Commentary by Maurice Smith…
The Viral Video – “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”
O.K., if you haven’t seen this video by Jefferson Bethke then you REALLY are coming late to the “blogoshpere”. It’s everywhere. The video is quite well done and consists of Bethke reciting a poem he wrote about “religion” versus “Jesus”. The video has gone viral and has received over 16 MILLION hits.
Bethke was interviewed on CBS This Morning where a Catholic Priest responded to Bethke basically the same way the Church responded to Martin Luther (“Religion is good. We’re the Church. We have the Keys of Peter. Get used to it.”). CTOnline (connected to the magazine “Christianity Today”) ran an article in response which was essentially a Protestant equivalent of the Catholic response – “There’s no such thing as an organic Jesus, so you’ll just have to take Him as we offer Him.” Yep, let me know when that works for you, big boy. Kevin DeYoung offered a point-by-point “reformed” response which was long, detailed and, well, “tone deaf” to the reality that Bethke had touched a raw nerve.
When a raw nerve is touched and exposed, people don’t want a lesson in Systematic Theology and proper Ecclesiology. What they want is a degree of empathy combined with a genuine humility that is willing to admit that there may be some truth to what is being presented. DeYoung’s response is almost like Johan Eck calling up Martin Luther and saying, “Hey, Martin, those 95 theses you posted weren’t really meant for us, were they? In fact, why don’t you and I do lunch and talk about a possible staff position for you with my Church.”
What do you think?