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This blog is simply meant to bring God the glory; no more and no less. I'd love to hear from you! Comments, questions, conversation. rebecca.labriola@gmail.com

Thursday, January 12, 2012

"Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus"- A different perspective on the controversial video. Thursday, January 12, 2012.

Watch the video first (if you have not already) and then read the blog.
Please feel free to comment, I am more than happy to discuss any or all of this blog.

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

Okay.
This video has been all over my Facebook today.
And I finally decided to watch it.
There really are so many points made in this video.
His main point is Jesus>Religion.
I agree with many of his ideas. I really do.
Obviously there are some things that are just flat out wrong, in my opinion.
Most of the other blogs I read pretty much just dissected the whole video
but I do not know that his ideas can be fairly dissected for one reason;
the reason is his idea of the definition of religion vs. the definition of religion.
Stick with me.

If my definition of religion is this:
Go to church on Sunday,
smoke pot on Monday,
deny Jesus on Tuesday,
lie to my parents on Wednesday,
stab a friend in the back on Thursday,
get drunk on Friday,
and as he suggested in the video-
view pornography on Saturday,
and then end/begin the week with church on Sunday
and put on repeat,
the YES! I am going to be confused about religion and its connection to a righteous Jesus.

If my definition of religion is based on the Latin origin it will look like this:
The word religion stems from the Latin and ultimately means to rely, to bind, to fasten.
Many people think of a religion as a set of rules that one is to live their life by.
Far enough. That is part of it.
Put the two together.
With religion, we are able to fasten ourselves to God.
To rely on God.
To bind ourself to God.
Without religion,
Without that reliance,
Without that bind,
Without that fastening,
We will likely make our own rules.

Okay.
Two severely different definitions.
His definition of religion is more clearly the first one.
On a personal level, I can relate more to the second definition (or at least I try my hardest).
Because of the two radically different definitions of religion, I could not sit down and argue with him fairly. I would gladly share with him my beliefs and why I believe those things but we simply could not discuss the topic of religion fairly.

Example-
I am a swim coach.
You're going to get an example from swimming.
At pool A the highest level of lessons taught is level 6. They are almost ready for swim team.
Pool B is geared towards younger families. The highest level of lessons taught there is level 3. These kids are just barely learning to swim on their own. They can swim about 2 strokes and then they need some major help.
These levels are very different from each other. Each level has its own description or definition.
If a coach from pool A and a coach from pool B meet and discuss the highest levels taught at their pools, there is going to be a bit of confusion. Essentially, they are talking about the same thing- the highest level of swim taught at their pool. But their definitions of the highest levels are very different from each other.

Back to the video.
His understanding of religion in one word essentially- hypocrisy.

My understanding of religion- a bind to Christ and rules to help guide my life to reach eternal life.
We cannot have a fair argument of whether Jesus>Religion.
Our definitions are too different.
That is my first point.

Now onto my second point.
I do not agree that religion=hypocrisy.
That is what he believes.
Or that is what he understand religion to be.
The reason he understands religion to be purely hypocritical is because he is wounded.
In some way, he felt let down by religion.
I can guarantee you that he experienced some pain that in his mind religion was supposed to keep him free from.
Whether that pain was a divorce, or poverty, or feeling like an outcast....the list goes on.
He was hurt.
And to deal with that hurt he decides to hate religion.
He is not hating on religion but rather his understanding of religion.
He hates the fact that something went wrong;
something went against the religion that he understood as good and as a bind to Jesus.
As a result of that pain,
a wound is left in his heart and he sees religion as hypocritical.
In my eyes, it does no good to slam him with my beliefs and tell him he is wrong.
Remember, something happened to make him think this way.
A Christian lashing out at him is not setting the best example nor is it helping to heal his wound.
This goes for each person you come in contact with.
It is so important to interact with people remembering that they are who they are for a reason.
The grouchy man next door was not born that way; something made him that way.
This man was not born hating religion or thinking that religion is all hypocritical; something or someone made him think that way.

Onto to my last point.
He was wounded.
Thousands of people are left wounded each year because their idea of religion or of the church was let down.
It is each person's job as the body of Christ to step up and truly act like a Christian so that there is no room for hypocrisy.
Obviously we are human and we are going to make mistakes.
No one is perfect.
We are going to fail sometimes.
But only good can come from truly following Christ and His teachings.
As Christians we should watch this video with great sorrow.
He is so deeply wounded that he feels that religion is a hypocrisy.
As the body of Christ we should feel some sense of guilt for the fact that he was treated so poorly by a Christian or he witnessed Christians acting in such a poor manner that he completely disregards religion and believes it to be a hypocrisy.
What happened?
Something major in his life happened and we as Christians should reach out not only to him but to all who have been hurt by the church or by religion.
It is our duty, as Christians, to kill them with love.
Love them so deeply and heartfelt that the huge wound heals a little.
Be the Christian that overturns the pain.
Be the Christian that loves like Jesus.
Be the Christian that does not break people down.
Be the Christian that builds people up in the name of Jesus.