Many of us who no longer attend traditional religious churches have often experienced a Spiritual Awakening. My awakening happened in my late teens when I left the Catholic faith that I had grown up in.
Along the way, I attended various non-denominational churches until I discovered New Thought Science of Mind. This change evolved slowly over years of studying, reading, and experiencing my own spirituality with these various groups. Although I have been a member of the Centers for Spiritual Living, I have not stopped searching and studying.
After reading some of my weekly spiritual articles, Jessica Elizabeth Taylor contacted me. Like me (or like me on steroids!), Jessica
began her own search. According to Jessica, a life-threatening injury started her journey for the truth behind religion and its teaching. She, too, discovered some of the same inconsistencies in traditional religion that I had, but she went far deeper in her study than me.
Do you remember playing the game Telephone as children?
To play, children form a line to share a story. Typically, the teacher whispers a short story in the ear of the first child. This child turned to the next in line and whispered the same story into their ear. And so on it went. I remember an entire class of 30 repeating a story in this manner. Then, the last child recited the story they were told. We were all quite surprised at how different the end story was from the one the teacher had said to the first child.
I see that Jessica, along with me and others, have discovered the same scenario when studying the history of Jesus and Christianity. By the time we were taught the story of Jesus, after being passed down for so long, the facts became distorted and even omitted. (For example, what does Santa Claus have to do with the birth of Jesus? For that matter, what does the birth of Jesus historically have to do with Christmas.) If you have never studied the history of Christianity and the Bible, this may surprise you.
In Jessica Elizabeth Taylor’s book called A Spiritual Awakening: In Search of Hidden Jewels, she uncovers historical references to what is probably closer to the truth than most of us were taught. She writes …
The arguments presented in my book lead to a new understanding of the traditional message of the Bible. I strip away dogmatic thinking on the origin of the Christian language, consider the broader meaning of theology in terms of the mind and should, and reveal many astonishing hidden truths, which I call ‘jewels.’ I present the reader with overwhelming evidence that there is much more to our history than we have been led to believe. Furthermore, our lost history has enormous implications for our spiritual journey.
I encourage you to read Jessica Elizabeth Taylor’s book: A Spiritual Awakening.