The recent viral youtube video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” has sparked much discussion.
I am glad this video went viral. I am a big fan of it. I think it was extremely well done in most every aspect. I appreciate the creative energy, talent, and time that went into producing it. Therefore, this increases my saddness to see so much misunderstanding surrounding the video. Due to misunderstanding, I fear items worthy of all of our consideration and reflection are missed while Christians argue about the proper use of the term religion. The purpose of this post is to state how (I think) the poet is intending the word “religion” to be understood in his message. My aim is to bring clarity to the way in which the author/poet uses the word “religion,” so that the focus can properly be put back on the heart of the matter.
We should define the poet’s use of the word “religion” in the context the poet himself provides. We must define words as how the author/poet intends to mean them. If we do not do this important interpretative step, misunderstanding ensues. Therefore we must be aware of the specific technical way in which an author uses and means a word. This is an important foundation for how language/meaning/communication works.
If some dislike or are uncomfortable in moving away from the listed dictionary definition of religion or how it has been used throughout church history, that is a different discussion altogether. I am not here to debate the legitimate semantic range of a word. I won’t debate it, because if I did, then, I too, would be missing the larger point of the video. I am here to simply shed light on how he is using the word “religion” in this piece of poetry.
Tentative definition of religion used in this video (as defined by me, and hopefully faithfully close to the intention of the poet)
Religion: A term that has evolved in contemporary evangelicalism to speak against a misunderstanding of biblical Christianity. It is used by some today in a broad sense as a grab bag term (junk drawer idea) to encompass all negative things wrongfully associated (i.e. legalism, hypocrisy, judgmentalism, works based salvation, etc) with Jesus and the Christian message both now and throughout centuries past.
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