Why I Love Religion AND Jesus
Today, I am going to be the party pooper. Sorry, but I cannot just let this one lie. This video has been circulating around Facebook and Twitter (at least among my friends across the country). While I find it convicting, I do not think it is whole. Jeffrey Bethke makes some very good points, but there is something missing.
I’ll start with those good points, as it is always good to be positive before launching into any sort of criticism.
(1) What if I told you getting you to vote Republican really wasn’t his mission?
Amen, my friend. I think this point is becoming clearer and clearer to Christians around the United States. Such a reality makes me glad. Why? I am tired of seeing a religious tradition co-opted by political agenda totally contrary to the aims of the faith. Jesus is not a Democrat or a Republican; he isn’t even an American. It is nice to see more people waking up to that.
(2) Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor?
Again, good question. I think this point should ring all too true with the Protestant mega-church phenomenon of the late twentieth century. Let’s stop that pattern and get back to the work that needs doing in our communities. Let’s abandon the enterprise of attempting to create our own shelters and start making them for others.
(3) If grace is water, then the Church should be an ocean.
Enough said. Thank you.
(4) If Jesus were here today, would your Church let him in?
Again, good question. I agree that too many Christian communities aim to exclude rather than include, and it might just be bad enough that they risk kicking Jesus out with everyone else they won’t love.
Now, there’s more Mr. Bethke says that is perfectly acceptable and beneficial for the Church to hear. There is most certainly a place for speaking harsh words to the Church. If it never happened, the situation would be worse than described in this video. However, not everything Bethke says is good. I’d like to point out a few points of contention before we go crazy posting his video all over the place.
(1) I … I … I … I … I …***
One of the things that stands out the most about this piece to me is the individual focus of it. I’m not saying that Bethke is self-centered or narcissistic. If we take him at his word, he certainly is not.
What I am talking about is the focus on the individual or even individuals.
He says little about community. Granted, “community” is a buzz word of the last decade (and even now), but hear me out. Nothing that Bethke wants to address can be solved as a single individual or as individuals working apart from each other. People need to come together to address problems, and that doesn’t just mean coming together in non-profits or Facebook groups, but in actual living, breathing communities.
We need to be living together and impacting the people we live with and around, not just subscribing to a social justice newsletter or attending a conference once a year.
(2) [Religion]’s just behavior modification, like a long list of chores.
Bethke shows the typical evangelical response to anything that smacks of ritual or tradition. In some senses, he is correct. If we let prayers, candle lighting, confession, and even communion become simply acts, they are just a “long list of chores.”
Rituals find their value in their participation in the divine, the meaning that gives them life, and the sort actions they ought to provoke.
Everything that the Church has passed down through the ages that may seem like “behavior modification” or “chores” has a deep meaning. If your Church has not conveyed that meaning to you (and its consequences!), I apologize. Next Sunday, make them explain it to everyone.
The tenants of Christianity and its sacraments don’t just aim to keep you in line. They aim to change the world.
(3) Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums or This is what makes religion and Jesus two different clans
If Jesus was for a community persisting through time attempting to make the world a better place, Jesus is not against religion. He is against the worst of religion, as we all ought to be. However, Bethke’s language is too strong in this video.
Jesus is not against religion but its perversions.
Christianity cannot be done alone or even simply in isolated communities. The Gospel is meant to be experience in the community of the Church. While I make no claims that the Gospel can only be experienced in the community of the Church, I see no reason to believe that we ought to get rid of the Church.
The Gospel is enriched and made alive in the community of faith more than it ever can be in the heart of a single individual operating alone. The Gospel also comes alive in the activities and not merely the existence of the Christian community. Religion and Jesus are not opposing forces. Sometimes the message gets construed, and that’s going to happen in whatever system you set up (or in any one person!).
Let’s tone it down a bit.
(4) One is the work of God; One is man-made invention
I’m sorry, friend, but you wouldn’t believe in Jesus if it weren’t for some “man-made invention.”
The Gospel you wish to spread does not exist except for the preservation by the institution.
The specific theology you espouse wouldn’t exist except for the careful thinking of institutional men and women.
“On this rock I will build my Church,” if you will. And that comes from the Bible you hold dearly, which I think is a fantastic thing. However, you don’t have that critical collection of books if it weren’t for the Church.
If it weren’t for religion, you’ve got nothing to lean on.
Again, I think Bethke’s work is good and he says some things we need to hear, but we need not throw away a whole concept of “religion” just because some things have gone bad. I can guarantee you, those who have made similar points in the past and their systems haven’t been any better. The Gnostic (read: knowledge gets you salvation) tendencies of this revivalist notion don’t do anything more for the poor than big cathedrals sitting empty on the street corners. So, let’s listen to these voices, but let’s not get wrapped up in them too much.
Remember, even rebellious St. Francis remained indebted to religion despite his earth-shaking displays of the Gospel.
Update: Here’s a video a few of us made addressing these issues:
*** The other point I’d make on this issue is the way he treats the Atonement. The line, “When he was dangling on that Cross, he was thinking of you,” is a kind sentiment, but it tends to make the Cross exclusive in my experience. It is better to speak of Jesus thinking of “us” rather than any “you.” We tend to make the Cross about less than the salvation of the whole earth when we make it about each one of us instead of about us.
It’s a minor point, and I’m sure it’s not what he intended, so I didn’t include it in the main argument. Same thing with the gender exclusivity. How hard is it to add one more syllable (human)?
One more thing — and this deserves more attention than this footnote or even a single blog post — why does the poem end in the crucifixion? What about the Resurrection? Isn’t that the news we really need to hear?
Posted on 12 January 2012, in Church and tagged But Love Jesus, Church, Jeffrey Bethke, Religion, Video, Why I Hate Religion. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
Bravo, my friend. Sometimes I feel like the lack of deep culture present in Christianity today is because every new generation wants to reject their previous generation completely.
I really love your points, especially considering the role of tradition in the church (an oft-neglected point). That being said, do you think that perhaps you’re using a slight straw-man perspective on the video? For example, you accuse Bethke (implicitly) of advocating the complete eradication of the Church by stating that the Church has done good things for the world – but Bethke specifically states that he believes in the Church. Again, I agree with your overall ideas (I especially appreciate the last point about the importance of the theological movements in the Church). I just advocate caution in diminishing the argument to small sentences taken out of context (granted, it was merely a video of related sentences) and then attacking those specifically.
I really appreciate this post, Wes. Ritual and tradition, when properly understood, are as compelling as any inner experience of God. And I would argue that those two ideas shouldn’t necessarily be separated. Also, while ‘community is definitely a buzzword these days, I think there are some real reasons for that. I think much of American society has become atomized and isolated, fragmenting our communities. So preaching community today can be an act of healing. Keep up the good theology, my friend.
Nice post, Wes. Check out this article: http://www.wilshirebc.org/article224358.htm
Wes–You offer a much needed balance here. I recall my younger days as I reacted from the other end, having grown up in a moderate-to-liberal church context. Often my “religion” amounted to an “enlightened” progressivism that snubbed anything that smacked of even a remote orthodoxy. No doubt much of this perspective emerged out of understandable concerns with Civil Rights, Vietnam, Watergate, et. al. Unfortunately, the justified responses to such issues also bred a culture of superficial knee-jerking against anything foundational about Jesus, church, doctrine et. al. Your piece helps warn of the shallow elitism that can emerge from a reactive fundamentalism from the left. I watched that video in earlier life, and it’s equally as frustrating as the dynamics that led to this fellow’s rant (which, with your correctives, I do appreciate).
Thanks!
Wes,
As one who has served traditional churches for more than two decades I thank you for your response.
Over the last several years I’ve become sick of all the hits the Church has been taking. It’s five-minutes-ago. It’s worn out. It’s tired. And, there’s no excuse for not getting over it and going on.
Why? Because God has provided much-needed and beautiful options to traditional expressions of worship and discipleship over the past 20 years. I’m excited, too, about what the next 20 years will look like in the life of faith communities.
Lashing out at the Church has moved from being prophetic to just plain popular.
When the church works well – not perfect, not excellent, simply “well” – the Spirit does amazing things with it. I see life change and Christ connection every day through our county-seat, on-the-square, red-brick-white-column church. He takes mustard-seed faith, offerings of small loaves and sardines, widow’s mites uses them to and transforms lives, homes, schools and workplaces.
It’s happening … through traditional Churches.
Is our church great? No. We have a looooong way to go. We’re imperfect earthen vessels with a tremendous heavenly treasure poured into us. We are both humbled and honored by such a gift.
LY
Jesus loved the church as much as a husband should love his wife right? So who are we to tear down what God has built up? we should be making it better than just pointing out flaws. Thank you for posting this article. I had been watching this clip over and over again and couldn’t figure out why I disliked it. Our faith without works is dead but works without faith is pointless!
Strong post, Wes. I don’t think what this guy is saying is all bad, but I definitely think he is looking over some really important biblical commands. Not to mention “true religion” as James would put forth – e.g. the social justice of taking care of widows and orphans… I don’t think blanket statements like “why I hate religion” are very healthy or wise..
A thought-provoking post, and you make some good points. However, I feel the need to defend Bethke’s video on this one.
Your primary objection to the video seems to be Bethke’s contrasting Jesus and “religion.” While you make a very good point about not all reglion being bad, I think you have to look at the use of the term “religion” as used by Bethke in his poem.
Bethke makes a point of saying that he is in favor of the church and the Bible, and that this is not intended to be an attack on either. Clearly, then, his use of the word “religion” is intended to mean religious activity that is void of relationship with Christ.
Within that definition of religion, Bethke is dead-on correct. Jesus is opposed to empty religious activities void of relationship with God.
Your second main objection seems to be the things that Bethke did not say…all the theological truths that he did not cover. This seems incredibaly unfair, in my view. This is a poem, intended to make a point and get people to think. You cannot expect a few lines of poetry to include the sum total of biblical truth. Such an expectation puts a simple poem on a higher pedestal than it deserves.
That said, you do make some good points, and have started some good discussion…which was likely Bethke’s intent. Thanks for the post!
Blessings!
I really like what you have to say here. This strikes me as a way to introduce Neo-Reformed theology to people who normally wouldnt be influenced by it.
@Jonathan: Do I think it’s a straw man? No, I don’t think so. Is Bethke “advocating the complete eradication of the Church”? Well, he says he wants to abolish (or at least that Jesus has abolished, which I think is incorrect) religion. Yes, he makes that little line about the Church at the end, but it seems in direct contradiction with everything else he has said. The natural consequences of what he is saying are what I am arguing against. And I don’t want to diminish his argument. That’s why I pointed out at least four things I thought were great. He makes some phenomenal points, let me be clear, but I think there is an overarching message conveyed by the poem that is simply wrong.
@Joe: Well, of course. No one is for religion for the sake of war, extravagance, excess, and oppression. There’s no point in saying something like that. If that’s all that he’s saying, the video didn’t need to be made. However, from where I stand, I see his poem wanting to lump religion as a concept together and dismiss it in favor of some individualistic abstraction. That’s what I think is incorrect. But you’re right, at least he has started some discussion.
@Joseph: Just to clarify, I in no way embody a Neo-Reformed theology. :) I don’t know where Bethke stands on that.