Are we all just a bunch of hypocrites?

As per http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hypocricy
Hypocrisy is the act of pretending or claiming to have beliefs, feelings, morals or virtues that one does not truly possess or practice.

Hypocrisy is a deliberate pretence used to convey sentiments or ideas that are false (acting as if one likes something or someone or agrees with a belief or political position when in fact they do not).

What may not be hypocrisy?

Some people sincerely regret that they cannot overcome temptation over some harmful behaviour. An example is someone who says something like, “Please never start smoking. I wish I could stop." Also, some people genuinely fail to recognize that they have character faults which they condemn in others. This is called Psychological projection. This is Self-deception rather than deliberate deception of other people. People understand vices which they are struggling to overcome or have overcome in the past. Efforts to get other people to overcome such vices may be sincere.

"Do as I say and not as I do" is not a false representation of one's own true feelings or beliefs (including moral beliefs). It is the belief that one is above or otherwise not subject to the same rules they apply to others. An adult proscribing alcohol or tobacco use, or driving or sexual behaviour to a minor is an example.

A personal example is how we can minister to engaged couples on the value of chastity and openness to life regardless of the choices we made in our past that may have been contrary to this. To emphasize that now that we see how this can strengthen marriage we want to help others make better choices than we did.

I recall a conversation with someone who was a life-long smoker, dealing with severe lung disease, when questioned if he would have quit the habit sooner he response, was I never would have started.

I’ve often thought, it truly takes a certain amount of wisdom to learn these types of lessons through the mistakes of others instead of having to learn the hard way by experiencing the hardships first hand.

So does this make us all hypocrites? Surely we have all made decisions in our past that time, wisdom and maturity have shown us that in reality the consequences far outweighed any benefit we thought we’d receive.

As we find in Matthew 7:5 “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast the mote out of your brother's eye.” The passage means that it would be ridiculous to help someone remove a splinter or a piece of sawdust from their own eye, if you yourself had an entire log in yours and hadn't first tried to remove it (i.e. attempt to resolve your own flaw).

We may not all be hypocrites, but we certainly are all sinners!
What is the difference? Well, there isn’t really a contrast here, since hypocrisy would also be a sin.

I’ll attempt to illustrate an example...
Two Catholic women, who both know their faith and try their best to live it, are very much aware that it is a mortal sin to miss Sunday Mass. However, while one of them attends every Sunday, the other struggles to make this commitment and occasionally gives in to the temptation to sleep in rather than make the effort to attend one of the many Eucharistic celebrations on Sunday.
Does this make her a hypocrite? No. Has she given in to sin? Yes. The question would then rely on what she does in this state of sin, is she quick to go to confession and does she attempt to discover what the route of the problem is that keeps her away from committing to mass? (That is a whole other post: There is a great book on this topic by Mathew Pinto: Do I Have to Go? )

What does it mean then to be a hypocrite? Well in the above example we already established that the women who occasionally gives in to the temptation to forgo attending weekly mass is a sinner, she could not easily become a hypocrite, by not attempting to overcome this sin. If she remains in the state of sin, and then continues to participate fully in the Eucharistic celebration, or she attempts to pass on to her children the importance of attending mass, while she herself doesn’t regularly attend.

An example of hypocrisy is when one claims to be a Catholic, but holds beliefs that are very much contrary to the Catholic faith.

An example I saw on a bumper sticker while on vacation last week that read:
“You cannot be Catholic and be pro-choice”

Sometimes I think, when I hear the accusation that the Church is full of hypocrites, I wonder if they just mean full of sinners, which in that case they would be correct. We only have to look at the Gospels to see and understand that Christ came for sinners, what better place for us to be then where he is?

Other times, I think what they mean to say is that perhaps they believe we are being pharisaic. Do they feel that we are expecting them to live up to a standard we ourselves are not living up to? If we are all trying, all struggling and in this process we are accepting, loving and taking advantage of all the sacraments, including reconciliation, then NO, we are not being pharisaic, we are expecting that all of us are trying to live a life of virtue and when we fail, we will turn to Christ for forgiveness and a fresh slate.

I’d like to say it as we find in Timothy 1:15:
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Twilight Untwisted: Eclipse

Relativism at Its Best

There is a running theme in the 3rd book of the Twilight Series, Eclipse that shows the main character Bella torn between to loves. At first glance one may think that Bella’s predicament is that she must choose between to ‘goods’. Two good-looking, strong caring young men are willing to ‘fight’ to win her heart. Lest we forget that Bella’s choice is actually between two evils – wolf or vampire? [...]


Read More...