In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast you’ll learn how to tie in your faith and spirituality with diving, and inspire others to awaken their spirituality with diving.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

Hey everyone welcome to another episode of The Dive Locker Podcast, it’s great to be with you today. The last couple of episodes I spoke of the sponsor being ScubaGuru Academy and I described some of the online courses there. Well one of them was about connecting with church groups and I received inquiries about that course – which by the way is called God’s Underwater World why we feel closer to God underwater than anywhere else on Earth.

I also was just a guest on The Big Scuba Podcast, the hosts Gemma and Ian asked me about a ministry that I developed called Reef Ministries. So with this surge of inquiry regarding faith-based diving I want to dedicate this episode to just that. Not only how it can benefit you to integrate your faith into diving but also for others who have a strong faith – like church groups, schools, etc. – this can actually be markets that you serve.

Spirituality

Now before we go any further I want to share with you a quote that has resonated with me for years. It is this “I am becoming more spiritual and less religious.” Spiritual but not religious, SBNR actually was a term coined in the early 2000’s when online dating became a thing. Matthew Hedstrom, a professor of religion at the University of Virginia says ““‘Spiritual-but-not-religious’ became a nice category that said, ‘I’m not some kind of cold-hearted atheist, but I’m not some kind of moralizing, prudish person, either. I’m nice, friendly, and spiritual—but not religious.’” Hedstrom also says ““The word ‘church’ means you need to put on uncomfortable shoes, sit up straight, and listen to boring, old-fashioned hymns,” “Spirituality is seen as a larger, freer arena to explore big questions.”

Another professor, Kenneth Pargament, who studies the psychology of religion at Bowling Green State University says “Spiritual is also a term that people like to use,” “It has all of these positive connotations of having a life with meaning, a life with some sacredness to it—you have some depth to who you are as a human being.” As a spiritual person, you’re not blindly accepting a faith passed down from your parents, but you’re also not completely rejecting the possibility of a higher power.”

Religion

The thing about religion is that it is often ingrained from our parents, we’re adopted into it. but Americans are leaving organized religion in droves: they disagree with their churches on political issues or they feel restricted by dogma. Then add on top of that scandals of priests molesting kids or pastors having sexual affairs and the average person looks at that as total hypocrisy – so they leave that institution.

I say all this to preface that we as divers often feel a spiritual connection to the underwater world. I have heard divers say “the ocean in my church” diving is like going to church. In fact I know divers who purposefully go diving on Sundays instead of church as their way of worshiping. You too will encounter people who say that, heck you may be that same way. So in this episode I’m not going to preach to you, or talk you into going to church or to being a part of a religion, but I am going to encourage you to make diving more spiritual. And with that, your time underwater can be ten times richer and more empowering.

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Now here’s the thing, over 92% of religiously affiliated Americans identify as Christian. I am a Christian, so much of this will be focused on Christianity because that is my frame of reference, however the elements of what will discuss can work for those who have other faiths and beliefs as well – remember its about connecting your faith with the underwater world. So many friends and colleagues with a wide variety of faiths and I love them for who they are not their beliefs. I love them for their values – which by the way most religions espouse wonderful values. So even if Christianity isn’t your thing, please humor me with an open mind and an open heart.

Items In This Episode

• Grew up Catholic & went to Christian schools
• Abandoned my faith in college
• “I feel closer to God underwater than anywhere else on Earth”
• YMCA
• My Conversion
• Seminary
• Reef Ministries – church groups, Christian schools, Christian colleges, seminaries, and homeschool groups

Episode Sponsor

if you’re a dive professional who wants to tie in your Christian faith with diving and reach out to church groups, Christian schools, Christian colleges and seminaries, and homeschool groups, then get my online course called God’s Underwater World – why we feel closer to God Underwater than anywhere else on Earth.

Millions of people are in awe over the beauty, color, design and diversity in the underwater world. But how can we feel closer to God when we behold this beauty underwater? To answer this question we have assembled a team of faith-based marine biologists who not only understand the science of the underwater world but they also connect why it is the handiwork of God.

In God’s Underwater World online course we have chapters on:

• Corals
• Fishes and Vertebrates
• Invertebrates
• Shells and Mollusks
• Marine Mammals
• Sharks
• The Bible and Science
• Environmental Stewardship
• How to Make Your Time Underwater Worshipful

In the God’s Underwater Homeschool Edition we include additional content such as quizzes at the end of each chapter, a facilitator’s guide for parent teachers and a bonus chapter on countering evolution.

Discover the many reasons why we feel closer to God underwater, then you can make every underwater experience worshipful. Whether snorkeling, free-diving, scuba-diving or even just visiting an aquarium, imagine it being a reverent, peaceful, rich time to connect with God. Giving Him all the honor and glory for His creation.

Another great feature is that you can become an affiliate and receive commissions from sharing these online courses with your customers. Go to ReefMinistries.com or ScubaGuruAcademy.com and watch the promo videos of all the course offerings, and to be an affiliate simply drop me a line at ScubaGuru.com

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com and there you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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