On several occasions I’ve heard the argument from a non-Christian that they don’t want to get involved in church or Christianity because the church is filled with hypocrites.
I’m a hypocrite on some levels. I’ll be one of the first to admit it, but I know I’m not alone. A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does the opposite. I may tell someone else, “Read your Bible everyday.” Yet the next day I might get busy and push aside reading my Bible myself. That’s being a hypocrite. If hypocrisy is measured strictly in action, then all Christians are hypocrites on some level; no one is perfect. We say (at least by association): “don’t sin” and then we turn around and do it. That’s hypocrisy, and every Christian does it.
But what those who have fallen away from Christ don’t understand is that a Christian’s relationship with God is not about having each and every action perfect. Christian’s know that we will sin, but we also know that we are moving away from sin. We try not to. If hypocrisy is measured strictly in action, then we’re hypocrites. But a Christian’s life can’t just be considered in action, but also in the heart. To stick with my Bible reading example, when I realize I didn’t read my Bible on a day I quickly reorient my heart towards God and get back on the right page. That doesn’t excuse my screwing up. But it explains how hypocrisy can exist in each of us. It isn’t always pure evil. In strictly action, I am a hypocrite sometimes. But in heart (since I repent of the sin), I am not. I say one thing, slip in doing the opposite, and then fix it.
Since I know I will probably fail sometime, should I keep my mouth shut and not proclaim God’s truth? Of course not. “Woe is unto me if I don’t preach the Gospel,” right? (1 Cor. 9:16). I will boldly preach truth. Sometimes I will blow it (and then fix it). That makes me a hypocrite sometimes. That doesn’t change truth.
So when a non-Christian says that they don’t want to get involved in a church because its full of hypocrites, I say, “Yes, it is. What does that have to do with you?”
Hypocrisy…I think that the reason a non-Christian doesn’t want to get involved with a bunch of hypocrites is simple:
Who are we to go around and tell everyone what the truth is, who God is, and what’s right and what’s wrong, when we can’t even live up to our own standard?
When I ask non-Christians the same question, “What does a church full of hypocrites have to do with you?”, they typically respond that they would much rather go down the street and join the Mormons or Buddhism, because at least those religions preach standards the people involved live up to.
Admittedly, I often find myself in these deeper conversations with people who have a bare minimum of a Bachelors Degree or it’s equivalent, from a secular school, have a tendency to be either universalist or pluralistic in nature, and have watched Christians and the church in general preach one thing and then say another.
It’s hard to explain anything to them, because they are spiritually dead. They can’t begin to understand or comprehend that I am a hypocrite, but that’s ok, because the point isn’t my failure, or hypocrisy, it’s God’s ability to restore me and continue to shape me in spite of my failures.
Is it possible that when we talk to lost people about the things of God, is it the equivalent of me sitting in on a lecture on building rocket ship engines? Do they really understand what I’m talking about? Does it make sense to them?
Furthermore, in a pluralistic society, who am I to think that I could possibly have anything even close to absolute truth? I certainly can’t rely on my experience, because the experiences of the lost are just as real to them as mine are to me…..aaaaahhhhhh….the terrible paradox of faith.
I really think it’s ok to say the church is full of hypocrites. This is a fact, because we are human. I think we don’t have to be confused about absolute truth. Isn’t absolute truth in God’s Word?
Non Christians don’t see and cannot understand spiritual things, but to agree with a non Christian and say that the church is full of hypocrites, I think is a powerful ‘common groud’ that might help them see we aren’t arguing with them. It might take the arguement out of them, and bring them closer to knowing ‘TRUTH’.
@anita: That is so true. Agreeing with a non christian about hypocrisy in the church, and even in ourselves, disarms them and catches them off guard. It isn’t what they expect, and it could very easily open the door to have a discussion about their own relationship with God!
A church that I used to attend focused on reaching the exteremly lost and hurt. They often gave us the same comment about hypocrites. We agreed that we all can be hyopcritical, but the church allows us to help each other become less hypcritical.
“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,he remembers that we
are dust.”
Psalm 103:13-14
That might be a good verse to pull out the next time you try to explain why you can be a hypocrite and a follower of God. Works for me.
what i’m getting from all of your posts is that we should focus not on ourselves but on the work of Christ that He has all ready done & the work He continues to do in us.
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