Are Christians hypocritical? That seems to be the perception of the "college-age" generation, and maybe even of all generations. I am currently reading a book called "UnChristian" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. The book is a spring board from some research that was done by the "Barna Group".
Anyway, let me share with you some of the results that came from their research, and then let's talk about Christians being hypocrites. This is what the book says, "In virtually every study we conduct, representing thousands of interviews every year, born-again Christians fail to display much attitudinal and behavioral evidence of transformed lives. For instance, based on a study released in 2007, we found that most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those of non-born-again. When asked to identify their activities over the last thirty days, born-again believers were just as likely to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal, nonprescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person's back. No difference."
The book goes on to share that even in regards to "sexually inappropriate behavior" there is no difference between believer and non-believer. However, we (born-again Christians) are less likely to use profanity in public, and buy a lottery ticket. Maybe because of the image we need to portray! Although we did rise above the bar in one area...We were SLIGHTLY (and I emphasis "slightly") more like to help a poor or homeless person. Yeah for us!
Another study found that, "84% of non-Christians say they personally know at least one committed Christian. However, just 15% thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm." So, are we hypocrites? Yes, absolutely! This is why we need to be authentic. We need to stop pretending that we are perfect and confess when we screw up, when we fall flat on our faces, and ask for forgiveness. Nobody really expects us to be perfect, so we need to take off our "Sunday morning smiles" and share our struggles and burdens. Then the church can be the church and the body of believers can hold each other up in prayer.
People can't accuse us of being hypocritical if we don't pretend to be someone that we are NOT! I realize that this isn't an end all to the whole hypocritical perception especially when we are called to be different than this world. The truth is that we shouldn't be engaged in those activities that this research shows...so, not only do we need to be honest about our faults but we also need to rise above our "flesh". We need to stop indulging in the cravings of the "flesh", and we can't overcome that on our own, but ONLY through the power of the Holy Spirit. If we take Galatians 2:20 to heart, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ live in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." When we surrender to "self", then we can live for Christ and not until then will the statistics change and show a transformed life. Give me your thoughts...
being authentic is the opposite of being a hypocrite.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I think there are several reasons that Christians are accused of being hypocritical. First, there are a lot of Americans that when asked will say they are Christians, believe in God... and if they are asked deeper questions, it seems they really aren't Christians. Second, the world thinks that Christians should do no wrong. We know that we are still sinners and it is only through God's love that we are forgiven. However - we are so often guilty of condemning others sins, which may be big or small and ignoring our own. So if we are going to be authentic, we need to stop ignoring the "plank in our eye" while we are pointing fingers at our neighbor. We also need to be willing to admit that things go wrong in our lives and we are not perfect, but are forgiven and joyful because of Christ. That is the best witness!
I agree with Mari. Wearing the name "Christian" automatically sends out a preconceived idea of what that is supposed to look like. We, as Christians, never said we were perfect, although, we should "aim for perfection". Sometimes I wonder if the "world" sees Christians as someone who should be without sin. I will never be without sin on this earth but one day I will be made perfect in Christ.
On the other side of it, I know exactly what the college-age (and younger) kids feel about hypocrisy. I used to work at Pizza Hut and one night a group from the church I attended at that time came in. I was their waitress their order included beer - that wasn't what they "preached" to be ok! They were also smoking - also not what they "preached" as ok! The conversations I heard included gossiping and backstabbing. I will never forget the feelings it left me with that night. I wondered if they talked about me behind my back. It doesn't give you a very comfortable feeling when sitting in church the next Sunday - but of course by then they had their "Sunday best" on again.
I don't want to sound bitter but just putting it into perspective - guard your actions and words! You may not think anyone is listening but they are and they remember!
Hmmm...sounds like a challenge for us to be less hypocritical and more authentic
Frustrating for the very two points that Mari hit on.
First, how do they know they are really interviewing someone who has accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior and not just someone who believes that Jesus was God's son (even Satan believes that).
Second, God's not done working on us (christ-followers) yet either. We are sinners by nature and that will never fully depart from us until we have departed from this world.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37
Okay, Yeah I see the first point from Mari and Jennifer, but when they use the term "born-again"...this is their definition.
"To be classified a born-again Christian, a person has to say he or she has made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important and that the person believes he or she will go to heaven at death, because the person has confessed his or her sin and accepted Christ as Savior.
That research shows me how important it is to be part of and involved in your local church.When we are part of a church we can hold eachother accountable for our actions. Someone there to guide us and help us when we start to drift back into worldly things.It's not very easy to point things out to people or to have things pointed out in ourselves but thats part of what our job as a christian is.Of course this must be done in a loving manner,non-judging.If you truely are a Christ follower then you will receive this guidance knowing it's what we need to do for eachother.Living the Christian life is a journey,we will fail at times and we,with God's help,will succeed. I have to say I am surprised with the findings of the research.But then again the devil is out there with everything he has to cause us to stumble.Thanks for the information you shared Jason.Patty
Well, I didn't read this blog before I spoke on Saturday night about sin and hypocrites in the church. As I said then, I see us as Christians making levels of sin. Some are really, really bad, and others are not so bad, even tolerable. We can gossip, "stretch" the truth, or any other "little" sin you can come up with. But, when we see someone involved in a "big" sin, we are quick to judge. For example, I use to have the bad habit of smoking. One day I was having coffee with some friends, when one of them who had just been gossipping and talking about someone with slander decides to tell me that I should quit smoking, because, don't you know that's a sin? I wanted to say, well, yes, as a matter of fact I do. Do you know that the last half hour that you spent talking about someone is also sin? But, we as Christians decide what sins are worse than others. I am as guilty of this as anyone. If we are going to be authentic, instead of hypocrites, we need to remember that "ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Also, "the wages of sin is death", not just "big" sins, but even those "little white lies" are grounds for a death sentence. God didn't put levels on sin, man did. Just my 5 cents worth!
We are all guilty of hypocrisy. I am. So many times, we point fingers, we gossip, we commit the "small" sins and commit the "big ones" all the same. We even do these privately for the fear of being judged.
Labeling ourselves as "Christians" comes with the stereotype of 'let's hold hands, sing kumbiya and be merry!'. Why do we put on a smiling face when many times we feel overwhelmed with thought, confusion, and replays of the week? What is holding us from peeling off our artificial layer? We too who judge, are afraid to be judged...to feel lessened. I am not saying we should wipe away the cheerfulness, however, I am saying . . . we should not be afraid to be just 'ok'.
Being 'ok', is totally 'ok'. I think sometimes we wear these smiles, and put on our best side because isn't that we we long to be . . . our best? we struggle to get into the heart of worship on sunday mornings. I know on sundays for me, sometimes I feel "oh man, and now I'm going to worship God after a week of doing my own thing? . . . I don't know if I can bring myself to do this with a genuine heart."
Really though, non-christians as well as christians EXPECT the body of believers to be flawless, the 'good ones', the ones who have all of the answers. We have to realize, no human is perfect, we MUST take up our cross daily and follow Christ.
Do we commit the same sins? definitely, but We do have a God who is molding us everyday and convicting us of those actions.
-Jess
(my thoughts are so unorganized, i apologize).
I personally would like to know how exactly the Holy Spirit puts the deeds of the flesh to death and what role we play in that. It seems that as soon as I acknowledge that I need to take initiative to stop doing horrible things, I cannot help but presume that it is me doing it, and that does not work. On the other hand, if I presume that God will sanctify me and put my deeds to death, I do not generally exert much effort and blame any shortcomings on the Holy Spirit not helping me. I do not know how it is that I should approach my habits.
Post a Comment