slideshow

Take a look at this video first . . .

Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus

After watching the video myself, all I could think of is how many people I personally know won't have a clue what to do with this video.  I read a website where the writer respectfully picked it apart without understanding the perspective I believe Mr. Bethke comes from, which is one of "be" not "do" when it comes to our faith in Christ, and our relationship with God.

To really understand why people do not like the video "for reasons they cannot fully articulate" you need to understand their perspective.  They are probably coming from a place in their life where all they have known as church has been a building they go to three times a week, including Sunday school, to learn about God.  They are comfortable in the walls of the place they call church, and comfortable with the people they associate with and know as Christians.

For many of these people (not all), a person is only "right with God" when they conform to the standards of the Bible as they interpret them.  Anyone who does not conform is "probably not really saved" otherwise they would have been "transformed by God" into someone who will fit in with their group.  As well, they believe that you must "do" things to have a right relationship with God.  It is a "works first" perspective, whereby we can continue to have a relationship with God after salvation because of what we do.

What I don't understand about their perspective is that many I know personally would admit that we are not saved by our works.  That only by God's grace and through faith we are saved, but yet once saved they seem to believe that they can only continue to have a relationship with God based on what they do.

For those people who do not understand why people like the video, here is their perspective.  Church is not a building, it is the saved people of God, and they do not understand why vast resources are spent on structures when there is greater need for those resources.  The greatest message ever recorded in the Bible was not preached in the synagogue, but on a mount.

A person does not gain a stronger relationship with Christ because of what they do, they simply have a relationship with Christ because of who they are - children of God.  As a child of God, they accept that they have a responsibility to be a witness in their actions, but those actions are not what gives them value in Christ.  They already have value in Christ.  They do not have to "do" anything to have value, however, because they have value and want to "be" a Christian, their actions will flow outward from there.

In the end, for what it is worth, I simply ask you to evaluate both perspectives on their results.  Recently I have been witness to churches who are meeting in high school gymnasiums and in small groups in homes, growing enthusiastically, seeing people saved weekly, believers discipled, and reaching their community around them regardless of appearance, age, social class, or color.  These churches are the ones coming from the perspective espoused in the video, the one of "be" a Christian.

I have also seen churches who are stagnant in growth.  The people who come to church are pretty much the same people every week.  They get curious visitors once in a while, but growth is limited to the people who "fit in" with their group.  Their people work tirelessly within the walls of the church in great programs for the people who go to that church, but even they sense "something is missing" without understanding why their own church does not grow.  These churches are the ones coming from the perspective of "do" in order to attain a "higher standard" of Christianity.

As for the video, I get it.  I agree with it.  I am a Christian not because of what I do, what I do flows out of who I am.