Kinnaman

The Most Hypocritical Blog Post Ever

Today’s topic is hypocrisy.

I’ll start by asking a question, what exactly is hypocrisy? Is it a difference between teaching and action? Or is it a difference between belief and action, or is it something else?

If I struggle with a particular sin, is it hypocritical to tell others it’s wrong?

Let’s use the example of the sin I cannot hide. All you need to do is look at the banner on this blog to see that I clearly am engaged in very poor stewardship of my body. My weight is a problem. I believe that it is a sin. In fact, I know it’s wrong to be obese. So the question I have is, do I become a hypocrite for saying so, when clearly it is a problem I struggle with? If this is hypocrisy, then what is my option? Do I have to pretend that it’s okay? Am I barred from ever speaking on the subject? What about related questions? Can I not tell my youth it's wrong to smoke because it destroys their bodies? Am I stuck in some sort of unending question mark loop?

To restate the question - can I acknowledge a sin and at the same time struggle with it?

I have often said that everyone is a hypocrite in some way. Usually there is something that we say we believe, but we live in a way inconsistent with that belief. For example, if I say that I love fishing but I haven’t fished in 2 years, (I’m definitely not talking about myself now) does that make me a hypocrite, a liar, or just somebody with a poor sense of what I like. (Just for the record, everybody finds time to do what they want to do.) Maybe that’s too trivial to be hypocrisy. Maybe I say I am committed to conservation and I do many good things for the planet, but I’m just not willing to take that extra step and switch to the cloth grocery bags, because they are expensive and stupid looking. I’m not quite sure that that is in fact hypocrisy.

Feel free to chime in on this one.

This topic is brought on because I am reading unChristian so far, a great book by the way.