I know that I'm late in the game with this video, "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus," but I've been itching for ages to say my piece about it. I apologize in advance if I ever sound insulting or uncharitable... It's just very hard to critique something and remain perfectly kind. I'll post the video here, and then the lyrics (with my comments throughout):
What if I told you, Jesus came to abolish religion?
I would direct you to Matthew 5:17, in which He makes it quite clear that abolishing religion is the last thing He wants to do. I would also point out Matthew 16:18, in which Christ states that He intends to establish a Church.
What if I told you getting you to vote Republican, really wasn’t his mission?
Because Republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian,
I'd agree with you. However, giving your opinion on a modern-day American political party two lines into a poem that's supposed to be about Jesus really doesn't make me have high hopes about your message as a whole.
And just because you call some people blind, doesn’t automatically give you vision.
This is a very fair point, but to be perfectly honest, this entire video felt like you were telling me that I was blind and you knew something I didn't.
If religion is so great, why has it started so many wars?
People start wars in the name of religion. People also start wars (just ones and unjust ones) in the name of justice and human rights, etc. Yet I'm pretty sure God had no problem with the concepts of justice (Romans 13:4) or human rights (Mark 12:31). Just because someone starts a war, horrid or not, does not automatically mean that the concept being fought for itself is a bad thing.
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor?
Well, this one is flat out wrong. Catholic Charities, for instance, is one of the largest charities in the United States, and that doesn't even cover all of the hospitals, schools, missions, etc. associated with the Church. The Catholic Church as a whole is arguably the largest charity in the world. And just so I'm not biased, if you take into account the charity work done by all the rest of the Christian denominations - hell, let's just throw in all the other religious organizations out there, since we're talking about how bad religion is - I'd wager that more mouths are fed due to religion than just about anything else.
And talking about huge churches, ask the poor man or woman praying in a beautiful cathedral if they'd like to have everything there melted down and sold for food money and see how they react.
Tells single moms God doesn’t love them if they’ve ever been divorced
As the child of someone who once was a single mother and the grandson of another single mother, I find this highly offensive. In all honesty, the only organized Christian group I ever hear actively talking about who God "hates" is Westboro Baptist, and they can hardly be taken as the poster boys of Christian religion.
Yet God in the Old Testament actually calls the religious people whores
I assume this is talking about Jeremiah 3. Upon closer investigation, it turns out the religious people whom God called whores were actually people that went against the Law, and for this God rebuked them. Seems like the Big Guy is actually quite pro-religion here to me...
Religion preaches grace, but another thing they practice,
As a regular recipient of the Eucharist and sinner that frequents the confessional for God's absolution, I'm not even quite sure how to go about addressing this line. I guess there are some religious groups that don't practice what they preach in regard to forgiveness, but it isn't a part of my experience with religion.
Tend to ridicule Gods people, they did it to John the Baptist,
I'm not really sure how the actions of King Herod, the political king of the Jews, against St John the Baptist are supposed to reflect on actual organized religion.
Cant fix their problems, so they try to mask it,
Not realizing that’s just like sprayin perfume on a casket
I'll hazard a guess to say that this has something to do with the pedophilia scandal, though I'm not sure. Either way, I still don't see how people being stupid means that we must hate religion.
Because the problem with religion is that it never gets to the core,
I've found that my religion, being 2000 years old and filled with a history of some of the most brilliant and faithful Christian minds, gets to the core quite successfully.
It’s just behavior modification, like a long list of chores.
Yeah, anyone who tells you that to be a good Christian you have to change the way you act and follow rules is just a mean old fuddy-duddy. Like this one guy named Jesus that says in John 14:15 to follow His rules or you don't love Him. How dare He try to modify my behavior.
Let’s dress up the outside, make things look nice and neat,
Its funny that’s what they do to mummies, while the corpse rots underneath,
Clever rhyme does not equal clever message. I guess this is supposed to mean that people who follow religious "rules" are faking being faithful Christians...
Now I ain’t judging (Right.) I’m just saying be careful of putting on a fake look,
Because there’s a problem if people only know that you’re a Christian by that little section on your Facebook
In every other aspect of life you know that logics unworthy
Its like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey
I actually kind of like this part. No major complaints.
But see I played this game too; no one seemed to be on to me,
I was acting like church kid, while addicted to pornography.
Sad, and all too common, but I still don't see how this means that organized religion bad.
I’d go to church on Sunday, but on Saturday getting faded,
Acting as if I was simply created to have sex and get wasted.
Still sad, but I'm still not getting it. Wouldn't it stand to reason that the problem here isn't organized religion (the reason we go to church on Sunday) but the sinful lifestyle outside of church? I don't mean to be rude, but if I was spending all my time having sex and drinking, my first thought would be that I needed to correct this problem, not that the problem was caused by religious rules.
Spend my whole life putting on this façade of neatness,
But now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness.
So do I (or at least I try to), but I learned this through my religion. I'm pretty sure Paul, the original "boaster of weakness" who founded a whole slew of regional churches, was a pro-religion guy, too.
If grace is water, then the Church should be an ocean,
Cuz its not a museum for good people, it’s a hospital for the broken
Again, as a sinner and a regular participant in the redemptive sacraments, I find that the Church is exactly what you think it should be, and more.
I no longer have to hide my failures I don’t have to hide my sin,
Because my salvation doesn’t depend on me, it depends on Him.
Entirely true, but I find that rejecting authoritative religion leads to more self-dependence, while humbling oneself before the Church of God makes one more Christ-centered.
because when I was Gods enemy and certainly not a fan,
God looked down on me and said, “I want that man!”
Fun rhyme, and no particular problem here.
Which is so different from religious people, and why Jesus called 'em fools
This is probably talking about guys like the Pharisaic Jews of Christ's time. It's a pretty common misconception that Jesus condemned them for their "rules." In fact, in Matthew 23:1-3, Jesus commanded His disciples to follow the Pharisaic rules and condemned the Pharisees for not doing the same!
Don’t you see hes so much better than just following some rules?
Again, on the surface, of course; but it would actually be quite wrong to say that following Jesus doesn't involve some rule-following. He did give us a whole bunch of commandments, after all.
Now let me clarify, I love the Church (but hate religion...), I love the Bible (but misinterpret a lot of it, it would seem), and I believe in sin (that's good, since Christianity is only useful to mankind because it focuses on the forgiveness of sins)
But my question, is if Jesus were here today, would your church let Him in?
Not to be snide, but we already did. He's kinda sitting in the tabernacle of every church I attend.
But if that's not good enough, I'll say, "Yes, because we let everyone in, and would do no less for our savior and the man that founded our religion."
Remember He was called a drunkard and a glutton by “religious men”
The Son of God never supports self-righteousness, not now, not then.
I hate to use this cop-out again, but this whole video feels really self-righteous to me.
Now back to the topic (hallelujah!), one thing I think is vital to mention,
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums,
Jesus was a faithful Jew, you know, and he had no problem chatting it up with other religious folks about religion (Luke 2:46).
One is the work of God one is a man made invention,
I'm of the personal bias that God actually founded my religion. Also, calling Jesus a "work of God" seems to fall under a heresy known as Arianism, which states that Christ was created by the Father, making Jesus an inferior, created being. I know I'm getting nit-picky now, but it was a pretty major heresy...
One is the cure and one is the infection.
I have yet to see how religion is an infection upon the faithful.
Because Religion says do, Jesus says done.
Jesus says do a lot, actually. To name a few: "Do unto others..." (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31), "Do this in memory of me" (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24), and "Do not judge..." (Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37).
Religion says slave, Jesus says son,
Religion puts you in shackles but Jesus sets you free.
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus lets you see.
This is starting to get a bit insulting.
This is what makes religion and Jesus two different clans,
Religion is man searching for God, but Christianity is God searching for man.
I fail to see why "man searching for God" is a bad thing. God can seek us out all He wants, but if we don't reciprocate, where have we gotten?
Which is why salvation is freely mine, forgiveness is my own,
Not based on my efforts, but Christ’s obedience alone.
The only reason you are aware of this (overly-simplified) theology is because it was passed through organized religion for two millennia.
Because he took the crown of thorns, and blood that dripped down his face
He took what we all deserved, that’s why we call it grace.
While being murdered he yelled “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”,
Because when he was dangling on that cross, he was thinking of you
I hear this and experience this grace every time I go to Mass. I legitimately feel sorry for anyone that can't find the grace that Christian religion is supposed to put forth.
He paid for all your sin, and then buried it in the tomb,
He certainly did, but He asks us to cooperate with His grace. This is what we Christians call "free will."
Which is why I'm kneeling at the cross now saying come on there’s room
In my line of thinking, to outright reject religion is to reject the Church Christ founded, whatever you think that Church is. If anything says, "I don't need grace, there's no room here," it's that.
So know I hate religion, in fact I literally resent it,
"Now let me clarify, I love the Church..." Talk about operating on different ends of the spectrum.
Because when Jesus cried, "It is finished," I believe He meant it.
By this line of thinking we all ought to just go off somewhere and do nothing of worth with our lives until we die, because Jesus said, "It is finished." What "it" are we talking about? The entirety of Christ's salvific work? All of it? Let's see here... After He said those words, Jesus 1) died for the forgiveness of our sins, 2) descended to the dead to free the souls of the righteous who died before the Passion, 3) came back from the dead, thereby opening for us the way to Heaven, 4) ascended into Heaven, leaving us the promise that He would return to finish everything up at the end of time, 5) sent down the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, thereby founding the Church led by the Apostles, who then went off to continue the work of Christ until the time of His return. And the Church still does so to this day.
Sounds like a religion, and I sure do love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment