Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Hypocrisy. A feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not, especially the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion, according to merriam-webster.com. Also, one of the most common traits on the planet. If you really think about it, you will probably not find a person who has not been guilty of hypocrisy on some level. Jesus doesn't count.
The Pharisees who taught during his lifetime are good examples though. They jump out at me whenever I think about hypocrisy, and if you've had any level of schooling on the Bible and/or the life of Jesus, they probably entered your mind as well. Not many of us are as hypocritical as they were, teaching the way to live a Godly life according to Jewish customs and then blatantly violating those teachings while nobody (but God) was looking.
Then again, who am I to judge whether person A is more hypocritical then person B? That's rather hypocritical of me. Only God has the right to judge, since none of us are perfect. And yet, I don't know if I can think of a single person who doesn't judge, deep down.
Christians (or people who claim to be Christians, at least) are especially critical. Yes, I'm biased. I am a Christian, so I would know. We all like to compare the laws set in stone by God in the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament up against people's lives so we can dissect them and see what horrible people they are, lifting up our "perfect" selves in the process.
So maybe if we would all just be a little more self-confident, have higher self-esteem, and stop worrying about what people think of us, we won't need to compare ourselves (or the perfect angels we like to pretend we are ) against other people.
Or maybe we need to stop the comparisons first so that others will stop comparing themselves to us in return. Who knows.
Most likely, we will acknowledge our hypocrisies, shrug, and move on with life. It wouldn't be any different from any other time.
My inspiration for this blog comes from a song I was listening to earlier and actually listen to fairly often when my mp3 player is on random: "Heresy" by Nine Inch Nails, the chorus of which goes like this:
Your god is dead,
And no one cares,
If there is a hell,
I'll see you there.
Yes, I listen to songs like that. I am a Christian, and I am a hypocrite. I guess it's just part of life, and that isn't going to change anytime soon.
