Objection!

Over the years I've heard many objections from people about why they do not believe in Christianity. If you are already a believer, I'm sure you too run into this from time to time with the people you encounter. If you are not a believer, than undoubtedly you have objections to Christianity.

The goal of the next several  posts is to hopefully address some of the most common objections. My prayer is that if you are NOT currently a believer in Christianity that this blog will help you to overcome some of your questions and objections as to why you are not a believer. If you are currently a Christian than hopefully this post will help you to be able to answer these objections more effectively should they come up while in a conversation with a non believer.

At this point in my venture with this blog I've covered my testimony about how and why I came to faith in Christ, I've explored why I believe the Bible is the true, infallible word of God, why Jesus had to die and what that means for you and  I've discussed why I believe the earth and everything in it is a creation of God, not the result of evolution. If you are new to my blog I recommend you read my past posts which hopefully will help to answer many of your possible questions and/or objections. If you look in the right hand column of this blog you will see past posts. Start at the beginning with my first post posted in January and work your way forward to now.

In today's post I will cover the following objection:

         IF CHRISTIANITY IS TRUE, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY HYPOCRITES?

What is a hypocrite?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines hypocrisy as follows: "The assuming of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, with dissimulation of real character or inclinations, especially in respect of religious life or beliefs; hence in general sense, dissimulation, pretense, sham."

To put it in simpler terms, a hypocrite is someone who not only does not practice what one preaches, but a person who does the opposite of what one preaches. Some critics of Christianity who raise the hypocrisy objection usually point to some moral failure in the lives of Christians they know as examples of Christianity as being false or at least highly suspect. "See!" they exclaim. : There goes another hypocrite in the church! How can I believe Christianity if the church is full of hypocrites?" Before I attempt to answer this question I want to take a brief look a biblical examples of hypocrisy.

"Hypocrisy" or variations of it appear 17 times in the NIV translation of the Bible. Often it is Christ calling people hypocrites. For example in Matthew 7:3-5 He says, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention 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."

"You hypocrites!" in fact is a recurring phrase spoke by Jesus. (see also, for instance Matthew 6:2,  16, 7:2, 15:7 22:18, 23:13, 15, 23:23, 25, 27, 29, 24:51; Mark 7:6, Luke 6:42; 12:56, and 13:15)

Was Jesus guilty of pointing out the speck in someone else's eye when in fact he had a plank in his own? Not at all. When examining this topic Josh McDowell and Don Stewart write:

"Christianity does not stand or fall on the way Christians have acted throughout history or are acting today. Christianity stands or falls on the person of Jesus, and Jesus was not a hypocrite. He lived consistently with what He taught, and at the end of His life He challenged those who had lived with Him night and day, for over three years, to point out any hypocrisy in Him. His disciples were silent, because there was none. Since Christianity depends on Jesus, it is incorrect to try to invalidate the Christian faith by pointing to horrible things done in the name of Christianity." 1

McDowell and Stewart bring up two important points.  First, whether or not Christianity is true does not depend on how it's followers behave. This, of course, does not excuse hypocrisy in the church, but neither does it mean that hypocrisy is sufficient reason to dismiss Christianity.  Second, Christ was not a hypocrite in any sense of the word. Often even critics agree with this point, exalting the high moral standards of Christ without understanding His larger claims.

Are all Christians hypocrites? Not at all! In fact, the history of the Christian church is filled with examples of selflessness, courage, moral action and reform and many other positive influences on the world. These are not the acts of hypocrites, but of sincere believers transformed by the resurrected Christ and moved by the Holy Spirit to live according to God's law.

The church is a work in progress (and so are it's members). The process from a new believer to a mature Christian can be long and arduous, but someday it will be complete and stand as a beautiful testimony to the power of Christ to transform lives for the better. Remember, too, that only some professing Christians act hypocritically. What about all those who do not?

We must also remember that, biblically speaking, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24)  In other words, no one is perfect and all are dependent on Christ for redemption, salvation and growth in spiritual maturity.

On one hand, Christians should not act hypocritically lest we give critics the flimsy objection to reject the gospel message. On the other hand, critics should no better attempt to throw out Christianity and all of Christ's claims on the objection of hypocrisy.

As I pointed out in my testimony of faith, don't let the failures or actions of people keep you from God. People can and will fail you, but  God never fails. Both my parents and my husband's parents left the church due to the hypocritical actions of a person or people in the church. They allowed the actions of a few misguided people to turn them against the church. My husband and myself were also terribly hurt and disappointed  in the past by someone in the church as well. However these actions of this person did NOT shake our faith in the Lord or erase what Christ did for us on the cross. In fact it encouraged us to pray for that person and his/her actions and shortcomings in how they treated our family. Lastly, just because someone claims to be a Christian does not mean they are. Sadly, often these are the people who fall into the trap of hypocrisy thus lending people to point the finger at ALL Christians and Christianity as a whole.

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1 Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask About the Christian Faith (Here's Life Publishers, 1980), 128