Religion and Rules vs. Relationship

I shared a video in church last week that a lot of people have been asking me about. The video has received over 20 million views over the past few months on Youtube. It’s titled, Why I hate religion, but love Jesus. The focus of the video by Jefferson Bethke is to highlight the difference between false religion and a relationship with Jesus. The video seems to have hit a nerve, with many critiquing it and criticizing it, but I think the video serves as a wakeup call to the church. We do have to be careful in defining what we mean by religion, but I think Bethke defines it accurately in the video. He says that religion is man searching for God, while Christianity is God searching for man.

Are we inviting people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, or are we inviting them into our system of rules and tradition and religion? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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1 Response

  1. Chris Hunnicutt says:

    Mike,

    As I first viewed and listened to this video awhile back, I knew there was something that did not make sense or was very biblical about it. Yes, the overall spirit of the video is right, but there is alot more that he did not say or said incoreectly.
    Kevid D’Young wrote an article on his blog that broke it down verse by verse and actually got a response from the author of the video. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
    http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/13/does-jesus-hate-religion-kinda-sorta-not-really/

    I really enjoy reading your blog and the insite and resources that you provide. Thanks

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