Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word

[hrmjustin]

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Very moving in my opinion.

[Warpy]

1. I think he's got a lot of company out there

but he's still clinging to a church and focusing more on death than on life.

When he lets go of both he'll have gotten the point.

[hrmjustin]

2. That is an interesting way to look at it.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Agreed but I have a question.

Please don't think me 'out of it' but why are the subtitles so grossly wrong in places.
Ex: he said 'to ridicule' and they caption said 'to the ritual'

[hrmjustin]

5. I can not answer that. Must have a bug or something.

[CurtEastPoint]

7. It's almost like they were added live like closed-captioning transcription...

sometimes the words come out phonetically similar but entirely wrong. Curious!

[cbayer]

4. I haven't seen this for awhile, but I still like it. Thanks for posting.

[hrmjustin]

6. Makes me cry evertime i listen to it.

[cbayer]

8. ...

[hrmjustin]

10. Today was a hard day.

one of the priest in my parish announced he was moving on to a new job. I and the whole parish will miss him. He always reminded me of what Christ would want.

[cbayer]

16. I'm so sorry, but sometimes it is good to embrace change.

[hrmjustin]

17. That is how the clergy business is in the Episcopal Church.

[cbayer]

18. When people ask where I grew up, I say "all over". They then sometimes

ask if I was raised in a military family. Being raised as a PK is quite similar - we moved quite a few times when my father would get reassigned (essentially promoted).

[hrmjustin]

19. What denomination was he?

[cbayer]

20. Disciples of Christ. He is Thats My Opinion, who posts here from time to time.

[hrmjustin]

21. I shall look him up here.

[trotsky]

9. He hates religion except for his own, of course.

From http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Why_I_Hate_Religion,_But_Love_Jesus#Criticism

Bethke's video is the epitome of the phrase "I'm not religious, I just have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ." At no point in the video does Bethke explain why his particular interpretation of the Bible is more accurate than anyone else's. Although his message of tolerance and acceptance is admirable, it is contradicted by the Bible itself, a book full of violence, murder, intolerance, oppression, suffering, and cruelty.

It is also unclear what "religion" Bethke is referring to throughout the video. He makes no mention of any faith other than Christianity and does not explain why his religion is right and the others are wrong, or why the Bible is true and other holy books are not. He also accuses "religious men" of killing Jesus, but this is not entirely accurate and said men were certainly not Christians, as that faith obviously did not exist before Jesus. In short, Bethke does not seem to use the definition of "religion" used by most other people. Additionally, although it likely goes without saying, Bethke speaks of Jesus as a real person, a matter of significant dispute.

In any case, belief in a deity, such as God or Jesus, is religion, by definition. What Bethke seems to be arguing against might be organized religion, but his beliefs still constitute religion and thus his catchphrase is a contradiction in terms.

The silver lining of the video is that Bethke makes numerous claims at the beginning of the video that most atheists and antitheists agree with, regarding the hypocritical nature of most Christians, their cherry-picking beliefs, and the gluttony of organized religion. Unfortunately and ironically, Bethke falls into the same trap of cherry-picking and ignoring parts of traditional Christian teachings that he does not agree with.

[hrmjustin]

11. With faith everyone has an interpetation. Than again maybe the proble is...

... some leave the interpreting up to the wrong people.

[trotsky]

12. And given the nature of faith, every interpretation is equally valid.

No one has any real evidence, because then it wouldn't be faith.

[cleanhippie]

14. Who are the "right" people to do the interpreting?

Your statement gives me pause.

Than again maybe the proble is...
... some leave the interpreting up to the wrong people.

What does that mean? Who are the "right" people?

[hrmjustin]

15. I chose my words poorly. But the wrong people I would have said is fundamentalists.

[cleanhippie]

22. Why are they the wrong people?

I'm sure that they would say the same about you and your interpretation. What makes them the wrong people, because you disagree with them? Does that make your interpretation right? Who decides what is right and wrong?

I guess these questions are mostly rhetorical trying to make a point, but if you have answers, I'm listening.

[hrmjustin]

23. You are right they would feel the same way about me. As I said it is all a matter of

interpretation. Each individual needs to decide for themselves who is right or wrong. I find fundamentalism wrong, but others disagree. I should have chosen my words more carefully.

[cleanhippie]

24. I appreciate your humility but its not necessary.

Your words are the same as most, in that each thinks that they know what their god wants and means. You should continue to express yourself honestly, and you did that. I will not attack you for that, especially since you understand the subjectiveness of your position. I wish more beleivers had the honesty and openness you do, it would make discussion so much easier.

That being said, and recognizing that believers in revealed religion all have a subjective and therefore biased POV about their scripture, why should we, as a secular society, give these purely subjective and biased opinions credence in the public arena when it comes to policy and equal treatment?

[grantcart]

13. Can't listen on my present computer.

You could also say "Jesus hated Religion but loved People" and that would some up the New Testament in 6 words.


One of the most deceptive parts of any religious text is to understand the new situation that it was written in.


If you ask the question "what ideologies were the greatest mass killers in the 20th century?", the correct answer would be
Nazism and Stalinsim. And yet no politician speaks about them today. Why? Big problem then, not relevant now.


The Rabbi Jesus didn't rail against the Pharisee's who, like him, were trying to find a non temple alternative to a corrupt religious system.

He railed against the Sadducees. He attacked them and their paid off merchants mercilessly. At one point he physically whipped them.


A week later he was dead.


There is virtually nothing in the New Testament about the Saducees because by that time the Temple was crushed and they no longer existed.

At that point it only made sense to make a distinction between the only remnants left of Judaism, the Pharasees, who were, most likely allies when Jesus was alive.

Jesus campaign was very much against religion, much like the prophets whose tradition he fulfilled.