Sunday, 15 January 2012
Does Jesus hate religion?
Jefferson Bethke's YouTube video Jesus hates religion has had millions of views over the last week.
Perhaps inevitably it started with loads of Christians liking it and then there was a bit of a backlash ad lots of criticism.
If you want a considered, thoughtful and gracious analysis I'd recommend a look at Kevin deYoung's post: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/13/does-jesus-hate-religion-kinda-sorta-not-really
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4 comments:
I think the problem is with Mr DeYoung. Preach grace like the Apostle Paul and you will be misunderstood --- cf Romans 3:8
Celal - I'm sure there's an element of that going on here!
I do think that part the problem is that the video takes aim at lots of legitimate targets (conservative cultural 'Christianity') but sends some unintended shrapnel at genuine brothers and sisters who may be made to wrongly feel like Pharisees!
Can you give some examples of 'unintended shrapnel' ? Because i honestly did not see anything of the sort.
Hi Celal,
Could go on a while on this one so I'll confine myself to one example!
I guess I mean stuff like the comments about Republicanism. We have slightly less polarised politics over here but from my observation of the US it does seem to be the case that lots of people think that being a Christian and being a republican are pretty much the same.
I wholeheartedly agree with the lines that say:
"What if I told you voting republican really wasn’t his mission? What if I told you republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian?"
But, as deYoung points out in his critique in Seattle this is pretty much shooting at a straw man.
If you only critique one side of a political spectrum it's perhaps inevitable that genuine Christians who lean to that side suspect you of saying that genuine Christians are democrats - something which is equally untrue and equally believed by lots of people in the US!
As I say I think it's a great video that has provoked thought and discussion and that the Lord will use. But I think it's also quite legitimate of Kevin deYoung to ask hard questions even as he gives the video a lot of praise!
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