Response to Controversy Regarding “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus”
If you’ve been on the “Christian internet scene” in the last few days, you probably couldn’t help but notice the video “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” as well as the controversy it has stirred amongst Christians. I myself watched this video, was encouraged by the good news of Christ spoken in the poem, and even re-posted it on my blog. Frankly, I was shocked by the controversy it has recently enthused.
I don’t doubt that people who disagree with some points in the video love Jesus. I truly believe their intentions were for the good. I respect and often read famous bloggers who critiqued this video like Justin Taylor and Kevin DeYoung. I have been encouraged by these men and their faiths. I’ve benefited from their study of Scripture and explanation of it. With that said, I respectfully disagree with them regarding this video. To put it in simple terms, I think it was over-analyzed.
First, the title does not say why Jesus hates religion, but why Jefferson (the author) hates religion. From the beginning, he was telling his own personal story of how false religion had negatively affected him. I think the author’s overall intention was for the benefit of those who have struggled with legalism and to free them from their own concept of religion. I’m glad he created it, because it reminded me that it is Jesus who saves, not religion. I also believe we as believers should assume the best of Jefferson’s intentions to create this video— to make Jesus known.
Secondly, the criticism of the definition of “religion” and whether or not it is used in Biblical terms here is somewhat hypocritical to me. Jefferson didn’t say that he hated the law but that he hated religion, as defined in a specific way he delineates in his video that is also used by many Christians. How many times have you heard other Christian terms become “culturalized” in a Christian way, used, and then criticized? If we are going to disapprove of Jefferson for the way he uses the term “religion” in this video, we need to criticize every single other Christian term that someone uses that has been “culturalized” as well. I haven’t read any critiques about people saying they had a “quiet time” with God, and I also don’t see that term in the Bible. I haven’t heard many people get offended recently when a writer or pastor says that Jesus didn’t come for the moral but for the immoral. And when I hear this sentence, I don’t imply that the writer or pastor wants me to live an immoral life. I do believe us as Christians should lead moral lives, but that isn’t the point of Christianity. It’s when good things—like being moral or religious—become ultimate things that distort the Gospel. As a whole, I believe this is Jefferson’s intended message: it is Jesus who saves, not religion. To pick a part every single sentence he says does not seem unifying to the body of Christ to me.
While I do not believe people who have critiqued the video have any ill will, it personally grieves me because Christ desires that we be unified as a body. We should praise God that a video has gone viral and has the Gospel in it, not that a guy uses the term “religion” in a way that doesn’t seem exactly accurate. Because believers still sin, no article or sermon or book is ever inerrant and infallible—only the Word of God is. If we are going to pick a part every line of this overall Biblical message, we should stay true to our critiquing and pick a part every other video and message and blog post as well. My dad always says, “Every friend of Jesus is a friend of mine,” and that is my view regarding this video. The author clearly makes much of Jesus, shares his own story, and uses a Christian cultural connotation of “religion” that many other believers also use. While some might not agree with his exact usage of the word, it still makes Jesus known, and I praise God for that. There are many Christian articles and videos going viral that I might not exactly agree with—whether it be their theology or a sentence they wrote— but I’m glad those people love Jesus and are praising His name on the internet. In this broken world, there are far greater topics and articles to criticize that these. Even Paul praised God that the name of Jesus was being preached, whether those speaking had good motives or not (Philippians 1:15-16).
One of the core values of the church of Christ is to be unified. Christ prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). Stop analyzing; start unifying—all in the name of Christ. Let’s center on what we know is essential truth—that Jesus is God and became nothing so that sinners might become saints by his precious and gracious blood. If we unified around this as a church and stopped analyzing each other’s theology and word usage so tightly—Methodist and Presbyterian, Baptist and Episcopalian, Lutheran and Church of Christ—we would be more of a force for the glory of Christ in this world.
