THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: On January 10, 2012, Jefferson Bethke uploaded a video to YouTube that recorded a poem he had written, in which he said that Jesus hates religion, that he came to abolish religion, and that Jesus Christ is opposed to religion. Of course, this is a highly Evangelical way of thinking, but the video was an overnight sensation. As of the date of this blog entry, it has received more than 15 million views. The video is here...
In addition to the Catholic reply above, the video has also prompted a response from Fr. Robert Barron here...
3 comments; post here:
Sir Knight,
Quite without warning and completely unexpectedly, I found myself in tears before the conclusion of the first presentation.
for Christ said of Himself in Holy Scripture; 'I am the vine and you are the branches'... I thank God for having found the fulness and apex of the Christian faith in Catholic Christianity - intimate, profound and deeply personal on the one hand - united to the vast body of Christ in communion and trust in Him on the other - A gift that is the pearl above price!!
God bless you, your ministry and your family, Sir Knight,
Sarah,
Australia.
Fr. Barron's response is extraordinary. A truly grown-up response to a rather juvenile attempt at "deep" thinking. It deserves at least as much play, if not 1,000's of times more, than the young man's video. Will that happen?
I kind of feel sorry for the young guy - if he has any intelligence at all, 10 years from now he will be very embarassed about his video.
(I also highly recommend Fr. Barron's Catholicism series. Received it as a Christmas gift from my father and watched all 10 hours over 3 days. Best gift ever! Father truly does know best).
Thanks for getting the word out in answer to this video. Of course the young man meant well and many of his sentiments are right, but he needs to think it through and be more nuanced in what he's saying. One failure of our educational system today is that people are not trained to think critically and make distinctions rather than emotional all-or-nothing judgments.
To that end, I think Father Barron's comments are very insightful. We can't forget that it was Jesus who said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I build my Church... I give unto thee the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven that what you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven..." In other words, Christ transmitted rabbinical, religious authority to Saint Peter and his successors and the Church that He paid for at the price of His own Blood. Jesus, in other words, purified the religion that God had revealed to Adam and Moses and Abraham. "I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it."
Jesus stands then for pure religion, even while He condemned abuse of religion (such as the Pharisees). To then say Jesus is against religion as such is false and refuted by Scripture and two thousand years of the Holy Spirit's work within His Church.
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