The Apologetics Advertisement for Christianity
By Nathaniel Ashcroft
5 Claims
Now, many very strong arguments have been made here, some of the ones I find most compelling. They are supplied with ample evidence, but mostly I hope this gets you thinking. We have gone over meaning, creation, Pascal’s Wager, the fallacy of subjective truth when applied to religion, Atheism, the fallacy of a works-salvation religion, Biblical reliability, Jesus’s claims to divinity, and resurrection evidence. Next, I’m going to help shed some light on some common reasons non-believers do not believe in the Christian God.
Claim 5: Christians Are Hypocritical, So I Shouldn’t Be Christian
Whenever considering a new job or a new belief set or anything of the like, one of the first places we look to make our decision is the associated people.
When looking for a job, maybe I’ll ask an employee or former employee how friendly the work environment is. If the employee answers that their co-workers treated them like garbage and were hypocritical, that will factor largely into my decision to work there. When deciding if I should be a fan of sports team A or sports team B, the fans of the teams will affect my decision. If the fans that I am acquainted with from sports team A are very unkind and abrasive people, maybe, for that reason alone, I will be a fan of sports team B.
Consider this, however; do the people who work at the hypothetical job, or the fans of sports team A reflect the job or the team themselves? What if the administration and leadership of the company is amazing, the job is well-paying, and the founder is a family man who gives generous amounts of money to charity? What if team A has an honorable and sportsman-like reputation? Those who associate themselves with something often do not reflect the true colors of the thing they associate themselves with. Just because a person identifies with a belief does not mean they reflect that beliefs ideals, though they should. Now, I may still refuse to work for the company with the hypocritical employees, even knowing the company has a good reputation, or refuse to be a fan of sports team A, even knowing my difficult friend doesn’t truly reflect the team.
This is where the analogy becomes imperfect, as Christianity is a more accessible and desirable belief set, and can be practiced apart from the presence of hypocrites. It’s more difficult to be a part of a company that, while holding a good reputation, has a local representation that does not reflect the company, due to no fault of the company at all. The sports team analogy, however, still holds up. You can very well be a practicing fan of sports team A, even while your abrasive friend is a fan of such a team, and see past him to the true goodness of the sports team’s morals. This is because you don’t have to be closely associated with your difficult friend to be a fan of the team. With the job, you have to endure the hypocrisy of those on the jobsite every single day, which again, regardless of the standing of the company, may keep you from taking the job. With Christianity, we all who have faith have access to God and can receive the true measure of the promise, regardless of hypocrites.
There are those who claim to be Christian, are very hypocritical, and do not really portray Jesus in any true, meaningful, or good way. These do not truly know Christ. I fully understand the turn-off this gives a person towards Christianity, there is no bigger roadblock than to see Christians committing actions that those who are looking into Christianity do not want to be associated with. It makes the religion look false and hypocritical, especially if a person looking into Christianity has been personally hurt by a person who professes to be a Christian.
Christian View of Sin
Christianity is not about never sinning on earth. I couldn’t begin to define exactly what Christianity is as there is so much depth to it, the best word I can think of to encompass Christianity would be ‘gospel’ (which means good news, and also is the name for Christ’s work and ministry for us). So, Christians anywhere you go will not be perfect, in the sense that they still mess up and sin on this earth.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (NIV 1 John 8).
Sin separates us from God and infects us with a horrid disease leading to death and destruction. It is only by the good pleasure of God we have hope for a better future. The reason the word ‘gospel’ is so important is because the good news of salvation is the only hope broken and dead people have for reconciliation and life. God didn’t have to offer a way.
The brokenness and fallenness of man is a very important Biblical truth that finds its roots in Genesis three, where Adam and Eve eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, disobeying God and bringing sin into the world. The Biblical profession of the sinfulness of people should actually be comforting, in some sense, to the believer and to those considering Christianity; God acknowledges our shortcomings and meets us where we are at, He is not a God who is far-removed and ignorant to the pit humanity dwells in in their fallen state.
An integral part of what encompasses a Christian hypocrite, is that they show no evidence of the Holy Spirit, and while they may claim to be pure, their heart is of stone. I do not want it to sound as if I am saying “true Christians never sin”, which is false teaching. I am only pointing out what the Bible points out, that God cares about the heart. If a person’s heart is not inclined towards God, they will be a hypocrite, as humanity without redemption is incapable of Christ-like behavior.
Believer, if you are feeling burdened with sin, and are doubting your salvation because of my writing about hypocrites, read on.
Comfort to the Believer
Believer, it is God who saves us, have no doubts of your assurance, you need only look to Christ for salvation.
Believer, take comfort in this truth, “Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed’” (NIV John 8:34-36).
Believer, if the Son sets you free, you have the Holy Spirit by your side, sanctifying you.
Believer, do not doubt His work.
Believer, you need not search within the depths of your conscience for faith that saves, look to Christ and know He has prepared a place at His table for you.
Believer, you are known to God as a dear child and friend, you cannot earn this, it is freely given.
Believer, there is more grace in Christ than sin in you.
Believer, do you really know how far the east is from the west?
Believer, you are a new creature in Christ, cease acting as if you are still dead in your sin, like a butterfly who still thinks itself to be a caterpillar in spite of the beautiful wings God has lavished upon it.
Believer, think of the stretches of the universe, the magnitude of the night sky and consider this; God, who fills all of time and space with His presence, became a lowly man, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, [H]e offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save [H]im from death, and [H]e was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though [H]e was, [H]e learned obedience from what [H]e suffered and, once made perfect, [H]e became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey [H]im” (NIV Hebrews 5:7-9).
Believer, can you imagine the God of the universe shedding tears and pleading for your salvation?
Bearing Fruit
“‘Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them’” (NIV Matthew 7:17-20).
Keep this idea of bearing fruit in your mind. Hypocrites bear bad fruit, lacking repentance and acknowledgment of sin, professing to be holy yet lacking the evidence of it. A true Christian bears good fruit, flowing out of their relationship with Christ and the work of His wonderful Holy Spirit.
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill [H]is good purpose” (NIV Philippians 2:13).
Should Hypocrites Drive You Away?
Hypocrites are those who profess to be something, yet are not that thing. They teach people to act in a certain way, and in turn do not follow their own teaching. There are those who claim to be followers of Christ, and yet they do not follow what Christ teaches. A hypocrite, Biblically, is one who professes faith, but bears no fruit.
The reason a hypocrite drives people away is because of their personal decisions, not Christianity behind them, which they haven’t yet internalized, have rejected altogether, or something of the like. Of course, I do not know the state of any one person’s heart, I’m writing purely about the consequence of their actions; they are showing unbelievers what Christianity speaks against and does not advocate for.
Here Jesus warns His disciples about the hypocrites of His day, who claimed to be righteous and holy, yet were not.
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and [H]e is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (NIV Matthew 23:1-11).
If someone says they don’t want to be Christian because there are a lot of hypocrites, they are agreeing that what Christianity teaches is good and should be followed as closely as possible. This shows that the unbeliever acknowledges the good teaching of the Bible, but hates the idea that people would spurn such truth and live as hypocrites! They understand that said hypocrite, while acting in a harmful and sinful manner, should have been really doing what they preached, because what they preach is good. Christ tells His disciples in the above passage to “do everything” the hypocritical Pharisees tell them, because it is correct teaching, but to not do as they do, for they are hypocrites. This is good then, because those who dislike hypocritical living share common ground with Christ! Do not allow a hypocrite to deflect you away from the living God.
So I encourage you to look for yourself, and see if the Bible reflects how hypocrites you have encountered in your own life have acted. You will quickly find that Jesus spoke against the hypocrites (Matthew 23), and said that to be lukewarm was to be worse than an unbeliever in the eyes of God (Revelation 3). Jesus tells us to carry our cross and follow Him, and if we do not do that, we are not worthy of Him. Jesus does not support hypocrites.
Here is Jesus speaking against the Pharisee hypocrites of His day,
““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness’” (NIV Matthew 23:27-28).
Jesus lists six other woes against the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23 besides this one, calling out their hypocrisy.
I’ll leave you with this: If I was the devil, and I wanted to drive people away from repentance and the truth, I would make it a point that as few people as possible experienced true Christianity. I would skew what a relationship with Jesus should look like and what a church should look like, because if they really knew Jesus, they would be far less likely to turn away from Him. I would know if I let them experience true Christianity, then I would have lost them forever, delivered from the full grip of my vices; true Christianity is just too good.
I would keep a false Jesus in their heads, a Jesus who approved of everything they did, a Jesus who affirmed their every move. Or I would make them think Jesus is just like all those hypocrites they have known in their lives. I would make them blame Jesus for every wrong deed done to them by one of his ‘followers’. I would make sure they thought every person who followed Christ was a judgmental hypocrite who hated and did not love. I would do everything in my power to keep the truth about the Bible and about Jesus from them. If they learn that truth, then they will never ever turn back; He is the answer to the hole in their heart. I would know this scripture
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (NIV John 8:32).
So all I would do is deflect the truth away from them and feed them with false teachers and hypocrites. If I keep them with a false idea of Christ and the religion behind His life, then I can keep them in my clutches. John 8:44, speaking about the devil,
“he was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (NIV John 8:44).
You have homework. Read John chapter 8, which gives a historical account of Jesus’s teaching and a confrontation with the hypocrites of His day.
Have you heard the gospel? If not, click here.
View next week’s section to learn more about Christianity.
Works Cited
NIV Quest Study Bible. Zondervan, 2011.