In the latest episode of the Theology for the People podcast, Mike and I discuss the question of whether God hates religion.
Is religion opposed to relationship with Jesus? What is “religion” anyway – and is Christianity a religion or not?
In this episode we look at uses of the word “religion” in the Bible (there are 5 of them!), as well as passages like Isaiah 1 and Amos 5 where God talks about despising the religious practices of Israel; the very practices which He himself commanded them to do earlier in the Bible…
We also examine Jefferson Bethke’s spoken word YouTube video: “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus,” as well as a New York Times article about popular views on religion and biblical examples from Jesus, the apostles, and the New Testament church.
You can check out the episode here: Theology for the People: Does God Hate Religion? or by listening in the embedded player below.
Theology for the People 
During our discussion I forgot one of my favorite quotes from theologian David Peterson regarding words and their meaning: “Defining words is important because not only do we use words, but words use us. That’s true, even if we’re unaware of it. Once we assign meaning to a word, it both reflects and shapes our world view.”
My other favorite quote is from Inigo Montoya in response to Vizzini: “You keep using that word, I don’t think you know what it means.”
Good quote!