Trusting Your Soul vs. “The Bible Says”

I posted something recently that struck a chord:
“The world doesn’t hate Jesus — it hates what was done in His name.”

That truth landed deeply for many of you.
But there’s another layer that keeps people stuck.

It’s quiet. Familiar. And it has a powerful grip:
“But the Bible says…”

The Loop That Keeps Us From God

If most people were deeply honest about their true experience with the church and the Bible, they’d admit there came a time — whether sudden or slow —
when their soul whispered:
Do I really think that?
Is this true?
Is this how God is?

And right on the heels of that sacred questioning comes the clamp:
“But the Bible says…”

That’s the loop.
And it keeps more people from God than sin ever could.

When Obedience Overrides Knowing

Most of us were taught that trusting God meant trusting the Bible.
Not our bodies.
Not our intuition.
Not the part of us that feels God — even when the words on the page don’t match.

So we learned to override our knowing.
We memorized verses and ignored the unease.
We nodded in agreement while something inside us quietly broke.

This isn’t salvation.
It’s spiritual gaslighting.

“But the Bible Says” — As a Weapon

Let’s be honest — “but the Bible says” is often a bludgeon, not a balm.
It’s been used to justify slavery.
To silence women and undermine their spiritual authority.
To shame sexuality.
To demand allegiance to systems that have nothing to do with love.

And the wild irony?

Jesus himself constantly broke with scripture and tradition to restore what was real, human, and holy.
It was the Pharisees who said, “but the law says.”
And Jesus responded, “And yet I say unto you…”

What makes you think he’s not still doing that — through your own heart?

The Real Fear Isn’t God — It’s Rejection

The truth is, most people don’t use the Bible to understand God.
They use it to avoid fear — or to justify why they’re right and you’re wrong.

Fear of hell.
Fear of punishment.
Fear of being rejected by family or faith communities.

But there’s another kind of hell:
The one you live in when you betray your own soul just to stay “right.”

If Jesus is love, if God is truth,
then your inner compass cannot be wrong when it’s leading you closer to both.

When the Loop Comes for You

Someone close to me recently posted:
“The world hates Jesus.”
Then turned around and told me they agreed with every word of a post I wrote — a post that exposed that what the world hates is what was done in His name. And how the church distorts and manipulates his message. 

But they never really engaged with what I said.
Because they couldn’t.
Because the reason they posted that is because that’s what the Bible says.

The loop is that strong.

And engaging with what I said, would mean facing what they are avoiding. And risking  everything cracking open.

(Maybe that’s coming.)

Where It Started: Childhood Trust

For many of us, the loop started early.
As children, we trusted what the grown-ups said — even when our hearts knew something didn’t add up.

We felt the tension.
The fear-based obedience.
The contradiction between the words and the love we were promised.

But we didn’t yet have language for it.
So we absorbed the confusion and blamed ourselves for the ache. Believed we were not holy. 

That’s not faith.
That’s programming.

Breaking the Loop

Breaking the loop means choosing the voice inside you over the one that’s been drilled into you wIth an agenda to control access to God.
It means trusting that if something feels like love, like freedom, like truth — it’s probably from God.
And if something shames, shrinks, or silences you?
That’s probably not holy.

You don’t need to be afraid.
You just need to get quiet enough to hear what’s always been speaking beneath the noise.

You’re Not Alone

If you’re caught in this reckoning —
knowing what you were taught no longer fits,
but scared to walk away from it —
you’re not alone.

Jesus will still be there. You’re not walking away from Him. He’s just outside the loop.
Waiting.

Bonus Section: It’s Not the Bible — It’s the Interpreters

This isn’t even about the Bible itself.
It’s about how it’s been rewritten and interpreted for you, by the patriarchy,
weaponized against you,
and sold back to you as salvation.

Most were never taught how to read with discernment, metaphor, or mystical insight.
They were taught to fear God, obey blindly, and never question the translator.

That’s what you’re breaking:

• The mind-control loop masked as devotion.

• The bypass of “but the Bible says…” when your soul is whispering, “Wait… something’s off.”

You’re not attacking the Bible.
You’re reclaiming your soul.

Because maybe the problem isn’t the message —
but the messengers and how they were trying to control access to something that is our birthright.