I left a negative comment on this video 2 years ago and have since come to value Fr. Robert Barron's KZfaq channel and Catholicism series. I was upset with institutional corruption within the church and the idea of separating Jesus from religion appealed to me. Fr. Robert Barron has made a huge difference in my life even though I have never met him and the fact that I commented negatively on this video bothered me. To be honest I never made it past the beginning before I got defensive. Fr. Barron thank you for the difference you have made in my life.

Quite right. He was referring to his mystical body the Church, which is structured apostolically and which will endure until the end of time. Members of the church are indeed called out from the world into a new relationship with Jesus. This is precisely why you can't truly find Christ the Head apart from his mystical body.

"My body is true food and my blood is true drink." "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." Jesus tells the little girl to wake from the sleep of death and she does. He tells Lazarus to come out of his grave, and the dead man comes out. What Jesus says is, precisely because he is the creative Word of God in the flesh. "This is my body," and over the wine, "this is my blood."

Luther did not neglect the sacraments (at least those instituted by Christ, baptism and the Lord's supper). He was boldly for the salvation through baptism and the sacraments. If you read Luther's Large Catechism, you would see that Luther was not a revolutionary, he wanted children to submit to their parents, and parents to submit to their government. As far as salvation by faith alone, he was not saying you should not do good works, rather, he was saying our acts are not what brings us salvation. Good fruit comes from good trees. We should do good works, because we are saved, rather than to save us

You bring such clarity to the Church’s position on so many things , thank you, I am a cradle catholic with so many doubts. You have been so helpful. I can ‘t thank you enough

The problem here is that I've never met an evangelical Christian who actually knows the teaching of the Church. Some have a superficial knowledge of bare doctrine. But no understanding of why a Catholic believes as he does. This includes every single protestant pastor that ive ever met. And i was a protestant for over 25 years..

I love to listen to Bishop Barron he is for sure a gift from God to be an instrument of the word of God and to fortify and make more understandable and strong our faith instituted by Jesus. Always great full for your and I will keep you in my prayers.

On another note, I would like to thank you for posting these videos. You have very keen insights, and I have been learning a lot from them. Your videos have helped me grow much deeper in my faith and my resolve to convert to the Roman Catholic Church, so I am truly thankful.

I think what Jeff was actually talking about is the fact that we need an intimate personal relationship with God first and foremost. The 'religion' he is talking about is the idea that as long as you do this that and the other you will be saved rather than it being a question of your heart. It's important that we don't live in fear of God, just begrudgingly following his commandments out of fear, but rather have genuine love for him which inspires us to follow his teaching and heed his word. If you treat God as just some rules to follow or some rituals to do you miss the point of living in intimacy with him. I know my sin is paid for by Jesus on the cross by the scandal of grace and that means I am no longer separated from him. Now the holy spirit can live within me and transform me to become more christlike, as opposed to just me trying to be a good person in my own strength just so I won't go to hell. I love Jesus and I love being part of his body on earth right now, the Church, but that body needs to be focused on the head, Jesus, not the theatrics of rituals and thinking that gets you to heaven without engaging with God on a personal level. I'm not ranting against all sacrament, when it is said as a declaration of God's people, but when it's said monotonously by people who don't realise the joy that is found in what they are saying, there is a problem. The same is true in modern churches that focus too much on having fancy lights and apple products instead of the real reason we're here. As long as we follow rules in response to knowing Jesus, and not just out of fear caused by man, then there is no problem with the Church.

Very well said, Fr. Robert. God bless you! :)

I watched this long ago, but came across it again this morning. Bishop (Father when the video was recorded in 2012), you are right. So clearly and succinctly presented. Thank you and God bless you.

Very interesting video! It's very popular with people around my age to use the Catholic Church as a pristine example of why "religion" is bad. One of the best statements that I said back was the following, "The Catholic Church has been around for 2000 years and has had its share of corruption (like shooting fish in a barrel, as you said). But, would you be able to find any other institution, government or nation that is comparable and has not had to deal with corruption? Even the United States in it's 200+ years of existence has plenty of examples of corruption and bad decisions (exile of Native Americans, slavery, etc...). The church is run by humans and it's going to make mistakes, but the church has done more good in this world in Jesus' name than many care to give credit for. God bless!

Wow! Father Robert Barron is not only knowledgeable and articulate, he's inspirational.

This video presents a good argument here. An even simpler one is that - if the definition of religion is "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe" - how would it be possible to pursue any form of spirituality without it? It would be a contradiction. For as soon as we begin meditating, reflecting, or worshiping there is direction and perceived understanding (belief). In other words, religion.

Man, I'm so glad I discovered your videos. I've been exploring Catholic thought recently, which began with my recent discovery of Chesterton's "The Everlasting Man" and "Orthodoxy," which led me to Augustine and Aquinas, among others. At Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon today I bought Robert Louis Wilken's "The Spirit of Early Christian Thought," Ronald Knox's "The Belief of Catholics," and Mark Musa's translation of the first volume of Dante's "Divine Comedy." It's been a real pleasure to scratch the surface of so many brilliant thinkers. Keep up the good work.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13

Of all the celebrities I have a great appreciation for, I must admit I couldn't care less about meeting them but this guy I wanna shake hands with and say thank you.

True, more conservative Lutherans believe in companation or impanation, which is to say, that Jesus becomes really present along with the bread and wine; whereas Catholic believe in transsubstantiation, which is to say, the real transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. Luther was adamantly opposed to transsubstantiation. And Luther didn't think that the sacraments cause grace; they are only signs accompanying the word of promise.

I am facing a very tough moment. I've walked into my church and asked for help. I was directed to call institutions outside the church for the help I needed. I explained that I am depressed and distressed and that I needed guidance. I opened up to my religious leader. I literally begged for help. I was told that the help I was asking for was not the type of help the church gives. I wasn't asking for anything illegal. I wasn't asking for anything unethical. As a matter of fact, I was not asking for anything I myself hadn't given to others in their time of need. Yes, I was asking of the "Holy Church" of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church, to which I had given my entire youth and all my adult years up to that day when I approached my priest, I was asking of that great institution for a lot less than I, a single individual with 7 children to support, had already given to my brothers and sisters in the church and outside the church. Instead of getting help or even a comforting feeling, I walked out of that church feeling abandoned and forgotten. I walked out of that church feeling worthless. I was alone. I was even more depressed. I was certainly a lot more distressed. That pivotal moment revealed the real face of religion. After going home and crying about my feelings, I decided I didn't want to blame the entire Catholic Church for this. So I went to the diocese for help. The feeling there was even worse. You see, I was told to go back to my church and ask for help locally. When I explained that my priest had turned me away, they simply replied they could not help me. Would you care to speak privately about what it is I needed help with? We should definitely speak.

thank you Bishop Barron for guarding the Faith! Praise God for the Magisterium that stand for the infalliable and uncorruptable teaching of the Catholic Faith! God bless you!

I like this message overall; however, how can you truly love without first having faith? We cannot love on our own but by the grace of God, which we receive through faith.

“Concerning Jesus and the church I just know they are one.” St Joan of Arc

Amen! Thank you Bishop Barron.

It's called Spoken Word Poetry. To me, the poem was not bashing christianty in the context of a relationship with Jesus Christ but rather bashing the empty laws that people tend to idolize, which corrupted religion in Jesus' time on Earth AND now. A lot of people hold fullfilling the 'rules' of christianity higher than having an actual relationship with Christ.This in my mind creates a gulf between them and God that until they can step away from laws, rules, protocols, sacred objects/people and make christianity a walk with God in and through your life, guided by the Bible, will never be crossed. Dare i say that the Bible IS sacred and true, but also a history textbook and life manual. I think it is possible to idolize the Bible.

Well said. This really helps a lot to see the difference. Thank you!

Fr. Robert Barron Just in case you were curious the name of the spoken word artist in this video is Jefferson Bethke. And in subsequent videos he has done he clarifies that he did not mean to jettison the entire Christian tradition. In fact even though he is an Evangelical Christian he is quite ecumenical in his views of other Christian traditions like Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, etc and on numerous occasions he speaks about the importance of the body of Christ. He also speaks out against a individualistic, and reductionist view of salvation and religious life which is prevalent in some forms of evangelical Christianity. And he has a youtube channel. I think you should check him out a little more, because I think his views on this subject were misinterpreted.

How do you handle "work out your salvation with fear and trembling."? How do you interpret, "if I have faith enough to move the mountains but have not love, I am nothing"? How do you read the parable in Matthew 25, according to which salvation is a function of love and not faith? As you know, I could go on and on quoting passages of this type.

Thank you for your comments on this. Although I’m a Reformed Presbyterian, your thoughts on this made me understand the Catholic view on works differently.

I have been misled by many of my protestant brothers who have tried convincing me that the catholic church teaches salvation by works as if we have to work for grace. But the more i listen to the Catholics speak on what they actually teach on this issue... the more i see we protestants have misunderstood the Catholic church's position on salvation. Thank you for explaining what you believe on the merits of Grace issue. It really helped answer some questions i had concerning this topic. (peace

The greatest misconception that Catholics have about Protestants, is that because we don't bow to the authority of the Pope and the order of the church, we somehow despise church and authority in general. As a Protestant I can tell you that is very far from the truth. Part of being any Christian is to surrender and the authority that you believe God has put into place. This is why I serve my local church, as difficult as it may be at times. Luther's disagreements with the Catholic Church stemmed from a very real distortion by priestly authority upon its people. I will say though that stupid viral videos like the "I Love Jesus, but Hate Religion" only add more misconceptions that Protestants only care about their personal relationship with God and not strengthening the Body of Christ

Excellent, nuanced analysis! Thank you, Bishop Barron!

But you need to grasp the meaning of Galatians 5:6 ("The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love). Paul nowhere says that we are justified by faith alone. Luther played with the texts for his own purposes. What Paul actually said is the ground for the Catholic conviction that salvation is a function of faith, yes indeed, but a faith that gives rise to love. This is perfectly congruent with the 1 Corinthians quote I cited earlier.

Bishop Barron, you are amazing! Thank you

The video being reviewed in this one, is actually an argument against empty legalism, not religion, even though Jefferson calls it that and empty legalism is a common charge evangelicals bring against Catholics. I'm Orthodox, not catholic and I do believe that he makes some decent points. He's basically long-windedly reminding us not to be Pharisees.

Loved this, Bishop Barron

As a practicing Lutheran I having been taught and believe what you are stating here. I feel the Lutheran church has grown and matured over the last 60 plus years. We do communion every Sunday. When I was growing up it was every other Sunday.We still baptize infants. We are communing our children at a younger age. The Bible is , solo scriptura ,the word of God. But you are right, our freedoms are important to us Lutherans.The LCMS has published a account of the church fathers. I have read prayers they have written and wondered where have you been? This was not even talked about when I was younger. You have to agree that Luther was someone who saw the wealth of the church and and teachings at that time needed to be challenged . I feel that the reformation was bond to happen with or without Luther. He found great joy in what he found in his study of the Bible. A grace and forgiveness he needed personally. I have used my Lutheran up bringing as a bases to continue my growth in Faith and love in Christ our Savior. And feel I have more in command with the Catholic church then not. As a Orthodox priest told me once, "the problem with Lutherans is we only see the resurrection then the reformation. A lot happened in between". In Christ Becky

I thought the same thing before I was a Catholic; even to the point of seeing a stained-glass window as a non-Christian excess. but now when I see huge glorious cathedrals, the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, the grand artwork and "pomp" of the Catholic Church , I can't help but be reminded of the woman who poured the extremely valuable perfume over Christ's head. Every Mass is literally Heaven on Earth with Christ bodily present in the Host, and the buildings try to express that.

I am not Protestant, Catholic nor Orthodox, for I am simply a believer in Jesus Christ

I've never attended the Catholic church on a long term basis. But since relocating to Europe I've tried attending a few times. While it doesn't appeal to me as the Southern Baptist church that I attended for 3 years before leaving America, I can say that like any other church. The importance of fellowship is important and emphasized in both churches that I attended. I also have attended the Mormon church in my town and this is the only church that I have seen where the majority of its members actually live by the same rules of the church outside of it. The fellowship is by far the strongest I have ever seen in terms of living by the word while at church and outside of the church during the other 6 days of life. My only issue is that the Mormon church abides by a second book that I have had constant problems with because I want to focus solely on the New Testament. I have stated my beliefs to the church, yet I am still welcome to attend. The reason why I agree with the video that you are challenging. Is simply because what he is stating is exactly how I have developed to feel about faith and religion as well. And that was well before I saw his video. At this point and time in my life, the Catholic is more about its imagery and appearance than the word itself. Self anointment through belief that the very decision is backed by a divine blessing is no different to me than the many leaders throughout the Middle East that claim the right to rule their countries based upon claiming that they are descendants of the Prophet Mohamed. Too many power moves have been made in the name of the Catholic church. Contradicting the words of Christ through their many choices made on behalf of the Catholic church. It reminds me of the modern day Pharisees. But as I have learned in life, every single person on this planet is unique and no two people are exactly the same. Therefore, I cannot judge the church or its members through a black and white spectrum, or a blanket policy approach. I just pray that each and every person comes to the conclusion that Christ and His sacrifice. Along with our appreciation and acknowledgement of His sacrifice is the ultimate fact of our faith.

I actually saved this back in 2012 but never watched it until today and I'm really glad that I never did until today. You see, when you are a young Christian/Catholic, I find in our culture we have this need to be standouts within and among our peers. What i mean by that is we need to be the most "on-fire" Christian we can be without necessarily fact checking ourselves. It's a need to out-due each other. This breeds competitiveness and clicks among each other and it's something that i feel needs to be guided right away and taught against. Bishop Barron, you couldn't have said it better than you did. Jesus didn't abolish religion when he came, he abolished corruption and greediness. Yes he said he would tear down the temple, but in three days, he rebuilt it anew and ever better than it would have ever become. I'm so sad that politics are starting to make their way in the church. This, "You believe this so go sit over there" and "You aren't the right demographic so go sit over there to be used at a different time" is destroying churches and making them a status symbol or a latest trend. . These "False Prophets" are going to be the downfall of man. So in closing, I really pitty this young man who is clearly on fire for God but is very miss guided and miss taught. He needs to be taught differently. And with time, maturity, and knowledge about God and our Bible, he might actually be a good tool for Jesus to help people. Anyways, good video and God Bless!

Another wonderful video. Thank you Father Barron.

Martin Luther was apposed to the terrible wrongs in the church , like buying a sin pardon in advance.( indulgences ) there needed to be a correction in the church corruption was rampant. Of course Bishop Barron is defending his beliefs

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

Interesting perspective, powerfully presented.

Interestingly, the Catholic "Religion" gave that young man his only rule of faith ... The Bible.

One follow up point. The man on the cross next to him did nothing but admit his sin and believe in his name. He did nothing after that but die. He didn't experience church life. He received no "last rights". Yet Christ said he would see him in heaven. All who received Him and believed, even those who believed in His name.

Awesome! Thanks, I'll check him out for sure. God bless!

Thank you for posting this video, it was informative to watch. I think it's difficult for passionate young people in the Church because the mechanics of Church leadership are somewhat slow. The Church is often managed by the older generation who are naturally more conservative than younger people. The poem he recites talks quite a lot about sexual urges and other perceived hypocritical behaviours outside of Church. This is quite a common subject in evangelism at present. In this way, I am sympathetic to the subject of the poem the young man recites. The thing that bugs me is when people try to portray themselves as not being religious when they profess and practice a formal religious doctrine. It's quite common for Buddhists to say that 'it's a way of life' instead of recognising it's a formal religious practice. I think that while it feels liberating to reject religion but embrace faith (Jesus), anyone who has faith will need to come to terms with the fact that they will be a part of an organisational structure, which will often misrepresent their own core values. I think it's how you decide to respond to this structure which is important, not so much how the organisational structure defines itself. I also have a suspicion that the poem is a response to the inclination for lots of people to embrace more esoteric or 'new age' ideas. The purpose of such is to attract more young people into the Church.

Forgive me, it's not my place at all. But is asking Jesus to have a relationship with him not simple? It may be hard to be a Christian, but it is simple. Love God, love his people, and believe his word. Live in a way that reflects this. Loving God has changed my heart and I naturally want to follow him. Does everything have to be made complicated by "smarter" men with titles and degrees? It's like "Only a few of you can be a Christian because you know the rules and you don't make too bad of mistakes so your sins are easier to forgive". "The rest of you the go back to the holes you crawled out of, you're making us look bad". Reminds me of the religious leaders that put Jesus to death because he didn't fit with the institution they had created. I'm not a very smart person, and I'm very young, but I love God so much and I'm surrounded by people in my generation who're changed by him everyday and it's not always happening in church buildings! It's happening on the streets and among the broken, in the middle of a song, in places we'd least expect. I'm rarely touched in my church building by my preacher in his robes with his fancy bible and seminary experience. I respect him and I know he loves The Lord. But I guess when people gathered to hear Jesus speak, the church was at it's most authentic. Now "the church" is a place people feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. We seem to forget we take the church with us wherever we go.

The supremacy of the concept of love over faith is not a textual argument to justify ecclesiastical rites. Ecclesiastical dogma is not the same as love. As a catholic I find that flaw in Bishop Barron's argument.

Personal study suggestion for interested parties: Biblical study: Visit the online, searchable Bible software of choice and discover: 1) How many times the English word "religion" is used in the Old Testament 2) Note the character of the prevailing metaphors used to describe the nation of Israel's relationship to God in the Old Testament 3a) How many INSTANCES (not times used, but groupings of the word) the English word "religion/religious" is used to translate any Greek word in the New Testament 3b) Of those instances, how many use "religion" in a positive light? 3c) Of those used in a positive light, how many express anything that could be solely deemed "religious" (i.e. couldn't be done by a non-religious entity) 4) Note the prevailing metaphors used to describe the Christian community in the New Testament 5) Read 1 John 1 and answer the question: what is the stated purpose of John sharing his message? 6) In the Apocrypha and other 2nd Temple books, analyze the use of "religion" 7) Account for the nature of "covenant" as a general concept and the nature of the specifically Hebrew covenants made by Yahweh (Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15, Exodus 20-24, Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cf. Hebrews 8:8-11) and consider if this is the thought most people have when they consider "religion" generally. For extra-Biblical study: 1a) Without first consulting any other source, write down a concise definition of "religion" (1 to 2 sentences) 1b ) Ask a dozen or so people to give you their definition of the word and write them down without comment. If possible, 2) Briefly survey academic texts and popular books on religion (library or online-Amazon previews generally include book Introductions which will often contain the author's definition) and compare the definitions you find. Look for at least 6 different sources. Is there a consensus? 3) Read Peter Harrison's book, "Religion" and "the religions" in the English Enlightenment" for an historical overview of the use of this word. The biography of Harrison's book is another excellent source of study. 4) Compare "religious" language in Magna Carta with that in the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Noting the dates for the writing of the documents, how are these documents different? 5) What historic evidence is available to indicate that modern definitions of "religion" are universal to all humans throughout recorded history? 6) Visit Google Books Ngram viewer. This allows you to view word frequency in all available texts from 1500 to the present. In the search field, type in variations of the word "religion" (e.g. Religion,religions,religious,religiously) and search the years from 1500 to the present, first in English, then in French, German, and Italian. Compare and note the trends you see. Do the same for Russian, Spanish, and just for fun, Chinese. What pattern emerges? Note the date of invention of the printing press and that of the first English printed material (William Caxton's The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 1473) For inter-cultural study: 1) Investigate the use of the word and concept of "religion" in Hindu thought, Sikh thought, Islam, etc. If possible speak with actual Hindus, Sikhs, etc. 2) Listen/look for "exceptionality" statements like "x is not like other Religions because of y". Keep track of these. They will start to stack up 3) Take note of the "direction" religious terminology is employed: is it generally self-referential or is it generally "other" referential? 4) In your media consumption, begin to make note of how many non-religious groups/things/activities are described either tacitly or implicitly with religious metaphors and terminology. Also, keep a log of various usages of religious terminology and attribution by media figures. How do they seem to be defining the term? Do you agree with their usages, characterizations and definitions? 5) Consider the growing distinction between "religion" and "spirituality". What explain this distinctions and how do you define the two terms differently? 6) Consider the distinction between "religious people" and "non-religious people". Is "religion" a universal category or not? If it is, how can people "opt out" of it? If it's not, can religion make any universal claims? If so, what are they and on what basis? Should we insist that non or anti-religious people are actually religious? 7) If you live in the United States, do you think secular humanism is a religion? If so, in what sense? If not, why does the U.S. Supreme Court disagree? Finalize your study by answering the following: What conclusions do you reach about: 1) the reality of "religion" as a universal, essential human category 2) The utility of the term 3) the centrality of the concept of religion to Hebrews and early Christians in light of the entire Biblical corpus? 4) the accuracy of your personal understanding or definition of religion?

Dear Rev.Fr.Barron: I hope you get my message of importance. I want to tell all CatholicChristians that God is always in control. Even today. I see what He is doing. He is creating a world-wide salvation just as St. Athanasius puts it:'This Psalm (97) foretells a world-wide salvation and that peoples of all nations will believe in Christ. (go to Week II, Wednesday Morning). Thanks so much. God's Spirit be with you still.

Jesus Christ didn't created religion HE created CHURCH which is inside of us, spiritual!

I can see the sincerety of the Priest defending his Genuine Church.

What is a good faith if it isn't supported by acts of charity? Fr. Barron was right to highlight Jesus' problem with the Pharisees from Christ's time. Today's reading mentioned a Jesus condemning the praise sought out by the matters of the faith and it spoke of how the Pharisees tired burdens, crates, onto the backs of common folk who looked to them for guidance. "Do as they say," Jesus says, I paraphrase, "but don't do as they do." Jesus, yes, entourages us to work for him to spread his message but he tired the biggest create onto his back, sort of speak. He wants us to tie crates onto our own backs so that we may serve others as he did. The best example pairing this two-truths-to salvation "formula" if we want to call it, can be seen where the son invites us to PICK UP our cross and FOLLOW Him. Thank you for the video Fr. Baron. It was actually recommended to me by none other than a Catholic priest who told me he enjoyed it. Maybe it humored him or maybe he just saw it from one angle that you mentioned. Perhaps he too took it as saying "go against this hypocrisy of unsupported faith" because the faithful Christian knows that acts of love are obligatory.

The difference is, and I grew up catholic but gave my life to Christ and am now BORN AGAIN, is that I have a RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. The Bible is the AUTHORITY not the church, pope or ANYONE. Jesus is the ONLY mediator between me and GOD. No one else. After I have my life to Christ and asked for the forgiveness of my sins, I did what the Bible says, I got baptized in water and received the baptism in the Holy Ghost. My life changed. "It is not of works that you are saved but by believing." This video this young man made has 13 million views for a reason. It's powerful.

4:39 - For me, the central question is this: did St. Paul grow his epic beard prior to, or following his conversion on the road to Damascus?

On the bright side, the only thing that brings a secular person like myself and a religious person together is our collective hate for people who don't use their cerebral cortex.

I use to Go to church and Sin the rest of the week! Never did i know i can speak to God directly and he to me! Every question I asked him! He answered! Open page radomly and he spoke to me! He always speaks to me! Let no man deceive you! May the Holy Spirit be your guide! Now I have a real relationship with God everyday! No religion compares to his Glory! Believe many are perishing for lack of knowledge! Jesus talking about the temple is his Body!! The law means ten commandments! Not the church building! I found Jesus Outside the church! The veil has been lifted!

You've made a couple videos I disagree with, Father Barron, but this one is spot on. The incarnation, the duality of divinity and humanity, is so crucial to showing HOW and WHY God saved us through His Son, Jesus. Jesus was more than a concept; he was a man, and he instituted a Church on a rock, not a cloud of ether. It's the one part of the Catholic Church that is lacking everywhere and why I'm in RCIA.

Why are you playing commercials before your videos Bishop? I just saw a video on gambling before wanting to be enriched by your Christan teaching. Wrong combo.

I get where that young man was coming from . I was the same way at his age . I was tailoring Jesus to my lifestyle . When I think back I have to laugh at how silly I was .

YES YES YES!!!!Thank you Fr. Barron, That video annoyed me a great deal. As a young person I hate how sometimes youths can be arrogant and naive, and self righteous. I guess that's kind of normal for youths but when its about GOD and religion, makes me wanna slap some humility into people

Well said! Thank you, Father Barron! Common sense, logical and Scripture-based response. Amen! #Truth

He used the word simple alot yet he didnt comment on the simple points this young man made. Why does religion build such big churches yet fails to feed to poor.

I'm sorry, friend, but you make that statement, and you accuse me of being trite?!

No matter what or how we translate the Scriptures, everyone should know that upon every Tree an Axe had been Put, meaning " No man will speak for my behalf " I am responsible for myself. With love I’m sharing. May The Lord Jesus Christ give you the strength to understand. Amen.

Fr. Robert Barron and Jefferson Bethke are great men of God! may God's grace and love be poured out on you both. I agree with Fr. Barron that Jesus did come to fulfill the law not to get rid of it, but I don't think that was what Jefferson Bethke was trying to say though. I believe that Jefferson is trying to speak on the self-righteousness and self-occupation that is some times the results from practicing certain religions. for example a person has to go through CCD classes to be able to part take in the holy communion at my grandmothers catholic church. That is extremely confusing for early believers in christ that are taught that grace is "suppose" to be freely given but they have to work to part take in the Lord supper.. In my opinion it would make me think that i have to earn my salvation. The reason why i say that is because the whole reason for our salvation is the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. If I have to earn the right to part take in simply remembering the lords death then that would mean to me I have to earn the right to be saved. That is why i disagree with religion because it causes confusion in the church and God is not the author of confusion. We all qualify to be saved by christ. He said he justifies all sinners. that is every last on of us. The issue I have with religion is some times people get fat in there own intellect and think that they are better then somebody because they pray an hour a day, but if it was not for the holy spirit who works in you you would not be able to pray an hour a day. Philippians 2:12-13 Paul said "work out" your salvation. Now if you stop reading at verse 12 you'll think oh man I better start praying and fasting more or I won't be saved, but when you read on to 13 you'll see that it is God that works in you so that you are able to all those great things. See your resting while your working. if that makes sense. lol You work out what God works in. Paul elaborates more on this in 1 Cor. 15:10 "when he said i laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." Nothing is done by our own works under the new covenant but it is fulfilled in us by the holy spirit that was given to us by the grace of God through Christ Jesus. The new covenant is all about resting on Jesus's finished work and allowing his spirit to work wonders in our lives. under the old covenant (or under the law before Jesus's death) you obeyed to be blessed. Under the new covenant (grace) you are blessed so you can obey. You see under grace now you can love your wife because christ loves you. Now you can love your neighbor because you know how much God loves you. Now we can forgive because God forgave us. That is why we say "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". he is everything to us who believes on him. Jesus is our perfect high priest in heaven. Fr. Barron is correct that some charismatic and Protestant churches have made mistakes and have had agnostic like beliefs which is heresy but not all of us. I do not believe the whole world is saved. I believe in the historical principals of the bible and actually the Jewish history of the bible brings out the most beauty pictures of Jesus through out the entire bible. And last even though we all are individually apart of the church and do have our own personal relationship with christ I agree that the physical church is needed because we all need to assemble together as one, because we are all brothers and sisters in christ, and we are even more power when we are assembled together. I love conversation like this because catholic protestant or christian we all believe in Jesus and we all are brothers and sisters in christ. So even if we don't agree on all things we can still fellowship and love another! I am glad that both of you great men of God spoke out on your opinion and experience with the lord. You are both great men of God and i am thankful for you both. God Bless you both!

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9

Even when I was a protestant I thought that spoken word video was dumb.

Nice One Bishop Barron😇😇🙏🙏

Thank you Bishop Barron

And Jefferson Bethke was absolutely not advocating "no church", so for anyone who watched the above and took it as a source to represent Jefferson Bethke ( the man he's referring to above) and what that man is about please watch 'The heart behind (why I hate religion but love Jesus)' and you will not only get one of the best representations of the truth of the gospel out there, but you will also see what he has to say about church, which was so inaccurately and completely misrepresented by Bishop Barron.

Well, that's what I call a convincing counter-argument!

Let me know your understanding preacher and I'll let Jesus answer I'm no one to speak in My Lord name cus I'm a sinful man but He talks to me daily and has giving me great understanding but only through Him I have nothing to earn not no ones appraisal which I care nothing about I'm going through great trials for being weak but God has never let me alone so I know He is with me the devil woulda done with me a long time ago if it where not for Jesus mercy I hope you give Him your heart before it's to late

Thank you father , excellent explanation

We love because He first loved us. He loved us through the cross by saving us by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are only able to truly love when we first receive His love and forgiveness. "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Even so Abraham believed God , and it was reckoned to him as righteousness ." Galatians 3:1‭-‬2‭, ‬6 NASB "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30 NASB We receive the Spirit as a seal to salvation through faith, not works. What James was talking about is that true faith will always bear fruit and cause us to do good works. Good works is the fruit of salvation, not the means.

Without religion, you have infinite number of thoughts and interpretations, some that are superficial ... ultimately resulting in utter chaos. History has shown that time and again.

Nice and clear explanation. Well done.

Thank you Bishop Barron for another great video!

The way of thinking unwraped in this video is one of the reasons that young man wrote his poem. When Christ spoke of tearing down the church and building it again in three days, he spoke of his body, not any institution.

then how does he explain Matthew 23 when jesus calls out religious leaders for their hypocritical teachings

Wow well said Bishop Barron!!!

It still is amazing that Catholics and other religions cannot admit the fact that they (we) have simply failed and fallen short of bringing people closer too GOD!....As a graduate from a well know Baptist seminary I also fell into this trap. Listening to the religious piety in this video it is no wonder why this video has so few views in its 5 years on line and as I write this the video that is mentioned has over 38 million at date. Has pride become so prevalent in the church that we cannot see we are literally pushing people from the arms of Jesus while we sit in white collars and tell them why we are right. (only for those with ears to hear)

I went to a private evangelical high school and the guy in that video came and talked to us during our "revival" week. It was just the same old "if you just accept Jesus into your heart you're good enough for heaven no matter what blah blah blah..." I find Catholicism far more fulfilling.

PEOPLE JUST LOOK T THE HISTORY !! Jesus started the CATHOLIC CHURCH, why do you think he told peter to start/continue it. I've personally questioned my faith many times, but at the end of the day history is history and facts are facts!

I'm glad that Mr. Barron mentioned that without love, we are nothing. He and Mr. Bethke seem to have some form of agreement on the idea of love. After all, why would you try to be like someone you don't love?

THANKS BISHOP BARRON

Yes, Jesus did come not to change the law, but rather to FULFILL the law. What this means is that - since the standard previous to His birth, was that all should follow the law without fail, which was an impossible feat - Jesus needed to come to earth, be tempted by everything temptation, and resist them all, so that after his death and resurrection, we could be clothed in HIS righteousness and be cover in the veiled of his perfect walk. This is why Jesus wasn't born and immediately sacrificed - he needed to not only display the new covenant through actions, but also live a perfect. Paul talks about those that still try to follow the law and says that "Jesus is of no use to them". For those of us that trust is Christ's perfection, as well as His death & resurrection, God no longer sees our sin or flaws, he only sees Jesus and his perfection. There is nothing we can do to earn it or make it happen apart from accepting Jesus as Savior religion complicates the faith process by adding a "doing element" to the equation - ie. good works, pennants, and ritualistic ceremony. Sometimes when we do and say the same things, it can easily become an act of repetition and the place where we put our faith. Over time, spiritual faith wanes because it isn't needed any longer. I know a lot of people that put a heavier importance on their church going/devotion rather than just Jesus... this is what happens when you introduce an action or tangible concept into faith. It's the human condition to gravity towards the easy road, as opposed to simply believing in an invisible God without your actions intervening - that is a true test of faith, imo

Bishop Barron is Right On as usual

Great video, I just think it’s good to clarify that Justification by grace through Faith, if correctly interpreted is completely orthodox(as it’s derived from Ephesians 2:8) if understood to mean active faith(including good works), as such is a relationship and not just an intellectual understanding. So we are justified by grace through Faith, as we are initially Justified at Baptism through repentance and Faith, are being saved by growing closer to God by His grace in Faith and good works, and hope to be saved at the Final Judgment. Justified by grace through Faith alone is problematic, as it assumes the requirement for salvation is Initial Justification. God bless you, Bishop Barron!

Neither of the options you present for salvation, are true. You present Luther's "salvation by faith alone" as "faith minus work implies salvation". You present your option "salvation by work and faith", which could be written as "faith + work implies salvation". The truth is however "faith implies salvation + works". Or as Jacob puts it: show me your faith without work and I will show you my faith through works. This is how work and faith is connected. Then it all makes sense. Faith alone saves (Roman 10, John 3,16 etc), but faith without work is dead (aka is not actually faith at all) (Jacob). Hence faith implies both work and salvation. There is nothing you could do to earn salvation but believe ( hence good work is not required to be saved, or else a lamb man and the thief on the cross next to Jesus would be doomed). But to believe in Christ inevitably leads to actions. It is an active faith. Your faith is what you (trust in and thus) act out, not merely what you think or say without acting like you believe it. Or as Bill Watterson put it so neatly: -" do you think our morality is defined by our actions, or by what's in our hearts?" -"I think our actions SHOW what's in our hearts."

Okay, I have been following your series for many years. While I do agree most of what they convey, there are also things which I don't. In this one, I kind of agrees with the author of the video you were commenting upon. I too used to go to the church (Catholic). I was a catholic. And then as years go on, I just notice things that are not based anywhere from the bible. 1. The praying to Mary and other saints. Why? What the bible says is that we should only pray to God, with the name of Jesus, so why would I pray to Mary who is just as human as we all are. Like if people were to confess their sins, they are told to pray such prayers for a number of times and so on. 2. Praying for the dead. Again why? The word Purgatory isn't even mentioned (not even once) in the bible. Catholics makes this practice every november 1 as All Sain'ts day, praying for the dead, offering food for/to them, pouring holy water to them and so on. On what basis is this done for? If a person dies, according to the bible, the spirit returns to God, who gave it in the first place, not go to some sort of limbo or another dimension. What the bible says is that there is only heaven and hell, and this world we live in. No such thing as purgatory. And again on the point of praying for the dead and things like that, isn't that also said in the bible that it is considered a sin? What gives. And another point, I think that in a way, this praying for the dead and pouring holy water or whatever the term is, has become some sort of money making for the church. Here in PH, you pay an amount so the priest will bless your dead relatives and there are 2 types, two. Special prayer and the regular one, I mean what is this, If i pay for the special one, does that makes my dead relative have a special treatment from God? BS is what I'm saying. 3. December 25. You make this date as if it is the birthdate of our Savior Jesus Christ (pun intended), NOWHERE in the bible that is stated and yet the catholic church tries to label it that way. 4. Ceremonies. Catholic church have many ceremonies than just go directly to teaching about the words of God. Why are they needed anyway, to make it more dramatic or something? 5. Praying to Man-made sculptures of heavenly beings AND even human entities. People prays to a sculpture of Jesus, sculpture of saints proclaimed by the church, to a sculpture of Mary and many more. I thought these things were mentioned on the bible and were considered as a sin. Or in all the teaching of the church, it was never mentioned. This is a violation of the Number 1 in the 10 commandments. How i hope you emphasized these to your congregations and have them understand it well and then remove such parts of the religion. You are contradicting what you are preaching and have the members commit sin in the process, including you. There is no need to pray to these sculpture when you can talk to God himself directly by praying. You don't need a medium to talk to God but by prayer. 6. Politics. Now on this one, I don't know if it is observed in your country, but here in the Philippines, every election period, Priests mostly advertise these candidates to their members, and on personal experience, out of 200 people during a mass and the priest did this, nearly half of the people walked out, including me. They talk about politics and these candidates rather than preaching the words of God, They even let these politicians speak in front of the members during a mass. In my perspective, the church has mixed religion with cultures of this world with the words of God, wherein in the first place, they shouldn't. Those two can't and shouldn't mix. Again, I am just pointing out the things that had made me lose faith in the church, but not in God. Religion does not save you, faith does. I suggest you should encourage your members to read the Bible more in addition to attending the church. In that way, they will be more enlightened by the truth of the words of God and not just leave that work to the church.

God bless you

heard a young white brother on Moody Bible Institute ( MBI ) radio, FM 90.1 Chicago ,,, I was raised a Catholic, but now that I meet Jesus, i am Saved ,,, that is a strange yet bold statement , he did not go into his mean ...+

Without rules Jesus's teaching was corrupted

Bethke was talking about the legalism in religion. And, I searched my Holy Bible diligently and have yet to find any verse(s) that tells me to pray to the Virgin Mary.

Romans 4:5 KJV But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Romans 3:28 KJV Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 5:1 KJV Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

A very well put together review. Much appreciated. Faith without works, or works without faith doesn’t cut it. It must be faith plus works - Yes

I have to disagree with you. I beileve that you are saved by the grace of Christ. When Paul is saying with love I am nothing he is saying if you do not have a true deep love in Christ you are nothing if you do all the works in the world it wouldnt matter without a true deep connection with Christ. I personally beileve that's the point of the video. Giving all you are to Christ and loving him is how i beileve we are saved.