Why I hate religion but love Jesus

Click here to watch the video this blog is about.

Why I hate religion but love Jesus

I post this video on my facebook along with the following quote:

“This video is the sort of thing that many younger Christians love. It sounds good, looks good, and feels good. But is it true? That’s the question we must always ask.”

Two people commented with this:

"What’s your opinion, Daniel? I’ve seen it posted several times."

"Interested to hear Your opinion.."

So heres my opinion. Its a really good poem that hits on some very important topics. I picked out a few of my favorite.

• quit puttin on a fake look, because theres a problem if people only know your a christian by your facebook
• it’s like saying you play for the Lakers because you bought a jersey
• If grace is water, the church should be an ocean
• a museum for the good people, a hospital for the broken
• God looked down and said “I want that man”

That’s some good stuff. The first two points made me think about my life. How do people know that I’m a Christian. Do my words reflect it? Do my actions to strangers show people I love Jesus?

I’ve seen a lot of people quote “Church shouldn’t be a museum for the good people, but a hospital for the broken.”

 I thought about this for a while. Even in church today I wondered how true this was. Our church gives an invitation each  Sunday for people to come down to the altar to pray, to get real with God. So today I lifted my head and looked around. Not at the people going down to pray, but to the ones in the crowd watching the people go down. I saw two people look at a man go down then lean over and whisper and point. I guess this museum is free. Im glad to say that immediately after this a woman next to me looked up and pointed at a man going down. She also whispered to the person next to her, but they did something different. They went down with the man and prayed with him. She must be a nurse on Sundays.

So those are a couple things I really like about it.

However, there are a couple things with this poem I disagree on. He talks about religion as being awful and constantly bad. So to start I looked up the definition of religion.

     1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe,

        especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or

        agencies, usually involvingdevotional and ritual observances, and often

        containing amoral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

      2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally

         agreed upon by a number of persons or sects

For me, religion is good. It’s the bad religion I have a problem with. If you look in the Old Testament, God gave us a set of rules and practices to do. He designed it in a way where we would worship Him and it would be good. Where we get off track is where we try to follow those so strictly we disregard each other.

The poet asks these question:

• if religion is so great why has it started so many wars
• why does it build huge churches but fails to feed the poor
• tell single moms God doesn’t love them if they’ve ever had a divorce

The wars started because men followed the Law and not Jesus. but Jesus said,

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17

People get so stuck in looking at the sin they ignore the person.

So to wrap all of this up. I like religion. The second definition I gave said that religion is a set of practices. Where would I be if I didn’t grow up going to church every Sunday? Where would I be if God did not call me to pray and read His Word? Religion that God designs is good. It allows us to grow with Him.Religion designed by man is bad. It tells us we need works to get to God. If we accomplish this, this, and this we are good enough to get to God.

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  - Ephesians 2:8-9

That’s my opinion. If i need to clarify, explain more, or you want to throw in your opinion, please do.