You're A Hypocrite!

E. Stanley Jones, the missionary to India, asked Ghandi: “Mr Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower (Christian)”? Ghandi famously replied, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ”.

This quote by Ghandi has struck deep into the hearts of many Christians. It has been a guilt trip pastors in sermons (heck, I'm pretty sure I've done it). It's also been wielded by those who don't like "organized religion" as a weapon to keep the religious at a distance. 

So, what's the issue? Hypocrisy. 

Webster's dictionary defines hypocrisy this, "a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not;especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion." 

What troubled Ghandi was this is issue of "feigning to be". What he saw in the Christians around him were people who were utterly falling short of Jesus. If you take a moment and read some of what Ghandi had to say about Jesus it is clear that he had, at the very least, a deep appreciation for him. Christians on the other hand were not living up to the standard of Jesus. This is made all the more evident due to the fact that Ghandi was pushing against a "Christian" imperial force for freedom and self-governance in India. 

Whenever I am sharing the message of Jesus with people the typical response is this, "I like Jesus, he's pretty cool, but Christians are such hypocrites." 

Why is that people that have that response? I think it's the result of a couple of key things. First, in America many people grew up going to church (although this is becoming less and less true). As they went to church they saw people who were "members" of the church or even "leaders" in the church act in ways that they considered to be immoral. They heard so many words and experienced little congruity with the actions. They left for college never to return to the church because there was a significant gap between people's performances on Sunday from 10 am - Noon and the rest of the week. 

Second, the scandals and cover-ups within large wings of Christianity as it relates to the sexual abuse of children and other areas of sexual brokenness. Everyone is familiar with the scandal of the Catholic Church. In recent years similar scandals have been uncovered in the Protestant church as well. In the not too distant past we have found that those who been the loudest to speak against sexual sin, have themselves been engaged in that particular sin. 

The public words and the public works of the Church at large continues to point toward hypocrisy and because the message of Jesus includes the call to repentance for one's own sin, the charge will not go away. 

I will let you in on a little secret: the charge is often legitimate. 

Here's one more secret: the charge of hypocrisy points to something greater still...