So this video is going ridiculously viral. Every place I look, it is there, with a million responses, some cheering, some condemning. I want to analyze this and put a final word on it. Throughout STTA Lifeteen, everyone has been debating this. Jesse had a great response to it, you should look it up. Here is mine. I want to pick out just a few points in which he was mistaken:
The first words of the video are that Jesus came to abolish religion… I can’t imagine where this guy could get this idea from. The best thing to do in this case is to crack open the scriptures and see what Jesus has to say about it Himself. To begin, we must look at the person of Jesus, He was a faithful Jew. He followed the Jewish religion all His life. We see this in multiple places. For example, Luke 4:16 says, “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He went into the Synagogue, as was His custom, on the Sabbath day.” The gospel says that it was His custom to go into the synagogue, which was the Jewish version of a church and he worshipped in the synagogue. Later in the gospels, Jesus celebrates the Passover. This feast was one of the most important days to the Jews. It remembers when God freed them from slavery in Egypt. Jews even today, still celebrate this day. As a good Jew, Christ celebrated this every year. The gospels record this as the Last Supper. Finally, I think the most obvious proof of this is found in the Gospel of Matthew 5:17. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” In the Jewish religion, the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets are the religion. We can switch Law out of this line and put in religion. It means the same to the Jews. “I have not come to abolish the Religion, but to fulfill it.” How could Jesus say this, but really want to abolish it? This guy’s claim seems to hold no weight at all.
Next, let’s look at the claim that religion has started wars… It is true that many wars past and present have been fought over what one believes, but we have to look at what is really starting the wars. It is not the nature of religion to be violent, religion is not a living person. Nowhere in the Catholic or protestant religions does it say that as Christians, we need to kill unbelievers. The wars have always been started by MEN. Not God. Every war that has ever been fought was started by the greed or the pride of Human Men. Many times, they have been religious leaders, even Popes. But what we need to realize is that our Church, while it was founded by Jesus Christ, is lead by imperfect men, that don’t always make the best decisions. We have had Popes in the past that have been very corrupt and have not followed the teachings of Jesus. But if we look at the Good ones, especially our current Pope, Benedict XVI, they have worked for PEACE not war. Religion does not start wars, Men do.
He then goes on to say that the church says that God does not love those who are divorced. First, anyone who claims to be any sort of Christian, whether you hate religion of not, one thing can never be changed, and that is the truth that God loves everyone. No church will ever say that God doesn’t love someone. With that being said, the divorce teaching has always been somewhat hard for people to accept. Again, we will go to the Gospel. Matthew 19:8 says, “For your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” Christ specifically says that God never wanted divorce. Marriage is supposed to be for life. The Church, in its wisdom has made room for what is called an annulment. This IS NOT DIVORCE. Even is someone gets a divorce, they are not kicked out of the church. They are still welcome at Mass. They are just asked not to remarry until the process of annulment is completed by the Church. It basically is a process showing how the Sacrament of Marriage never happened. (If you want more on it, ask me) The Church upholds all the teachings of Christ, but at the same time will never throw someone out. (Excommunication is different, again ask me)
He then complains about rules. Why does the church have rules? Example: why is there a speed limit? We drive done the East-West Connector and it is 45mph. Why is that? It is not put in place to control us, it is put in place so that we don’t drive 120mph down that road and crash into people, possibly killing them. The church has different rules, not to control but to guard our hearts and protect our souls from sin. The church doesn’t want us to have premarital sex because sex isn’t a good thing, it has this rule because it spiritually hurts us to give ourselves to people that aren’t our spouse. The Church is always going to protect its children.
Did Jesus start a religion? He started a church. Again we go to the Gospels, Matthew 16:18 says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus makes Peter the head of His church. How much more obvious and blunt can Jesus be here? Jesus started a Church, He started a religion.
I know this is long but stay with me for the end. Does religion make us a slave? Does it make us Blind? You tell me… If we freely choose to follow Christ, if we have the free will to choose Christ of choose Hell, where is the slavery? How are we blind when Christ gives us everything we need in this world? Christ said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12.
For Christ to say “It is finished”, did He mean religion? No. If He was truly done, there would be no resurrection. No Easter Sunday. When Christ said “it is finished” he was talking about His mission of salvation. He finished the saving us on the cross. But His church was just beginning, three days later… The Church begins with the resurrection, the church, and religion, will stay until the second coming. Then, there will be no need of religion; we will be with Him forever. 2,000 years of truth can’t lie my friends.
1 comment:
oooh la la, this is great.
*applause*
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