Why I Hate Religion.

“Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” by spoken-word artist Jefferson Bethke has received more than 10.2 million YouTube views as of Saturday night since it was posted just four days ago, eliciting more than 100,000 YouTube comments and plenty of debate elsewhere on the Internet.

From his YouTube page we read: “In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it‘s core Jesus’ gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can’t do your own list of rules and feel “not good enough” for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don’t represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!”

Your thoughts?

Is “Armstrongism” The Problem?

The Solution?

There are people on the Web who seem to be on a crusade to capture people who are leaving a Church of God (COG) and get these people back to traditional Christianity. I’m sure some of these sites are funded by traditional Churches or religious groups. If a site has a lot of material on it and looks too slick or professional it’s a good bet it’s got some money behind it. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one such site run by a former COG member is being funded by some traditional Christian group or “cult watchers”. Another warning sign is when a site seems to want to blame all the woes of Church members on Armstrong and other COG leaders, while avoiding criticisms of traditional Christianity. They would have former COG members believe their whole problem is the way Armstrong and his ministers misinterpreted the Bible, and that if only we go back to the “correct interpretation”, keep Sunday, Easter, and Christmas, and believe in the Trinity, we’ll be back to where we should be. Praise the Lord.

Continue reading “Is “Armstrongism” The Problem?”