I sure like what this kid has to say. I’m no fan of religion (and I know the definition isn’t all that bad, but in our age the definition and the street understanding of the term are different). But mostly, I’m no fan of people using Jesus or religion or morality or any of that to bring attention to themselves while they secretly live differently. I’m over it. I’d rather sin in the open than sin in private and be a hypocrite. I guess that probably makes me a different kind of self righteous. Regardless, this is worth pondering.
22Jan, 2012
“For the letter killeth.” It makes me wonder how such a person could decipher and explain a verse that follows shortly beneath. “For God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” ~Spoken with loving concern
It seems to me that his light is shining very brightly indeed. Thousands of people are seeing this video and hearing the gospel – the truth that salvation comes only through faith and not through works. That’s what he means by “religion” – the whole concept of working your way to heaven. It’s a lie and it keeps people from trusting in the finished work of Jesus. So what a light he is shining indeed.
A little cheesy/contrived on the lyrics. Or is that just me forever hearing but never understanding? Def thought provoking. Good topic for youth group next week–thanks for sharing!
“This video has been approved by Karl Barth.”
I’ve found the negative reactions to this video more illuminating about the state of Christianity than the video itself.
perspective and personal experience must be what fuels this…
I completely disagree, and I’m kinda over these types of clips.
But, I know that my perspective and personal experience with the church is what fuels my frustration with clips of this sort. My personal experience has been, “I am where I am because of God’s grace and His body of people…the church.”
My mom suffered from cancer twice spanning 8 years (when I was 10 and then 20′s), I’ve traveled through divorce, and am a single mom, plus 34 years of life in general and the people of the “Church” is what has “saved” me time and time again.
If your church is full of hypocrites, find a new one.
Churches are made of people, fallible people…find one that is full of honest, transparent, real, and authentic fallible people.
Here’s another video…and I tend to like this one a bit more…
Oh, and Jesus didn’t come to abolish religion. Yes, He called out the false, the false using His name to take advantage of His people, but the false will be everywhere, it seems silly to think they wouldn’t be in the church as well…and out of protection for His people, He outed the false.
I could write a page, but I won’t. Clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE
I feel like Shelly.
I understand where the guy in the original video was coming from (hypocrisy bad/authenticity good) but his use of the word “religion” as synonymous with hypocrisy was where it collapsed. BAD religion is hypocritical. But good religion isn’t. He was unwittingly – and against his actual intent – aligning himself with those who think the Church is disposable. Many of the comments I’ve seen seem to indicate many people have taken it that way. They’re all “Yeah! Right on man! I don’t need no stinkin’ church!”
I have a low tolerance for false dichotomies these days and his was a clear demonstration of one. More and more I realize that most things are not either/or. They’re both/and. In this case, we need both authenticity AND the church.
That Catholic vid was a pretty good response in that vein.
The words “both/and” being the key. I’m not a big fan of religion, which often seems to me to be what humankind has done to distort the messages of a kind and loving God. But I do love my church and the way it tries to walk in the light of Christ and be a source of God’s love to all as we stumble our way home.
I am not sure how well Sally and Johnny listened; he said he is for the church. So why are you thinking he didn’t?
I heard him. He said he was for it once, on his way to talking about how much it sucks. What I said was, “He was unwittingly – and against his actual intent – aligning himself with those who think the Church is disposable.” He may not be against it. But that’s the way many aggrieved people are hearing it.
I think a lot of people are confusing what he is saying. He isn’t knocking the church — the body of Christ, the people. He is protesting against the false teaching of works and rules being the way to God, rather than faith in the finished work of Jesus. And that is not both/and. It’s absolutely either/or. “By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 Yes, we need to honor God with our lives and deeds, out of love and obedience. He’s not saying we shouldn’t do that, either. He’s saying works don’t save us, just like the Bible says it, and that he hates “religion” that says they do because it prevents the saving faith in Christ alone.
I dont know maybe its just me but I think that we need to stop looking at a dictionary to define religion and start looking at those who focus on “religion” v.s. those who focus on “faith” you see I grew up in a very strict Lutheran church my dad grew up in a very strict “catholic” church these people are so attached to their “religion” (i know its more of a manmade law but thats what they call it) that they can’t just have “faith” see I don’t think hes trying to contradict what jesus said that he came to fulfill the law not destroy it like the video you posted says… I think actually the law and manmade religion are two VERY different things and im kind of sick and tired of hearing this argument go on and on and on and on and on can we please just read the bible and realize that jesus came to fulfill what the prophets said which is what i think both parties the video you posted and the video Don posted would agree on and that we don’t need to do ANYTHING at all to gain gods grace it is freely given and we must freely accept it lets ditch religion and start having true faith true faith (true religion) is what Jesus came to fulfill a.k.a the law so heres the bottomline if you think that you can earn grace or earn your way to heaven or that you are better than anyone else on this earth that is your true heart problem lets humble ourselves and uplift jesus just some food for thought
Excellent words, Shellybell!
Hi ShellyBell,
I think you are onto something when you say that this must be about perspective and experience. *Especially* experience.
I am so very glad that you have had such a supportive and amazing church experience. That is how it should be! But, there are A LOT of people who have had very painful and hurtful experiences with the church.
I am one of these people. I grew up as a PK, went to a Christian college, was in leadership at the last church we attended. I met some true friends and some very authentic believers along the way but they were few and far between. (And, I am not a skeptic. If anything, I would say I give others the benefit of the doubt and might trust a little too easily.)
We recently left a church we attended for more than a decade after determining (through much prayer and wise counsel) that it was extremely unhealthy. It has been heart-wrenching. There are people who attend this church that we love deeply and want very much to worship with. We have gone through every stage of the grieving process.
So, to be honest, when you write “If your church is full of hypocrites, find a new one”, it feels insensitive and very simplistic (though I am sure you did not intend it to be). There are people who have trusted, opened their hearts to, lived life with those in the church who have not recieved the same kind of support you describe. Instead they have been who have been burned badly, hurt deeply, taken advantage of.
You are right when you say that there are false people everywhere and we should not be surprised that they are also in the church. And, we are all familiar with the good ol’ phrase “There is no perfect church”. But, there are a lot of really unhealthy churches out there that are built around and operate out of pride, self-righteousness, and arrogance. My personal experience has been that a good church is hard to find.
I guess I am the kind of person who can relate to this video and think it has some really valid points. I wish I could completely disagree with the video and I wish that this was an overexaggeration, but sadly it is an all too familiar story for me.
Kristina, Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt with my “didn’t intend to be insensitive” comments. I appreciate that.
I knew it could be taken as such, and I certainly don’t want to make anyone feel worse than they already do in regards to church or church people.
But I thought his video was a bit overkill and I guess I’m tired of continuously hearing this anti religion/church stuff with the follow up that Jesus was anti it too.
I can relate to your circumstance in another way. I was married, and it was unhealthy, and I was burned and betrayed and taken advantage of and hurt.
It has been a battle to not be bitter, to not think that all men lie or leave or cheat.
But the reality is, they don’t. Marriage is made up of people…and my spouse made crapped out choices, and, frankly, so did I.
Marriage is a beautiful thing and was intended to be this miraculous, God imagined, God created union that is mystical, yet real.
Is it always that way? Nope.
Should I get on and make a video about how much men suck and that marriage was abolished by Jesus?
Nope.
My personal experience was a bad one, but I can’t let my experience define something bigger than me.
Not all men are like what I married. And all marriages are certainly not what I experienced.
I am VERY sorry you have been terribly wronged by people and the church as a whole. The battle to come back from that can be so difficult…I know, mine from marriage has been 3 years.
I have to constantly remind myself of truth, and not let my pain or my hurt or my bitterness or even his choices warp what God intended, what He created, and what is possible. I’d be allowing him to steal something beautiful (or a chance at it) from me.
Kristina, I pray that you can find healing, and that the Lord would bless you today, and that He would deliver you and your family to a place filled with His Word and His people.
Thanks again for your kindness.
Sincerely,
Shelly
Shelly,
You are sweet to take the time to respond to me. I appreciate that. I have seen your comments on here regularly. You seem like a very encouraging and kind person. So, as I said before, I truly do not doubt your intentions at all.
I think (as Don mentioned in the original post and others have mentioned in comments) that a large issue with this video specifically is the definition of the word “religion”. Some are using the technical definition, others the “street” definition.
It’s funny because when I first read Blue Like Jazz, I had a bad taste in my mouth. Though I liked what Don was saying (and I agreed wholeheartedly), I struggled with the tone a little bit. I struggled to understand how the tone was going to motivate and inspire believers who were legalistic to see their faith differently.
But, now I get it. I don’t think that the tone of this message is always shared perfectly, but I do think that the message itself is mostly true.
I do understand what you are saying, though: we cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. And, I am truly thankful that (for whatever reason) my heart has not been hardened towards the church as a whole OR to God (I know a lot of people who have just walked away from church and/or from Christ).
But, I guess I am feeling like marriage isn’t a completely clean comparison here. I think that it IS appropriate to generalize in regards to the church in this particular instance. Though there are definitely exceptions and I hope in my heart-of-hearts that things are changing on a larger scale for the better, I do think this is a large problem, not a few isolated incidents.
I don’t think that Don wrote BLJ because of a few unfortunate experiences with church (or after one “unhealthy marriage”, if we are using marriage as a comparison). I think that what he writes about (and this video is also referencing) is a pretty predominate and a common problem in the church.
Have you read any of Barna’s books that look at the research related to some of these issues? Also, “unChristian” and “You Lost Me” by Kinnaman? Very eye-opening. For me, these books have felt life-saving in some ways (in regards to my perspective about church). I did wonder for a while if I was crazy or imagining these issues. It is a very isolating feeling.
Thank you for sharing about what you have gone through. It sounds like a really painful and devastating experience. It is obvious that you are determined to allow it to transform you heart and draw close to Christ. I admire that very, very much. And, I very much sympathize. Our world was turned upside a few years ago when my brother-in-law (who was “in the ministry”)unexpectedly left my sister and their two young children for another woman. My sister is my best friend. It was excruciating to see her in that much pain. I cannot even imagine what it feels like to be her (or you).
You are an inspiration as you move forward, determined not to get stuck in the pain and bitterness that often paralyzes people after experiencing this type of devastation. Thank you for processing with me. I am sure it is all party of my grieving/healing process. Many blessing to you!
Sincerely,
Kristina
Shelly and Kristina, what a beautiful conversation. Blessed.
One of the reasons I regularly read this blog is because I get to see so many perspectives. I am from what many would consider a “bubble”, and I don’t want to have my head in the sand or be completely ignorant to what goes on outside my Texas world.
But at times, I feel the need to “defend” my own experience and the beauty I have witnessed in people…a beauty that God has used to transform and touch my life in gracious ways.
So grateful we’ve had a discussion (a very polite one I might add) and I’m grateful to be reminded of your view and the value of it and the importance of choosing my words carefully even when I feel deeply about defending something sacred to me.
I think you and I both agree that even though church and marriage are both ordained and created by God, people are required to make them “work”.
Which in turn is a blessing that we get to participate, but on the flip side, a curse, because we participate.
And don’t let me fool you, the bitterness and anger can return so easily…daily battle at times.
I was going to post this clip if someone I wasn’t beat to the punch. These two videos have created a lot of discussion and I think that is good.
I like what you say here Shelly.
[...] why I love Jesus but hate religion – Don Miller [...]
Wonderful.
After reading this kid’s other writing, he seems to be the real deal. Very humble, loves God, wants others to love Him. But he says a lot of things in the clip that do more harm than good. I explain it all here: http://middletree.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-bethke-gets-it-wrong.html
Thank-you for posting and sharing your thoughts on this video! I too like a lot of what he has to say, and I like that he uses his own unique artistry to say it. I’ve just been thinking a lot lately about the “relationship over religion” cliche that has been thrown around a lot lately. I wonder if many even know what it means. I wonder if even I know what it means… It occurred to me over this last week that human condition has us either dismiss sin and/or condemn sinners. What kind of relationship with God does it take to get past this and just love sinners, in a meaningful, transparent, authentic way? I say it takes a deep, trusting one. Because that kind of love, the kind that recognizes the big picture, yet notices the ways that people are quietly hurting, and can care for people who can do nothing in return, takes more fortitude than we have.
Well said…
Hello Erica,
One thing that I have trouble swallowing and it’s something that has been a part of Christian rhetoric for quite some time now, is our use of the word sinner.
In your post you ask the question what type of relationship do we need to have with God in order to look passed our human condition and “love sinners in a meaningful, transparent authentic way”.
Interesting enough and through no fault of your own, but through the countless years of indoctrination, our use of the word sinners actually promotes the opposite of love, it promotes pity. And pity often leads to an adverse reaction to our attempts to love “sinners”.
The reason why this word irks me so much is because I believe we are guilty of using it incorrectly. When we refer to others outside of Christianity or our basic belief system as sinners, seekers, or the unsaved, we are solely defining them by what we see as their apparent disease.
The best example to illustrate my point would be a doctors beside manner. Research indicates that if a doctor solely views a patient by the infirmity inflicting that patient they are less likely to have a speedy recovery or recover at all. It’s that disconnect from the one person who’s suppose to help heal and treat you that has a negative effect on one’s ability to fully recuperate.
Now if the opposite is true and a patient were treated as a unique individual, with symptoms and problems that are distinctly their own, the physician would have a better grasp of the patients infirmity and would be able to treat that individual with patients, compassion, and love. The difference is in the doctor’s aptitude, if a physician is cold and disconnected his/her attitude will affect the patient negatively. However if the physicians able to connected with his/hers patients humanity and have a clear understanding that they too are susceptible to all sorts of diseases, they would be able to better serve the infirm with the compassion needed to see them through their sickness.
And how does this apply to the word sinner? Romans 3: 22-24 this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, we are all sinners. So when we address others who have yet to except Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as sinners, we tend to remove ourselves from the equation and approach others condescendingly through the air of indifference and self righteousness, we actually do them a disservice because we are categorizing them as outsiders (forgive the generalization, I know that not all Christians are like this, I simply generalized for the sake of the argument).
You could argue, but they are sinners who are in need of a Savior, and I would not disagree with you there. But how is that any different from my situation? I don’t know about anyone else, but what I do know is that I’m a sinner who is and will always be in need of a Savior, there’s no changing that reality and I don’t want that reality to change, because I want my incapacity to save my eternal soul to be a constant reminder of my personal need of a compassionate God who so lovingly gave His son as a sacrifice so that I may be reconciled to Him.
This was in no means an attempt to single you out in any way, I just saw a subject matter come up that I’ve been dealing with and I wanted to share my opinion with you. Please feel free to get back to me if you’d like, I would love to hear your opinion.
Love it. Recently, in a casual conversation with a coworker, I asked her which way she leans politically. “Oh, I’m a Christian, so I vote Republican,” was her breezy response. Like it was just no big deal. I let it go, but it was just really disturbing to me. I wanted to comment that I’m a Christian too and voted for Obama, but it just wasn’t the time or place. It was just so creepy that it didn’t even occur to her that Christian doesn’t automatically equal Republican…
As a conservative, I agree with you.
yeah, comments like that make me wonder too, but in the end I’m not surprised. People of all creeds and ages incubate themselves bubbles. BUT, I like to think God is giving us a loving shake down and moving us past this. I think videos like this definitely get people thinking. ;^)
Don, this is my friend, and I made him promise that he’d take me if he ever got to meet you. He’s only three hours away from Portland… justs sayin’…
My favourite line: “I guess that probably makes me a different kind of self righteous.”
I’ve been really struggling with how I could have grown up attending church, been homeschooled, attended a Christian college, and worked at Christian companies, and still have 30 years of pain and loneliness behind me. I think it’s because the church has just as many selfish, manipulative, abusive people in it as “the world.” In my experience, most of the people who call themselves Christians are just using religion to protect themselves, like other people use alcohol or entertainment. It’s one of the saddest realities I know. I love how Jesus had the discernment to separate out the hypocrites from the true seekers within the religious world of His time.
I sent this to my church last week, never dreaming they’d show it to the congregation! It really got people’s attention. These are things we need to think about. I thank God that I was led to my church, because the others? Well, my clothes weren’t nice enough, I was a single mom and didn’t fit into the whole couple thing and I couldn’t stand the racial segregation.
Have you seen this video in response?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE
There but for the grace, go I.
Thanks for the reminder to check how I am doing in regards to treating others.
You are bound to get a lot of hits and comments on this. I watched it go all over facebook. Then I watched all the commentary go all over facebook as well. I stayed out of the conversation until now. This video just seems like the new cool thing to like or unlike as a Christian and I’m just not into it either way. I mean, I can appreciate and relate to what the guy has to say and some of the commentary back has some legit points too but none of my non-Christian friends are talking about it. Not even on their radar. I’d rather talk about something that includes them than spend my time arguing about what is “right” or “wrong” about this guy’s creative expression.
It’s been interesting to see the back and forth that accompanied this video. I think it all comes from your personal definition of “church” or “religion”. I agree that whatever it once meant in our day and age the “street definition” has changed. Our pastor posted an interesting blog by a guy named Kevin DeYoung who sort of deconstructed the whole thing verse by verse. The most interesting part to me was even though he was critiquing he didn’t do it in a critical way and he ended up talking to Bethke not just coming out sounding like some old school uptight “religious” guy. That was encouraging to me:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/14/following-up-on-the-jesusreligion-video/
Finally, something we disagree on! I was wondering if you were too perfect for me!
Love this! I’ll have to watch it again to wrap my mind around it….a lot to ponder….
loved the lyrics, great telling and rhythm. very humbling – can I boast in my weekness?
My problem with religion really has nothing to do with the people at church. They’re no more or less hypocritical, self-righteous, etc. than the people outside the church. My problem is with the amount of time we spend on rituals and comfortable routines, and the way we safeguard those rituals and comforts to the expense of the riskier and ultimately more valuable things of God. The Bible is full of risk-takers, world-shakers, shockers and rockers. Jesus is the chief among them. Tear the temple down and build something real in its place.
This video reminds me of a lot of the concepts found in Tim Kellor’s book, “Prodigal God.”
A very good read.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27. I don’t think it is a matter of whether or not Christianity is a religion. It is, and that is wonderful! All other religions then are not true. James tells us what a pure and undefiled religion is and He is obviously speaking to Christ followers. We have the only true religion. I know there is an argument about how society hears the word religion but we cannot allow ourselves to stop using it! It is pure, beautiful, amazing, and freeing.. that is TRUE religion. All of the others are fake, false, enslaving. It is our job to show the world what a true religion is, and not give over the word to those who defile it.
Of course every member of the church does not have an intimate relationship with God, but I’m not not sure about the purpose of this video. In the same way that being preached to alienates the non-Christian, a condemning attitude does not inspire the church-goer to be a “better Christian”. Instead of telling people how they should live, maybe we should just show them.
I saw this video as a piece of art and worship even, and as such, I don’t think it can be worded perfectly or have flawless theology, particularly as its molded into the spoken word/poem format.
I keep hearing people, like Kevin Deyoung, go through the poem line by line to show how exactly it contradicts the Bible and overgeneralizes the term religion, and I think it’s a little unfair (even though Kevin and Jeff Bethe did seem to have a productive, loving exchange). I don’t think Jeff set out to create the next Christian bestseller or hottest YouTube video. He spoke of something on his heart, which is the fact that empty, self-righteous religion is not who Jesus is or what he came to create on this earth. Jeff even accuses himself of being someone who once practiced empty religion, by doing whatever he felt like most of the week and showing up at church on Sunday.
When an artist creates a painting or writes a song expressing his love for God, my guess is that some of the specifics and details are flawed. The artist is human and expressing his faith and his understanding of God through that flawed lens. No piece of art is divinely inspired and authored as fully and as flawlessly as the Bible is. But, its message can still come from a genuine heart that is looking to love God. I would venture to say that you could take a worship song we all sing in church, analyze it closely line by line, and find ways in which it doesn’t perfectly match up with wording in the Bible. Maybe I’m wrong.
Yes, Jeff put this video up on YouTube, so he of course was subjecting himself to a potentially huge audience. But plenty of people put up their deepest spiritual thoughts on Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger, and rarely do they elicit this huge of a response.
I think that regardless of the holes in this video, God was still glorified. How often do we see Jesus as such a prominent subject of debate on Facebook or YouTube? I loved that my friends who don’t follow Christ were pointing to this video and asking questions. I hope and pray that people who had the wrong understanding of Jesus learned just a bit more about how much He loves us all through this video. No, it won’t have all the right answers (just like any Christian book). But I think it pushes people to seek them in a new way, people who previously may have had no interest in the subject. I hope Jeff is the real deal, and I naively think that he is, but God says he can work through the best and worst of human intentions, and I think He did here.
Exactly. Good art expresses the heart of the artist and creates conversation.
[...] Don Miller has the best stuff on his blog. This speaks to where I am right now: [...]
Two observations. One – this poem seems to lead towards an “us vs them” type of thinking. But on the opposite side of legalism. Not sure if I like that. Second – I’ve asked kids what they heard when watching this vid (since it went viral on Facebook) – and most responded – “It’s why he hates church.” Which – isn’t’ really his point – but HS kids heard that way. I know he says I love the church – but the message is a lil muddy. Religion and Church mean the same thing to a lot of people (I know they’re not the same thing – but those outside of the faith don’t see any difference, as much as we want to point that out)
K – one more observation. He says “Jesus hates the church” – somewhere around min. 2 – not sure if I like people putting words in Jesus’ mouth that can’t be fully backed up in scripture. Jesus is God. God is love. Love hates? Whether that’s a true statement or not – it can lead people to hate other people – which is a lil dangerous – and totally contrary to the gospel. At least – that’s my take.
That being said, I like thought provoking ideas. Even if it is a lil over produced.
Jer
Correction – “Jesus hates religion” – not “Jesus hates the church” – my bad. – Same point though…
I want to do a spoken word piece on YouTube called “Why I Love When Christians Debate Semantics About Who’s Hip Spoken Word Piece Is More Correct AND I Love Jesus.” It’ll be emotional, poignant, and way more right than those other two.
THIS IS SO STUPID! All of the back and forth on Facebook, in the blogosphere, etc… This is (among other things) yet another reason for someone who is skeptical of the church to miss the greater point (Jesus) and just see a bunch of people arguing over whose rhetoric is superior. I am so frustrated that the church so feels the need to argue over who communicated what better that these videos and stockphoto memes of Italian Jesus are what get people fired up and “righteously indignant.”
I think I want to subscribe to a life of asceticism somewhere in Asia. All of this noise is so frustrating.
I’ll begin by saying while I watched and loved this viral video, I am replying to a tweet Don posted on the evening of the state of the union address (1/24/12) and this blogpost seemed to be the most relevant place and recent enough that he may read more than the 140 characters I already sent. Don’s tweet mentioned that he was reading the reactions of someone else’s followers about the speech and how different they were from his followers. So, as twits do, I followed him to see how a the followers of a Christian bands’ lead singer reacted to the speech. Having grown up in a red state and now residing in what is probably the most red city in California, I was not surprised to find real hatred for our black and blue President. It seems that many in my congregation, family and circle of friends would concur with these followers that his apparent tolerance for things like abortion and gay marriage (not to mention any of the economic debates) make him the bane of the evangelical’s existance. That said, my gut says his heart is good and at the very least, I want to watch hoops with him. I thought I was a registered republican because of my training in economics and business, but I’m beginning to question whether I’m just part of the big red evangelical machine. Frankly, I’m getting tired of being associated with any kind of bi-partisan vitriol that comes from mixing faith and politics. Now, I know Don is far from being the only one, but I am coming to him and his readers because I own and have read every one of his books. I have called myself christian for over a decade but I finished Blue Like Jazz in a very public place a few years ago and sobbed uncontrolably like I was meeting Jesus for the first time. I say this because my heart says that Don knows Jesus well and I’m looking to add a little balance to what I hear in this election year. Please help with any references to christians who support our President so I can avoid making an uninformed decision in November. God Bless you all.
Participating in His Sonship is harder than going to church. Worth it though, I think.
[...] people and misguided social definitions of how a ‘religious person’ should look or act. Like this guy’s rap, “What if I told you Republican doesn’t mean Christian…The problem with religion is [...]
Sometimes I’m annoyed by these types of videos, sometimes not. Kind of annoyed with this one. I’m such a sinner…
I love this! This is me to a T! I’m 48 been in the church my whole life. Wasn’t until I found the church I go to now, that I feel safe being in a church.
I liked this article, I think it says a lot about the video in your post and also on the subject of Jesus and Religion.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/13/does-jesus-hate-religion-kinda-sorta-not-really/–
I really like this video simply because he is just reminding to all those people who have lost there faith because they saw a priest or a pastor taking advantage of the people. I was one of them I forgot that pastors and priest are men and they commit mistakes and use the Religion for power greediness. But since were so focus in our anger towards them Pastors, Priest we get mad at God and Jesus to and forget about everything because were so angry at those humans and were wrong God and Jesus did not tell them to take advantage of the people, abuse kids, make there people fallow ridiculous rules. So in all yes hate is a strong word but this young man is telling us to remember is dont Forget God and Jesus just because a human made a mistake.