Here's how "Christians" are hypocrites!

[drjean]

So much truth here and a few OTs...

Yes, Paul wrote about the struggles a Christian has but Paul, like Christians, struggled to do right in spite of his errors...just as we do. Someone feigning Christianity has no such desire and perhaps (imo) might spend all their time avoiding reality of sin.

I will repeat what I have repeated a few times already, for those who haven't read the thread. This has nothing to do with a true believer's salvation. We are discussing those who profess Christ but have nothing to show for it, who essentially deny He has anything to do in their lives. You can NOT be a "CHRISTian" if you are not following CHRIST. The terms Christian and believer are not synonymous.

We are judging those who profess to be Christians yet don't appear to be ones. This is scriptural. If we don't discern and do what we should about them, then the world will continue to have a false understanding of us, and all importantly, of Christ Himself.

By approaching those who have no living testimony we can either win them to Christ or help them become Christian in their actions. Either way it's a win-win.

But as shared here earlier in the thread, we are to show them love, and understanding. This is not an easy thing to do. Some have no idea how to approach someone, and most probably are kept from doing so because they aren't secure in their own beliefs. The right attitude, one of "I'm not perfect, just forgiven" to use an adage, is necessary and if we exude this to those we meet then we can either win them and/or lead them.

For those who don't read God's Word I will share that there are many verses about reading/studying/knowing His Word to live a life that is honorable and pleasing to God.

The world says Christians are hypocrites. I don't want any of us to own that title.

So how can you (we) approach these people who have no works in Christ? Some might be in church... could you ask the pastor to define what we have discussed and open the gospel up to them? Can you insert a comment of being open to helping someone in class who is struggling with living the Christian life? Can you volunteer to lead a class and instruct? Can you even just ask someone who perhaps claims to be Christian in faith yet uses Oh Jesus! Oh my god! exclamations to not do so, and explain why not?

What other ways can you, we, share a better way to serve Christ in encouraging those who need a better way to serve Christ?

 

[FreeinChrist]

MOD HAT

This thread is closed for staff review.

 

[FreeinChrist]

MOD HAT

This thread had a clean up and is being reopened.

Folks, please read the OP before responding. ​

 

[drjean]

Thank you. Hopefully those who were engaging in good discussion will return also.

Let's recap briefly. Those who truly want to engage might review the entire thread... but all civil discussion welcomed.

FIRST the main view was that of NON CHRISTIANS and WHY they think people who call themselves CHRISTIANS are HYPOCRITES. No one here is calling anyone else here a hypocrite. We all have to see which shoes fit for ourselves...and take them off!

SECOND we are instructed to observe those who call themselves Christians IRL and to counter those whose actions do not fit their speech. Those who do not claim to be a Christian are not to be judged, as that is God's dealing. Here's an interesting article, even though old, that you might read about judging: Who Are We to Judge?

In three words, blunt and absolute, Jesus commanded us, "Do not judge" (Matt. 7:1). But did he really mean that we should never judge others? He goes on to suggest that it's not the act of judging but the attitude with which we do it that God is most concerned about—"For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged" (7:2).

There are other Scriptures that either cloud or shed light on the issue. Paul told the Christians in Rome not to judge one another (Rom. 14:13) but taught the Corinthians that they were to judge sinful believers and leave people outside the church to God (1 Cor. 5:12-13). James said he who judges his brother speaks against the law (4:11) but also implied that our judgments of others must be done with mercy (2:12-13).

The premise for this thread is YES we ARE to judge those who claim to follow Christ, yet their actions do not follow Christ. Perhaps more time in the thread should have been spent on how we approach them, but this item was later in the thread.

We mentioned these items so far, if I'm correct: People who don't read/listen to God's Word for personal study, who don't pray for others, who don't attend worship services nor fellowship with believers, who don't talk to others about Jesus YET say they are Christians might be hypocrites and indeed non-Christians judge them as hypocrites.

The "evangelical" aspect was where we were in discussion...here's the scope of the study:


Evangelical Beliefs

Evangelical Beliefs are defined using the NAE LifeWay Research
Evangelical Beliefs Research Definition based on respondent beliefs

Respondents are asked their level of agreement with four separate
statements using a four point, forced choice scale (strongly agree,
somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree). Those
who strongly agree with all four statements are categorized as
having Evangelical Beliefs

The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe

It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to
trust Jesus Christ as their Savior

Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove
the penalty of my sin

Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s
free gift of eternal salvation

25% would consider themselves an
evangelical Christian if it had nothing to
do with politics
24% consider themselves to be an
evangelical Christian
29% consider themselves born again
Christians




Overlap between labels

Evangelical Beliefs
•
58% are White, non-Hispanic
•
23% are Black, non-Hispanic
•
73% attend religious services once a week or more

Self-Identified Evangelical
•
70% are White, non-Hispanic
•
14% are Black, non-Hispanic
•
61% attend religious services once a week or more

Self-Identified Evangelical apart from politics
•
69% are White, non-Hispanic
•
12% are Black, non-Hispanic
•
59% attend religious services once a week or more

Self-Identified Born again
•
62% are White, non-Hispanic
•
20% are Black, non-Hispanic
•
56% attend religious services once a week or more

Full stats here: http://lifewayresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Evangelical-Beliefs-and-Identity.pdf


God's Word is very clear about our responsibility of sharing the gospel with others! Nearly every believer knows what "The Great Commission" is and from where the idea came. (Read the ending of the gospels---Jesus' word for us.

If these were the parting Words from Jesus, His expectation of His true followers, then surely you might be a hypocrite if you don't share the Good News with others.

 

[Tutorman]

Why limit the thing to evangelical, it is really a small subset of Christendom.

 

[drjean]

It is not limited to evangelical.

However, 100% of believers who call themselves Christians are supposed to be evangelistic by nature...according to Jesus. So the point is by that made that the 3/4 of those who call themselves Christians but are not evangelistic are hypocrites?

 

[Tutorman]

It is not limited to evangelical.

However, 100% of believers who call themselves Christians are supposed to be evangelistic by nature...according to Jesus. So the point is by that made that the 3/4 of those who call themselves Christians but are not evangelistic are hypocrites?

Absolutely not. The word evangelical congers up a certain type of Protestant of which I along with Anglicans, Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox and so forth are not. What is hypocritical is the OP assuming Christians must do A, B, C in order to be a Christian, which is nothing more than a guise for legalism.

 

[drjean]

An explanation of the word evangelical has been given at least twice, including the first post after returning. Do the readers of this thread need clearer, less verbiage per post to be able to read? I am fully able to accommodate.

Here is this survey's definition:

Those who strongly agree with all four statements are categorized as
having Evangelical Beliefs

The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe

It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to
trust Jesus Christ as their Savior

Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove
the penalty of my sin

Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s
free gift of eternal salvation

THE OP IS NOT DISCUSSING BELIEVERS> THE OP IS DISCUSSING THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS> this has nothing whatsoever to do with any particular religion's beliefs. THIS part of the topic has to do with the Commission given by Jesus! GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD or, as some interpret as saying AS YOU GO THROUGH ALL THE WORLD (on your life, business)... SHARE THE GOSPEL.

The survey includes that aspect of being "evangelical".

 

[Tutorman]

Those who call themselves Christians are believers, it is not our place to judge another but to only worry about ourselves

 

[drjean]

THE VERY POINTS of this thread are these: Not everyone who calls himself a Christian IS a believer! Everyone who is a believer should also be a Christian, but are not necessarily.

That is what the survey found, and supported with other aspects of the survey and other surveys.
Some are pretending to follow Christ and they are --according to the world and the survey of them--the hypocrites.

NOT ALL THOSE WHO SAY THEY ARE CHRISTIANS ARE EVEN BELIEVERS! There is Scripture that warns us, and Scripture that tells us to judge those who say they are...reader's decision to agree or not with that idea from God that we are to judge.

 

[Tutorman]

Do what you will

 

[drjean]

Matthew 23:13
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

The Bible tells us that a hypocrite is someone who puts on a mask and pretends to be something he is not. Hypocrisy is to claim to know and follow certain beliefs but to behave in a way that counteracts those beliefs. While we should have wisdom to discern words and actions that do not match, we also need to remember that God is the ultimate judge of character. Use these Bible verses and scriptures to guide your own holiness!

• 1 John 4:20
  20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Imagine Christ reading some of emails or text messages or forum posts from one "Christian" brother to another.... calling names, putting each other down, invalidating beliefs supported by Scriptures! Suppose He would use the word hypocrite then too?

• Mark 7:6
  6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
  

 

[Phil 1:21]

An explanation of the word evangelical has been given at least twice, including the first post after returning. Do the readers of this thread need clearer, less verbiage per post to be able to read? I am fully able to accommodate.

Here is this survey's definition:

Those who strongly agree with all four statements are categorized as
having Evangelical Beliefs

The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe

It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to
trust Jesus Christ as their Savior

Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove
the penalty of my sin

Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s
free gift of eternal salvation

THE OP IS NOT DISCUSSING BELIEVERS> THE OP IS DISCUSSING THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS> this has nothing whatsoever to do with any particular religion's beliefs. THIS part of the topic has to do with the Commission given by Jesus! GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD or, as some interpret as saying AS YOU GO THROUGH ALL THE WORLD (on your life, business)... SHARE THE GOSPEL.

The survey includes that aspect of being "evangelical".

That would, by definition, exclude certain denominations. Not saying that's good or bad, just that it is what it is.

 

[drjean]

It's a curious word nowdays imo. When I was first born again it meant anyone or group that had an outreach program to win others to Christ. And of course, there were countless evangelists and they evangelized, being "evangelical".

• The term evangelical derives from the Greek word euangelion meaning “gospel” or “good news.” Technically speaking, evangelical refers to a person, church, or organization that is committed to the Christian gospel message that Jesus Christ is the savior of humanity. The Greek root word is used in the New Testament and was popularized in the first centuries A.D. to distinguish the love-centric movement of Jesus followers from the violent Roman Empire that often made its own “good news” announcements to celebrate military victories.

• According to the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College outside of Chicago, Martin Luther first used the Latinized form of the word evangelium to describe the non-Catholic churches birthed by the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s.
  
  • But the term largely took hold in the English-speaking world more than a century later during the Great Awakening, a series of revivals in Britain and the American colonies led by fiery preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. Due to their influence, evangelicalism became a synonym for revivalism, or a fervent expression of Christianity marked by an emphasis on converting outsiders. By the early 1800s, it was “by far the dominant expression of Christianity” in the United States.

"
The most widely accepted definition of evangelical is probably the one put forward by historian David Bebbington in 1989. It’s called the “Bebbington quadrilateral” because it identifies evangelicals as Christians who share four main qualities:

• Biblicism: a high regard for the Bible
• Crucicentrism: a focus on Jesus’s crucifixion and its saving effects
• Conversionism: a belief that humans need to be converted
• Activism: the belief that faith should influence one’s public life

"

and from NPR:

• In recent years, the evangelical label has had increasingly strong political connotations, with pollsters and news organizations paying closer attention to the "evangelical vote" and evangelicals themselves becoming more passionate about politics.

As for certain denominations... I question whether or not the idea of evangelism is still at their core, even though it might not be written up in their mission statement? Surely church growth/membership has something to do with believing in Christ, right? Perhaps it is left to the clergy?

However, that is why I posted the premise of the definition being used in this thread. And as we were ust reminded, it has as it's base the Gospel---Good News of Jesus Christ!