A FRESH YORK Instances BESTSELLER

Abandon dead, dry, rule-keeping and accept the promise to be truly known and deeply cherished.

Jefferson Bethke burst into the cultural conversation in 2012 with a separate, provocative poem titled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” The 4-minute video literally became an overnight feeling, with 7 million YouTube sights in its first 48 hours (and 23+ million in a calendar year). The message blew up on social-media, triggering an avalanche of reactions working the about Jesus > Religious beliefs: Why He Is So SUPERIOR TO Trying Harder, Performing More, and Becoming Good Enough gamut from inspired to enraged.

In Jesus > Religious beliefs, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem-highlighting the difference between tooth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair and hope. With relaxing candor he delves in to the inspiration behind his message, you start with the unvarnished story of his own plunge from your pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile living that sapped his power and led him down a path of destructive behavior.

Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he’s not a pastor or theologian, but merely a normal, twenty-something who also cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. Along his trip, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him beyond the props of fake religion.