Hypocrisy and Christianity

1160 Words3 Pages

Hypocrisy and Christianity

If one were to ask the American public about their views of Christians, what response would one receive? We can imagine that there would be a great variety of answers. However, most people might say that, in general, Christians are not very different from everybody else. This is a problem. There are many people who claim to be Christians whose lifestyles do not reflect their beliefs. The problem with this situation is that it gives non-Christians the wrong impression of Christianity. Christians need to live their lives in a way that reflects what they claim to believe.

Christianity is a lifestyle not just a set of beliefs. A Christian is not merely someone who attends church once in a while and believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We know that there is more involved because the Bible says in James 2:19, "You believe in God. Good! Even the demons believe that---and shudder." The literal definition of the word Christian is a follower of Christ. When a person makes a decision to follow any sort of leader, he tries to pattern his thoughts and actions in the same way as his leader would. Therefore, being a Christian involves more than just knowing that God exists and that Jesus Christ died on a cross. Truly being a Christian means following the example that Jesus set in His life the commandments that God has given. Christians need to make the change from doing what ever they feel is right at the moment and try to follow the guidelines God has given for living.

Today’s society is overflowing with dishonesty and crime. We see reports of it daily in the newspapers and on television. This has made people very mistrustful of others. They lock their houses and their cars even if they are only go...

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...y truth, and not just good ideas and guidelines. Unfortunately, hypocrisy is clouding this truth. People are much more willing to accept bad things than good, and a little bit of bad can easily obscure and discredit a whole lot of good and truth. Because of this hypocrisy is much more of a problem among Christians than is often realized. Even indifference covers up truth.

Hypocrisy in the lives of some people who claim to be Christians, has a great impact on the testimony of other Christians. It also creates a very negative attitude towards Christianity in general. The magnitude of the problem is only realized when one considers how hard it is to convince people that truth exists when they have any argument against it. Humans are much more willing to focus on bad than good, and therefore hypocrisy in many ways blocks out the truth of Christianity to many people.

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