Jesus and Religion. The Debate

There is currently a video that has made its way to my Facebook, Twitter, and about every other social networking site on the web.  No it's not the "Shit that _______ Say" videos, even those too have infected every aspect of my social media.  Instead the video I am referencing is something that flew in under the radar and all of a sudden became a big deal...at least for those in the Christian realm of things.
This is the video:

First of all, I have this new thing where I'm a big fan of poetry/spoken word.  So I just want to say: completely not looking at the subject matter, I loved how this was written.

Moving on...

When I first saw people posting about this video it was all in a negative context or people making fun of it.  I didn't watch the video I was just going by other peoples responses and decided that I wasn't going to like it.  After all I am a born, raised, and proud Catholic so by all understanding of the definition:  I am religious.  I like my religion.  This video should really bother me.

That brings me to the other set of people who posted this video simply saying that they love it, or agree with it.  Suddenly I found myself confused.  I didn't know whether to watch the video or not; let it become some video trend that I am just too cool to partake.  

One morning a musician I knew of and am a big fan of (Andrew Belle, since I know how curious you all were) posted the video saying "this pretty much sums it all up".  No one was around, and I was bored so I decided to watch the video.  As much as I figured I should  be upset with the video- I wasn't.  In fact, I found myself nodding along with a lot of it and agreeing.  I was torn, because this was muddying the waters of my nice pick and choose of religion that I have been doing the past few years.

By pick and choose religion I mean that I am a Catholic who does not agree with the Catholic Church on several huge issues...aka gay rights, and right to life issues.  While I do not agree with the Church's stance on these issues, I do enjoy every other aspect of Catholicism, and can honestly say that being a Catholic has been such a huge factor in my life and I cannot imagine not being a part of the religion.

I love Jesus though, and I agree that Jesus would not be in favor with the way a lot of churches (regardless of their denomination) are run.  There is so much corruption and sin riddling churches, it is frustrating.  Despite how much good the Catholic Church is capable of doing...it is flawed, just like any human invention.  

The line in the video that struck so much with me would have to be the "if Jesus came to your church, would he be let in?"

Earlier this year I read the book "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller and he describes how Jesus, if he were to come back today he would be an ugly dude, living on the street hanging out with drug addicts, alcoholics and prostitutes.  So if someone like that came to your church, honestly, how would he be treated?  Probably not very well, which is a shame.  These are the people Jesus calls us to love and to serve.  These are the ones that Jesus has told us will be first in the Kingdom.

However, where would we be without religious institutions?  Hasn't God also called us to invest in a community?  I did some research to find a good Catholic response, and the best I found was by this priest.  

I think this sums it up really nicely.

See, I understand and am also frustrated with how broken and damaged religion is.  I have had to deal with so many personal issues with that.  I will be honest, I flip-flop on these issues...I pick and choose even though I know I shouldn't.  

I love Jesus, and I love His teachings, but I also practice as best as I can what I believe in.  I love my religion and I love what my religion has done for me, but I also do not agree and approve of the sins that my religion has committed.  

So I guess that it my stance on the issue.  I love Jesus and (for the most part) love my religion.