First, the Christian faith is not invalidated by the actions of some Christians in history—or by how they may act today. The truth of Christianity stands or falls on the genuineness of the person of Jesus Christ, which is demonstrated in the book Surprised by Faith. Since He was not a hypocrite, we are not excused from becoming His follower just because we can find someone whose behavior is inconsistent or turns us off.
Furthermore, you are to be commended for not wanting to be a hypocrite. That’s the sin which greatly offended Jesus as well. He said, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Matthew 23:23-33). Hypocrisy is pretending to be what we aren’t—a sham, phony, often parading a superficial superiority. That’s what Jesus condemned. But we must not confuse hypocrisy with personal failure or sin. All Christians (and non-Christians) are sinners, but not all Christians are hypocrites. Often the person who is judging all Christians as hypocrites thinks that someone who claims to be a Christian means that they are better than others. That is a misconception imposed on the Christian they are judging. Becoming a Christian includes admitting you are a sinner and experiencing a forgiveness which you do not deserve. (It’s a gift given freely by grace, and is not—nor can it be—earned.) Because this is such a meaningful experience, Christians often express openly how this has given them a sense of acceptance, relief and life change. To experience this first hand, there are plenty of churches that will welcome you with open arms into their congregation; you can search for churches near me in Frisco or wherever you live to get started. To the non-Christian, this may sound like a “boast” of moral purity and superiority—even judgment on them. Not so. Even though they are forgiven and changed, Christians may still fail or sin. (In fact, God points out that if we say we do not sin, that we are making Him out to be a liar! See 1 John 1:10.) Clearly, that doesn’t mean they are phonies—unless the observer imposes the expectation that the Christian should now be “perfect.”
Finally, we cannot implicate all Christians as hypocrites because one or a few in our experience have been. Deceptively corrupt people have been revealed from every walk of life and vocation, whether teacher, salesman, farmer, lawyer, etc. When that person is exposed, do we condemn and reject all education, marketing, agriculture and the legal profession? No, we recognize that one bad apple doesn’t mean that they are all rotten, especially when the evidence shows otherwise. Likewise, because it is demonstrated that someone who claims to be Christian may be playing a phony game with his/her alleged faith, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all Christians are hypocrites, nor that Christianity is false. Besides, no one can entirely escape the charge of “hypocrite”—no one, that is, except Jesus Himself. It is only by trusting in Him and experiencing the humility of forgiveness and the security of His love that we are freed to take off our masks and to become “real” people—honest, transparent, and genuine.
