This video has been getting a lot of attention from Christians and even non-Christians. I thought I’d give my two cents on it.
I’ll explain firstly that I actually like the message of the video.
However, I do not like the terminology he uses. By using the word “religion”, it causes more confusion than anything. When said like that, it makes Christianity seem like it’s not a religion… when it is. What he is truly describing is dead religion… but that is not the same as simply religion.
I’ve covered this a little bit in a post that I reblogged from Johnny. In summary, the Christian faith is a religion. But it’s not religion that will save you… it’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But when you say that Christianity isn’t a religion, you tend to get comment like I saw on Facebook saying, “This is why I don’t go to church,” or “This is why I don’t read the Bible,” or “Finally, someone who loves Jesus without getting all theological.” And I didn’t even want to comment on them. These really kind of break my heart. It doesn’t make me mad as much as it saddens me.
I don’t think that it was even Jefferson Bethke’s intention. I like him and his videos. But I think he could have chosen his terminology much better.
