Book Review by Miguel: Jesus > Religion by Jefferson Bethke

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Jesus > Religion

Jefferson Bethke

“Religion is man searching for God, Christianity is God searching for man.”

Jefferson Bethke posted a video on YouTube that has over 26 million views in which he dictates his Spoken Word entitled Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus. He wrote the book Jesus > Religion as a follow up to the astounding response to the video.

Our old friend Webster tells us that religion is:

• Belief in and worship of God or gods;
• A specific system of belief, worship, etc., often involving a code of ethics.

For Bethke, religion is equated as man’s efforts to know and live for God. The main issue Bethke presentsis that many who claim to be Christians are just living out a life that is their best effort to please God rather than to depend on the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Or even worse, he says that the “so-called Christian” is living to please himself through sinful vices, rather than to please God.

As a Christian since 1995, 18 years, I can take a similar stance as the twenty-three year old author of this book. There are a lot of superficial Christians that are content with saying we believe in Jesus. However the gospel, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures [and that he appeared to many people],” is a confession that demands a statement of faith. It demands a lifestyle that follows Christ authentically.

Bethke addresses the issue of inauthentic Christianity throughout his book. Inauthentic Christianity is something that I have fallen prey to in my journey as a Christian. It is one thing to recognize it in others, but it is another to acknowledge that you are guilty of it.

When life falls apart, we run to anything and everything but Jesus. Sometimes the younger generation can teach us, as Bethke does. One of my children was having an emotionally charged morning. I suggested she go spend some time alone to calm down. Minutes later I followed up to see how she was doing. She was reading Psalm 23. She was seeking Jesus. She displayed a more authentic Christian life in that moment than I often do.

Bethke’s significant contribution in this book is that this younger generation is seeking God and recognizing the hypocrisy that is plaguing our culture and churches. People want to see authentic Christians, Jesus followers who follow him closely.

For a young man who is neither a pastor nor a “professional” theologian, he does a good job pointing out that we, who claim to be Christian, need to really live like Jesus is the center of our lives.