Are you kidding me? A close look at a popular new YouTube phenomenon: "Why I hate religion, but love Jesus."

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Permalink Reply by Pr. Mark Schroeder on January 23, 2012 at 7:42am

Another confessional Lutheran approach to the problem that Mr. Bethke wrongly answers and addresses  in his video, is an article by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt.  It can be downloaded for free from here:  The Gospel for Those Who are Broken by the Church. 

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Permalink Reply by James Robertson on January 23, 2012 at 10:43am

Another Look: from Stange Herring

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Permalink Reply by Dave Gosse on February 19, 2012 at 6:43am

February 12, 2012 by jeffbethke
 My Thoughts After Writing ‘Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus’

 

It has barely been a month since the release of my “Jesus>Religion” video, and man has it been one crazy, intense, overwhelming, and awesome month! Ever since the video came out it has been an absolute whirlwind, and never in a million years did I think I’d be jettisoned into this position so quickly! Because of the quickness of it all, it has been a very trying time for me and my walk with Jesus. I’ve had great days, but I’ve also had extremely depressing days. Some days I didn’t even know what to think. I do think though the dust has settled a little, and God has been working on my thoughts lately, and so I thought I’d share what’s been in my head since the day the video came out. I hope the post below encourages, clarifies, and edifies. My hope is for this post to bring light into my situation, and also bring unity to the body of Christ.

LESSON LEARNED – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUTH AND PRECISION

When everything started getting crazy I had a great discussion with an adjunct professor of theology at Reformed Seminary. He mentioned that too many times today people don’t know how to decipher between truth and precision. We want everything to be precise, which is nearly impossible in today’s society of sound bites, tweets, Facebook statuses, etc. I also was discussing this with one of my mentors (who is brilliant theologically, and studied at Dallas Theological Seminary), and he said it so succinctly I thought I’d share it here:

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To which I offered the following observations,

Dave says:

February 18, 2012 at 12:03 pm

 

Hi Jeff Just a few thoughts… I watched your video several weeks ago and wasn’t offended by it.  I read a few critiques and thought some of them fair.  Your mentor’s remarks on “precision” are valid.  In fact, they reflect my opinion of your poem.  I think I got the message but it required a sympathetic reading between the lines and one thing you seldom receive on the internet is a sympathetic reading between the lines.  I think the impersonalness of the medium makes harsh criticism easier, so don’t take the criticism, or its tone, too seriously.

That said, I would like to add my thoughts on art, precision, and truth.  I do not think they are mutually incompatable nor do I think you need sacrifice one to achieve the other.  An imprecise truth might be Aristotles observation, “All men, by nature, desire to know.”  Truth and precision in art may be found in a wealth of poems, paintings, songs, etc.   To strive for precision in your art is, in my opinion, desirable – if for no other reason than preventing the sort of misunderstanding you have recently experienced. 

Words are the medium with which God has created to communicate with humanity.  As such, words have power.  They are almost mystical.  Just think, a simple sound, or a mark on a page, can communicate our hopes, our desires, our fears, our feelings, our inmost thoughts.  They can evoke emotion, understanding, fear, hatred, or love.  Words are terribly powerful. 

Words can also provoke.  I suspect you intended your words to provoke a reaction.  That reaction, in at least some cases, was a little more vehement than you expected.  That’s OK.  Some people overreact.  You must expect that when you put provocative words out there in a medium such as the internet. 

But much of the reaction was over the imprecision of your words, particularly your use of the word “religion”.  G. K. Chesterton, in “The Everlasting Man” in the chapter titled “God and Comparative Religion” writes that the only “religion” is Christianity, all others are superstition, myth, or philosophy.  His argument is sound and his view is shared by many devout Christians.   It’s worth a read if for no other reason than learning to use words precisely, provocativley, and artistically.  Chesterton is one of my favorite authors and his skill with words is unmatched.

But back to the word “religion”  – it is a powerful word, almost certainly guaranteed to attract attention, and in the context in which you used it, to provoke a reaction.  It is ambiguous, an attribute of which you took full advantage in the title of your poem.  Unfortunately, you overlooked the need to clarify the ambiguity in the body of your poem.  It took, as I said, a sympathetic reading between the lines to see your intent, and even then your message is unclear.   You have been misunderstood, not because some people demand clarity, but because your message was not clear.  Provocative words will provoke a response.  They are powerful things, words.  So to evoke the response you desire it is desirable that you use your words with the degree of precision necessary for your audience to understand your message.

BTW.  The technical production of your video was superlative.  Great visuals and lighting.  I am envious of your talent.

God bless Dave

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