On hypocrites

[jay santos]

I struggle with this word, and I wonder if the original word had a different connotation than it does in modern english.

We talked about this a lot in Gospel Doctrine. Hypocrite meaning our actions don't match with our words/outward appearance.

If you go by that definition, the body of Saints is an extremely hypocritical group. We go to church on Sunday, get dressed up, we teach each other, testify, teach our kids in FHE, we are very focused on works and obedience and commandment keeping. This as an outward appearance ranks very high. To an outsider, you would think that in order to walk the walk, we would have to be near perfect in our private lives.

But as a group, as you would expect from human beings in a human experience, we fall drastically short of this ideal.

We struggle with lust, and anger, and selfishness. We gossip. We struggle with addictions. We lie, cheat, and steal. We do all those sins mortals do.

So if being hypocritical by this definition is something Jesus is so offended by, and we'll never stop sinning or falling short of the ideal, then the only solution is to stop wearing our suits to church, stop teaching and testifying, i.e. lower our outward appearance standard to match our works.

Should we do that? Should our meetings no longer be filled with calls to repentance and exhortations and warnings? Should they be more like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? Focusing on your own self and not worrying about others--and I would be talking about all the way to the top not just the regular members. Maybe...but that doesn't exactly feel right either.

Jesus really lashed out against the Pharisees. What he seemed to lash out against, IMHO, when it comes to their hypocrisy was their

1. failure to acknowledge their own sin
2. placing themselves above others
3. judging and condemning others

The Jesus I know in the NT wouldn't seem to get bent out of shape about members of the church who are hypocrites the way I describe here and the way we usually interpret the word. The Jesus I know would be very soft and gentle on a member who gets his family dressed up for church, sits on the front row, and bears testimony about the need to keep the commandments, even though that member is struggling mightily with sin in his private life.

I think the sin that is really getting called out here is the judging/elevating of oneself not hypocrisy in terms of actions not matching outward appearance.

[Indy Coug]

Hypocrisy, IMO, is preaching as if you believe in something but never have any intent to actually try to live it yourself.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by jay santos

I struggle with this word, and I wonder if the original word had a different connotation than it does in modern english.

We talked about this a lot in Gospel Doctrine. Hypocrite meaning our actions don't match with our words/outward appearance.

If you go by that definition, the body of Saints is an extremely hypocritical group. We go to church on Sunday, get dressed up, we teach each other, testify, teach our kids in FHE, we are very focused on works and obedience and commandment keeping. This as an outward appearance ranks very high. To an outsider, you would think that in order to walk the walk, we would have to be near perfect in our private lives.

But as a group, as you would expect from human beings in a human experience, we fall drastically short of this ideal.

We struggle with lust, and anger, and selfishness. We gossip. We struggle with addictions. We lie, cheat, and steal. We do all those sins mortals do.

So if being hypocritical by this definition is something Jesus is so offended by, and we'll never stop sinning or falling short of the ideal, then the only solution is to stop wearing our suits to church, stop teaching and testifying, i.e. lower our outward appearance standard to match our works.

Should we do that? Should our meetings no longer be filled with calls to repentance and exhortations and warnings? Should they be more like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? Focusing on your own self and not worrying about others--and I would be talking about all the way to the top not just the regular members. Maybe...but that doesn't exactly feel right either.

Jesus really lashed out against the Pharisees. What he seemed to lash out against, IMHO, when it comes to their hypocrisy was their

1. failure to acknowledge their own sin
2. placing themselves above others
3. judging and condemning others

The Jesus I know in the NT wouldn't seem to get bent out of shape about members of the church who are hypocrites the way I describe here and the way we usually interpret the word. The Jesus I know would be very soft and gentle on a member who gets his family dressed up for church, sits on the front row, and bears testimony about the need to keep the commandments, even though that member is struggling mightily with sin in his private life.

I think the sin that is really getting called out here is the judging/elevating of oneself not hypocrisy in terms of actions not matching outward appearance.

What does wearing a suit to church and righteousness have to do with each other?
I'm all for getting rid of suits.

The solution to the problem is to lower our talk. Jesus doesn't like it when we look down our noses at people.
Everyone is a screw-up. Earth was designed to be this way. The point is to realize you really are a little child and cannot do anything yourself. Once humbled, Jesus can come and fix us. Can't do it yourself. think we can is where the hypocrisy is.