There is a lot of buzz going around about this spoken word video right now. There is a lot that this guy says that I think is good and right on the money, but after talking to several people about it (including some of my students), I can see that it provokes some healthy discussion.
I initially loved it because I speak the same language. When I use the word religion/religious I typically think of it in terms of legalism - a form of seeking to earn our way to God. And I compare it to the word gospel - the truth that we're worse than we think we are but the grace of Jesus is much bigger than we think it is too. By grace and what He did on the cross, Jesus set us free from having to earn our own way through obeying the law.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.t2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set yout free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,t he condemned sin in the flesh,4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The law/religion is not a bad thing, but our use of it to earn God's favor is not the right thing either. It is in essence us saying, "thanks Jesus, but I think I need to add some of my righteousness to yours in order to be right with God." As Rich Mullins said in a song once, that's like putting a screen door on a submarine... it just doesn't work out very well.
I want to believe that the heart intention of the guy who wrote this spoken word poem/video was good, springing from a thought much like Paul's in Galatians 1:6-7
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
I can see the danger of this video, however, for those who don't speak the lingo of works religion vs gospel of grace... to walk away with a negative impression on the church and religious organizations. I don't think that was the intention of the author, but I can see how it could be taken that way. My fear is that those who do take it as negative toward the church would have the thought, "I don't need to be a part of a church, I just need Jesus." Yes you need Jesus and yes you need the church. God calls us to be the church united together under Jesus.
I think the intention of the author was to call out those in the church who are missing the point of the gospel. While I'm all for calling it out when we miss the point... I think there is a tendency to do that without love... and that misses the point as well.
Here is a blog post one of my friends sent me that I feel offers a good balance in thinking about this video.
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