HEARING SCRIPTURE: WHY SOME HEAR “YANNY” AND OTHERS HEAR “LAUREL”

A few years ago, the internet split itself into two camps over a single audio clip.Some people heard the word “Yanny.”Others heard “Laurel.”

Same sound.Same recording.Two entirely different realities. I remember laughing so hard when it was 3 of us sitting around hearing Yanny and my wife looking befuddled because she heard Laurel and thought we were pranking her to make her feel crazy.

What fascinated me most was that no one was pretending or trying to be contrarian. People genuinely heard what they heard because their brains filtered sound differently. It wasn’t rebellion. It wasn’t stubbornness. It wasn’t dishonesty. It was perception—shaped by internal wiring, frequency sensitivity, and filters each of us carries without even knowing it.

I can't help but think that Scripture works the exact same way:

Same Text, Different Hearing

Two Christians can read the same Bible passage and walk away hearing opposite messages.

One walks away hearing fear, restriction, judgment, danger, and a perpetual sense of “Don’t mess up or God will be angry.”

Another hears mercy, freedom, healing, belonging, reassurance, and the sense that God is breaking chains rather than locking them.

Same verses.Different internal filters.Not because one person is wicked and the other enlightened.Not because one has compromised the faith and the other has preserved it.

But because each person reads Scripture through the lens of their experiences—their wounds, their upbringing, the theology they inherited, their natural wiring, their fears, their level of spiritual security, and how they understand the character of Jesus.

The text is stable.Human perception is not.

This is why fundamentalism and grace-based faith so often talk past each other. They are not hearing the same “frequencies” at all.

Peter’s Vision in Acts 10: A Lesson in Spiritual Hearing

In Acts 10, Peter receives a vision of a sheet descending from heaven filled with animals his tradition considered unclean. A voice tells him:

“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Peter had spent his entire life tuned to the frequency of purity laws—what not to touch, what not to eat, who not to sit with, where not to go. His ears were shaped by boundaries and inherited fear.

But God was introducing a new frequency. Not a new God—just a new way of hearing God.

And this new hearing was rooted in inclusion, trust, and spiritual maturity. The old interpretation wasn’t evil; it was simply incomplete. Those who clung to the law weren’t wicked; they were afraid. Those who stepped into freedom weren’t rebellious; they had learned to trust.

The difference was not in the words God spoke.The difference was in the listener.

Romans 14: When Faith Determines Perception

Paul goes even deeper in Romans 14, and this passage changed my understanding of disagreement forever. He writes:

“Nothing is unclean in itself,but it is unclean for anyone who believes it is unclean.”— Romans 14:14

To my understanding: if someone’s faith is fragile and something feels spiritually dangerous, then for them it is dangerous—not because the thing itself is wrong, but because their conscience reacts with fear. And if another believer engages the same thing with gratitude and peace because they trust God’s leading, then for them it is clean.

Paul even calls the restrictive conscience the “weaker” one—not morally weaker, but less able to trust in freedom.

And the stunning takeaway is that God honors both. Faith determines hearing. Conscience shapes perception. You cannot force someone to hear freedom when their heart is tuned to fear.

Why Some Christians Hear Condemnation & Others Hear Love

As a gay Christian, I hear Scripture through the filter of God’s character as I have actually experienced it—His gentleness, His constancy, His fruit in my life, His leading, His reassurance, His peace. My filter produces trust.

Others hear the same passages through filters shaped by fear of sin, fear of judgment, inherited doctrines, spiritual anxiety, or communities that prioritize certainty over love. Their filter produces discomfort, suspicion, or moral panic.

Same Bible.Different tuning.

And, just like Yanny and Laurel, it isn’t about intelligence, morality, or sincerity. It’s about the internal frequency a person has been taught to trust.

You Can Only Hear What Your Heart Is Ready To Hear

This is why I no longer try to debate rigid believers.Not because I’m better—God knows I’m not.Not because I don’t care—I do.

It’s because you cannot force someone to hear the frequency of grace when their heart is tuned to the frequency of fear.

And you cannot shame someone out of freedom when God has already whispered to them again and again:

“What I have made clean, do not call unclean.”

If a person believes LGBTQ acceptance is sinful, their conscience will condemn them even for entertaining the idea, because their internal filter cannot yet perceive freedom without guilt.

But if someone has been freed by God in their spirit, they will hear that freedom clearly—because their hearing has been renewed.

Faith changes hearing.Love changes hearing.Relationship changes hearing.

Same Bible.Same God.Different perception.

And maybe the point is not to argue about who hears “Yanny” or “Laurel,” but to humbly acknowledge that God meets each person where they are—and grows them at the pace of their trust.

A Prayer for Hearing, Freedom, and Compassion:

Lord Jesus,You are the One who opens ears and softens hearts.You are the One who speaks in the frequency of love.Tune my hearing to Your voice alone.

You know that Your people hear Scripture differently,and that not all hearts are ready for the same freedoms.Some are tender and cautious, afraid of wandering outside the lines.Others have grown confident in Your love and can walk in grace without fear.

Teach me to love both.

Lord, You know my desire is not to be a stumbling block to any of my brothers or sisters whose faith feels fragile.I do not want to push anyone into a place where their own conscience condemns them.Guard me from pride, impatience, or the urge to force understanding.Let me carry myself with gentleness toward those whose ears can only hear You through the filter of fear.

But also protect me from becoming entangledin interpretations that You have freed me from.Keep me rooted in the peace You have given,so I am not pulled back into fear, shame, or confusionby those who read Scripture through a stricter lens.Let me walk confidently in the freedom You have spoken over my life.

Give me a heart that honors the weak without shrinking the freedom of the strong.Give me a spirit that is soft but steady,gentle but grounded,humble but not hidden.Help me live in the tension with grace.

And above all, Lord,teach us all to hear You in truth and love —not in fear, not in hostility,but in the sound of Your voice:the Shepherd who calls each of us by name.

Amen.