"Faith isn’t a switch you flip or a muscle you flex. It’s like gravity ...when it’s there, you feel it pulling you, and when it’s gone, there’s no pretending it’s still there."

Colten Joel Thane Barnaby

This Earth Xperience explores belief, love, and what it means to evolve beyond what you were taught without losing your desire to understand. Colten Joel Thane Barnaby, a former Pentecostal raised in a multigenerational family of pastors, shares his journey from childhood faith to questioning every structure that shaped him. Once a Bible scholar and seminary student, Colten now identifies as an agnostic atheist with an open curiosity toward truth, consciousness, and human connection.

Together we explore what happens when the search for truth outgrows certainty. Colten recalls his early experiences speaking in tongues at five years old, his family’s deep church legacy, and the moment he realized that understanding mattered more than agreement. The conversation moves from deconstructing faith to redefining love through personal experience and philosophy, weaving insights from thinkers like Bell Hooks and Scott Peck.

Colten’s reflections extend beyond religion into what it means to live and love consciously. He describes marriage as both fragile and sacred, not because it is unbreakable but because it requires constant care. He challenges capitalist and individualistic systems that isolate people from community and argues that true humanity depends on interdependence, not independence.

Each Earth Xperience has its own fingerprint, shaped by the story of the guest. The X represents anything you choose to explore, express, or expand. In this episode, the X is an Experience with Colten Joel Thane Barnaby, a writer, creator, and podcast host who explores belief systems, spirituality, and human connection through honest conversation. You can connect with him on Instagram and TikTok at @coltenbarnaby and watch his new podcast Ask the Next Question on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Questions to reflect on:
• What does faith mean to you when it’s no longer tied to certainty?
• How much of your belief system was inherited versus chosen?
• Can love exist without belief in God?
• When you let go of a framework, what do you hold onto instead?
• What happens when truth and comfort no longer align?
• How can questioning become a form of worship?
• What makes a human if not what we believe, but how we connect?