If something is seldom as it seems, why should the hypocrisy of Christianity be a blanket statement.
As people, how many times have you done something, and when you look back, it wasn’t long ago that you might’ve expressed that you don’t like the thing you’ve just done to someone else? Or with one group of friends you might act a certain way, and with another group of friends you might talk slightly differently, and then with your family you act slightly differently again. Not enough to be called fake, but enough that the nuance and nature of each relationship looks slightly different.
This will be natural in some ways, because the common ground of different friendships might be slightly different. Our human nature plays a role as well. There are parts of ourselves and habits that we will only do around people where they’re accepted.
Why? Because we don’t like being reminded that some things are wrong and that we shouldn’t be doing them. Or it’s just a peer group thing. Going against our peers, whether they’re close friends or family, leads to certain things that are all mostly unpleasant for us as social beings.
It’s not so fun vaping around family when they don’t approve of smoking. It’s not so fun drinking alone when those around you don’t want to. It doesn’t seem so cool to swear if you’re around people who don’t. A workaholic doesn’t spend time with people who don’t see working all the time as a good thing.
What does this have to do with Christianity? Well, thanks for asking. It speaks to human nature. We are imperfect, and we all have our own struggles and temptations (which some might call vices). Habits we struggle to kick. Things that bring us comfort.
So if our human nature is fallible and so easily tempted. When our resistance to social norms and constructs leaves us feeling lonely and dejected, how do we break free from that noose around our necks, even knowing that what’s on the other side is much more rewarding?
So when we become Christians and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, it doesn’t erase our human nature. You now have two parts of you vying for your attention, your time, and your habits. The choice will never be made for you. To illustrate this in a way everyone can relate to, it can literally feel like a good angel on one shoulder and a demon on the other. One is encouraging you on a righteous path, and the other on a different path in the name of fun (never labeled outright as bad or rebellious, always in the name of something positive).
So as a Christian, this is what we face. There is a triangle that, when they align, we are most vulnerable to falling: opportunity, desire, and temptation.
What people consider Christian hypocrisy is not quite as simple as it might seem. There are categories: the true believer, who might stumble on his path with the Lord. This believer is an imperfect person who didn’t see the threat of temptation. The other Christian hypocrite is the one who comes across as a believer. They will use Christian language, say Christian things, maybe they will even be in a church, BUT their heart will not be Christian. They are not actually a lover of Jesus, and they might do very evil things, and sometimes they will do them in the name of Jesus and the church. There is a third category: someone who might believe in Jesus but hasn’t surrendered their life and habits.
As someone who might not be a Christian, you might not even care or be interested. You might think there are many Christians who don’t seem to practice what they preach. As with many things in life, we shouldn’t brand things so simply. It’s easier to do it that way because it helps us write something off that might challenge our worldview.
So let’s walk the journey with these three Christians.
We’ll call the first one Petey. Petey loves the Lord. He’s walked with Him for many years. Happily tells people about the Lord. He’s kind, well-liked, and active in church. He has a family; he lives a righteous life. He’s not perfect, but things are good with Petey.
Okay, now Petey has gotten a bit complacent, and he’s not so careful about the devil prowling the earth like a lion, waiting for his moment to strike Petey. So Petey’s defenses are weaker and vulnerable.
Petey gets invited to go for some drinks after work with his friends. It’s seemingly innocent. Petey thinks, “It’ll be nice to catch up with his buddies”. Petey doesn’t get drunk; he’s home a bit late for dinner, but it was a one-time thing. A special occasion.
Next week, Petey is invited out twice instead of once. Once on the weekend and once during the week. Petey still doesn’t get drunk. In the week, he might miss dinner with the family. On the weekend, he’s watching some sport with the guys.
Petey’s friends are not Christian, so they don’t have the same values as he does. They don’t understand the servant’s heart. So as Petey goes down this road of becoming closer and closer and spending more and more time with his buddies who don’t love the Lord, some of his priorities are starting to shift, but Petey is having a good time communing with the guys.
Over a few months, suddenly Petey is coming home late two nights of the week, and he’s getting drunk on the sport days on the weekend. Again, with the boys, having a good time. Not doing any harm.
Here’s the question? Do you look at a husband who goes out with his friends twice in the week and once on the weekend for a few hours, sometimes getting drunk, missing dinner with the family because the guys do it, as a Christian family man?
Does it seem very innocent in its intention? It could even be work-related during the week. Or maybe work has been really hard, and the wife doesn’t understand, but the boys do. If the wife cared for him, then she would want him to be able to de-load?
Petey’s heart might be in the right place, but these friends have now become the equivalent of a third party in his relationship. His wife is probably feeling a bit neglected and like Petey doesn’t care about her like he used to. Petey might start to seem like a bit of a fake Christian, but he’s not; he just got a bit lost because, in the name of fun, he didn’t see the threat that would build to cause division in his family and to keep him distracted from the Lord.
1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Next, we have Frank’s journey. Frank goes to church and says many Christian things. Frank, though, does what he wants. In his business dealings, he isn’t honest, but you might not always see that. He’s kind, but it seems self-serving. He likes the attention. Frank loves money.
Christians might accept him because he seems like he’s doing the right things. When people who do not believe in Jesus see him, they think, what a fake religion Christianity is. Frank just seems a bit seedy.
Matthew 15:8-9 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules”
The last is a Christian named Jude. Jude believes in God and Jesus. Jude doesn’t really talk about God, though. Jude’s ethics are decent. Jude sometimes goes to church. Jude sometimes prays. A lot of Jude’s friends are not Christian, and Jude likes having friends, and he likes having a good time with his buddies, so as long as he’s not hurting anyone, what does it matter? Jude might drink; he might get drunk. Jude might smoke; maybe he doesn’t. Or maybe Jude sleeps around- not a lot, but he doesn’t abstain. Or maybe Jude just sleeps with his girlfriend.
You might look at Jude and think, Christianity is fine, but it’s not life-changing. If Christians are supposed to be righteous and live differently and set the example, then what is Jude? This Christianity thing is obviously not what some claim it is.
What happened to Jude is what is labeled in the bible, as lukewarm Christianity. God literally despises it. It is when people believe but have not fully surrendered to Jesus. So their hearts haven’t been fully changed. Their habits are their comforts instead of Jesus. They care more about the rejection of those around them than following the narrow path of the Lord.
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Revelation 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth”
Again, what’s happened to Jude is that he feels something pulling him toward Jesus; that’s why he believes in God. The devil is distracting him, showing that it’s more fun to keep doing what he wants.
This has two purposes. The first is keeping Jude from growing in his relationship with the Lord and from becoming who God intended him to be, thereby preventing him from reaching his full potential. The other purpose is to tell the narrative to those who don’t believe that Christianity might not be true.
Where might these three examples leave us?
Well, you can have a church founded by Franks. These might be the churches we see that are money-driven. These might be the churches that tell you everything will be okay, and life will be good once you’re a Christian. Frank is the guy who justifies bad behaviors and terrible ethics using out-of-context Bible verses.
Petey is a guy who made a bad decision, and it’s led him down a road he didn’t want to be on. He’ll come back from it, but it won’t be easy, and unfortunately there are consequences. Good Christian men who cheat, or get caught up with alcohol, or something that is completely out of character for the person you know or knew them to be. You see Petey in those who love the Lord, but they’ve just found themselves in a hole of deception.
Jude. Well-liked by people, but he doesn’t exemplify the faith. It’s the Christian couple who sleep and live together before they’re married. It’s the Christian who’s all about having a good time and not judging. They’re the moderate Christians. They might be well-meaning, but they are in a worse-off place than those who don’t believe at all. Even God despises them, because of their actions and the implications.
In all of this. It is not to spread further mistrust and dislike. It’s to remind all of us that human nature is fallible. We are all born with the same heart. We all have the same enemy, and it isn’t in the person or nation next to you. It is not to hate a person, but rather their actions. There is wrong, and there is right. The true enemy is the devil.
Ephesians 6:12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places”
He spins webs of deceit and lies. He paints pictures of joy, pleasure, and fulfillment that leave us trapped, confused, and searching for something. He just keeps us distracted enough to keep searching in the wrong place for the one thing that can bring us true peace. Deception leads us down a dangerous path, and for everyone it might look different. You can find deception in religion, in new age philosophy, in believing in nothing, or in believing in your own ability.
I heard Andy Wommack say that it is a great success of the devil to make sinful things seem normal, and righteous things seem strange.
We are living in a world where it’s seen as weak and weird to stay a virgin until you’re married. We live in a world where if you don’t conform, you are rejected. We live in a world where there isn’t one truth. We live in a world where it’s okay to do what you want as long as you’re not a Christian who talks about Jesus and you’re not hurting anyone. We live in a world where being drunk might not be healthy, but you’re here for a good time not a long time.
It is very easy to point the finger and say hypocrisy means Christianity is not real. I challenge that thought. With so much hate and distrust, and so many different people, religions, and ideologies all coming together and finding the common ground long enough to say Christianity is the problem – might there not be truth underneath all the lies which serve as a distraction?
The measure to see if someone is a Christian is not by your opinion of Christianity but rather what the Bible says a Christian should be.
For those of us who have taken a step off the path, you can always come back to the Father. He loves you, and He wants to walk this life with you; He just wants all of you.
To those that don’t believe. Try to get to the place where you can be honest about why you don’t want Christianity to be true.
Be encouraged and be brave.
God bless you.
