I don’t believe in God because of hypocrites. Is that right?
Answer:
It’s not right to not believe in God because of hypocrites. Just because someone is not a good Christian shouldn’t make you disbelieve in God any more than a bad doctor should make you not believe in medicine, or a bad lawyer would make you not believe in the law.
Hypocrisy is the act of pretense whereby a person professes a belief or moral standard that is contrary to what he actually possesses.
An example would be a person who loudly condemns everyone who commits adultery, but in private, when no one is looking, regularly commits adultery without remorse. This is different from a person who commits sins on various occasions, but each time, genuinely seeks repentance. A hypocrite therefore, according to this definition, is not a Christian since he only pretends to believe in the faith when he actually doesn’t. It is not possible for a true Christian to be a hypocrite because a true Christian will see himself as a sinner who is only saved by grace and slowly transformed into the likeness of God. It is true that there might be many in churches who are hypocrites, but we should not confuse them with the true believers who occasionally fall into sin, but are not hypocrites. This also means that we should not conclude that Christianity is false just because there are hypocrites (not true believers) in the church.
Think about it: why should you allow someone who does not know the truth about God (a hypocrite: false convert) prevent you from knowing and believing the truth?
Whatever your experience of ‘Christians’ or religious people, don’t let that turn you off pursuing God. There is false religion, there are hypocrites but there is also true Christianity, full of the love and grace of God the Father. Don’t stay away from churches but do find a church where the gospel is central and the people are humble.
To read more on how various aspects of Christian living can only be lived out when a believer is in the midst of a local body of believers, refer to these related questions:
- Why are Christians such hypocrites?
- What is a hypocrite
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