Apologeet.nl
Churches are Full of HypocritesDefinition of hypocrite according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
So I am sure there are many hypocrites in and outside the church. The Bible calls hypocrisy a sin. There are two forms hypocrisy can take: that of professing belief in something and then acting in a manner contrary to that belief, and that of looking down on others when we ourselves are flawed.
A person, who found forgiveness through Jesus, will be aware that they needed it. They know that they are not as Christ-like as they want to be. However, making mistakes is human. Still, hypocrisy is not the same as taking a stand against sin. For example, it is not hypocrisy to teach that beating your wife or drunkenness is a sin, unless the one teaching against these things gets drunk every weekend and beats his wife during the week—that would be hypocrisy. This is what Jesus meant when He said “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” Matthew 7:3-5 (nivuk).
As children of God, Christians are called to strive for holiness: “Be holy, because I am holy” 1 Peter 1:16 (nivuk). Christians are to “hate what is evil” and “cling to what is good” Romans 12:9 (nivuk). Christians should never consider accepting sin, especially in their own lives. A Christian should be true to his or her belief about whom they are in Christ.
Still, we all make mistakes but be honest. Is seems greater hypocrisy to live without any attention for God and at the same time expecting people in churches to be ever forgiving, kind, honest 24/7 and in the end organise a Christian funeral when you died.
If you want others to be honest you should start looking at yourself. Are you without sin? I don’t think so, nobody is. If you except that, you’re a step closer to be saved. So, if you really hate hypocrisy, stop doing it yourself, and ask Jesus for forgiveness. The prophet Joel and later the apostle Paul both said “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13 nivuk).
