Does Jesus Really Hate Religion?

This video has been extremely popular on facebook.  You’ve probably seen it.

It’s become very popular to say that Jesus hates religion.  But what does does it really mean to be religious?  Blogger Kevin DeYoung weighs in and pushes back against some of the things said in the video.

If you have a minute, read the paragraphs below from DeYoung’s post.  

What do you think?

More important is Bethke’s opening line: “Jesus came to abolish religion.” That’s the whole point of the poem. The argument—and most poems are arguing for something—rests on the sharp distinction between religion on one side and Jesus on the other. Whether this argument is fair depends on your definition of religion. Bethke sees religion as a man made attempt to earn God’s favor. Religion equals self-righteousness, moral preening, and hypocrisy. Religion is all law and no gospel. If that’s religion, then Jesus is certainly against it.

 

But that’s not what religion is. We can say that’s what is has become for some people or what we understand it to be. But words still matter and we shouldn’t just define them however we want. “Jesus hates religion” communicates something that “Jesus hates self-righteousness” doesn’t. To say that Jesus hates pride and hypocrisy is old news. To say he hates religion—now, that has a kick to it. People hear “religion” and think of rules, rituals, dogma, pastors, priests, institutions. People love Oprah and the Shack and “spiritual, not religious” bumper stickers because the mood of our country is one that wants God without the strictures that come with traditional Christianity. We love the Jesus that hates religion.

The only problem is, he didn’t. Jesus was a Jew. He went to services at the synagogue. He observed Jewish holy days. He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). He founded the church (Matt. 16:18). He established church discipline (Matt. 18:15-20). He instituted a ritual meal (Matt. 26:26-28). He told his disciples to baptize people and to teach others to obey everything he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). He insisted that people believe in him and believe certain things about him (John 3:16-18; 8:24). If religion is characterized by doctrine, commands, rituals, and structure, then Jesus is not your go-to guy for hating religion. This was the central point behind the book Ted Kluck and I wrote a few years ago.

 

The word “religion” occurs five times in English Standard Version of the Bible. It is, by itself, an entirely neutral word. Religion can refer to Judaism (Acts 26:5) or the Jewish-Christian faith (Acts 25:19). Religion can be bad when it is self-made (Col. 2:23) or fails to tame the tongue (James 1:26). But religion can also be good when it cares for widows and orphans and practices moral purity (James 1:27). Unless we define the word to suit our purposes, there is simply no biblical grounds for saying Jesus hated religion. What might be gained by using such language will, without a careful explanation and caveats, be outweighed by what is lost when we give the impression that religion is the alloy that corrupts a relationship with Jesus.

17 Scattered Thoughts About Grandma Connie

My Grandmother died yesterday at 90 years of age.  Some thoughts…

1. She always called me Danny.  I guess lots of people did when I was a kid, but she never stopped.  When I called her, I had to say that it was ‘Danny’ calling or she wouldn’t have known who I was.2. When I was a kid, my favorite color was green.  I don’t think I ever chose it though.  I think Grandma chose it for me.  I think she liked green.

3. I remember going to visit her apartment.  She always had Polar ginger ale.  Always in a one liter bottle.  I think I might have avoided the other stuff in her fridge (I’ve always hated tuna), but man did I go for that ginger ale.

4. She never had a drivers license.  She didn’t own a car and she didn’t drive.  Except once – a long time ago.  She told me about it and I love that.

5. I admit that I teased her.  She would always ask me about the older people at my church.  I told her that I tease them too.  I don’t think that she believed me, but she should have.

6. Back t0 the driving thing: it was a long time until she let me drive her.  That was always my dad’s job.  I think she suspected that I maybe drove too fast and might have been dangerous behind the wheel.  I have no idea where she might have gotten that idea…

7. Why did she always insist on wearing heels?  I’ll never know or understand.  That she never experienced the comfort of walking in a nice pair of sneakers troubles me.

8. She lived the last several years of her life in her own place after living for decades in an apartment.  It was not a place that many of us would covet but it was hers and that made her happy.  When she moved in, I said a blessing (prayer) over her home and the time she would spend there.  I think that made her happy and I think God honored that prayer.

9. Grandma loved the beach.  She went to Hampton.  She went to Plum Island to visit us when we were there.  I don’t think she ever went anywhere else for ‘vacation.’  I’m not sure she ever wanted to.

10. At her apartment, Grandma had that painting of Jesus standing next to a skyscraper.  Maybe you’ve seen it somewhere else – it’s pretty common.  I don’t know why that’s significant, but I remember it vividly.

11. Grandma liked cats.  I do not like cats, but I never held that against her.

12. When I was a kid, I don’t remember explicitly telling Grandma that I loved her.  But I started a couple of years ago, and I’m glad that I did.

13. Some of us have expensive collections.  Grandma collected things like seashells and bookmarks.  I think she has quite a collection of both.

14. Grandma was a person of faith.  Christian faith.  I’m not sure whether it was an active choice for her to believe or a part of who she was from before even she could remember.

15. None of us really want to die.  But when the time came, She believed that Jesus would take her to be where he was, just like he promised his disciples all those years ago.  I believe that too.

16. Grandma loved my boys (her great-grandchildren) and asked about them every time we talked.

17. As I think of these things, I’m sadder than when I started.  None of them are sad, but I loved my grandma.  I miss her.  And at the risk of sounding cliche, I do look forward to the hope of seeing her again.

Should Church Be Portable?

Whether or not a church is ‘traditional’ or ‘contemporary,’ there are certain things that we’ve grown comfortable with – possibly even dependent upon – in our worship gatherings.

Organ, piano, pews, powerpoint, pulpit, drums, guitars, lights, hymnals…

I personally have no problem with any of the above, but what if you found yourselves with none of them?

Surely we’d have to cancel ‘church’ for that week at least, right?

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve made worship gatherings a lot more complicated then they were in the early church.  I’m not convinced that this is ‘bad,’ but I am concerned that we might be too dependent on some of the things listed above.

Could your local congregation meet without anything on that list if need be?

Would they?

 

Recommendation: Beyond Justice

For the most part, I am a non-fiction reader (biographies are a favorite).  There are some exceptions and I believe there will be more in the near future.

I have read the occasional mystery over the years, starting in High School.  I’ve always like John Grisham’s novels, among some others.

I just read a book that reads like a Grisham novel, only with some more explicitly Christian content.  (Grisham is a Christian but is generally not overtly evangelistic in his books – The Testament is perhaps an exception.

Beyond Justice (only $3.97 if you own a kindle) is a book that I would recommend – particlarly if you like those legal types of books.

I almost put the book down in the first chapter because the subject matter was difficult to me – a little too close.   A man comes home to find his wife and young children brutally attacked and dying.  That’s something I don’t even want to imagine.  This is NOT a cute Christian novel.  It’s gritty, but appropriate for the subject matter.

If you are a Christian, I believe that where this book goes will trouble and challenge YOU, probably deeply.

It goes somewhere that none of us ever want to go.

 

Movie: Courageous

A new movie (opens tomorrow) from the creators of Facing the Giants and Fireproof.

Is this something you’d be interested in seeing?

What is a Disciple?

What is a Disciple?

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Before his ascension, Jesus left some final instructions.  He told his disciples to make more disciples.  It seems to me that he then describes basically – and fairly simply – what that means.

“Baptizing them” – The New Testament fairly consistently says that baptism is a part of proper response to the gospel message.  It is not an isolated practice, but associated with repentance and faith.

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

A disciple must, of course, believe in Jesus.

“Teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” – I believe that is is simply the core of what it means to be a disciple.

The corresponding position to teacher is learner.  Disciples are learners.  We learn from the master, Jesus.  We also learn from other disciples who are learning from and following Jesus.

Learning to obey Jesus is the fundamental task of disciples.

John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.”

We often wonder, which ones?  The great commandment – love the Lord, love your neighbor?  Take care of the least of these?  Love your enemies?

While I believe it is helpful to go back to core ideas that encompass many others, like the great commandment, there is also a danger here.

The answer is not in choosing specific commandments, but all of them.

When we pick and choose certain things we can move ourselves away from the Bible – more specifically the Gospels.  The Gospels are the field manual for disciples.  Disciples of Jesus will keep going back to the teaching of Jesus to learn not only what to believe, but how to live.

So, my simple proposal is this: A disciple is someone who is learning to obey everything that Jesus commanded.

This includes what to believe about Him, how to view and treat others, how to live in this world in light of the world to come.

What are your thoughts?

Is Prayer Necessary?

David Platt weighs in…

Will Willimon on 9/11

Some of you will not like this at all, but I think it’s worth reflecting on…

_____________

“On 9/11 I thought, For the most powerful, militarized nation in the world also to think of itself as an innocent victim is deadly. It was a rare prophetic moment for me, considering Presidents Bush and Obama have spent billions asking the military to rectify the crime of a small band of lawless individuals, destroying a couple of nations who had little to do with it, in the costliest, longest series of wars in the history of the United States.
The silence of most Christians and the giddy enthusiasm of a few, as well as the ubiquity of flags and patriotic extravaganzas in allegedly evangelical churches, says to me that American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat. It was shattering to admit that we had lost the theological means to distinguish between the United States and the kingdom of God. The criminals who perpetrated 9/11 and the flag-waving boosters of our almost exclusively martial response were of one mind: that the nonviolent way of Jesus is stupid. All of us preachers share the shame; when our people felt very vulnerable, they reached for the flag, not the Cross.
September 11 has changed me. I’m going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what’s wrong with the world. I have also resolved to relentlessly reiterate from the pulpit that the worst day in history was not a Tuesday in New York, but a Friday in Jerusalem when a consortium of clergy and politicians colluded to run the world on our own terms by crucifying God’s own Son.”

Will Willimon from Christianity Today.

Something to look forward to after Heaven?

Christian: What happens when you die?

“My soul goes to heaven.”

Then what?

You spend eternity there?

Nothing else?

______
If you believe the Bible, there is certainly something more.

Initial Thoughts on “Love Wins” by Rob Bell

I’m not going to attempt a review here, just to share a few thoughts. I might drill down on some more topics at some point.

There is some really good stuff in this book, and some other stuff that is going to raise a lot of discussion

As for the more controversial elements, I would say that Rob blurs the lines (in some ways that are helpful and some that are not) and oversteps, speculating with too much confidence.

The book is called Love Wins and that is somewhat telling. His chapter titled, “Does God Get What God Wants?” is the one that will probably cause the most stir.

God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, right? So, does God get what God wants?

Rob posits the idea that God continues to pursue people – even after death. And, he suggests that people can say ‘yes’ to Jesus even then.

God does not give up until God gets what He wants, according to Bell. Love wins.

Does this make Rob Bell a heretic? Discuss…

As the promo video mentioned, Rob is upset that many Christians are confident about who is in hell. Gandhi for example.

As for me, I’ve never expressed any total confidence about who is in hell for sure. There are a lot of questions I have. The fate of the unevangelized is one.

I’ve sometimes wondered about many of these questions. But I think that they are unanswerable questions. Rob seeks to answer them fairly boldly.

God can do anything God wants to do. But I think expressing the idea that people can assuredly say yes to Jesus at any time even after death can be dangerous. It is not a gamble I’m willing to take.

We simply don’t know a lot of things. What we do know (because God has told us) is that when we truly believe in Jesus, we can have confidence in our forgiveness, standing before God, and our eternity.

Only through confidence in Jesus can we have such assurance.