Religion: Can You “Hate Religion, But Love Jesus?”

Jan 24, 2012 6 Comments by Rippa

I came across the following video on YouTube a few days ago. It was uploaded on January 10th, and since then it has received more than 16 million views. Yeah, it’s hotter than Lindsey Lohan’s crotch. The name of the cat who did it is Jefferson Bethke, and it’s an awesome piece of spoken word. In my opinion, I found it to be very thought provoking hence my reason for bringing it to you folks. On the description of the video the brother writes:

A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it’s core Jesus’ gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can’t do your own list of rules and feel “not good enough” for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don’t represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!

So check out the following video and tell me: can it be possible to love Jesus and hate religion at the same time? Personally, it sounds kind of contradictory to me, and presents itself to be quite the non-secular paradox. I mean let’s face it: there would be no Christianity without Jesus, no? Of course there would be no Christianity without Jesus. Which really makes me question the people who say, “I’m not religious nor do I believe in religion, but I am spiritual.” I mean, what’s the difference? No really? Aren’t they one in the same? I’ono, but wut’chu think about it tho?

You can find Jefferson on Facebook where he carefully clarifies:

If you are using my video to bash “the church” be careful. I was in no way intending to do that. My heart came from trying to highlight and expose legalism and hypocrisy. The Church is Jesus’ bride so be careful how you speak of His wife…. The church is His vehicle to reach a lost word. A hospital for sinners. Saying you love Jesus but hate the Church, is like a fiancé saying he loves his future bride, but hates her kids.

I truly get what he was attempting to do with the following piece; yes, I really get it. However, isn’t it a bit hypocritical to think that Jesus can be separated from religion? I could be wrong, but the way I see it, you either accept it all or reject it. After all, there is no such thing as a half-way Christian, believer, or atheist, no? I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this one, folks; yeah, lemme know what’s up, OK? Because from where I’m sitting, Jesus is as man made as religion.

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Culture, Religion, The Black Church

Rippa

About the author

RiPPa is the creator, publisher, and editor-in-chief of The Intersection of Madness & Reality. As a writer, he uses his sense of humor, sarcasm, and sardonic negro wit to convey his opinion. Being the habitual line-stepper and fire-breathing liberal-progressive, whether others agree with him, isn’t his concern. He loves fried chicken, watermelon, and President Barack Obama. Yes, he's Black; yes, he's proud; and yes, he says it loud. As such, he's often misunderstood.

http://twitter.com/ada_ibe Ada Ibe

I think it is possible, especially given the way different religions have changed over time based on the agendas the leaders wanted to push. You can love the original ideas of the religion, love Jesus, love God, and not love the buildings that currently spout their ideas and push to raise money for themselves and not to do help. You can not love when you walk in to a church and all you hear are far right ideas and preachers telling you who to vote for and what you should be doing with your body, mind, spirit that are really all a political agenda.
Don1228

As I have posted before, Rip, if one is looking for the “religion” in my”relationship” with Jesus, they are looking in the wrong place. All the rituals and “practices” won’t bring us any closer to Heaven. The things that people do and do not do in the name of religion are the trap. God does not need those things now that He sent Jesus to atone for our sins. Before, sacrifices, etc. were needed because The Law was everything. I feel what you are saying but folks of Faith understand totally what the young man was saying.

Donny
Anonymous

People are so afraid to say, “you know, no offense to your religious beliefs or whatever, but that’s for the birds. I’m still a good person and I can be that without all the superstition.” I even found myself wanting to keep the safety net of religion and spirituality as a safety net. It’s all very silly to me.
http://mybrowneyedview.com msladydeborah

Religion is an establishment of order that was constructed by human beings. It’s not difficult for me to understand what point this young man is making. There is nothing in the scriptures that indicates the different religious denominations exist. Jesus said to go forth and preach the gospel into all the lands.

Look at all the different manners of practice just among Christians. There are people who use their religious beliefs to do some very inhumane acts in God’s name. Would this trend be the same without religion? It is difficult to determine that because it would take time to remove the rituals and systems of belief that religion denotes is correct.

My relationship with God is not dependent on a church setting. It is personal and I am actively engaged in that relationship on a daily basis. Attending church has a place in that relationship but it serves as a place where people of alike minds gather.
inthenameoftruth

What’s up, Rippa?…Hope all is well.

In order to have a more fruitful discussion, I think the term “religion” must be defined. According to Merriam-Webster, Religion can be defined as: ”
a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices” or ”
a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”Merriam-Webster defines a Christian as ”
one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ” and Christianity is defined as “the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies.”Jesus is an person–a real person–with a real personality. If you read through the Gospels, you will find that there were many people following Jesus. Physically, walking behind him and watching his actions. Intellectually, listening to his teachings and seeking for answers. But Jesus was not out to win any popularity contests. Jesus came to display before men the character of God, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, and to both provide and lead the way to God.
You are correct in saying, “you either accept it all or reject it.” ”Christianity” as a term can be subjective. Jesus Christ is mutually exclusive. Jesus did not come to start a religion. He came to fulfill the law of God. That is, he came to earth in humble obedience. He lived a sinless life, in complete obedience to the law of God, given to Moses in the Old Testament. He offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for sins of the world, that those that would believe in him would have eternal life. That is love. Not religion.

Check Matthew 12:9-14:
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Perfect example of Jesus v.s. Religion!

The Pharisees represented religion. They professed that healing on the Sabbath was unlawful. The Pharisees’ interpretation of the law was wrong. Jesus defied there interpretation of correctness. Jesus upheld the law. . Be clear: Jesus did not break the law of God! He broke the Pharisees’ interpretation of the law. He violated the Pharisee’s sense of religion.

That said, “Christianity” can be wrong. Sometimes we can misinterpret Jesus. That is why we must always go back to the icon. Jesus is the trademark. He is who he is. Jesus is not open to interpretation. Christianity is a mirror. Jesus is Jesus.
http://twitter.com/Coffey0072 Coffey0072

Simply put: I’m from the school of thought that you either believe in/love Jesus (with all of the “fixings” that come with that relationship) or you’ve suspended all belief; this includes in Jesus and everything else that (and religion in general) encompasses. While I respect people’s journey, saying “I love Jesus but hate religion” seems somewhat contradictory… like having your cake, and eating it too or sort of like the person who prays/or goes to church every Sunday but engages in tawdry behavior every other day of the week with reckless abandon, for lack of better analogies. For myself, it’s all or nothing for me… and I choose “nothing.”
For a while though, I spent much of my early twenties explaining that I am a “spiritual” person who believes in the possibility of Jesus, but didn’t believe in “organized religion” when I knew (and have known since my TWEEN years) that wasn’t the case, just to placate people’s discomfort about Atheism/Apatheism,

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