And "Wow" is right. The poem Jeff recites in this video is meaningful and downright powerful. He wrote a masterpiece of a Poem, and the commendation is well deserved.
When you can move people by simply writing and saying something as beautiful as this, you know you've done something right.
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!
Lyrics after the jump...
Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus
by Jefferson Bethke
What if I told you voting republican really wasn't his mission
What if I told you republican doesn't automatically mean Christian
And just because you call some people blind
Doesn't automatically give you vision
I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor
Tells single moms God doesn't love them if they've ever had a divorce
But in the old testament God actually calls religious people whores
Religion might preach grace, but another thing they practice
Tend to ridicule God's people, they did it to John The Baptist
They can't fix their problems, and so they just mask it
Not realizing religions like spraying perfume on a casket
See the problem with religion, is it never gets to the core
It's just behavior modification, like a long list of chores
Like lets dress up the outside make look nice and neat
But it's funny that's what they use to do to mummies
While the corps rots underneath
Now I ain't judgin, I'm just saying quit putting on a fake look
Cause there's a problem
If people only know you're a Christian by your Facebook
I mean in every other aspect of life, you know that logic's unworthy
It's like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey
You see this was me too, but no one seemed to be on to me
Acting like a church kid, while addicted to pornography
See on Sunday I'd go to church, but Saturday getting faded
Acting if I was simply created just to have sex and get wasted
See I spent my whole life building this facade of neatness
But now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness
Because if grace is [water](undefined), then the church should be an ocean
It's not a museum for good people, it's a hospital for the broken
Which means I don't have to hide my failure, I don't have to hide my sin
Because it doesn't depend on me it depends on him
See because when I was God's enemy and certainly not a fan
He looked down and said I want, that, man
Which is why Jesus hated religion, and for it he called them fools
Don't you see so much better than just following some rules
Now let me clarify, I love the church, I love the bible, and yes I believe in sin
But if Jesus came to your church would they actually let him in
See remember he was called a glutton, and a drunkard by religious men
But the son of God never supports self righteousness not now, not then
Now [back](undefined) to the point, one thing is vital to mention
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrum's
See one's the [work](undefined) of God, but one's a man made invention
See one is the cure, but the other's the infection
See because religion says do, Jesus says done
Religion says slave, Jesus says son
Religion puts you in bondage, while Jesus sets you [free](undefined)
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus makes you see
And that's why religion and Jesus are two different clans
Religion is man searching for God, Christianity is God searching for man
Which is why salvation is freely mine, and forgiveness is my own
Not based on my merits but Jesus's obedience alone
Because he took the crown of thorns, and the blood dripped down his face
He took what we all deserved, I guess that's why you call it grace
And while being murdered he yelled
"Father forgive them they know not what they do."
Because when he was dangling on that cross, he was thinking of you
And he absorbed all of your sin, and buried it in the tomb
Which is why I'm kneeling at the cross, saying come on there's room
So for religion, no I hate it, in fact I literally resent it
Because when Jesus said it is finished, I believe he meant it
2 comments:
This amazing video brought me to tears when I saw it the other day. It shares many of the same beliefs that I have myself, as well as many identical beliefs that others in my generation also believe in. Religion has gotten so out of hand; whether it be churches using every penny they have to donate to a political candidate or belief that they hold as well as convince their parishioners to do the same, or use their followers' donations to pay themselves more then to the poor and hungry, or to use more funds to fight child molestation lawsuits because they failed to do a better job of covering it up themselves. I could go on, but I believe my point has been clearly made. The youth of this country are evolving culturally in a direction that these churches do not like. Take almost any social issue like gay marriage, sex before marriage, or even marriage at all. These issues and beliefs are changing culturally to a more progressive and modern stance and these churches, set in their ways, will not have it. They've gone overboard in the past decade in an attempt to stop it, but all it does is make them look less credible, or, ironically enough, less like Jesus. Would Jesus use millions of dollars to stop people from being able to commit to love each other, like in Prop 8, or would he have used that money to help the less fortunate like the Mormons could and should have done? Would he have gone to Texas to try and figure out which conservative, rich favoring, anti poor, anti minority, anti spread the wealth to help out everyone Republican to vote for and then encourage others to vote for as religious and conservative leaders just recently did? I honestly don't think so. So now we have a generation that hears about the great things that Jesus did and sees the horrible things that these churches are doing in an attempt to control thought and beliefs and keep things from changing and progressing. People feel torn when it comes to their believes and what they are being taught and by whom. This video speaks volumes to that very idea, and unless the church can evolve on these social issues, especially gay marriage, then they will not survive. Only the love of Jesus will be left, as it should be, and as it one day will be.
Great comment Ryan! I couldnt' agree with you more! We'll have to use this as one of your editorials someday. :-)
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