If you're on Facebook, chances are you've seen Jefferson Bethke's video entitled, "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus." This video has inspired both Christians and non-Christians, but his statements have also caused quite a bit of controversy. We sat down to formulate our thoughts regarding this video and stumbled across a great review by Kevin DeYoung on the Gospel Coalition Blog. In his review, DeYoung lovingly confronts the message communicated by Bethke and shares some hard hitting criticism. The day after his review, DeYoung posted a follow-up in which he shares Bethke's response to his criticism. While we agree with DeYoung's stance on Bethke's video, it is the loving interaction between the two that we want to highlight. This is an excellent example of what the dialogue between Christians who disagree should look like.
To see the video and read the articles, please click the following links:
The video
DeYoung's Response
The Follow-up
Is it possible to love Jesus, but hate religion?
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It might be too much to say that Jesus hates religion. This is the debate that is going on over Jefferson Bethke’s video, Why I hate religion, but love Jesus. Maybe what we can say is that Jesus is against false religion: hypocrisy of leaders, when religion has been the cause of wars, when in the case of Christianity, the Church does not live up to the commandments and teachings of Christ, etc. But James talks about religion in a positive way when he says: “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). Interesting, isn’t it? There is a form of religion that God “accepts as pure and faultless.” So as De Young has adequately explained, Bethke may have gone too far in his degrading of religion. In my opinion, the aspect of religion that Jesus was against was the religion that promotes self-righteousness as a means to gain God’s approval.
Excellent thoughts, Roger! I believe that the message of this video portrays a sentiment that has gained a lot of traction in our society. The concerns Bethke shares certainly have merit, but I don't believe the solution is to attack religion as a whole. It would do us well to take an introspective look at how we are operating as a body of believers and to remove any of the pollution that has crept in.
Yes I believe that De Young has made a good point. A lot of people from this generation now days are just into having a relationship and calling Him "dude" when they pray, which I think is actually bringing Jesus down to our level. We have to remember that, Yes He came to have a relationship with us but He also came to Change us, that we still have to honor Him and respect Him as our Lord and Savior and not just a "friend".