Why I love religion and Jesus as well: Countering, "WHY I HATE RELIGION BUT LOVE JESUS"

"Why I hate religion, but love Jesus"

I have watched this link entitled, "WHY I HATE RELIGION BUT LOVE JESUS" and I found out some loopholes in his statement. Here are some of the myths of anti-religion proponents:


MYTH # 1: Jesus came to abolish religion

If this person read his Bible well and let God do the explaining for him, he wouldn't have jumped to conclusions that Jesus came to abolish religion. He came to fulfill, not to abolish (Matthew 5:17). In fact, He raised the Ten Commandments to a higher standard and brought the Jewish festivals to fulfillment like the Passover pointing this out to the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26:26-28). In fact, the word "religion" came from the Latin word, "religare" which means "to bind together". It sounds more like "relationship". Religion and relationship aren't contradictory, they are complementary. When a person enters a personal relationship to Jesus, he enters a religion as Scripture says:

John 6:56, "Those who eat My flesh and drink My blood lives in Me, and I in him"
John 15:4, "Remain united to Me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It can only do so if it remains in the vine. In the same way, you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in Me"

Likewise, the Apostle St. Paul tells of a religion wherein Jesus is manifested in the flesh

1 Timothy 3:16, "No one can deny how great is the secret of OUR RELIGION. He appeared in human form and was shown to be right by the Spirit. He was seen by angels, was believed throughout the world and was taken up to heaven"

So, both Jesus and Paul are united in saying that a person enters a religion when he enters a relationship.


MYTH # 2: Religion promotes hypocrisy

Its not the fault of religion that there are people who are hypocrites. Just like in Catholicism, we cannot blame Catholicism itself for the pedophile priests and the Dark Ages. These are the result of Catholics who fail to practice what their Faith has taught them. Even during the time of Jesus, there were Apostles who were loyal to Him like John and some who betrayed Him like Judas Iscariot. Others ran away when Jesus was arrested and Peter denied Him three times. So, as Fr. Burns said, "To say that religion is to blamed for hypocrisy, its like staring at death and blaming the hearse"

MYTH # 3: Religion aims only to build big churches and pastors rich

Again, this is not the fault of religion. Religion is still intact in its virtues and teachings just like the Roman Catholic Church is intact in its virtues and teachings that contraceptives is itself evil and abortion is wrong. This is the fault of pastors aiming to become rich and "making the Word of God a cheap merchandise" (2 Corinthians 2:17) and "not serving Christ the Lord, but their own bellies" (Romans 16:18).

"Think not I came to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I came not to abolish, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17)



So why I love Jesus and religion? First, its because 2000 years ago, Jesus said to Peter, "You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My Church and the fires of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). And this Church is the true religion, the Roman Catholic Church, with its line of successors from Peter to Benedict XVI. I love religion because Jesus Himself established it and redeemed it through His own blood (Acts 20:28) and the night before His passion, He broke bread and said to His followers, "Take and eat, this is My body, take and drink for this is My blood. Do this in memory of Me" (Matthew 26:26-28). Through this eating of bread and drinking of the cup, it paved the way for a New Covenant which is fulfilled in Jesus' religion. When I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior and receive Him in Communion, I entered a religion which is His Church and when He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30), His religion had only just begun.