Nov 26, 2010
In the last epsiode, we examined Jane's mistaken belief that she could only be friends with people who shared her religious beliefs. In this episode, we will look at another, but related, mistaken belief. Jane believes that she should be friends with everyone within her religious community.
Many religious people assume since everyone in their religious community shares the same beliefs, then they can all be friends with one another. This reflects confusion between fellowship and friendship, which are not the same. Assuming that everyone within a religous community can be friends becomes dangerous when friendship is forced upon people within a group. When intimacy is forced upon people, they will develop feelings of anger and resentment. While people may stifle their feelings of anger and resentment, they will still come out in destructive ways, both within the group and in attitudes towards nonbelievers outside of the group.
In the next episode we will look at the root of Jane's confusion, the kind of faith she is experiencing. The kind of faith one experiences will greatly impact the quality of the community love one shares with others.
This podcast series is based on my book The Six Faces of Love which can be viewed at craigowen.net