Why we all need to take a deep breath…”Religion” and Jesus

I mean do I really need to post the video? God knows you’ve already seen it. But…in case you haven’t….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY

…there it is.

Now, there are plenty of valid rebuttles out there, none of which am I linking right now. I will not link them because I’m about to rebuttle with a different message. I’m about to rebuttle with an entire blog about why “Religion” and Jesus lovers are one in the same… and how if we could just stop gawking at ourselves in the mirror thinking we’ve got it all figured out, we could learn something from one another. So here we go.

I will start with what’s truly wrong with the video if you are listening to him word.for.word… Numero uno: No, Jesus did not come to abolish religion. This point has been made in so many blogs, that I probably don’t need to reference Jesus saying, ” I did not come to abolish the law….” but, I will (Matthew 5:17). Next, Webster’s dictionary defines “Religion” as, “The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.” So…if you want to argue that you hate religion…well, you hate what you do, yourself. You are claiming to hate the very practice of believing and worshipping Jesus Christ. Finally, as a Catholic, I feel a little insulted because I’ve been put under a blanket. You’ve accused me of empty traditions, hating divorced people, masking my sinful life with pretend rule following…You’ve defined the word, “religion” yourself…and then you used it to define me.

woah.woah.woah. Can we all hold on for a second? This video wasn’t directed at Catholics? We may have taken that out of context? Did anyone take the time to read his “commentary” on what this video is about?

“A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it’s core Jesus’ gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can’t do your own list of rules and feel “not good enough” for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don’t represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!”

Key words: FALSE religion and PRIDE. 

Here’s the deal: As a Catholic, I saw the title of this video and I put my fists up. I was ready to defend myself. After listening to it, though, I felt a little uneasy about a few things he claimed, but for the most part- he has an awesome testimony and he’s been saved from a pit of sin. Marrying a Protestant has “opened my heart” (for all you who are reading this with an open mind) or “corrupted me” (for all you who came to this site on a high horse hoping that I was about to bash protestants and how wrong they are in everything they do). The reason for that is this: Fellow Catholics: We have got to stop hearing the surface level and not digging at the heart of things. Sometimes we read SO deep into a single word, or a single thought. We overanalyze like it’s nobody’s biz-nass! Protestants: You have to stop stopping at the surface level of tradition and “rules” and looking into the heart of them.  We both only end up hurting ourselves. Because of our dumb division and our ARROGANT pride (the pride that Jesus himself would be disgusted with) we have totally missed the fact that this guy at one point in time was sleeping around, excessively binge drinking, addicted to pornography and is now sharing about Jesus Christ, the savior of the world because he’s found the light. Where is our REJOICING in a soul won for Christ? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We’re going to rebuttle with rules and snide comments about how we would let Jesus in our church and then show a picture of the Eucharist? We’re going to take the Eucharist to THAT level? AHHHH! It’s DISGUSTING!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking that Catholics (or any of the “religious” he is speaking of) sit back and don’t state their opinion, don’t stick up for what is true. Instead, what I am begging is that we question rather than accuse. I wish we would rejoice in our similarities rather than condemn with our noses in the air acting as if we have something to prove, some contest to win. No one could ever be more wrong. 

Here’s the other deal: This guy doesn’t hate religion. What he hates is FALSE religion. What is NOT false religion? Well, in James it’s made pretttttty clear. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27) So he hates when people go to church every Sunday but never dig into the word, he hates when people claim their love for Jesus but never put that faith into action, he hates religion that builds large churches and forgets the poor. Can I say something? Jesus would hate those things too. Unfortunately, this guy just chose the wrong word for his rhyme-diggity. He hates the hypocrisy that turns non-believers against Jesus and I hate it too. He hates the pride that people hold when they are GOOD and they believe it makes them better with God, but they spend no time with God in prayer, letting Him rule their lives. He hates when the noise of details overpowers the power and voice of God. AND I. HATE. IT .Too.

Now don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be standing here saying I am Catholic if I didn’t think through my research that for the most part, i found truth there. What I’m saying is that we need to respect his journey. We need to respect what God is doing in his life and TRUST that outside of Catholicism, GOD IS WORKING. Without that being said, it’s a situation of downright respect for a person’s art. What he’s sharing came from his heart and people bashed it like he hadn’t ever had a tearless night writing or thinking about it. All that is, is petty 5th grade stuff.

Yes, we have our differences. But why do we always focus on those? One of my favorite analogies is one my husband said to me tonight. He said, ” The Catholic church to me shows love in one way. They play the role of the disciplinarian, tough love parent. Sometimes guilt follows into that and the rules are known and to be followed. The modern Protestant church seems to show love in a way that comfort, undying love and acceptance are shown overwhelmingly. Both are beneficial, but one without the other is incomplete. He continued with, “You will never find me on one side or another. If you want me to say I’m 100% Catholic, I cannot say it. If you want me to say I’m 100% Protestant, I cannot say it. What I can say is that I am confident that I have taken the word of God and hidden it in my heart, regardless of what the title of the church it came from was. I remember him in the ritual that is Communion, though I never was taught about transubstantiation, I obeyed His command when He called for Baptism, and I try to live my life according to HIS rules and believe that it is when I don’t make a conscious effort to follow those rules that my faith is dead.”

Lastly, it brought up the discussion of, “but as a Catholic, I believe that Jesus started this Church. I believe that He passed it down from Peter…how do I not be PROUD in that?” Chris said (he always surprises me with his depth) “Sometimes it’s the wrong kind of pride.” Are we boasting in Christ or are we boasting because we know we have it all figured out and the Protestants are wrong? After all they are the ones who LEFT the church! ( if we would look at the heart of Martin Luther maybe we wouldn’t be so hateful about that either).

Overall theme: I ranted. But here’s the point: I rant because I’m sad. I’m sad that the division is here in a way that Jesus would hate. I’m sad that we took a video about false religions and turned it into a point of argumentation between Catholics and Protestants. I’m sad that no matter how great of a testimony this guy has, it is now overshadowed by fighting and rebuttles. It’s was never even about RELIGION. It’s about the love behind the action. If I go up to receive the Eucharist on Sunday without a memory of what Jesus did on the cross, but out of obligation, I am no more following Jesus than the one who skipped Mass that week. If I baptize my child to appease my family, and then never implement Christian living in my home, I’ve done it in vain. It is the hypocrites who inspire hatred toward “religion.”

 

All I’m asking is that you take 5 minutes away from your criticisms today and take a deep breath to thank God for reaching down to this guy and saying, “I want this man.”

 

Now Breathe. Please be kind in your comments, I will delete anything that I feel is disrespectful.

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