The following video, Why I Hate Religion, and Love Jesus, has become enormously popular (over 19 million views) on the internet. I have heard it brought up a lot, but I hadn't seen it, so I thought I would watch it today to see what I think. Before I watched it, I was thinking that the message might be a little frustrating to me, but also that he may have some good thoughts, as I've seen some of his videos before.
My presumptions turned out to be correct.
The views presented in this video are very timely to the new culture of my generation. We are become decreasingly aligned with religion while, as a whole, we are becoming more spiritual. There is a lot of validity in that movement, in some ways. Religion has failed at integrity over time, as sins have lead to many failures and tragedies, both on a major historical sense, and in an everyday sense in our overal interactions with culture at large. My generation values holisticness and integrity more than ever before, and this means that they just aren't happy with a church that doesn't practice what it preaches.
The problem, of course, it that it does, and this video doesn't acknowledge it. Sure, the millions of people in the church across the world haven't always been perfect individually or corporately, but we aren't God; we are human. The thing is, even in the video, he says he loves the church, the Bible, and Jesus, and doesn't fully separate religion and Jesus. Critics of the video found the same thing, and some were angered by the fact.
A prominent Atheist made an angry response, rightfully pointing out how the two weren't really separated. He quoted a lot of scripture which pointed out how Jesus in fact set the church up to be his hand in the world, spreading the Good News until He comes back. How true that is!
A LACI speaker last night brought up the same thought, in the light of cultural redemption. He argued that God created man to live in culture. We fell, and that culture became imperfect, but Jesus came back to redeem us. This redemption is for all, and so, though accepted individual, the redeemed are here to transform our culture through the Good News and with God's love. Eventually, it will be consummated by the last coming and the new Kingdom on earth. Therefore, all our religion is is a group of people living out what Jesus wanted, and then identified as a group. Sure, our generation could reject the formal church, but they will find living for Jesus too difficult, if not impossible, on their own, and will turn to social groupings instead. What do they have? A church, or a formal religion. I see this as more of a variation on the sectarianism we already have. Some people decide that they are frustrated with the supposed sins or faults of an established church, and go off the bring their own.
I believe that instead, we should be fulfilling Christ's mission by redeeming culture, including the culture of our own churches. We don't need more splits; the church is diluted enough as it is. What we need is to call on peace and wisdom from God, so that we can reconcile our differences and attempt to stand as a united, rather than broken, universal church. As many such efforts are being made today, we continue to fracture while cultures around the world learn to work together. My opinion is this: our mission today (and throughout history since Jesus) should be redemption within the church, and the redemption of the greater culture we live in.
Many videos, articles, and comments have been made in response to the original video, often by personable and trendy persons from my generation. Here is one that resonates with me, even though it is from the Catholic church. As a Baptist, and a Christion seeking a less broken church, this fresh face from a Catholic is refreshing, and his defense of the church seems spot on and necessary to me.
My presumptions turned out to be correct.
The views presented in this video are very timely to the new culture of my generation. We are become decreasingly aligned with religion while, as a whole, we are becoming more spiritual. There is a lot of validity in that movement, in some ways. Religion has failed at integrity over time, as sins have lead to many failures and tragedies, both on a major historical sense, and in an everyday sense in our overal interactions with culture at large. My generation values holisticness and integrity more than ever before, and this means that they just aren't happy with a church that doesn't practice what it preaches.
The problem, of course, it that it does, and this video doesn't acknowledge it. Sure, the millions of people in the church across the world haven't always been perfect individually or corporately, but we aren't God; we are human. The thing is, even in the video, he says he loves the church, the Bible, and Jesus, and doesn't fully separate religion and Jesus. Critics of the video found the same thing, and some were angered by the fact.
A prominent Atheist made an angry response, rightfully pointing out how the two weren't really separated. He quoted a lot of scripture which pointed out how Jesus in fact set the church up to be his hand in the world, spreading the Good News until He comes back. How true that is!
A LACI speaker last night brought up the same thought, in the light of cultural redemption. He argued that God created man to live in culture. We fell, and that culture became imperfect, but Jesus came back to redeem us. This redemption is for all, and so, though accepted individual, the redeemed are here to transform our culture through the Good News and with God's love. Eventually, it will be consummated by the last coming and the new Kingdom on earth. Therefore, all our religion is is a group of people living out what Jesus wanted, and then identified as a group. Sure, our generation could reject the formal church, but they will find living for Jesus too difficult, if not impossible, on their own, and will turn to social groupings instead. What do they have? A church, or a formal religion. I see this as more of a variation on the sectarianism we already have. Some people decide that they are frustrated with the supposed sins or faults of an established church, and go off the bring their own.
I believe that instead, we should be fulfilling Christ's mission by redeeming culture, including the culture of our own churches. We don't need more splits; the church is diluted enough as it is. What we need is to call on peace and wisdom from God, so that we can reconcile our differences and attempt to stand as a united, rather than broken, universal church. As many such efforts are being made today, we continue to fracture while cultures around the world learn to work together. My opinion is this: our mission today (and throughout history since Jesus) should be redemption within the church, and the redemption of the greater culture we live in.
Many videos, articles, and comments have been made in response to the original video, often by personable and trendy persons from my generation. Here is one that resonates with me, even though it is from the Catholic church. As a Baptist, and a Christion seeking a less broken church, this fresh face from a Catholic is refreshing, and his defense of the church seems spot on and necessary to me.
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