Jesus > Religion (?)

Give the next four minutes to this video, even if you have already seen it. It’s best to watch or read things several times in order to think critically about them. And, strap in, this is a long post. I hope you enjoy it, though.

It’s been ‘liked’ on YouTube over 160,000 times and ‘disliked’ on YouTube over 19,000 times. It’s been shared on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube time and time again. Most commentary thus far has been divided as to whether or not this ‘message’ is acceptable. Herein lie some of my thoughts. Feel free to read them, wrestle with them, agree or disagree with them, and challenge them. This is an important topic for our time and we would do well to approach in this conversational way.

I remember going to a Big Daddy Weave Concert. I love them. Soooo good. And they began singing a song, one they covered from another worship artist, “Fields of Grace.” In Big Daddy Weave’s version of the song resides a line that goes like this:

There’s a place where religion finally dies.

And I remember Mike Weaver (the lead singer) prefacing the line by saying, “This is my favorite line of the song.” The spirit in which it was sung now seems strange to me. I once was sold on the concept of “relationship, not religion” but I’m now more convinced that that notion cheapens the Christianity that both Jesus and Paul called for.

Which leads me to this somewhat bold statement: The man in the video was too caught up in praise given to him for his skilled rhyming that he forgot to actually check his statements and definitions for consistency.

The problem with the video above is that it seems to go one way…and then another. He claims that Jesus and Religion are on opposite sides of the ‘spectrum’ but he also points out that your religious affiliation on Facebook doesn’t make you a Christian. Wait, what? How are these tied together?

It becomes necessary to define ‘religion’. (Good rhetoric makes use of loaded, ambiguous terms like ‘religion’ and, well, ‘Jesus’ because you can begin to redefine them in your own way in order to make a point. Not defining them within an argument not only makes the problem worse, it threatens to destroy the terms entirely.)

It seems to me that this man considers ‘religion’ to mean: a facade that followers put on that masks their spirituality. He’s not even close to suggest this. Get religion out of the way because JESUS is what is so important. He seems to be saying that you don’t need religion if you have Jesus. In fact, he blatantly says that at the beginning of the piece. He says,

What if I told you that Jesus came to abolish religion?

(I desire to respond: I’d tell you that you were wrong)

If anything, I think, Jesus came to reform religion. Jesus came to correct religion. Jesus came to show humans how to live life. This was a large part of his ministry on earth, including his preaching. Jesus did not come to abolish religion, he came to serve religion. In one sense, he came to serve as a means of growth throughout that life.

So truly, ‘religion,’ for Christians, is the means by which we worship God and grow further in the likeness of Christ. Religion encompasses sacraments like communion and baptism. Religion involves a confession of sin. Religion encourages prayer. Religion encourages accountability. Religion is a way of life, and a way to grow into a Christ-like life.

Now, his courageous testimony is notable and honorable. I always am moved by people who had a huge transformation toward Christ-like living in their lives and are willing to speak openly and honestly about it. BUT, because he has this…he operates out of a mindset of grace.

Truly, surely, GRACE is a large part of the Christian story. Paul tells us that we are sinful people, in need of grace. Theologians have told us throughout time that that sin is covered by grace. Though it’s disagreed on exactly HOW that grace functions, all Christians agree that the life of Jesus, the death on a cross, and resurrection have something to do with the grace required for eternal salvation. Even our friend in the video remarks that salvation is not based on “my merits, but Jesus’s obedience alone.” AND HE’S RIGHT.

Jesus’s obedience to do the will of the Father, to face death, has a great deal to do with our salvation. This, I believe, is true. And I can’t name you a Christian who thinks that YOU can earn YOUR OWN salvation. That idea was pretty much outlawed in Christian circles a LONG time ago.

But, he’s still confused.

His points are right. We do need grace. That has been taken care of. Christians should live holy lives, not just consider themselves saved because of their Facebook information. Christians should tear down the facades. Christians should be open and honest. Christians should practice grace.

BUT THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT ‘RELIGION’ IS!

That’s the calling Jesus placed on us through his preaching. That’s the call Paul placed on us through his letters. That’s the calling our pastors place on us every Sunday. Religion, the practice of worshipping and becoming more Christ-like, is defined by all these things that he outlines. Religion is not just perfume on a casket, it is the burial ceremony and the tears shed for the loved one.

So, you’ve probably reached the same point I have.

He’s a good poet. Spoken Word is popular now. Rhetoric is easy to come by with ambiguous language. Good speakers can catch and win over a believing audience just by the tones of their voice.

But this does not excuse us from watching our words.

Statements are bold. And when they’re attached to art, they become MORE powerful.

Definitions are important. Because we use them to communicate effectively.

So ‘religion,’ as it stands, maye be a used up, dried out word that offends people. And…perhaps we need a new word. But people, good people, Christians in fact, use the word ‘religion’ to speak about how they’re growing into a Christ-like life.

And so to make a statement that Jesus > Religion is simply unfair. Jesus and the Christian religion are intimately tied together. Religion is a way of life. Religion is the VERY thing this man is calling for. Jesus did NOT hate religion. Religion is a means to Jesus, and if approached in that way, those liking and disliking the video can actually come upon common ground.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

As a writer, I can relate to this guy a lot. I often write papers that make awesome points that contribute to the exact opposite of my thesis. I end up at the end of the paper saying, “Wait, where’d I go wrong?”

I just tend to think that this is dangerous for the future of the Church. Influencing this many people and convincing them that ‘religion’ is wrong is scary. Very scary. We do need Jesus. But we also need prayer. We need accounable discipleship. We need confession of sin. We need baptism and communion. These are elements of religion that most in the Church are unwilling to let go. Because, for them, this is where Jesus is. This “Jesus and Jesus alone” mindset is ok, but only if religion gets included in the definition of ‘Jesus’.

-B

Salvation As An Art Form

Last night, Allison and I were presented with the opportunity that every customer at Family Christian Stores has when they purchase anything.  You can predict it:

Cue the line, “Would you like to donate $5 to buy a Bible for a child in need?”

Perhaps it is because of my guilty conscience, or perhaps it is because I think that it is a good idea, I usually donate. Last night’s exchange was a bit different. They still offered the Bible for $5, but this time it was for a women’s center in our area sent to encourage women in the midst of a pregnancy to “choose life” in their own situation.

You can read more about the program here.

Not paying any attention to how the donation of a Bible would convince a pregnant mother not to proceed with an abortion in the first place, something still struck me as odd. And I didn’t know why.

I generally don’t oppose the giving of the book that tells the story of our Savior and Lord and often donate for the cause. But something about this marketing scheme seemed…off to me.  How can a Christian oppose the giving of the Bible to one whom might benefit from the reading of it?

I realized that I didn’t oppose the idea as much as I let the marketing and phrasing around the promotion bother me. But I still didn’t know why.

At first, I thought, “There’s the typical Conservative side of things, maybe that’s just annoying.” That certainly played a role, but that didn’t seem deep enough. Surely that wouldn’t bother me that much. Then I thought, what is it about “choose life” that is so bothersome? And I realized, the typical Right Wing of America uses the phrase politically and in the midst of their own political ambitions judges those who are not members of their political party.  Mostly this judgement manifests itself inside of the assumption that those who aren’t members of their party have different beliefs. As in, you aren’t a Republican, you aren’t pro life. And I don’t care what political party I align myself with, I’m not sure that my being pro-life can be decided by what party I decide to join. Aren’t all humans in some sense “pro life” when it comes to most things?

So perhaps my problem with the Bible donation was that the “choose life” phrase assumes that one might NOT choose life. 

And then I thought, “Wait a second, how are we defining life?” Do we not have faith that the God who had the foresight to bring us into the world would not save us no matter what action our earthly potential parent might take?  It seemed to me like maybe we weren’t putting enough emphasis on the life to come. 

I’m not defending abortion, I think that dangers and problems in pregnancy ought to be taken into consideration because it is SUCH a case by case, situation by situation basis? I just think that when we implore others to “choose life” perhaps we are not taking into account much of the future: salvation.

I had to figure out how this type of logic would make sense. Because I can’t believe that these people who exercise these thoughts WOULDN’T think that salvation isn’t of utmost importance.  Another realization: what does the salvation rely on? Oh yeah, their idea of salvation hangs on a conversion experience. A single point in time when Jesus was invited into their heart. From then on, they were “saved”.

While I whole heartedly believe that the Christian life requires a conversion experience of some sort and a conscious decision to follow Christ with an outward sign of that (baptism, confirmation, etc), I have always struggled with the salvation factor. I believe that God came to earth to save all. Not just Israel.  Not just Calvinists. God came to save adults.  God came to save those that will never hear the Gospel. God came to save those who will never be born. 

And I had that sinking feeling that we all have every once in awhile when we are thinking about God and the work of God in our own lives and the world: 
I. Don’t. Get. It. 
I. Will. Never. Get. It. 

I can’t understand. Because it isn’t up to me to understand. 

Humans do this, don’t we? We have an issue, something that doesn’t make sense, and we try to rationalize it.

But we will never understand it. And it is still beautiful. Like art.

If we believe that God and God alone can and does provide salvation, and that nothing of our own merit earns us a way to living with God eternally, then we have to look at God’s way of providing salvation as art, something that is so beautiful that we can’t stop looking and will never be able to either explain it, fully comprehend it, or recreate it.

It is like when you read through one of Aaron Sorkin’s dialogues. Or when you watch Kobe Bryant shoot a three.  Or when you hear Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sing Lieder. Or when you look at anything Da Vinci. Or when you watch Barack Obama deliver a speech. Or when you read a Shakespearian plot line. Or when you watch Julia Roberts act. Or look at the design of an Apple product.  Or watch Nolan Ryan throw a fastball. Or watch Jim Parsons deliver a Sheldon line. Or listen to Steve Wozniak describe building the first personal computer. 

It is brilliance. And all are art forms that we can’t understand. Can’t figure out, and can’t help but see the beauty in.

I can’t help but think that God’s saving grace works in the same way.

Perhaps, rather than trying to decide what God is doing in the world and force it on others, we would do well to take a step back every once in awhile, take in the beauty of what it means to be a child that God has saved from sin, and let that inspiration that is bound to appear speak for itself.

-B