My Thoughts: Why I Hate Religion. But Love Jesus (Pt1)

First off I find it very important to define religion - something he did not do.

re·li·gion/riˈlijən/

Noun:

The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.

Now that we have out definition, we can continue to analyze this very poetic, viral video.

Starting with the very first line, it is apparent that he has a different definition of religion. "What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion?" I personally would respectfully say you are wrong, Mr. Bethke; however, I do not write this video off right away as flawed and incorrect. By searching deeper, you see, as I stated before, Jeff Bethke is redefining religion almost. 


   I believe a definition he would more appropriately use would be, "strict following of a Biblical code, rules, creed, or traditions to the excess that the tradition becomes more important and more focused on 'do and do not,' than on the meaning behind the do and do not." Try fitting that into the Webster dictionary... I don't think it will work. 


   But I digress, with a new application of a different definition, we can easily pick the meat of the message from the bone. His following phrase about being Republican is entirely true. I myself am Republican, but I am that way because it supports the values of Christ (for the most part) as I read in the Bible. If another party that followed the Bible closer appeared, I would support them. Thus, I agree with his statement entirely.


   With a great sigh at his next statement, I must repeat, "corrupt men start wars under the banner of religion." The statement to follow leads me to think he has a distinct picture in his mind of Roman Catholic Cathedrals that, in the medieval times, did not properly follow God and His word. So, just as stated before, men under the guise of religion pursued power and wealth - religion itself did not. In other-words, he is right AND wrong with his statement. 


  I would love to find the scripture verse calling religious people whores... and if the Bible was talking about the Jewish religion being whores. Show me a Christian that tells single mothers God doesn't love them if they got a divorce and I will expose them as not a truly following Christ correctly. Besides, an individual or congregation tells them that, not the religion. 


  
   The line is drastically being blurred now, are we talking Christianity anymore or Judaism? I think that Bethke has points, but his generalization astounds me. 5 minutes cannot fit in his beliefs, I understand, but don't preach generalization or you are instantly going against the message you are teaching. It's about a 1 on 1 relationship, but Christianity is also about the church and helping one another. By throwing a blanket on "religion" (which we are all a part of whether he likes it or not), he is actively distorting blame from individuals who behave straight up wrong to every Christ-follower... or at least every one he deems religious. 


   I love his following point. It's like spraying perfume on a casket. Being someone who has been used (many times) by others to improve their image due to my Christian life, I understand with an even greater depth how this applies. We cannot mask our troubles, claim perfection, and attempt to remove the speck from our brother's eye while ignoring the plank of sin protruding from our own eye. Perfume on a casket, smells nice, but it's dead.


   Here is where I derived my definition of what he is addressing as "religion." Behavior modification like a long list of chores - this type of Christianity is what he is attacking, not religion. Should he remake the video and use proper terminology, I would hope behind him 100%; however his poor choice in words makes me question his beliefs, even if I understand his meaning. Everything he follows with is so true. Don't act like a Christian - BE ONE! That is his point. Religion in the video = fake Christian who only follows rules.


   If grace is water, then the church should be an ocean. It's not a museum for good people, its a hospital for the broken.  This is true... what churches are you going to? I am pretty sure it's the wrong ones if they preach otherwise. I really like his follow up statement that basically emphasized seeking God with your heart not your action. Although we know from James, faith without deeds is dead. That is why Jesus hated the people who followed with strict habitual action, forgetting God's love, meaning, and heart; Jesus didn't hate religion. 






   Whew analyzing this video is hard line by line, but it is so very necessary to understand the meaning. However, due to other obligations, I must pick up a part 2 later, We end on, "but if He came to your church, would they actually let Him in?"  I promise I will summarize this very loaded a contorted, yet extremely important video after I finish part 2! Thanks for reading. God bless.