{"id":57732,"date":"2015-07-21T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=57732"},"modified":"2016-07-21T07:04:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T14:04:26","slug":"hypocrites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2015\/07\/21\/hypocrites\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Hypocrites: The Sanctuary and the Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word\u00a0“hypocrite”<\/span><\/em> is used to describe Christians so regularly\u00a0these days that it’s practically a clich\u00e9. What people intend to communicate when they describe Christians in this way is that\u00a0Christians\u00a0say<\/strong> one thing and yet do<\/strong><\/span> another.<\/p>\n

In particular, they object to the fact that Christians say<\/strong> that one\u00a0should not sin and yet they sin<\/strong><\/span>! As a result, some people think that the moniker of “hypocrite”<\/span> <\/em>is both justified and appropriate. Unfortunately, that’s not what\u00a0the word means…<\/p>\n

\"You<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Hypocrites of Hollywood<\/h2>\n

The English word\u00a0“hypocrite”<\/span> comes from the Greek word “hupokrites”<\/em><\/span>, and was the word used in the ancient world to describe those who performed in the theatre. It literally means “actor”<\/em><\/span>\u00a0and this etymology reveals the actual meaning of the word…<\/p>\n

In a play, an actor might launch a tirade of abuse at another man\u00a0on stage, as though he hates him with every fibre of his being, even though they may actually be very close friends who’ll be sharing a pint at the pub half an hour after the closing curtain falls! In a similar way, it surprises many to find out\u00a0that Rachel\u00a0McAdams and Ryan Gosling, stars of “The Notebook”<\/a><\/em>, actually could not stand\u00a0each other during filming. Yet, on screen, the romance between them sizzles, giving\u00a0“The Notebook”<\/em>\u00a0the status of one of the most popular romantic movies of all time.<\/p>\n

In both of these examples,\u00a0we see actors (“hypocrites”<\/span><\/em>) play a role,\u00a0doing<\/strong>\u00a0one thing but believing<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0another. This is the essence of what it means to be a hypocrite.<\/p>\n

\"Notebook\"<\/p>\n

What does sin prove?<\/h2>\n

The fact that Christians sin doesn’t show them to be hypocrites, it just shows them to be human! In fact, Christian sin demonstrates some of the founding tenets of Christianity, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”<\/em><\/span> (Romans 3:23) and that even Christians are in\u00a0need of forgiveness and a Saviour!<\/p>\n

“The Church is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do”<\/em>
\n– G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man<\/span><\/p>\n

In the previous section we saw that hypocrisy is the disparity between action<\/strong> and belief<\/strong>. Now, some might say that if you believe something you’ll automatically live in accord with it, but I don’t think this is the case. Speaking personally, I firmly believe<\/strong> that sin is wrong, yet my confessor (as well as my friends, family and coworkers) can certainly affirm that I do sin<\/strong>. Similarly, I believe it is wrong to gossip, but I could not tell you that not every word out of\u00a0my mouth is spring water and honey. This struggle to do what we know to be right is not a recent phenomenon. St. Paul wrote\u00a0about it\u00a0back\u00a0in the First Century:<\/p>\n

I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do<\/em>
\n– Romans 7:18-19<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not hypocrisy.\u00a0It would be hypocrisy\u00a0if I said that sin is wrong<\/strong> but actually believed that it wasn’t<\/strong>. Hypocrisy is not being weak, nor is not simply\u00a0being sinful. No, hypocrisy is doing<\/strong> one thing but believing\u00a0<\/strong>another, treating\u00a0the moral life in the same way an actor treats the stage, acting\u00a0out a role while not really believing the lines he recites…<\/p>\n

\"Masks\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word\u00a0“hypocrite” is used to describe Christians so regularly\u00a0these days that it’s practically a clich\u00e9. What people intend to communicate when they describe Christians in this way is that\u00a0Christians\u00a0say one thing and yet do another. In particular, they object to the fact that Christians say that one\u00a0should not sin and yet they sin! As a result, some people think that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1125,1275,3203,2969,930,3202,3201,446],"class_list":["post-57732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-action","tag-belief","tag-everlasting-man","tag-featured","tag-g-k-chesterton","tag-hollywood","tag-hypocrite","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/MasksBanner.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57732"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61755,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57732\/revisions\/61755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}