It’s the next viral YouTube video. It’s called “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus.” I’ve seen this video about 4 times now. According to today’s blog through CNN, so have 15 million others. As a Evangelical, I’m not entirely supportive of saying that we “hate religion.” I did a sermon last year where I talked about how worship should lead to true religion. Although Bethke suggests that Religion says do and Jesus says done, there still is a lot of doing that needs to be done if the love of Christ is going to reach a fallen world.
I think the word religion carries such a negative tone to it these days. If we were to pull back and really look at what Jesus was saying, I don’t believe he was trying to destroy religion when He came. Why would Jesus do that if he knew that his followers would have to display a true religion? I think rather than destroying religion, he came to communicate the role of religion in a person’s life. True religion is the pouring out of love, a response to a mercy that has been shown, all through Jesus. Romans 12:1
Until the day of Jesus’ return, there will always be a need for true religion. James 1:27 As Evangelical Christians, we should be quick to help communicate why religion exists and the role it plays in the life of Follower of Christ.
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Nicely put, Chad. The whole idea of “loving Jesus but hating religion” has been played out for at least 10 or 15 years. Might be more helpful for someone to point out, as you have started to, the need for true religion, and not the bastardized version that many pass off as Christianity.
Comment by Kerry Cox February 2, 2012 @ 5:49 am