What Does Hypocrisy Prove?

We are gearing up for another long and exhausting political race. We are still more than a year out from electing the next President of the United States. We will be inundated and overwhelmed with rhetoric, attack ads, debates and the always influential yard signs. I mean not to debate the worthiness of our potential candidates here. I don't want to reduce this blog to the discussion of some matters of temporal significance. I can tell you that one of the two primary political parties is explicitly opposed to the morality clearly laid out in Scripture and I find it impossible to reconcile being a Christian and voting for that party. *Hint: it's the Democrats.*

What we will see and hear are ongoing accusations of Candidate A being a hypocrite for doing Y while claiming that Y is wrong. 

• Al Gore is an environmentalist
• Al Gore flies around on a private jet and travels with a motorcade

This makes Al Gore a hypocrite. Agreed? Of course you agree! Environmentalists don't leave massive carbon footprints! That's antithetical to their stated values. Al Gore is a hypocrite for violating the beliefs he claims to cherish. He can rationalize it all he wants but he's still a hypocrite. But he's also something else....

An environmentalist! 

What are you talking about, Tim? He's causing lots of damage to the environment!
That he is, but he's still a professing environmentalist. He's still claiming to be an environmentalist, right? Certainly he's not a true environmentalist. He's not living off solar power, riding a bicycle and doing speeches via Skype. He's a phony environmentalist who contradicts everything he believes but he's still trying to enforce a worldview. 

Does Al Gore's hypocrisy disprove his environmental beliefs? 

Let's tackle this from another angle. 

• Conservative Candidate A is a believer in traditional values
• Conservative Candidate A cheats on his wife with a male prostitute 

This makes Conservative Candidate A a hypocrite. Agreed? Of course you agree! Traditional values candidates don't cheat on their wives! That's antithetical to their stated values. Conservative Candidate A is a hypocrite for violating the beliefs he claims to cherish. He can rationalize it all he wants but he's still a hypocrite. But he's also something else...

A traditional values candidate!
What are you talking about, Tim? He's causing lots of damage to traditional values!
That he is, but he's still a professing conservative! He's still claiming to be one, right? Certainly he's not a true traditional values candidate. He's not in a loving, monogamous, opposite sex marriage. He's a phony traditional values candidate who contradicts everything he believes but he's still trying to enforce a worldview. 

Does Conservative Candidate A's hypocrisy disprove his traditional values? 

The answer to both of those questions is a resounding 'NO.' The efficacy of their worldview isn't dependent upon the faithfulness of its adherents. The efficacy of any worldview is wholly dependent upon the truthfulness of its object. 

Do you see where I'm going? 
Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. Whether the Christian worldview is right or not isn't dependent upon my effort or your effort (Romans 3). In fact, that's antithetical to the basis of our faith. Right? Our faith is a faith placed in the achievements of Christ. We have zero faith in our works. We have zero faith in our accomplishments. Our faith rests on Christ's satisfactory death on the cross. Our faith rests in Christ serving as the substitutionary atonement for our sins. Our faith is that Christ is the propitiation for our sins; that He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect and sinless life, died because of our sins and for our sins and was raised on the 3rd day to prove He is the ruler over life and death.

"All Christians are hypocrites!"
Yea, yea we are! I tell people not to lust and then I lust. I tell people not to be greedy and then I keep things to myself. I tell people to read the Bible and then I don't read it. The list goes on. That's why we don't put faith in our works (Ephesians 2). That's why we don't put faith in the works of our pastors and friends and our favorite famous Christians. If Famous Christian Athlete fails in a disastrous way, does that disprove Christ's work? No! Not at all. It really serves to fortify the necessity of Christ's work. No one can earn salvation. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. 

Let me clarify something. Just because someone claims to be a Christian or an environmentalist doesn't mean said person is either of those things. Lots of people claim to be lots of things they are not. Bruce Jenner claims to be a woman. Benny Hinn and Ernest Angley claim to be heralds of God's word. My dog thinks he's a human. Environmentalism isn't true or false because of Al Gore's actions. I'm more inclined to listen to someone who is consistent with his beliefs but those beliefs don't attain their veracity from persons. If that worldview is genuinely true, then it will remain true whether anyone follows it or not. So we then examine the efficacy or veracity of such a truth claim based upon its claims and not upon its followers. 

Is murder suddenly ok because someone who is anti-murder ends up murdering someone? 
No! You can see where this type of thinking breaks down. Murder is always wrong. We don't disprove the immorality of murder because someone who is opposed to murder ends up murdering someone. The morality of murder was never dependent upon human beings never doing it. A murderer can still say "murder is wrong" and be right! He'd be a hypocrite, but he'd also be correct. Just like a Christian can say "loving money is wrong" while also being greedy and still be correct. It just makes the person a hypocrite.

Our hope is in Christ and in Christ alone. Always point to Him as the example of Christianity. I mean He is the Christ in Christianity. isn't He?