Brilliant People Saying Brilliant Things, Brilliantly
Brilliant People Saying Brilliant Things, Brilliantly
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Friday, January 13, 2012
Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word
My friend from back east told me to watch this. I find it interesting how he defines religion in the video. He separates Christianity and church from religion. What do ya'll think?
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater? But an understandable viewpoint based on his personal experiences. We of course sound like that sometimes too. When we add subtitles to the Book of Mormon or boil the whole book down to a statistical talking point on how frequently the name "Jesus" shows up. Every 1.8 verses or something. Like that proves our Jesus credentials. Misses the whole point of the Book of Mormon and the Gospel. It's about the Covenant. There's a reason why the BOM is a history not a sermon. It's a history of a Covenant people. The sermons on Christ are flashpoints within the history of the Covenant. (And most of the sermons on Christ are renewals or reiterations of the collective or individual covenants ie. Mosiah 1-5) The covenant is administered by priesthood. Priesthood means organization--Israel. Christ is in the covenant. We are in Christ when we are in the covenant. Christ makes the covenant efficacious but there is no Covenant without a church. THe church is the Covenant. Can't scripturally separate Christ from the Kingdom, in Christianity or in Mormonism. He's experiencing a church not the Covenant Kingdom of God though so I see where he wants to pull Christ and "religion" apart.
To what extent, friends, can Protestantism be narrated as a running question on the problem of "church." He sounds a little like Luther: cut through Church to get to Jesus. Does "Protest"-antism come already bristling at "church," in other words? Even Mormonism, it might be argued, was wrestling with the problem of church ... something went wrong somewhere, this thing is broken, can we get back something purer, better?
Calvin is a good example of Protestantism's problem with "church". He, following Luther, saw "church" as a potential distractor from correct belief, but Calvin also drafted the church regulations for the Genevan church. He was in charge of coming up with a church model that worked. Confessionalization was so closely tied to appropriate, moral action that he deemed "church" as necessary. He created four church offices (pastor, elder, teacher, deacon) which were in charge of supervising and monitoring the church members. Mormonism has followed the same path as Calvin, at least in the case of "church". Once theology is fixed (or restored in our case), then behavior needs to be monitored, and church is a way to do that. So, I guess Protestantism, in a way, is okay with "church" as long as the theology is sound and focused properly. But views on theology, as shown in the video, have the tendency to change, which creates a "love/hate" relationship with "church".
What stuck out to me the most was when he said Jesus said "done." To me, Jesus says "be." We come closer to Him through "be-ing," which would include "doing" what we are. If he was partying, and then going to Church the next day, it's not what Jesus wants ideally, but He wants to help anyone trying to "be" better. Are we Christians because we believe in Jesus, or because we do everything that He would?
This could be a commentary on Protestantism, not only because of the "only Jesus" aspects, but because the commandments obeyed and acknowledged appear to be self-driven, honesty to and with self, not responsible to creed or clergy.
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater? But an understandable viewpoint based on his personal experiences.
ReplyDeleteWe of course sound like that sometimes too. When we add subtitles to the Book of Mormon or boil the whole book down to a statistical talking point on how frequently the name "Jesus" shows up. Every 1.8 verses or something. Like that proves our Jesus credentials. Misses the whole point of the Book of Mormon and the Gospel. It's about the Covenant. There's a reason why the BOM is a history not a sermon. It's a history of a Covenant people. The sermons on Christ are flashpoints within the history of the Covenant. (And most of the sermons on Christ are renewals or reiterations of the collective or individual covenants ie. Mosiah 1-5) The covenant is administered by priesthood. Priesthood means organization--Israel. Christ is in the covenant. We are in Christ when we are in the covenant. Christ makes the covenant efficacious but there is no Covenant without a church. THe church is the Covenant. Can't scripturally separate Christ from the Kingdom, in Christianity or in Mormonism. He's experiencing a church not the Covenant Kingdom of God though so I see where he wants to pull Christ and "religion" apart.
To what extent, friends, can Protestantism be narrated as a running question on the problem of "church." He sounds a little like Luther: cut through Church to get to Jesus. Does "Protest"-antism come already bristling at "church," in other words? Even Mormonism, it might be argued, was wrestling with the problem of church ... something went wrong somewhere, this thing is broken, can we get back something purer, better?
ReplyDeleteCalvin is a good example of Protestantism's problem with "church". He, following Luther, saw "church" as a potential distractor from correct belief, but Calvin also drafted the church regulations for the Genevan church. He was in charge of coming up with a church model that worked. Confessionalization was so closely tied to appropriate, moral action that he deemed "church" as necessary. He created four church offices (pastor, elder, teacher, deacon) which were in charge of supervising and monitoring the church members. Mormonism has followed the same path as Calvin, at least in the case of "church". Once theology is fixed (or restored in our case), then behavior needs to be monitored, and church is a way to do that. So, I guess Protestantism, in a way, is okay with "church" as long as the theology is sound and focused properly. But views on theology, as shown in the video, have the tendency to change, which creates a "love/hate" relationship with "church".
DeleteWhat stuck out to me the most was when he said Jesus said "done." To me, Jesus says "be." We come closer to Him through "be-ing," which would include "doing" what we are. If he was partying, and then going to Church the next day, it's not what Jesus wants ideally, but He wants to help anyone trying to "be" better. Are we Christians because we believe in Jesus, or because we do everything that He would?
ReplyDeleteThis could be a commentary on Protestantism, not only because of the "only Jesus" aspects, but because the commandments obeyed and acknowledged appear to be self-driven, honesty to and with self, not responsible to creed or clergy.