This poem irritates me on so many levels.
1. Jesus came to abolish religion? Of course, that makes sense! That would explain why he said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” I’m pretty sure He says “do” as well. Or why he said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.”
2. As you may know, I get irritated when people put a negative connotation on the word “religion”. Why? Because that’s what Christianity is - a religion. “Religion” simply means a person’s beliefs in terms of transcendental matters, and how a person acts and what he/she does in order to follow those beliefs. What I don’t like is how many of these evangelical Christians go around saying this crap about how Christianity’s not a religion, but a relationship, in order to undermine bigger Churches. Many times, they aim it at MY beloved Church.
3. Yes, religion may be the cause of some conflict in the Middle Ages, a little bit even today. But I don’t see you complaining when your fellow Americans have killed millions of people, including your own, in the name of “freedom”. The Civil War, World War I and II, the American Revolution, the War in Iraq - those wars have been fought in the name of “freedom”. So, by your mentality, since it’s wrong to fight in the name of religion, it should be just as wrong to fight in the name of other people’s freedoms.
4. Many churches, including my own, do our best to feed the poor. In fact, the Catholic Church is known as the biggest charity in the entire world. Wrong again.
5. “Religion never gets to the core.” Your ignorance shows again. Well, I can at least speak for my Church - how many other churches you know have philosophers, thinkers, mystics, and scientists contemplating and thinking, to come to the same conclusion.
6. “It’s not a museum for good people, but a hospital for the broken.” That’s WHY religion, in the deepest sense, isn’t about getting to Heaven, but learning what it means to be human: our shortcomings, our triumphs, and our connections with one another.
7. You don’t like our “rules” or “rituals”? Take that up to the guy who established them - Jesus. These aren’t rules to control you, but guidelines that will set you free. Maybe you should study history and context before you go around complaining as to why the Church has so many doctrines. These “rules” you complain about don’t control you, but liberate you, because they let you know that anything against it is sin. And since you are “Christian”, you should know that the price for sin is death, right?
8. This kind of mentality makes me annoyed, because it makes the focus of Christianity feeling and moments of “love”, rather than intellectual understanding and unconditional love being acted upon. I could never understand it.
