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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Let's Study this video/poem called "Why I hate religion, but love Jesus"
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There is a "viral" video making the rounds, entitled "Why I hate religion, but love Jesus".
Here is the original link, free from inappropriate "similar items" on the side: http://www.youtube.com/v/1IAhDGYlpqY
Here are the lyrics.
--start--
What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion
What if I told you voting Republican really wasn't His mission?
What if I told you republican doesn't automatically mean Christian
And just because you call some people blind doesn't automatically give you vision
I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor
Tells single moms God doesn't love them if they've ever had a divorce
But in the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores
Religion might preach grace, but another thing they practice
Tend to ridicule God's people, they did it to John The Baptist
They can't fix their problems, and so they just mask it
Not realizing religion's like spraying perfume on a casket
See the problem with religion, is it never gets to the core
It's just behavior modification, like a long list of chores
Like lets dress up the outside make look nice and neat
But it's funny that's what they use to do to mummies while the corpse rots underneath
Now I ain't judging, I'm just saying quit putting on a fake look
Cause there's a problem if people only know you're a Christian by your Facebook
I mean in every other aspect of life, you know that logic's unworthy
It's like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey
You see this was me too, but no one seemed to be on to me
Acting like a church kid, while addicted to pornography
See on Sunday I'd go to church, but Saturday getting faded
Acting if I was simply created just to have sex and get wasted
See I spent my whole life building this facade of neatness
But now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness
Because if grace is water, then the church should be an ocean
It's not a museum for good people, it's a hospital for the broken
Which means I don't have to hide my failure, I don't have to hide my sin
Because it doesn't depend on me it depends on him
See because when I was God's enemy and certainly not a fan
He looked down and said I want, that, man
Which is why Jesus hated religion, and for it he called them fools
Don't you see so much better than just following some rules
Now let me clarify, I love the church, I love the bible, and yes I believe in sin
But if Jesus came to your church would they actually let him in
See remember he was called a glutton, and a drunkard by religious men
But the son of God never supports self righteousness not now, not then
Now back to the point, one thing is vital to mention
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrum
See one's the work of God, but one's a man made invention
See one is the cure, but the other's the infection
See because religion says do, Jesus says done
Religion says slave, Jesus says son
Religion puts you in bondage, while Jesus sets you free
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus makes you see
And that's why religion and Jesus are two different clans
Religion is man searching for God, Christianity is God searching for man
Which is why salvation is freely mine, and forgiveness is my own
Not based on my merits but Jesus's obedience alone
Because he took the crown of thorns, and the blood dripped down his face
He took what we all deserved, I guess that's why you call it grace
And while being murdered he yelled
"Father forgive them they know not what they do."
Because when he was dangling on that cross, he was thinking of you
And he absorbed all of your sin, and buried it in the tomb
Which is why I'm kneeling at the cross, saying come on there's room
So for religion, no I hate it, in fact I literally resent it
Because when Jesus said it is finished, I believe he meant it
--end--
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Catholica 01/31/2012 10:01 |
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Catholica
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01/31/2012 10:12 |
Let's start on the first stanza.
--start--
1. What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion
2. What if I told you voting Republican really wasn't His mission?
3. What if I told you republican doesn't automatically mean Christian
4. And just because you call some people blind doesn't automatically give you vision
--end--
I will try to answer this from a Catholic point of view, and I would like to hear other points of view.
1. I don't believe that Jesus came to abolish religion. There are verses in scripture that support this view. For example, Jesus said "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Matthew 5:17. The Law and the Prophets *were* the Jewish religion. And Jesus lived his whole life obeying every tenet of the Jewish religion. Also Jesus established at least two rituals hearkening back to religion, those being baptism and the Lord's supper. We also see him founding his own Church in Matthew 16:18, and giving them the keys, which in Jewish culture stood for the authority to discipline, pronounce excommunications and other discipline which He knew were necessary for the order of any community. You can't have a society without rules and guideposts, otherwise it turns into chaos.
2&3. Voting Republican wasn't His mission, that's for sure. I'm not sure why he threw this line in. I can only speculate that he is somehow frustrated that religious leaders are so adamant about voting Republican in this day and age. I don't really want to get into the reasons why religious leaders encourage this, because it is truly a sensitive subject, but I believe that he is correct that Republican does not mean Christian.
4. Just because you call some people blind doesn't mean that they are not blind either. Is he rejecting moral authority to denounce sin just because the person denouncing it is not perfect? I'm not sure what this has to do with religion. Religion in my mind and by definition is a set of beliefs and practices. These beliefs often extend to doctrine and morality. Is he saying that religion cannot correctly enunciate God's moral law? I would beg to differ.
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Catholica
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01/31/2012 10:23 |
Second stanza:
--start--
1. I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars
2. Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor
3. Tells single moms God doesn't love them if they've ever had a divorce
4. But in the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores
--end--
1. Has "religion" started wars? No, rather people start wars. Religion has never started a single war. Have religious people started wars? At times. More often the bloodiest wars have been started by those with no religion, such as both World Wars, along with the mass genocides in atheist China for example. But is war always bad? Certainly it is a debate. I believe that sometimes it is necessary to prevent a greater evil. Imagine the tyranny of Iran if they ever got hold of a nuclear weapon, and the mass destruction that might result. Imagine what might have happened if the US hadn't bombed Japan. Much more death would have occurred. We have it in the Bible that God allows bad things to happen to cause a greater good, such as original sin. We should not look at religion as starting wars but rather the stabilizing force that it can be to prevent them unless they are absolutely necessary.
2. He is wrong. Religion, at least the Catholic religion, is the greatest source of relief for all people worldwide, regardless of their beliefs. Yes, we build beautiful churches, but there is nary a man, who sitting in a beautiful Cathedral, when asked whether the chalice might be melted down to buy him lunch, would say that he wanted that. Beautiful churches are spiritual houses, and the spiritual part of us is even greater than the fleshy part of us. Both are necessary, and religion provides us both.
3. This is not my religion, which teaches that God IS love and does not change, and He loves everyone no matter what. But yet we know that God hates divorce itself. There is too much in the world that associates God's opinion of the sin with those who commit the sin.
4. Does God call people who are religious in the OT whores /because/ they are religious? Or is it because they have fallen away from the tenets of their religion, into idolatry, worship of false gods? I think the latter. He calls "religious people" whores not because they are religious but because they are hypocrites.
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Catholica
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01/31/2012 10:25 |
I'll pause for awhile to gather other opinions and insights before going on to the third stanza.
Andre
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Tammy
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01/31/2012 10:49 |
Andre,
I'm not Catholic, but I agree with your vision of this. There are several falsehoods in this poem/rap. I believe that false religion and self righteousness have crept into the church as a whole, but that does not make all religious practice wrong. When the church (us) is fulfilling the great commission and the great commandment, there is no other more positive force on the face of the earth. We are the Bride of Christ.
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Catholica
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01/31/2012 14:55 |
Thanks for your input, Tammy. I agree!
Here stanza 3:
--start--
1. Religion might preach grace, but another thing they practice
2. Tend to ridicule God's people, they did it to John The Baptist
3. They can't fix their problems, and so they just mask it
4. Not realizing religion's like spraying perfume on a casket
5. See the problem with religion, is it never gets to the core
6. It's just behavior modification, like a long list of chores
7. Like lets dress up the outside make look nice and neat
8. But it's funny that's what they use to do to mummies while the corpse rots underneath
--end--
1. In my understanding, I believe that he is referring to God's mercy. Religion teaches us about God's mercy but hypocrites don't in turn grant it. Or perhaps he speaks not of mercy but of forgiveness. Either way, this is not a problem of religion, but of hypocrisy. Anyone can be a hypocrite. The only person who cannot be a hypocrite is someone who does not stand for anything. It is not easy for people to be forgiving. We are born with a spirit of justice; it is only through God's grace that we understand the spirit of mercy. Not religion's fault.
2. Ok, this one irks me. This makes no sense. John the Baptist was a fiery preacher who commanded people to repent of their sins. He totally called out Herod for his sin. John the Baptist was all about God's Law, and he himself was a religious person, most likely raised in the Essene sect, eating very little, an ascetic life. Did someone condemn John the Baptist for his sins? Never. Traditional Catholicism, indeed, holds that John the Baptist was sanctified in the womb the moment the infant Jesus caused him to leap. He was a holy man, and no religious person condemned him for anything except for calling out people for their sins, i.e. enforcing the rules. It seems that a good part of this poem is in itself effectively condemning John the Baptist type people!
3&4. It is not the fault of religion when people mask their problems. The conversion of a person is up to God, whether a person is religious or not. Religion can only preach the good news, it can't force people to not be hypocrites. That is God's job. This is not a condemnation of religion, at all. So perhaps I don't understand what he means by "religion" at all in this sense, because really it seems what he is against is people not being hypocrites and self-righteous ones at that.
5-8. These lines it makes plain to me what his idea of religion is: simply a set of rules to be followed. Ok... well without these rules, i.e. God's moral law, how do we know we are in sin? Or perhaps he means he thinks religion teaches us simply a way to act, simple piety. That is part of religion but not all of religion. Is piety bad? Far from it. In fact the letters of Paul speak highly of piety. Piety is a synonym from religion, yet there is more to religion, more than that. As for dressing up the corpse, Jesus referred to the Pharisees as "white-washed tombs". Sound similar? Did he call them this because they were Pharisees? No, it was because they were hypocrites, explicitly. Matthew 23:27.
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Calico
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01/31/2012 16:13 |
wait, slow down, perhaps we got way too far ahead... we need clarification...
ie. Definition of how you are using the word religion, if I may ask...?
Hugs brother, sister :-)
Tom
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