"So Many Christian Hypocrites" a Good Excuse?

Does religious hypocrisy matter? It did to Jesus. Jesus spent a lot of time decrying the religious leaders of his day. He even used scathing language to expose and denounce their hypocrisy.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

In today’s world, many people are also repulsed by hypocrisy, and in this sense, they are like Jesus. However, some people take things a step further and they refuse to worship and glorify God because of the religious hypocrites they encounter. Is this justified? Not at all.

Imagine if you had a sister who was always telling you to love your parents and to love other people. One day you found out that she had been very cruel to certain people and was clearly a hypocrite. If you found yourself disgusted at what she had done, it would certainly be understandable. But what if you decided to take things a step further and you cut off all contact with your parents because of her actions. Would that make sense? Obviously not. Why should your parents be ignored because of your sister’s actions?

This same reasoning applies to those who ignore God because of religious hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is certainly something to be repelled by, but how does that justify ignoring God? If the Christian God exists, then he deserves to be worshipped and loved no matter how many hypocrites there are. Pointing to hypocrisy as the reason we don't worship, is just a lame excuse.

Learn More

Short Blog: Fake News Highlights Dangers of Fake Religion

Video (below): Why the Hypocrisy of Christians is a Bad Excuse

Reference

Matt. 23:2-7 (NIV)