A Religious Response to Jesus-Lover

For the sake of clarity, I did not misunderstand Bethke's point. I believe his point is that Jesus is full of grace, and as a fellow Christian, I wholeheartedly concur. My critique is of his careless use of language. He is an admirable wordsmith, but with such a gift comes a HUGE responsibility to use words RIGHTLY. I understand that he meant "bad religion," not good religion or all religion, but he did not make this clear enough, which is unfortunate for all his listeners who have found grace in and through their religion. I am not against the guy. He is talented. But he missed the mark.

So my point is . . . he can continue to preach the same thing in the same way, touch a lot of hearts, but also leave a trail of harm with his misrepresentation of religion, OR he can keep at it but improve by developing a more robust portrayal of the Gospel, which would do a lot more good for everyone. May Christ have mercy on us all.

I sincerely wish Bethke the best,

Kyndall

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• My
• First
• Project

[svensgirl2000]

I don't know if Jesus hated religion but I'm sure he was probably appalled at how its been distorted over the centuries. We aren't saved by religion but by grace. He built one church and rebuked division. Division meaning denominations.

[mrsmolinar]

@svensgirl2000 Except that the Bible does give us religion: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27

[GetPrayerPowerDotCom]

can i have ur phone number? U R soooo hot.

[svensgirl2000]

The bible gives us rules and structure...not religion.

[nicodemous52]

Well done otherwise though...

[nicodemous52]

here is where I think the disconnect...The "religion" that is being railed against is these people that are "perfect" and in many churches you have to be "perfect" (ie, you have to lie and pretend). I think this hurts people because those new in the faith or truly seeking and trying to understand look around at all these "perfect people" and notice that they can't ever seem to be perfect so they give up and lose hope or look for a different path they feel they can trod.

[AboveNormalProject]

@Apologus1 or less...

[MindEyeSight3]

This is a joke... right?

[AboveNormalProject]

It is impossible to not be religious in some manner. I appreciate what is being said here, but I also appreciate the "Jesus-Lover" video. I must say I feel this is a tiny bit arrogant in it's innocent, but not really innocent insincere approach.

[jmsteinhauer3]

Well said. As I understand the origins of the word "religion" it has similar roots to "ligament." I think those offended by "religion" are people who have a hard time being joined together with people different from themselves. I think that is particularly the hallmark of Christian religion. My religious practice of my Christian faith gives me a track to run on, disciplines to shape me, and a community to be a part of and accountable to.