Recent comments by presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann have stirred up the discussion about gay marriage once again. While speaking to a group of high school…
13
Jan
2012
Jonathan Brink
The Author
Jonathan Brink
I am the Senior Editor at Provoketive. I am the author of the recently published, Discovering the God Imagination. I also serve as Senior Editor for Civitas Press, a boutique publishing firm specializing in inspiring and redemptive ideas. I am developing a new model for publishing and seek to create new opportunities for fresh and creative voices.
Occasionally, I speak on issues of justice, postmodern theology, and living a life in the way of Jesus. I leads workshops on The Practice of Love and Exploring a Postmodern Gospel at BeADisciple.com.
I am a son, a husband, and a father. I live in Folsom, Ca, with my beautiful wife and amazing three children.
This video is making the rounds on YouTube and Facebook. In my stream its been shared over 25 times and has produced countless video responses on YouTube. Brambonius Cools suggested its a matter of semantics, and shared a list of responses so far:
Some interesting remarks about the problems with this video are written by the American Jesus, Sarah Moon, Elisabeth Esther, Jake Belder and Patrol Mag and by this girl on youtube. I’m not going to repeat everything those people say, so they might be interesting to read too…
Christian Piatt wrote a response that call it a well-meaning but false dichotomy. He says:
He also claims that Jesus hated the church, and actually came to destroy religion, once and for all. I can certainly see where he would draw such conclusions, especially when Jesus quotes prophecies about the destruction of central Jewish temples, but I think he’s over-generalizing here. Though much of Jesus’ ministry was out in the streets and in homes, he hardly avoided the church. When there, he was prone to stirring things up, no doubt, but he was considered – and even called – a rabbi by many of his followers.
My friend Jarrod Saul McKenna said on Facebook:
I dig heaps of it but find gender exclusive language difficult and distracting…
I get both of their responses, and think its important to say that church is not the same as religion, but churches can tend to espouse religion (at least historically). And I don’t think the guy was meaning to exclude women from his prose. The verse Jarrod is referring to requires the use of “Man” to rhyme (although, as a poet, he could have found a more inclusive phrase).
But the question remains why is it an internet sensation? What nerve has it touched in people that it would generate 6 million hits in two days and countless responses? What stands out to you?
What do you think?
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To be 100% honest with you, a lot of the people I know who’ve shared it don’t really buy it. It’s a talking point they like to nod with, but of course it really means (gauging by the their actions at other times): “what I believe is Jesus, but everything else that I don’t agree with is merely religion.” They have just as strict boundaries as anyone else I know, and it really is just another version of the “in-out” game.
Cody, so is the tension (he got over 1,600 dislikes on Youtube) that its disingenuous?
I would guess that’s probably a part of it. Growing up in a conservative Evangelical background, the popular saying at the time was : “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.” But it didn’t take me very long to learn what that really meant was “Only this specific group of people have that relationship” and, shock of all shocks, it just so happened to be the group I was in. Everything else was just religion, and they were all missing out on the relationship- and most often, because they didn’t sign on to some doctrines (inerrant Bible, etc.). My experience has been that the people who say this stuff the most have some of the strongest boundaries for who actually has that relationship with Jesus.
Here’s what I wrote in response to the video. The problem in the American church is not an obsession with “religion” but an idolatry of “doctrine.” http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/why-i-hate-doctrine-but-love-jesus-response-to-a-similarly-named-video/
Morgan, I think that’s a good call.
“What nerve has it touched in people that it would generate 6 million hits in two days and countless responses?”
I’m in agreement with what you all have said so far I think – especially the “idolatry of doctrine” aspect. In addition, It seems to me the nerve here is in part the same nerve that kicked off the Reformation and that still defines so much of American evangelicalism in a one-sided way – namely, “salvation by grace through faith alone.” And when you add the alleged bipartisanship (i.e., Christianity ~= GOP) while also getting tough on sexual sin, this strikes a chord with the same millions of people that podcast Mark Driscoll’s sermons (and in turn don’t mind the gender-exclusive language). And still further, most 20′s and 30′s will strongly identify with the expressed disapproval of highly adorned church buildings and a lack of social justice initiative among many religious folks.
The biggest shortcoming of this brand of Christianity in mind, however, is that it’s still individualistic to the core. It’s a “personal relationship with Jesus,” as Cody indicated, so much so that even concern for the poor and the common good is necessarily relegated to the periphery – despite being mentioned as a kind of important accessory. It’s “It is finished” theology, in other words, with “why have you forsaken me” left conspicuously absent.