Friday, January 20, 2012

Jesus without Religion?

The social media phenomena of the week has been a YouTube by an ardent, but poorly instructed (and biblically illiterate) young adult fundamentalist. His rap video, which is technically superb, hit such a nerve that it has been viewed almost 20,000,000 times, hitting the top of even YouTube's charts. But his belief that an individual can have a complete relationship with Jesus while avoiding the limitations and commitment of a "religion" (especially since many of his negative references to "religion" are clearly directed to the Catholic Church) led to a proliferation of rebuttals, usually in rap form, some of them also very well done.
Here's an example, put out by Spirit Juice Studios, the Chicago team that is working on our documentary project:

Naturally, it would be great if you could "like" or "+1" this video to give it higher relief, and help the fuller picture of Jesus and religion get some attention!

2 comments:

Ann Johnstone said...

I have watched the video in question and believe it is an excellent presentation of what the gospel is really about, and is presented in such a way that the person on the street can appreciate what is being said: That Christianity at its core is not about tradition, legalism, and empty religion, but is about a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

Sister Anne said...

What I think is also very interesting (besides the quality of the responses, and the general depth they feature) is that it is natural to respond to something in the same form the original took. So there is a whole "genre" now on YouTube of rapping Catholics (and other Christians) responding to the one video that was posted.
We really are moving into a highly visual/aural culture!