Hypocrisy and the Bible
What does the Bible say about hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy in the Church
There is what I would consider a grave hypocrisy that appears to present within the thoughts and beliefs of the members of our church as well as in the church at large, specifically in those churches broadly classified as evangelical churches. Those churches generally supported Trump when he was running for office. Although there may be other reasons, it is my understanding their support was largely because he was said to be pro-life and opposed abortion. That may be true, but his stated position on abortion has absolutely nothing to do with whether he would be a good president. Trump said during his campaigns and in his tenure as President of the United States whatever will benefit him, having nothing to do with what he will do, or did, as president.
I think that Proverbs 15 speaks to one of the issues to be considered:
· Proverbs 15:2
o “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of the fool pours forth foolishness.”
· Proverbs 15:5-7
o “A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who receives correction is prudent. … The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the fool does not do so.”
§ Does Donald Trump accept correction or listen to the experts for advice?
§ Does Donald Trump disperse knowledge?
· Proverbs 15:12-14
o “A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, nor will he go to the wise. … The heart of him who understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.”
§ Donald Trump has made clear that he does not “love” or respect anyone who corrects him.
§ Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to seek wise counsel.
§ Donald Trump has repeatedly listened only to those who parrot his foolish ramblings and baseless proclamations.
Recently, during one of the Men’s Bible Study Meetings, the subject came up that Former President Trump might be racist. During the following discussion, one of the members of the group made the comment that Nancy Pelosi addressed the Congress saying that Trump’s tweets and comments were racist. It was obvious to me that the intent of the comment was that Pelosi was the one that was racist and not Trump. I walked out of the meeting stating that the members of the group and the church were hypocritical in what they believed. So was the statement hypocritical?
What is hypocrite?
· Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a hypocrite as:
o a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
· Wikipedia defines hypocrisy as:
o Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform
· What does the Bible say about hypocrisy?
o In essence, “hypocrisy” refers to the act of claiming to believe something but acting in a different manner or someone who pretends to be what he is not. (from Gotanswers.org)
o Matthew 7:3-5
§ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but udo not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye
§ You would perhaps be justified in saying that in this context that I may be the one who is being hypocritical as I point out the apparent hypocrisy that I sense in the church relating to their following Donald Trump.
§ I am fully aware of that and I am working on that as I prayerfully prepare this document.
The underlying problem lies in what do you believe is the truth? We, of course, as Christians and followers of Christ, believe that we are able to discern the truth from the Word of God. There is no denying that, but we must test the spirits. We, unfortunately, must rely on the news media to get the news and to find out what is being said and what is being done and by whom. There are primarily two media sources and it is those two media sources that I will address.
There is CNN and Fox News. Each of them professes to tell its listeners the truth, but it is up to the listeners to be able to discern the truth.
· CNN appears to make every effort to discover/research the truth in what they report before the report it. They are, of course, fallible and must occasionally back track and change their reporting.
· Fox News on the other hand appears to blindly accept anything that is said and done as being the truth and report the lies as if it were the truth. Although, I rarely watch Fox News it is my understanding that they rarely back track and change what they report as news and as facts.
Sadly, it appears as if the church, the church-at-large not necessarily our church, has chosen to believe everything that Former President Trump says is the truth. They seem to adhere to, follow and believe in the Trump Cult. Yes, there is a Trump Cult.
The Washington Post fact checker reports that in the four years that Trump was in office, he made 30,573 false or misleading claims with as many as many as 500 in a single day. Worshippers and believers in the Trump Cult will discredit that account saying that the Washington Post and other such sources of news is just “fake news.”
It is interesting to note that Trump has over and over again chastised CNN and many other news media outlets as being “fake news.” Think about it, either CNN or Fox News is reporting “fake news.” I think that if you simply listen to what is being said by Trump, you can draw no other conclusion that it is not true and is either false or misleading.
I recently met with a member of the group concerning my walking out of the meeting. He continued to adamantly claim that he believed that Fox News was the only source of the truth. He touted the great things that Trump had done. There is no doubt that Trump did some good things. However, if you were to closely examine what he had actually accomplished the list would be short. He also confirmed that he believed the ludicrous lie that the election had been stolen by Biden. He challenged me to research the truth because I like doing research.
But I would ask him and others who believe the same, “Where can I go to ‘research’ the truth?” Some would say use Google. A Google search is definitely not a reliable source to find the truth. The next source would probably be the news media. We have already established that it is not a good source of the truth, since each media outlet is perhaps biased by what they believe and choose to report.
The only source of truth for the believer must be the Word of God. The passage from 1 John at the end of this document is a good starting place. I would also challenge you to look at the many passages in the Bible concerning a fool. Donald Trump seems to meet all the criteria for a fool. Many passages also say that those who believe the words of a fool are also a fool.