Free version #514 Caitlin Mjelda: What if the most rebellious man in history was turned into a tool for obedience?

<p><strong>Independent. Unfiltered. Yours.</strong></p><p>For the full episodes please subscribe to either:</p><p>The paid Spotify subscription here: <a href="https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/docmalik/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/docmalik/subscribe</a> </p><p>The paid Substack subscription here: <a href="https://docmalik.substack.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://docmalik.substack.com/subscribe</a></p><p>Thank you to all the paid subscribers and those that left 5 star rating.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>In this episode we cover:</strong></p><p>Growing up in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Ahmadiyya Muslim community</a>, Jesus was a very important part of my faith and upbringing. We were told that we were followers of the Promised Messiah, the second coming of Jesus. That’s how central Jesus was to my childhood. In fact, the community I grew up in believed that Jesus had spent time in India. But as many of you know, I no longer identify as an Ahmadi Muslim. I gave that up a long time ago. As far as I am concerned it is a cult, one of many….</p><p>My guest this week, Caitlin Mjelde, grew up inside an evangelical Christian community. She knows the language, the rules, the guilt and the constant sense of being watched and found wanting. And just like me, she started asking questions. The ones you’re not encouraged to ask in Sunday school, or in my case, at the mosque.</p><p>We began with organised religion and why so many people feel trapped by it, and then we went a lot deeper. We talked about the Gospels that never made it into the Bible. We asked whether the Jesus most people worship is the same man who actually walked the earth, and why Caitlin calls him a rebel. And we looked at Paul, and whether his influence on Christianity has been far bigger than most believers realise. Having grown up in the Ahmadiyya community, where Jesus is deeply revered, I found much of this fascinating.</p><p>Two people, raised in two very different faiths, thousands of miles apart, in very different cultures, both taught that Jesus mattered more than almost anything. And both of us, in our own way, walked away from what we were told.</p><p>This isn’t just a conversation about history or theology. It’s a conversation about freedom. Caitlin shares what happened when she finally faced the voices in her own head,