![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/dictionary.jpg\" "\\"dictionary\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nAfter reading through several comments from yesterday\u2019s \u201cWhy I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus\u201d post<\/a>, I thought a bit of follow up was needed.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll elaborate more on my issues with \u201csola fide\u201d later. Today, I want to talk about the importance of words.<\/p>\n One comment that came up time and time again yesterday was that Jeff Behtke, the poet in the video, meant something other than the actual definition of \u201creligion\u201d when he said he hated religion. The idea being that \u201ctoday\u2019s generation\u201d (of which both he and I are members) really means \u201clegalism\u201d when they\/we say \u201creligion.\u201d<\/p>\n I agree, that the word \u201creligion\u201d is often used today in connection and even sometimes\u00a0interchangeably\u00a0with \u201clegalism\u201d. However, at least in the case of this video that defense is like a barrel with no bottom. It holds not water.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why\u2026.<\/p>\n Bethke is a poet. Whether you dabble in this art or master it like Emerson and Thoreau you don\u2019t choose words haphazardly. So, to claim Bethke uses the word \u201creligion\u201d arbitrarily, or worse, that his only understanding of that word is its slang variant is to imply that he is either ignorant or illiterate. While I\u2019m not the biggest fan of his poetry, I have to believe that Bethke is more than aware of the meaning of the words he chooses, particularly when those words are spoken in the context of a subject so obviously important to him.<\/p>\n Furthermore, if we try to play the \u201cwords don\u2019t mean what everyone has agreed they mean\u201d card, then we might as well go ahead and toss out not only the dictionary, but language itself. If words have no set, agreed upon meaning, then communication is impossible.<\/p>\n For example, imagine going to McDonalds and ordering a cheeseburger and french fries. If words have no set meaning, then you have no way of knowing what guy at the drive-thru is actually going to give you. Instead of a cheeseburger and french fries you\u2019re just as likely to get a rock and ball of string if the meaning of the words \u201ccheeseburger\u201d and \u201cfrench fries\u201d is completely relative. (Although to be fair, sometimes the cheeseburger and fries do taste like a rock and string.) Those words might describe food to you, but if context determines definition and the drive-thru guy doesn\u2019t share your personal context then we need to ditch the microphone\/speaker setup and start handing the cashier drawings of what we would like to eat.<\/p>\n Either words have agreed upon meanings and limits to those meanings or words are meaningless.<\/p>\n Finally, the old, tired argument \u201cyou don\u2019t know his heart\u201d is complete and utter nonsense. It was Jesus himself who said \u201cBut the things that come out of a person\u2019s mouth come from the heart.\u201d (Matt. 15:18) We can only \u201cknow someone\u2019s heart\u201d through their words and deeds. If Bethke\u2019s heart is not displayed in this video then why in the world did he take the time to write the poem, arrange a film shoot, film his performance, edit the film, and then post it all on YouTube?<\/p>\n Once again, if someone speaks, but the meaning of their words can be something different than the meaning that has been attributed to those words by society, then communication through either the spoken or written word is impossible.<\/p>\n So, we are left to take Bethke at his word. That is to say, all we can respond to or critique are the words he chose to use.<\/p>\n Those words are quite clear.\u00a0He hates religion. And his description of religion, that it \u201cbuild[s] huge churches\u201d, preaches things to people, and provides \u201cbehavior modification\u201d sounds pretty spot on to the collectively held definition of the word.<\/p>\n No doubt the popular mythos of a \u201cpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ\u201d is powerful. However, as others have pointed out here<\/a> That is not to say I think relationship is unimportant. It\u2019s essential. For me, it is through my relationships with other Christians that my belief in a resurrected Jesus is affirmed.<\/p>\n It is true that Jesus didn\u2019t come to establish a new religion. It\u2019s also true that he didn\u2019t come to abolish religion either. When he hung on the cross and cried \u201cit is finished\u201d, he wasn\u2019t talking about religion. No biblical scholar I\u2019ve ever heard of would support that thesis.<\/p>\n What was finished was Jesus\u2019 struggle to breathe as his lungs collapsed under the weight of his own body. What was finished was his earthly life and ministry.<\/p>\n What was beginining was a new faith, dare I say, a new religion. The old way of Judaism wasn\u2019t abolished, but as Jesus himself said, it was fulfilled when he walked out of the tomb on Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n What was\u00a0beginning\u00a0was a religion based on grace and a risen Savior. That religion was and continues to be a very good thing.<\/p>\n Grace and peace,<\/p>\n