Fellow human beings, especially you Christians out there,
Few things are more loathesome than hypocrisy. It is so offensive because it involves impropriety with so many different aspects of one's personality. In order to be a hypocrite, one must "[profess] beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives." As such, it takes more than a pattern of thoughts to be a hypocrite. Hypocrisy involves thoughts and actions, words and motives, beliefs and denial. It is insincerity coupled with a lack of conviction. My wife and I have been deeply, deeply hurt by one person in particular due to his tremendous hypocrisy, and to this day, experiencing hypocrisy from others forces me to revisit those terrible feelings.
The Ten Commandments are imperative in nature, but many people abide by some of them for other reasons. While the justifications of the commandments are rooted in modeling the holiness of the biblical God, many commandments have been implemented as laws, rules, and common courtesies in civilized, secular societies despite the biblical origin. From a religious perspective, they offer us a path of righteousness, bringing us closer to God. From a secular perspective, they offer us a decent way of life that "doesn't hurt anyone," which seems to be the most important tenet for any rule in our current, anthropocentric world. Following the non-God-centric commandments can offer an improved quality of life for all of civilization.
Whether you follow all of the commandments due to some sort of religious devotion or you follow just the ones society accepts as okay to follow, one particular commandment, the one about not bearing false witness (aka lying) is meant to prevent you from being a hypocrite. All the other commandments can be considered negligible from a secular perspective on hypocrisy. Without honesty, we have nothing in terms of healthy relationship. For this reason (among others I consider to be not quite as important), hypocrites are bad for society, the economy, and humanity's survival. While I completely disagree with George Carlin on many, many bases, he has provided a profane-but-somewhat-useful-when-you-get-down-to-the-message reduction of the Ten Commandments, which I will further reduce for my intents and purposes:
- Thou shalt always be honest and faithful....
- Thou shalt [not] kill anyone....
When you are dishonest and unfaithful, you will sever relationships. Without trust, no one will disclose anything to you. Even bad guys have allies! No one will want to be your friend, ally, partner, etc if you are two-faced. Everyone eventually suffers from loneliness and you can't climb social/career ladders without forging relationshps, so it's in your best interest to be honest and faithful. I don't need to explicate how you'll probably end up with feelings of meaninglessness if you follow a dishonest and unfaithful life. If George Carlin, who I'll now consider the lowest common denominator for human morality, considers this to be an imperative commandment for successful living, then you will likely accept it, too.
If we should be honest and faithful, to whom should one be honest and faithful? At the very least, one should be honest and faithful to his/her self. When I see people I care about being hypocritical, it hurts me. It's not about expectations, it's about the fact that I can't trust those people anymore. It's about the fact that I won't believe in those people anymore. If you're not true to some deity, be true to yourself. Even if you are true to amorality, stick to it and let it be known about yourself so I can avoid doing business with you.
Not that I want to bring religion into this, especially since my problem is with people as a whole, non-religious people have no absolute standard of morality apart from governmental law, which is probably why we often hear, "I'm a pretty good person. I mean, I've never killed anyone." Outside of Christianity, or any other religion, the bounds of what's appropriate are limitless. You wanna look at pornography? "Go look at pornography; it will develop healthy sexuality!" You want to smoke pot and get drunk? "Go ahead! It's the government that's inhibiting your rights to drunkenness and getting high." But the moment you say you're against those things, you become a hypocrite--unless you've forever turned from your old ways. And if you've made a mistake, thus violating some part of your beliefs, apologize and make it known that you've made a mistake.
As a Christian, I have higher expectations for other Christians than I do for non-Christians. I know what I and my fellow believers should agree to believe and I try my hardest not to judge others--especially non-Christians. I know the fruits of the Holy Spirit and what they should look like. I can judge a person according to his/her fruit. What I have seen in the last few months has been so disappointing/disgraceful and I can't even imagine what God thinks of the American Christian when He looks down at the world. I consistently encounter drivers with Jesus fishes on the backs of their vehicles who nearly kill me, my wife, and our unborn son. I have had some ugly business relationships with other Christians because they demand too much money or they don't want to pay. I know Christians who actively steal music and software without batting an eye. I know Christians whose souls have been seeped in pornography and lust. It's despicable. These actions are not sinful reactions to circumstance or the wrong choices made in difficult moments. They are willfully apparent traits of greed, selfishness, and hypocrisy.
As a human being, I'm asking you to re-examine your actions and act with conviction. I don't care if you and I disagree with each other, just don't change your position to justify your actions which blatantly contradict your moral/religious beliefs. If you're right or wrong, be right or wrong with conviction! We're seeing hypocrisy everywhere and we don't need to add to it. George Bush hasn't made our government any smaller nor has he limited its power. Al Gore uses 20 times the electricity of the average home in the US in one of his homes. Over 20% of Greg Boyd's congregation left after "he refused to lend his support publicly to conservative political causes". I saw a church attempt to steal Word of Grace's web identity. At least the guy who cuts me off and gives me the finger when I honk at him has some sort of vile bumper sticker and personal conviction about being a jerk instead of having a Jesus fish on his bumper without the humility to admit the mistake.
