Now the question that begs answering is, "Is it true?"
Being a hypocrite basically means you profess to believe one thing and actually believe another. More to the point, you say you act one way but you really act another. One caveat I have to give is that as a teacher for me to teach against a certain action and actually struggle with it myself is not being a hypocrite. It's being human. But if I say I don't struggle with it when in reality I do, then I'm being hypocritical.
My own personal observations on hypocrisy among Christians is that the perception IS based on truth. Many Christians tend to preach and rail against certain behaviors while they may actually participate in the behavior. A prominent example:
- Christians preach against divorce and yet the divorce rate among Christians is actually slightly higher than the national average.
Essentially it is not trying to appear perfect. When I look at Jesus, I won't see Him admitting that he struggles because He actually was perfect. You probably wouldn't have to hang around Jesus very long at all before you would see this. But he didn't waste his time worrying about what the Religious leaders of his day thought. The thought that you had to appear perfect was the teaching of the religious leaders of Jesus day. Jesus didn't bother trying to appear perfect, he just was perfect and acted himself.
A modern example to me is Craig Groeschel in his book "Confessions of a Pastor" where he essentially lays it all out there and admits openly what he struggles with. I love the book and love the effort to essentially say not all Christ followers are hypocrites.
I think we live in a good time when more and more Christ followers are holding up this value of authenticity and shunning the facade of perfection. We are embracing 1 John 1:8:
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
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2 comments:
this seems to be an easy way out for people to reject Christians...a blanket statement. have these people truly been burned in the past by someone or do they use hypocrisy to hide from potential christian relationships?
What is a hypocrite? Is it someone who says they believe in Christ, yet they doubt who he really was? Or even doubt he is god sometimes? Were the disciples hypocrites? They doubted Jesus even when they saw his miracles. So to follow a man and call him teacher and savior yet to still not truly believe in who he is and what he is capable of isn't that hypocritical?
To me its not just that I thought Christians were hypocrites its that I thought they were fake. Its one thing to say you try to be like Christ than to say you are like Christ. No one can be as perfect as Christ or else he would have had no purpose on earth. Many people pass judgement when they preach and are sinners themselves. Thats hypocritical. Preaching that you strive to be like Christ but fall short because you are a sinner. Thats not hypocritical at all. Thats sharing the truth.
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