Why Loving Jesus Requires Loving His Church and Loving His Religion – Part 2
If you did not see Part 1 of this series, please take the time to read it now, and then you will be ready to understand that this is not a personal attack on the young man, Jefferson Bethke, who published the video “Why I hate Religion, But Love Jesus”, but is a review of some very important counter-points that is designed to help him and all people see what significant errors are spread when words are misused and the Bible has some opposite things to say. Love demands that we correct people when they spread error, and love demands that we not help people spread error further. That is the reason I think it is important to look at the poem point by point. People need to understand that there are some very serious and dangerous errors couched within this rap poem. As someone else said: “For four minutes, Bethke rhymes his way around all kinds of false dichotomies and outright bad theology.”
I like the way the problem was identified by another in this quote:
When we as Christians decry hypocrisy by making the claim that we aren’t a part of a religion, we’re lying about our identity and are furthering the hypocrisy that fuels our frustration. The sentiment shouldn’t be “not a religion, a relationship”; it should be “not JUST a religion, also a relationship”.
I would qualify that a little further that ours must be a religion OF relationship. Jesus should be head over all things to the church. He should be our preeminently adored, honored, and loved one Who is the reason for our religion.
We examined the earlier words of the poem down to this point and now pick up with the following statement in the poem:
“Religion preaches grace, but another thing they practice,
Tend to ridicule Gods people, they did it to John the Baptist,”
Now, some religious people do preach grace and practice something else, and Bethke might be guilty of the same thing right here. Is he not “ridiculing” God’s people who sincerely believe that God requires them to be “religious” and practice religion? Obviously, Bethke continues to misuse the word “religion”. Religion also preaches grace and practices what grace demands. You would not learn that from Bethke because he has misappropriated the word “religion” and is using it as if means only something BAD, when the Bible shows that religion is also GOOD. James 1:27.
Religion is simply the practice of what you believe, whether done with misguided faith or enlightened faith, whether engaged hypocritically or sincerely and truly. The word “religion” is not a bad word in the Bible and is never spoken of in the manner that Bethke has done in his poem. So, when he says “religion preaches grace, but another thing they practice”, he is not telling the truth. Jesus’ religion preaches grace and practices what grace demands. Many religious people preach grace and live by it. So, Bethke is misusing the word and thus misleads people by that erroneous usage. He could have made a good point if he had said “Hypocrites preach grace, but another thing they practice”. But “religion” is not the same thing as hypocrisy, so Bethke cannot be given a free ride to misuse terms and mislead people.
Hypocritical religion is one thing and “pure religion” (James 1:27) is another. The word “religion” by itself does not tell us that it is hypocritical or pure. Bethke speaks as if “religion” is a sin, religion is a problem, religion is a force that blinds people, etc., which is just not true. All the while he groups everybody under that word and “speaks evil of” them all like some people spoke evil of John the Baptist. Thus, without thinking through his own statements, Bethke shoots himself in the foot. He is judging others and doing the same thing.
Bethke is ridiculing a lot of God’s people who have no problem thinking that their religion is what God requires. Jesus was practicing religion. So, unwittingly Bethke is saying that Jesus’ practice of “religion” means that He preached grace and practiced another thing. He cannot escape this. Jesus lived and practiced religion. Doesn’t Bethke realize that John the Baptist was practicing religion too? He was baptizing people. Isn’t that what religion required? So, religion is not what ridiculed John the Baptist. It was false religion that was ridiculing pure religion. It was hypocritical religion that was ridiculing true religion. Surely he can see his mistake now, if only he will publically withdraw his erroneous video and put the truth out there instead!
“Cant fix their problems, so they try to mask it,
Not realizing that’s just like sprayin perfume on a casket
Because the problem with religion is that it never gets to the core,
It’s just behavior modification, like a long list of chores.
Let’s dress up the outside, make things look nice and neat,
Its funny that’s what they do to mummies, while the corpse rots underneath,”
Now, there is a lot of truth stated here, but we need to be clear that it is not “religion” that “can’t fix their problems”. Religion is about using the benefits and tools Jesus provides us to fix our problems, and it is about daily working on ourselves to be like Him, thus fixing our problems. Now, religion WITHOUT Jesus is religion that can’t fix their problems, but religion built around Jesus is equipped to fix problems.
The Pharisees were trying to practice religion WITHOUT Jesus. They were opposed to Jesus, and therefore did not have the provisions of Jesus. That KIND of religion is like spraying perfume on a casket (Jesus used similar metaphors in Matthew 23 for them). Keep in mind that Jesus’ pure religion is more than “chores” or “commands”, but it is religion nonetheless. So, to make a valid point, Bethke needs to correct his terminology. You can say a certain KIND of religion is just behavior modification and like a long list of chores, but JESUS’ religion is not “just behavior modification” or like a long list of chores. So, there needs to be a distinction made between “Christ-centered religion” and “self-centered religion” and that distinction needs to be made clear in the poem or song.
It is also true that not all that claims to be “Christ-centered” actually IS Christ-centered. But, let me get back to the metaphors Bethke borrows from Jesus in Matthew 23 regarding the hypocritical religion of the scribes and Pharisees. We should make the observation that Jesus was not even there trying to “destroy religion” but trying to cut out hypocrisy. When they stood in Moses’ seat (proclaiming the things Moses actually commanded) then Jesus encouraged the people to go ahead and do what they say, even if those teachers said and did not (Matt.23:1-3). Jesus certainly wasn’t trying to destroy the religion of Moses, just the hypocrisy that characterized many of the religious leaders of the time.
Their “religion” was not pure because of hypocrisy. But the religion they professed when sitting in Moses’ seat was pure. So, Jesus encouraged pure religion and sought to destroy hypocrisy. Bethke tends to equate religion with hypocrisy. Jesus did not. He supported the law of Moses and the religion of practicing what Moses commanded, but He rebuked hypocrisy, play acting, or doing things to appear righteous while the heart was far from God. Jesus and Bethke are not on the same page at all in this matter, and that causes us to know that Bethke does not have the right Jesus (2 Cor.11:3-4) in mind, for he is not representing the right Jesus correctly.
Now, there are some things that need to be said about the “Sunday morning” church attender. There is a lot of weakness and spiritual emptiness and blindness that comes into the assembly on Sunday morning. They seem to come in to meet their “obligation” to God, and never seem to grow deeper and produce fruit. They do not come because they love Jesus and want to be of service to Him and others. They are there because they have always brought God that token of religious habit and they learned just enough to have a sense of obligation to keep that ritual going. You can preach about knowing Jesus and becoming a servant like Him, but they have hardened their heart and cannot fix their hardened condition. Their empty, ritualized religion can only be fixed by taking the time and interest to really get to know the real Jesus. Their religion is not pure religion. They are merely playing church, and as the Laodiceans, they sicken God and he will “spew them out of His mouth”. The Bible teaches this without teaching error. The rapper should try making such points without muddying the water with erroneous things distracting from the point. In fact, get rid of the rap music, hold the Bible open, read from it succinctly, and make the points Jesus made in the manner and with the words Jesus used.
Now I ain’t judging…
Let me change from speaking second person to first person. Well, honestly, you are. You have judged incorrectly and used words incorrectly, but, it is not good to then try to sanctimoniously take it all back and act like you have not been judging. People need to know that hypocritical judging or unfair judging is all that Jesus forbids. He does not forbid all judging. In fact, Jesus tells us to make a lot of judgments. So, if you are not judging, I don’t know why you bothered setting up the cameras and sound equipment and recording equipment to record this poem and rap to it if you were not judging. You don’t need to act like you are not judging. People can see that that is exactly what this video is all about, and they sense a serious logical problem or problem with honesty if you throw out words like “Now I ain’t judging”. It kind of weakens how seriously you should be taken on other points.
“…I’m just saying be careful of putting on a fake look,
Because there’s a problem if people only know that you’re a Christian by that little section on your facebook”.
Well, that is a statement with value. It needs to be said often. But, that is not “just” what you were saying. You said so much more than that, and that is why you caused people to take issue. If this is all you were saying, then I would have been a leading encourager of your words. Many others would too. In fact, I doubt anyone would have taken issue. All the people hearing and reading your words should seriously think about whether people can tell if they are a Christian by their manner of life and behavior. It should be clear in our words, dress, known principles, daily behavior, friendships, and works of love and compassion and attendance at church. It should not be an empty claim on facebook. Nor, should it be just seen in attendance, but every facet of our lives.
“In every other aspect of life you know that logic’s unworthy”.
I think you mean that the logic of making a claim on facebook and not showing it anywhere else is unworthy logic that does not hold up for us in every other aspect of life. I agree. You use a good analogy next when you say:
“Its like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey”.
The comparison here is good. Saying in a little section on facebook that you are a Christian is very much like wearing a Laker’s jersey and hoping it will be enough to identify you as a player. You have to actually play with the Lakers to be a Laker, and you have to actually live like a Christian to be one. But, that is very good, while it disturbs me that later you seem to make the claim that Jesus “did it for you”. That only religion says “do” and Jesus says “done”. Why do we have to do anything differently if we are trying to avoid “religion” which, you say, says “do”? And, if Jesus says “done” then why should we worry about anything else? That will need some explanation and harmony because it looks like another contradiction in your words.
Enough for now. We will visit more things you said in a later installment. -Terry W. Benton
