Jesus > Religion: TAKE 2

This video is spreading like wildfire! With over 12 million views (and counting) and all over facebook, this video reaching lots of people. But I've been thinking about it. And I've talked with some friends. And so, I've come to a different conclusion about its message than when I first saw it. Let's take a closer look at some of the lyrics, written by Jeff Bethke:

What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion?

This is basically the whole message of the poem. But you make some BIG assumptions about religion. If religion equals self-righteous laws and working your way to salvation, then you're right on target.

But that's not what religion is. The problem is, this is what most people perceive religion as: rules and regulations and priests and institutions and hypocracy. But Jesus didn't hate religion.

Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums. See one's the work of God, but one's a man-made invention.

Jesus was not anti-religion at all. In the Old Testament, God established the Mosaic Law; God gave the Israelites' all those rules and regulations. Jesus didn't come to abolish this Law - He came to establish it on an even higher level! See the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus takes the law (thou shalt not murder) and raises the standard (he who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart). Jesus came to show us that "the law" is not an external issue - it's a heart issue.

True religion is about what's in the heart. Take James 2:27, which says, "Pure and undefiled religion is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." While I don't doubt that the "religion" referred to in this video is addressing legalism or self-righteous salvation, the well intended message may be having a not-so-good effect.

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.

Whoa there. That's an extreme statement to make. You resent religion? Of course, I believe you mean that you hate all the hypocritical rules that some religions place on salvation... but it's still a rather broad and bold statement to make about religion in general.

And another thing: When Jesus said those last words on the cross, was He meaning that He was ending all religion? Or was He just completing man's atonement to God? Let's be careful not to take Jesus' words out of context.

Conclusion: I think this video fuels religious skepticism. It leaves me with the feeling that Jesus hated any established or organized religion. I can see how non-believers could see this video and come to the conclusion that any kind of "religious" affiliation is hypocritical and self-righteous. In fact, I've even read that the atheists and agnostics are using this video to prove their viewpoint! While I understand that this video is meant to condemn the legalistic extreme of religion, I think it might end up steering people AWAY from its intended goal.

Just because all your Christian friends share something that they say is great, doesn't mean it's doctrinally sound. This video was a good reminder for me that I need to think more critically about what I see and hear. I need to view everything through the lens of God's Word -- and not except it just because all the other Christians do.

{See this article and this article for more analysis of the video.

To see Jeff Bethke's response to this, read this.
But this article in the videos defense is worth reading, as well.}

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Link Up! 1/13/12

Happy Friday the 13th! =)

Failed Humblebrag? - Jim Hamilton: “Some people think it ironic that Moses purportedly wrote Numbers 12:3, ‘Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth’ (NAS). The irony is obvious, right? It’s hardly humble to declare yourself the most humble man in the world. Unless it’s true.”

50 Rules for Dads of Daughters - This is so sweet!

How many Pages Does the Internet Have? - A lot, apparently. “A group called the World Wide Web Foundation — appropriately founded by Tim Berners-Lee, who pretty much created the internet — is on a quest to figure out, with some degree of certainty, how big the internet really is.”

The Sinful Tragedy of Boredom - "To be bored is to fail to see the many and varied good gifts God has given us, not the least of which is in creation."

Welcome to the English language - And for some weird reason, English is my favorite subject!

The Rollerman -

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Jesus > Religion

To see why I don't fully agree with this video, READ THIS.

"There's a problem if people only know you're a Christian by your Facebook."

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God is Too Good

“God is too good to be unkind.
He is too wise to be confused.
If I cannot trace His hand,
I can ALWAYS trust His heart.”


-C. H. Spurgeon

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Why We Love Jane Austen

I dislike romance novels. Nope. I'd choose C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton over Nora Roberts any day. I can't understand who would want to fill their heads with unrealistic expectations of men and dream about the "perfect"  romance story which many romance novels present. I mean, come on! Give me some reality!


But Jane Austen is a different story.


For some reason, I, the romance-novel-hater, am captivated by Jane Austen's works. Oh yeah, I had seen the movies before, but once I picked up her books, I couldn't stop reading. First of all, Austen is a literary genius, in my opinion. But not only is her writing enthralling, but her characters are captivating and her story-lines are pure brilliance. There's just something about the class and formality of the early 1800's that enraptures me.


So, I began thinking, Why is it that we love Jane Austen so much? (I'm assuming that some of you like her work as well). What is it about her work that has captured hearts for hundreds of years? Why do I love her novels when I shun all other romance books? I have a few theories. =) Here is why I think I love Jane Austen:


1. Her books are literary works of art. I already referred to this, but it's worth pointing out again, that Austen is an excellent writer. Her sentences alone are romantic! The descriptions, the character development, the emotions she portrays—pure brilliance. Certainly, her books are a joy to read.


2. Men are portrayed as men. In a society where feminism prevails and where male leadership has declined (and is often even discouraged), Austen's works are a breath of fresh air. In her works, men know how to be men—even when their deeds go unrecognized, even when it's awkward, even in disappointment, even in a room full of women. Her male characters possess a kind of confident civility that goes far beyond flattering words and good looks in the area of romance. Deep down inside, I think all of us dream of a romance built on character and principles: where the men pursue the women, where honor is upheld, and where sacrifice is heroic. Yes, "heroic" accurately describes the men we all love in Austen's novels.


3. Redemption is beautiful. No one wants to read a romance that's "happily ever after" right from the beginning. Bor-ing. We love Jane Austen (and all other good stories, for that matter), because there's a conflict that has to be resolved. The truth is, romance stories are sweeter when there's a disagreement or a misunderstanding or a separation, because it makes the resolution at the end all the more beautiful. (I'm also thinking about the BBC movie North and South. You gotta watch it.) 


As I was thinking about the beauty of redemption in Austen's novels, it occurred to me that this is one of the reasons why the gospel is so beautiful! If you think about it, we were once enemies separated from God; but because of His love for us, God sacrificed Himself for us so that we could be brought into fellowship with Him and be made into the Bride of Christ. Totally Pride and Prejudice-y! 


It's just a thought, but I think this is one of the reasons God allows sin in the world. I mean, God knew Adam and Eve would sin, and He could have made the world so that there was no sin. But He didn't. In His sovereignty (that I don't claim to understand), God allowed sin. Yes, He hates it. Yes, it goes against His character. But God's ultimate goal is to magnify Himself and bring Himself glory, and through the reconciliation of the sinner to God, God looks great. The gospel of Christ is so beautiful because of redemption.


Bottom line: I love Jane Austen. But God wrote a more beautiful romance than any human author ever could. Praise God!

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Time and Twenty-Twelve

It never speeds up. It never slows down. Time is constant: steadily constraining our lives in this world, yet unceasingly bringing us closer to the end.


To us, time is just a measurement—it passes in minutes, hours, days, and years; but we live day to day subconscious of its passing. To us, time is eternal—it's all we have ever known; but we don't often think about the fact that we are only given a short allotment of it. Forgetting its brevity, we readily spend our time on meaninglessness pastimes, using it on whatever seems best at the moment. But are our lives to be spent away moment by moment? Will we use our time with a "present" purpose only? When we live for the "here and now," we forget that time had a beginning, and it will one day have an end. We forget that time is precious.


Of course, it's much more pleasant to live as if we had "all the time in the world." We dream; we scheme; we plan our lives away because we don't want to admit that we have no control over our lives at all. Yet, we are surprised when things don't work out like we'd planned them; we complain when we don't have "enough" time. Although time never changes, it always seems to "fly by" faster than we expected it to.


Time is temporary, limited to this earth. Even so, it is so easy to view our lives in the span and sequence of time alone. We see our past as years gone by and our futures as simply more years to come. It's the mentality of "this year is gone and over, but—hey!—I'll have next year!" But God says, "You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14). We can't count on tomorrow, or next week, or next year. 


But, what if our lives were about more than...our lives? What if we were created for a greater purpose that totally exceeds the boundaries of time? What if the little bit of time we have could have eternal significance?


I want to challenge you (and myself!) to view this new year like you've never viewed it before. Although there's nothing wrong with New Year's resolutions (in fact, they're great), I don't want to get so caught up with "right now" that I completely miss the eternal perspective on my life. Today is more than today. Next year is more than next year. Our lives were created to have an eternal impact!


So let's make our resolutions; let's look forward to a fresh start. But let's keep in mind that 2012 is more than eating right, reading more books, getting better grades, losing weight, or whatever resolutions you may have. 2012 is a year of purpose. God put you in this world in this decade for a purpose! Let's use our time on stuff that really matters, on things that will count in the end. 


If your life purpose exceeds the limitations of time, then it doesn't matter when it ends. What matters is how it counts.

Lord, teach me to number my days,

That I may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

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Beautifully Incomprehensible

This was the moment. The moment the world had been waiting for. All of History had been scripted for this one moment. Every prior event was played to set the stage, to build and lead to the climax of this beautiful story. Though through the ages, many wonderful stories have been crafted and retold, none can compare with the beauty of this story—the Advent of the Savior.


"Though he was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,"
Jesus—the infinite, eternal God—did not hold on to His heavenly, glorious position as God. Although He didn't become less of God, He gave up all of heaven's glories to come down to earth.

"but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."
I will never conceive how much Jesus gave up when He became a man. It is too great to fathom. He was the Creator of the universe, yet He lowered Himself to become a human. Truly beautiful.

"And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Not only did Jesus give up all of heaven, He gave up His life. He willingly traded His righteousness for our filthiness. A beautiful exchange, indeed.

"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
God valued His glorious, righteous name so much that He was willing to kill His own Son to justify sinners. Jesus' birth and death is more than our salvation—it's God's declaration to the world that He Is Righteous.


We hear this story every year. And in the midst of the rush, the hustle, the bustle of the season, it's easy not to hear it at all. I don't ever want this story to become too familiar to me. This story is the beauty of the gospel and the glory of God. It may be incomprenehensible to our small minds, but it is beautiful.


The most beautiful story was written by God Himself.

Philippians 2:6-11


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A Peace Offering

So in case you haven't noticed, I haven't been a very good blogger. Sorry, guys. Last year of high school + college planning stuff = a very busy me.

As a peace offering for my lack of posting, please accept (and watch) this awesome rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas." You'll seriously love it.





I hope you all are having a blessed Christmas season!!!
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