November 29, 2006

  • it's been observed that there are a lot of Christians who are hypocritical.  it's also been stated that this hypocrisy damages the witness of Christians > that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of those who are not Christians.  i think what people forget is that Christianity itself was born in a sort of hypocrisy. 

    Take a look at Palm Sunday, when Christians remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into jerusalem.  at first the people welcomed Jesus as the messiah, the annointed one, the savior of israel, and greeted him with palm branches as they would a returning warrior or conquering king.  on Palm Sunday we reenact that triumphal entry but... the service continues in the scripture readings to recount what happens later, when the people turned against Jesus, when they conspired with the roman occupying government to crucify him.  the people welcomed the messiah into their midst, but did not want to follow his ways (they wanted a military hero) and turned against him.  how,i ask, is this any different from what Christians do today?

    Christians still say they welcome Jesus and God's salvation into their lives, but the reality of God's ways are too hard for them, and so they end up choosing not to follow Jesus.  hypocrisy, yes, but no more so than those denizens of jerusalem millenia ago.  and what did Jesus have to say about the hypocrites that turned against him and handed him over to suffering and death?  he said "father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."  that's what Jesus said.

    our hypocrisy and faithlessness and betrayal are met with complete forgiveness, even yet today.  all are forgiven, even those who do know what they are doing.  cheap grace? some would say so, however, grace is not cheap when you consider the cost that Jesus paid for this on Good Friday.  he forgave all of us, those who betrayed him then and we who betray him now.  and this is grace that is freely given to all.  no matter what.

Comments (4)

  • You're forgetting one important fact...the NEW Testament was Romanized:mad:

    IF the people had so easily turned against him, then Rome wouldn't have considered him a threat...you gotta remember there were a lot of messiahs running around Judea at the time.  While i seriously question the reality of Paul, there's no doubt JC was on the scene back then.  [I am a Roman citizen] Paul could very easily have been a creation of Constantine and the Council of Nicaea:eek:

    Besides demonizing the rebelious Jews, THEY also wanted to get the church out of the hands of the hands of the infidels like Peter, the ROCK on which Jesus left his foundation...and the sheepish JC with his flock [hence, sheeple] is contrary to most of what is in the GOSPELS.

    Think about it...you turn over a table full of money and all hell don't break loose  That's INCITING A RIOT anywhere on this planet that i know of, although there might be some people in the Pacific with no concept of "civilization" or money...THEY would be exempt.

  • does being born in hypocrisy forgive continued hypocrisy? isn't growing about learning from mistakes?

  • ryc: Thanks for the encouraging words...I'm really amazed that I discovered that about myself. :wink:

    And if you'd like to leave a voice message, all you have to do is click the button that says "Record by Phone." The box that comes up gives you a phone number (that I suggest you call privately) and a confirmation code. Call the number, and key in the code, and then leave a message after the beep! :goodjob:

  • All religions have a certain degree of hypocricy. And it's not just religions. It's life. People in general are hypocritical.

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