Jeff Bethke says "I hate religion," but he loves organized Christianity

Not being clued in to the latest Christian YouTube trends, until I read the latest issue of TIME magazine last night I'd been unaware of the super-buzz surrounding Jeff Bethke -- whose Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus has gotten almost 20 million views.

(The TIME article is only available online to subscribers, but here's an earlier piece about Bethke.)

It's a slick video.

So slick, it seems likely this wasn't solely produced by a Jesus-loving young guy whose only motivation was to draw people away from organized Christianity. But before I say more along this line, have a look yourself.

 

Now, I'll admit I found this video appealing at first. I didn't like all the Jesus talk, but Bethke's rhyming rapping against religion resonated with me. 

However, the TIME article said:

His fans on YouTube -- on which he has more than 130,000 subscribers -- might be surprised to know that Bethke likes church. He attends a Seattle megachurch called Mars Hill and strives to practice what it preaches.

Hmmmm.

That raised some fundamentalism alarm bells. Which began sounding even louder after some Googling of "Mars Hill." It turns out that this church promotes a conservative Christian message wrapped in a hipster vibe to suck in the unsuspecting.

Mars Hill does the shunning thing on church members who engage in forbidden sex. Like the 25 year old man who, horrible sinner that he is, had sex with his fiancee. And Pastor Mark Driscoll preaches against homosexuality. Even yoga is "demonic."

So Jeff Bethke hasn't really given up organized religion. In his video Bethke is just pretending that he has, so his Mars Hill church can expand its fundamentalist talons to capture additional prey.

In fact, Bethke has publicly disavowed himself in a response to a religion-loving blogger, saying that he agrees "it's biblically inaccurate to say Jesus hated religion when, in fact, he preached a religious doctrine, prescribed rituals and worshiped in a temple."

Zinnia Jones nails Bethke to a truthful wall in her right-on YouTube response to his video: I hate religion, says man praying to God. Nice job, Zinnia.

 

Not surprisingly, many Christians -- who supposedly are compassionate, loving, good-hearted, and humble -- left nasty comments about Zinnia's video, some of which she shared here. I also enjoyed Zinnia's make-up tips, a subject I'm abysmally ignorant about.

(Never really knew what "concealer" was until today. Ah, the secrets women know, and men are clueless about.)

On her blog, Zinnia has a transcript of her video response to Jeff Bethke. Good stuff. Here's an excerpt.

Religion's often seen as being hate-filled and judgmental
To have that name hitched to your faith would be so detrimental
So let's just find another word - let's call the whole thing "Jesus"
And maybe it might actually change how the world sees us.

Yes, I see what you did there, Jeff, but nobody's impressed
When one religious movement claims that only they are blessed
It's nothing new when churches paint all others as a blight,
As sheer demonic heresy - for they alone are right
From doctrine, dogma, sin and Hell, you give us no relief
It's just a crafty strategy to market your belief.

So who is Mr. Bethke, and from what was he inspired?
He says it's just a home-made film. Is that how this transpired?
We know that he's a member of a church that's called Mars Hill
Where thousands gather every week to hear the holy spiel.

Mark Driscoll is their pastor, a self-styled rebel cleric
Whose stances, theologically, are really quite generic
This macho, hardcore preacher never hesitates to tell:
If you haven't heard of Jesus, then prepare to burn in Hell!
To him there's no salvation in benevolent behavior
Being nice won't help you - you need Jesus as your savior.

And no doubt Pastor Driscoll thinks himself rather volcanic,
When he tells his parishioners that yoga is Satanic
On women in the clergy, we're assured that he's no advocate
If they can't bring in manly men, that means they're inadequate.

Instructing people on how they should live their married life,
He tells a tale of how he wished to leave his pregnant wife
What would prompt a Godly man to make this declaration?
He found out that in high school, she had sexual relations
And when he goes on Facebook to mock "effeminate" preachers,
There's little to distinguish him from other Christian teachers.

Comments

[Jim Jones]

Mars Hill is a HUGE red flag. Search on the internet - it is very cult like, or an actual cult.

[Willie R]

Apparently, I am already in Hell. Either that, or I am "Hell-bent" on getting there - just to see if it can be as bad as the "saved" assume it is.

After all, why would God have created Hell if no one was ever going to go there?

And I don't want to hear any bullshit about God not creating Hell.

[Brian from Colorado]

Willie - Have you considered the possibility that God created Hell just for you? That would make you pretty special, actually.

I'm pretty sure God made beer for me. But alas, it's not an exclusive endowment, and thus I'm unable to lay claim to any singularly divine attention. I do, however, still get some beer.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,

Thank you for bringing "Zinnia Jones" to my attention. Following up on some of this person's other video presentations leads me to consider him/her to be a most intelligent and worthwhile person. I have told a few others of some of her/his further bits of exposition and consideration. (And I hope that the "fate" of Hypatia will not fall upon him/her.)

Robert Paul Howard

[joe]

Wow. You guys are all attacking Jeff, Mark, and the church, yet all of these guys are merely speaking what the Bible says. If you want to attack anyone, attack the Bible. But know that is has been attacked for two thousand years and has yet to be defeated. It is truth, and the church is merely following it.

[gege]

Comments are "moderated" is that another word for censored? Seems that's what people are wanting to do to Jeff...you may not accept what he his saying, but he certainly has a right to say it, agreed? And so does the other lady who rebutted; she did not get censored...

[gege]

Dear Zinnia: I hear your concern. However, the Holy Bible does say "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord". (Romans 6:23) He died so that we may have life and forgiveness for our sins.
Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me".
As Christians, our mission is to spread the word of his love, compassion and goodness. If you met Jesus you might really like him. He was so loving and so kind and spoke to a person's heart..like the woman at the well, like the blind man, or like the time he returned to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the grave.
See, those who crucified Him were the ones who needed Him most. We all commit sin; in life it's unavoidable. - but His life was about setting us free from the law of sin and death. Those that believe will cross over from life into life with Him. "In my Father's house are many mansions;" if it we not so, would I have told you "I go to prepare a place for you?"..."that where I am you may be also." (John 14:2-3)
As Christians, our mission is to share the love of Jesus with others; to share the truth with people, to call people to repentance so they can also have eternal life. Oh, and one more thing, it is not our job to judge except by the Word he has given us; that is God's job.
Love, gege