Jefferson Bethke: Hating “Religion” and Loving Jesus

Remember the video that went viral a couple of years ago of the guy doing spoken word about how he hated religion but loved Jesus? That guy’s name is Jefferson Bethke, and the video has now been viewed over twenty-seven million times!

If you aren’t one of the 27 million, watch it here:

One of the cool things about being the Bachelor is you never know who you might meet. There are a lot of famous Bachelor fans out there, some secretive, and some who let their Bachelor-loving flags fly. Jefferson is one of those who flies it high and proud. I remember seeing him tweet every Monday night during the show and thinking, “Wow, this dude really loves The Bachelor.” I didn’t realize at the time he was the same guy who authored the viral video. After a few weeks of seeing his tweets it finally dawned on me who Jefferson Bethke was, and since then, we’ve become friends. Well maybe not friends in the traditional sense but we do tweet each other from time to time.  That counts for something in the modern age, right?

Jefferson has written a book titled Jesus>Religion, Why He is so Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough. His viral video that has been viewed over twenty-seven million times spoke so much truth into my heart the first time I watched it. I can remember thinking how right he was about religion and the damage it’s done to Jesus’ message. So when I heard he was writing a book, I knew I wanted to read it.

Jesus>Religion did not disappoint. It was such a fresh perspective on Jesus’ message of love and a desire for intimacy, and the pitfalls of religion. Jefferson admits in the beginning of the book that he’s not a PhD, or a Biblical scholar, or a pastor.  He’s just a normal guy who wants to share his story of God’s goodness and how he has wrestled with religion all his life. Growing up, Jefferson considered himself a Christian because he went to church with his mom every Sunday.

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But Jefferson realized that “his true religion, as it is with most of my American peers, was the religion of moralism dressed in Christian clothes.” Jefferson details his confusing relationship with his mom (who happens to be gay), his struggles with women and alcohol, and his misconceptions of what Jesus wants from us.

I’d definitely recommend this book to Christians and non-Christians alike. It’s incredibly insightful and Jefferson does an amazing job of filling it with Biblical and cultural supporting evidence. If it doesn’t completely change your view on Christianity, it will at the very least open your eyes to the lie that is religion and the truth of love and sacrifice that came by way of Jesus.

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