Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus

[Luap]

Came across this today.

It's a great video with great ideas. I feel it's accurate, in that Christianity shouldn't be about Doing, because it's really about it already being Done.

I disagree though that Christianity shouldn't be called Religion. Religion is a belief in something supernatural. And, well, the Christian God is certainly supernatural.

[Superschlock]

Were it only that this would be taught in the majority of so-called Christian churches.

[Chrono Mizaki]

Were it only that this would be taught in the majority of so-called Christian churches.

If it's anything like the South Park Easter Episode with the Rabbit and Jesus is that even if you tell them the 'universal truth', those who are into their religion will reject it. To admit it would be to become lost.

[JustSnilloc]

Were it only that this would be taught in the majority of so-called Christian churches.

The Catholics hold strong to their "Religious" ways, but outside of them the "Religion" aspect of Christianity shouldn't be there so strongly... But like individuals, churches have different opinions one what they think they should do :/

Honestly, you need some "Religious" aspects for a church to work, but as an individual it's not necessary to being a believer, before I ever became a Christian I found it a turn off... idk some people want to be stuck in the "Religious" aspect of Christianity and never grow, I suppose it happens

I disagree though that Christianity shouldn't be called Religion. Religion is a belief in something supernatural. And, well, the Christian God is certainly supernatural.

Religion is about the rules, and the formal structure... the history, the traditions, blah blah blah

A belief in the supernatural is simply believing that things exist outside what we perceive as the natural

[_EX]

I saw this video today and I share similar views to his critics.

He believes in Jesus, he believes in the bible, he believes in sin. Where is the part where he isnt following a religion?
That sounds exactly like a religion to me.

[Orion]

The video's nothing special, just swap the word religion for church and it becomes perfectly clear what he's really saying. Saying he hates religion but loves Jesus is a way more 'revolutionary' and attention-grabbing idea than hating the church and loving Jesus. Saying religion instead of church gets the video that much more attention, which is what this is about.

He probably loves religion, just hates all the negative shit the church has done to not only warp the Christian religion, but also harass in various ways other beliefs and peoples too.

Also;

[A]

i was honestly waiting for someone to post this video. he always finds a way to put a spin on things

[Orion]

What he says sounds pretty spot-on. It's a marketing campaign, nothing more. Why bother with the sem-rapping, the scenery, the effects, the music and the rest if it isn't?
"Let's throw about some statements that should be contradictory, then dress them up like they're not while putting a nice sheen on the whole thing, and bam! We'll get people's attention, and their interest in the church."

[keyblade2222]

so let me get this straight
he believes in the bible, sin and jesus AND church
but hates religion
so he loves everything that makes religion what it is
but he hates it

i don't get it

[Solar]

can't believe i'm saying this but amazing atheist was spot-on

plus he highlighted my resentment towards the sacrificial lamb and original sin concepts pretty accurately too

also his poem seemed kinda intolerant/assholish to other faiths but w/e

[Shamdeo]

Christianity is first and foremost the relationship between yourself and God. Really, that's what a lot (not all) of religions are.

So no offense to the video creator, but no shit.

EDIT: Upon watching the video I realized he's a prick. So I offense to him or whatever.

[JustSnilloc]

so let me get this straight
he believes in the bible, sin and jesus AND church
but hates religion
so he loves everything that makes religion what it is
but he hates it

i don't get it

to most people outside christianity, and several within it, Religion is what you think it is... However the truth is he's referring to getting caught up in the works, making the works look pretty, and that is what being "Religious" is to people like this, and... Myself

If religion was a belief in the supernatural, then as a child (before really knowing anything about any religion) I was religious because I believed supernatural things existed -_- a belief in the supernatural is simply that, a belief in the supernatural

Think of the word "Tyrant" it's not anything bad of itself, but over time it's received a negative connotation, same with "Religion" to many Christians (as I've explained why)

[A]

the problem is that he is using religion in the wrong context

[Orion]

And disingenuously. It's fairly clear where better phrasing was appropriate, but hey, you add the 'wow' factor to the video by saying it the way it's been said. Were it phrased to relate what was actually being said, the message would be completely unremarkable.

[alexis.anagram]

I think a great deal of the reaction to this video is a bit aside from the point and I think it's essentially the fault of the poetic wording of the video itself. It's important to recognize that the conflict between religion and a more personal form of spirituality is a bit more complex than a purely semantic application of those ideas might indicate. Religion, in form, can be viewed as a systemic management of spiritual beliefs via a predominantly hierarchical, regardless, structured mode of worship (i.e. Church, Synagogue, Mosque). As such, it is possible to follow Jesus Christ (i.e. be Christian) and hold oneself to be irreligious as Jesus is Salvation and even the Bible is secondary to his will-- except for the fact that its gospels are the only spiritually verifiable account of Jesus as the Son of God; essentially, however, the interpretations of God's word by priests and bishops are irrelevant to one's spiritual righteousness.

This is where the complexities with regards to the Church's historical construction often enter the conversation as it isn't entirely clear what, precisely, constitutes a House of God in Jesus's (God's) view and to what extent this may contradict the mass worshiping, structured practices of religious people today. The Roman Catholic Church, in particular, throughout its history, has been a subject of more political and governmental and, to an extent, economic intrigue than of focused religious significance. Likewise, the many sects and branches of Christianity, established by way of various Churches and organized denominations, have each largely originated from or been informed by a kind of ecclesiastical politic; and so, while Church is equatable to religion in contemporary language, the two are, in practice and in ideology, vastly different routes of worship. This may be what the speaker is addressing with his poem and it may be why he justifies, confusingly and I believe contradictorily, a love for church and a hatred of religion. Church embodies the primary misconceptions surrounding religion which he seems to be combating in his monologue. Religion is central given the concept of Salvation in the Lord: Church, as a contemporary rule of worship, is arguably extraneous.

Meanwhile, the Amazing Atheist doesn't appear to have a clear grip on the context of the poem. I agree with much of his response on principle, but he isn't formatting it to specifically address the content of his criticism. The video is clearly intended as an appeal to religious (er...) sympathy, not a sweeping iconoclastic berating of Christianity on the whole. In failing to speak to the subject matter as it is presented as opposed to how he has chosen to interpret it, he risks irrelevancy, though I admit that his insight into how this is potentially being used as a marketing campaign for a disillusioned generation makes a fair amount of sense. This has all of the tropes of a D.A.R.E. commercial for a population of young people who aren't volunteering their lives to be wagered and bet in stakes of eternal damnation and it's good on Amazing Atheist to point out that Jesus was never the peace bearer but a soldier for religious conformity (which, if you're Christian and evangelical, is possibly comparable to world peace as an Orwellian-Machiavellian interest).