Religious People Are The Worst

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I want to share a diagram that I got from a video, which I titled this post after.

The link to the video is found below for reference.

Imagine a river that represents a life of sin. There are people caught in that river who need saving.

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Where is the most effective place to get to them? Who is better able to reach them? Those who are close to the bank of the river, with one foot in and one foot out, so to speak? Or the person standing at a distance, who doesn’t want to get near the river, near that sin and near those sinners?

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The person closest to the sinners, is better able to help.

But, it is also the more dangerous position to be in.

That’s why you need:

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Other people in your life walking the same path as you. Community, fellowship, support. They in turn help you.


(The diagram analogy is discussed in segment 5:33-7:00)

The name of the guy in the video is Rob Kowalski. He describes himself as a reformed bad boy and Jesus follower. He’s on social media and runs a social/volunteer work organization called CityFam.

I first learned about him in coming across his videos on the topic of sexual abstinence. He is a former stripper, night club worker, and used to be very promiscuous.

He is also a past drug user and drinker. He became sober and explains that the reason for why he chose to not drink anymore is because he knows from his past experiences with alcohol that when he drinks he becomes sexually loose.
 
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In his late twenties, Rob had a conversion, changed his lifestyle, and began living as an intentional Christian man. During that time he had a mostly non-existent social life due to cutting ties with the people he used to surround himself with. This went on for about six years. Eventually the loneliness, staying home a lot to avoid trouble, and lack of strong social connections with like-minded people got to him, and he began to hang around the sorts of places he used to, e.g. bars, and the kinds of people he was able to relate to, and ended up picking up old habits and backsliding into his former way of life.

Eventually he recommitted himself again and has been abstinent for another seven year stretch. When he gives his testimony he mentions a caveat that happened about 3 or 4 years ago, when he fell and slept with a female friend who he had spent an evening with alone. A few days ago he published a video confessing to another slip that happened more recently. He explains that the incident involved him drinking. He had begun drinking again, in moderation, under the guidance of his pastor. He had starting drinking again while going through a rough patch in his life, but he knew he had to be cautious, and that’s why he told his pastor about the alcohol, hoping to have some accountability. On the occasion that his confession is about, he mixed alcohol with social company and it landed him in the situation of sleeping with a woman.
He talks about the responses he received to his confession, most of which were edifying, but some of which really bothered him and I think that’s part of why he made this followup video.

I have really enjoyed watching his videos because he’s a very down-to-earth guy and speaks in a very raw, genuine way. He is also committed to transparency because of the nature of his work and outreach (for example, he published a book called Why Waiting Works). He knows his credibility is always at stake and so he wants to stay honest with people about his life and struggles.

He’s been trying to reach wider audiences and is interested in doing more speaking engagements but doesn’t yet have the kind of networking that would help him to reach that level. I was thinking of contacting Matt Fradd or Jason Evert about him.
Rob isn’t a Catholic, and I don’t know how open he would be to collaborating with Catholics (I think he has the “it’s a relationship not a religion” faith mindset), however, I think it would be a mutually enriching teamwork. And who knows, someone like Rob could in time, be attracted to the Catholic message, and find that it completes his own message that he wants to share with people.
 
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First, Jesus was the perfect green man in the image who could help the red men in the river. He was without sin, yet unlike the image he was not without power to help.

In some ways I see his talk and observe how similar it is to the Old Evangelization/New Evangelization. To reach people where they are at and bring the message of the Gospel. Sometimes this gets problematic, as Rob Kowalski pointed out at 9:20. Their are agreements between statements. To call out the sinner aggressively is not the point.

The title was a condemnation of religious people. His video was not about condemning religious people, rather saying their lifestyle is bad at evangelizing far away sinners, compared to his life that had more sin but reached more people. It could have been titled Religious People are the worst at reaching sinners, which felt more relevant to the purpose of his video. I suppose it would be to long, yet it is his message.
 
There are only TWO options: either you’re submerged in sin or you’re at the shore, with one foot on land (holiness) and one foot in the water (sin). Even the holiest among us make daily choices to avoid sin or not. Every. Single. Day. There are no perfect sinless people standing far inland.
 
Sounds like he could benefit from a 12 step program. He would be part of a network of people who had lived as he once did, found freedom and are committed to helping others likewise find freedom via living a spiritual life.

He doesn’t need to do it alone or live in isolation. There is already a well established program for doing what he proposes.
 
HumbleIOughtToBe said:
It could have been titled Religious People are the worst at reaching sinners , which felt more relevant to the purpose of his video. I suppose it would be to long, yet it is his message.
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Yes and no…

You’re right that I think he means, in part, their ineffectiveness at reaching people.

But I think he’s referring to the source of their ineffectiveness, pride and self-righteousness.

And yet, I don’t think he means religious people are the worst in every possible way, or the absolute worst people in the world, or the worst evil doers.

However, it’s a common mode of expression when you’re having a bad day or had a bad experience with someone or something to call it the worst, e.g. you have a retail job and you come home one evening and your spouse asks you “How was work?” and you say “Uggh, rude customers are the worst”.

Are they worse than shoplifters?
Hmmmm.
 
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Jesus wasn’t mad at religious people. He was mad at self righteous people pretending to be religious.
 
I think this is a better analogy for what the diagram is trying to get at:

Pope Paschal II (as quoted by St. Pius X):
For if the one standing erect merely holds out his hand to a fallen man, he will never lift him unless he too bends down a little. Besides, although this act of stooping may seem like the act of falling, it never goes so far as to lose the equilibrium of rectitude” (In lib. iii. Epist. S. Anselmi, ep. 140).
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