Hypocrisy

So in a talk with K-- today she mentioned a letter she received from a friend of hers, explaning why she (the friend, not K--) was not a Chrisitian, despite believing in Christ (or some such like that). One of her reasons listed was the hypocrisy in the Church, which got me thinking.

If hypocrisy is simple saying one thing and doing another, anyone trying to support a moral system will inherently be a hypocrite, because we are imperfect people. Hypocrisy then loses all meaning.

Really, though, hypocrisy means telling people to do one thing while not even trying to hold your self to it. If I told someone not to have sex before marriage yet I was living with a girlfriend, that would be hypocrisy. If, however, I made one mistake in a similar situation, that would not quite be hypocrisy, because I was trying to live but what I proclaimed.

And that, really, is what it comes down too. We need to strive to live the life we proclaim, ere we become false prophets, speaking our own doom.

"Work for your salvation with fear and trembling." Hypocrisy is born when we do not even try.