I guess it depends how you want to define religion. The passage I had in mind is Mark 7, where Jesus attacks the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and their traditions which make void the word of God. Religion as understood by most people is about 'doing' things to be right with God. Christianity is not about doing but about what God has done through Jesus death and resurrection for forgiveness of sins. Being a follower of Jesus is not about what you do but what Jesus has done. So does Jesus hate this kind of religion? Yes.
But what of James 1:7;
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Here is religion that before God is pure. Does Jesus hate this definition of religion? No.
Seeing the answer to the question 'does Jesus hate religion?' is both yes and no, is it helpful to use the phrase as a mission theme? My tentative answer is yes. But mainly because I suggested it in the first place and I hate to be wrong. Perhaps in hindsight arrogance isn't a good enough reason.
Not sure mate, I instinctively like it though for its rhetoric force.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could achieve the same benefits without the downsides if you went with "Jesus hates religion...?"
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I agree (which I think means I'm agreeing with myself, which is not that surprising) it's the preachers punch. Someone I was speaking to was asking the other day if this comes under the category of quarreling about words? However, the effectiveness of the phrase all comes down to how you explain it.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a problem of how much of the whole council of God we must include in every statement we make. We could end up making so many clarifications that the original point is lost.