Christian Ethics and Hypocrisy: The Difference Between Hypocrisy and Sin in the Church

Almost everyone who has turned away from organized religion in general, and from Christianity in particular, has done so because of a bad experience with a church, its parishioners, or its clergy. Many people hold the view that professional clergy are hypocritical about their own lives and their own sinfulness. These same people are living in a time familiar with the problems caused by the televangelist movement, Catholic priest child abuse scandals, and any number of other tragic instances of sinfulness among church members and clergy.

The church, in the universal sense, has not been very effective in responding to the growing misconception that the church as an organized body is an organization of holier-than-thou hypocrites, usually taking a defensive stance that tries to minimize its own self-perception of wrong-doing. In this article, I advocate a position that calls for an opposite response that embraces wrongdoing as a means of emphasizing the redemptive message of forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. This may look like a contradiction in terms on the surface, but I will explain below why I think that it is possible to acknowledge sin and wrongdoing and still be true to the Biblical message of salvation through Jesus Christ and being a disciple of Jesus.