Charlatans, hypocrites and Christians (Part 2)
In my post last week, I wrote about how Christians can get a bad rap from the media due to its often inaccurate portrayal of Christianity from people who claim to be Christians, but whose actions belie their faith and beliefs. In this post, I’ll examine how hypocrisy amongst Christians affect the public’s view on themselves, and Christianity in general.
According to my trusty online dictionary, hypocrisy is defined as:
- a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
- a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
- an act or instance of hypocrisy.
hypocrisy. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Retrieved October 21, 2006, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hypocrisy&db=*
So hypocrisy is about pretending to be someone, or to exhibit characteristics of someone that is not your true self. The motivation behind this pretense may be driven by one’s “public image”. Now, as Christians, we are challenged and encouraged to live a godly life. We are even instructed to shine like stars in the universe in a crooked and depraved generation (Php 2:15). By living a life that exhibits Christ’s love for us, we may be able to reach out to those who do not yet chosen to accept this great love.
Now, due to the fact that we’re all sinful, living a perfect Christian life is impossible. There will be many occasions where we all make mistakes. There will be many occasions where we’ll make a bad decision and end up regretting it afterwards. There will be times when we will react to situations as opposed to responding to them. Ultimately, there’s nothing we can do but to remember that as Christians we have been forgiven of all the sins that we commit, and that no matter how much we screw up, God will love us no less.
Does this mean that we can do whatever we want? Well, no.
“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
1 Cor 10:23–24 (NIV)
Although as Christians we technically have the freedom to do anything we want (since faith in Christ means all our sins are forgiven), it is not beneficial nor constructive to start mucking around again.
So, the Christians out there who love getting drunk after work, who enjoy extra-marrital affairs, who do all these things that the Bible teaches against; they are not only setting a poor example for younger Christians by giving them a false notion of what is acceptable, but they are giving the secular world ammo for dissing Christians.
I know that I myself struggle in many areas of my life. There are many times when what I want to do and what I should be doing are in conflict with each other. Sometimes, I would think to myself “ah, just this time… I know that God will forgive me anyway…” and make the wrong decision. Does this make me a hypocrite? Potentially. If I realise that what I did was stupid and try my best to not do it again, it would be difficult to call me a hypocrite for one-off acts of stupidity. However, if I continued to do it again, and again, to the extent that people around me notice an inconsistency in character, then that would very likely make me a hypocrite.
At the end of the day, though, it’s not whether you’re a hypocrite or not that matters. It’s whether you have accepted and embraced a relationship with Jesus Christ. You can be the most hypocritical Christian on earth (though I encourage you to aim higher than this) and you will still be better off than the most charitable and selfless non-Christian who observes all the rules, dots the i’s and crosses the t’s, and bends over backwards to help other people. Sure, that sounds pretty unfair, but that’s because we’re looking at it from a human point of view. From God’s point of view, he want’s to be in a relationship with you but you have a choice to either accept it, or reject it. Christianity is ultimately and essentially about this relationship with God, and whether you’re a hypocrite or not does not change this fact.
So, the next time someone brings up Christians being a bunch of hypocrites in a conversation, tell them about what it really means to be a Christian — that it’s ultimately about a relationship with God, who loves us no matter how much we stuff up.