ApologeticsTalk - Episode 2 - The Problem of Hypocrisy

ApologeticsTalk

Episode 2 - Apologetics in everyday conversation
(C) 2008, W. Peter Freund

“The problem of hypocrisy”

INTRODUCTION: The premise for these dialogues is that the application of apologetics is better caught than taught. The following is a fictional conversation between Peter, the Christian, and Bob, who is an atheist with a troubled past. The content is loosely based off the arguments found in Keller’s chapter on hypocrisy from “Reason for God.”

Peter: So, what do you think about the things I said about evil and God last week, now that you’ve had time to think about them?

Bob: I see your point about God and evil. God can’t prevent us from doing evil because then we wouldn’t be free. I think there are some other things in my mind that you didn’t answer, but I’ve got a new argument for you, based on evil.

Peter: Shoot.

Bob: Well, how about the problem of evil within the church.

Peter: How about it?

Bob: (laughs) How about the fact that Christians are supposed to be good, and yet there are all these scandals that we’re always hearing about on the news. Like the Catholic priests molesting children, and the televangeliars stealing peoples’ money so they can live in mansions.

Peter: Televangeliars. Funny.

Bob: Yeah, but the crusades and all the evil done in the name of Christianity isn’t funny. If God exists, then why is there all this evil in the church among God’s own people? It’s total hypocrisy! It’s crazy!

Peter: I agree with you that the world is full of hypocrites. But, define hypocrite for me. You don’t mean someone who believes one thing, but secretly believes something else, do you?

Bob: No, that’s just contradictory. What I’m talking about is when someone says one thing, but then does something else.

Peter: Can you be more specific?

Bob: Yeah, it’s when someone says we’re supposed to love others, but then they go and steal from them.

Peter: I’m sympathetic to what you are saying, but why exactly does this discredit Christianity or belief in God?

Bob: It’s obvious… the people who are supposed to be God’s people are just imposters. They say one thing and then do something completely contradictory.

Peter: I understand. But now you’re just re-stating what you already said and what people already know. Where’s the argument? Even Christians are familiar with the reality of hypocrites in the church. In fact, Jesus spends a lot of time addressing hypocrites. They troubled him, too.

Bob: Fine, but that just shows how inauthentic Christianity is. That Jesus himself cares is fine. But, I don’t see how you can honestly be a Christian with so much hypocrisy.

Peter: I think you’re dancing around the issue. You still haven’t told me exactly why hypocrisy is a problem.

Bob: It’s a problem because it’s a contradiction.

Peter: So, you mean that if a person says they believe X, but then behave like they actually don’t believe X, this is contradictory?

Bob: Yeah, exactly.

Peter: OK. So, let me try to apply that to some examples… A lawyer might say he cares about the truth, but lies to defend his client. A mother might say she wants to set a good example for her child, but yells at her child too often. An atheist might say he believes that God doesn’t exist, yet he gets angry at God for allowing evil in the world, or he prays for help when he’s in trouble.

Bob: Yeah. Except with the atheist example, that’s not a true atheist.

Peter: But, that’s the whole point! All of these are simply examples of someone who says they believe one thing, but then they don’t act on that belief. They actually act against the belief. But, here’s the problem. Here’s what I don’t get about the objection to God based on hypocrisy: it’s contradictory, but so what?

Bob: Well, but if God exists then it shouldn’t be like that!

Peter: Now, we’re getting somewhere. So, what you’re saying is that if God existed, then Christians would act like Christians, and atheists would act like atheists?

Bob: Yeah.

Peter: Since when does God’s existence depend on the imperfect behavior of human beings?

Bob: What do you mean?

Peter: I mean that hypocrisy only shows that some people either (1) don’t really believe what they say they believe, or (2) people just make a lot of mistakes. God’s existence or non-existence depends is completely independent of our beliefs about it.

Bob: (silence)

Peter: But, this isn’t just true about Christians. It’s true of everyone! Even you! For example, have you ever heard of an atheist who went to church, prayed, or read the Bible?

Bob: Well, sure.

Peter: Then, God has to exist!

Bob: Why?

Peter: Because of the hypocrisy of atheists. It’s the same argument you used against me, but now I’m turning it around. By your reasoning, if anyone acts hypocritically, then that invalidates what they believe to be true.

Bob: But, those aren’t real atheists!

Peter: What do you mean by ‘real’?

Bob: I mean they don’t really believe what they say they believe.

Peter: Maybe those aren’t real Christians, either.

Bob: Obviously.

Peter: But, if that’s obvious, then how can you complain that God can’t exist based on the argument that non-Christians who pretend to be Christians should act like Christians? That doesn’t make any sense.

Bob: Well, I’m not, but real Christians should act like Christians. That’s what I’m talking about.

Peter: But, in either case it doesn’t matter what people believe. It matters what is true. People have always believed things that are false. And, there have always been people who failed to believe things that are true. This is beside the point.

Bob: But, if Christians are God’s chosen people, then shouldn’t act the way they do.

Peter: Who says?

Bob: Well, the Bible says. Obviously.

Peter: Actually the Bible says that all people have fallen short. Paul even says….

Bob: Wait, I did some research this week and in 1 John 2:4 it says “The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Peter: Yes. But, it does not say that Christianity is false if a Christian fails to keep God’s commandments. You’re confusing belief with reality. All this passage shows is that the truth isn’t in that particular kind of person, not that God isn’t in reality. Ironically, it says just a little further back in 1 John: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” So, every Christian sins!

Bob: But, how can you be a Christian and be sinful? That’s a complete contradiction!

Peter: Actually, it’s not. Christians are pretty much the same as everyone else. They are just forgiven.

Bob: Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen that bumper sticker, too.

Peter: Just because it’s a cliché, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Bob: So, what’s your point?

Peter: My point is that there are people out there who say one thing and do another because they don’t really believe what they say they believe. But, what you’re worried about is true Christians who actually believe one thing but do something else, right?

Bob: (pause)… yeah, exactly!

Peter: So, this is the category I talked about earlier. It is that group of people that simply make mistakes. Everyone does things they wish they hadn’t done, because every single person is more complicated than a machine. Machines do exactly what they are told, assuming they are working correctly. People, though, have desires and will-power, and so they often do things simply because they really wanted to do it or else because they are sometimes rebellious.

Bob: Ok… but don’t people always act on their beliefs?

Peter: I see where you’re going with this, but that’s a discussion for another day. But, let me say at least this much. If people always acted on their beliefs, then when someone says one thing but does something else, that shows they believe two contradictory things at the same time!

Bob: Or else what they say isn’t as important as what they do. Maybe what people do shows more about what they believe than what they say? The proof is in the putting. I hate clichés, though.

Peter: I agree. In fact, that’s kind of what the book of James says… But, that issue aside, what I was saying was that people make mistakes because people aren’t perfect. Everyone at some time or another acts against their better judgment. But, this doesn’t mean that what they judged to be true in the first place wasn’t true in the first place. The Bible is in complete agreement. That is why Jesus never made perfection the true mark of a Christian, but love.

Bob: I never thought about it that way before… But I always thought that Christians were saved by doing good works, and isn’t God supposed to empower you and make you perfect?

Peter: Perfection, according to God, is not about always doing right, because not even atheists can always do what is right, it is about measuring up to God’s moral standards. God’s standard go far beyond simply our actions. It’s also about our character and what’s in our heart. In all these areas, we fail. But, Jesus allows us to measure up, because Jesus vouches for us before God the Father. We’re not morally perfect, but Jesus is.

Bob: Yeah, but isn’t there still some kind of contradiction in all this?

Peter: Probably. Because people just act contradictory sometimes. It’s because we’re not God. We all fail eventually, and then we all continue to fail, at least some of the time. But, let me ask you a question.

Bob: Shoot.

Peter: If God can’t exist because Christians sometimes do evil, then does God exist because atheists sometimes do good?

Bob: Hmmm….