucial to alleviating suffering while finding ones way through new perceptions of life and religious beliefs. Thank you so much Bill Reel.
Bill, thanks for an amazing non-abrasive compilation on how we may come to realize that the real Jesus was not about bullying goodness and salvation (the other brother’s plan, which would shock us if we saw it too clearly too soon).
One sign I find that flags that someone can see some problems and thus might sometime soon qualify to “graduate from Primary” is explaining away mistakes, excusing leaders “because they are men who can make mistakes” but are doing the best they can. The next step from that may be seeing that we should never command people to “Obey and not question” any Leaders who do and can make mistakes? Jesus clearly told us that.
This starts to click for some while others still stay stuck despite stating this excuse for imperfect leaders. I think if we can avoid seeing enough of the barrage of mistakes and bullying and abusing for Christ, we can avoid seeing more and avoid advancing to see more “scary truths,” at least for a time?
I saw the mistakes for years and justified them this way. I knew there were problems but not as many as there turned out to be. I could see the bullying but refused to acknowledge it as that. Then I started seeing hard evidence for Reincarnation, then found that Joseph Smith and Moses taught it only to those ready for it (graduation, but not forcing stages).
Then I started running into LDS history anomalies and knew there would be more of those dug up too. Finding that they were purposely hidden truths and changing history to make it more palatable, just mounted on top of “mistakes” leaders make, forcing, on purpose, not Christ’s Plan.
Imagine a church which would prepare you to “graduate from Primary,” real progression “OK’ed by God?”