One of my students, Mary Lane, has posted a brief response, "Why I Love Jesus AND Religion", to which I say, "Amen!" Here's a snippet from her fine post:
. . . while it may be tempting to play the, “yeah, I think religious people are lame, too” card in an attempt to get more people to hear our message, we need to be careful that our message does not fly in the face of the Gospel. I don’t have time to cover everything misleading in the video here, but I will try to hit the main points.
What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion?
…Then I’d say you probably haven’t read the New Testament very carefully. Jesus is pretty clear in Matthew 5:17 when He says,
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”The Law, of course, being the Law of Moses, i.e. The Old Covenant, i.e. RELIGION.
In the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores
Yes, God called some religious people whores in the Old Testament—when they were being unfaithful to the Law (in other words: when they were disobeying the laws of their RELIGION—their religion given to them by God, by the way).
In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites an awful lot, but remember the definition of a hypocrite: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. Jesus actually told the disciples that they should DO what the scribes and Pharisees tell them.
“…practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice” (Matthew 23:3).
“Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven…For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20)
Doesn’t sound like Jesus hates religion to me. In fact, it sounds like He takes it pretty seriously.Be sure to check out her excellent website, youngandcatholic.net.
And, Mary, by the way, congratulations on the engagement!
4 comments:
Here's my response: A Video Response to "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus": http://ping.fm/h2CY9
The video says nothing about calling "Religious people lame". He is clearly working off of a very specific definition of religion - rituals done and followed in the belief that it gets you into heaven. This is not how I personally would define religion, nor you. But, once you recognize the different definition he is working off of, I think you can appreciate the message of the video.
Before we discredit what this young man is saying, maybe we should ponder on some of his commments. Sometimes Christians don't like to challenged or corrected. Many people see religion as a set of rules; people trying to keep a set of rules and failing and, at the same time condemning others who don't keep them.
In answer to some of your comments: Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets, I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." The word "abolish" means to destroy; the word "fulfill" means to "make complete." Under the Law, man had to do so many things to be worthy of his salvation, including annually offering a sacrifice to receive God's forgiveness. By Jesus coming and dying on the Cross, he "fulfilled" -- completed -- the law by offering Himself. Jesus said, "It is finished." If you want to talk about the Law of Moses being "Religion," then read 2 Corinthians 3:6 -- the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Many people die, trying to keep the Law and not receiving the Grace by which we are saved.
"God actually calls the religious people whores." Could this be because they were using their religion to profit off others. We see this today on television time and again. Just do some research on some of these shows and see what you come up with. The Law was given to bring man to the end of himself -- man is incapable of keeping the law; otherwise, Jesus never would have had to come.
Matthew 23:3, "practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice." Remember, Jesus had not died yet. the Law was still alive. People had to continue to observe the Law during this time.
Matthew 5:19-20, "...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Absolutely! That why Jesus died and became our righteousness. We are incapable of exceed the Pharisees. Sometimes as a Christian, I judge the Pharisees, but when I look at myself, I am no better. I need Jesus' righteousness.
Maybe Jesus hated the religion based on the Pharisees and all of mankind who wants to quote the Law and act like they're following it, knowing full well we're incapable. But if you're going to follow the law, you have to follow every single letter of it.
Me personally, I'll accept His grace, not live by the law. The more of His grace I accept, I find the more I want to follow Him and also to accept people where they are in their walk with Him. Does this mean I won't fail, I won't sin? No. But I have an advocate with the Father, that I can come boldly before the thrown of grace and find help in time of need.
My only hope for this young man is that he will continue to walk with the Lord and continue to grow in Christ.
In his grace,
Sherrijean
I agree. This is a well-intentioned but ultimately silly video that "plays to the cheap seats.". One may as well say "I like medicine but not hospitals" or "I like learning but hate education.
Yes, churches, hospitals, and schools have problems, ambitious people, slackers, and bureaucracy. But the good they do dwarfs these complaints.
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