God: Hypocrisy

You are simply put a fucking hypocrite and a false Christian in my eyes by making such an ignorant statement.

That is the end of a recent email I received from someone calling himself John Cerasuolo. He left the same message in the comments of this post, if you want to read it in it's entirety. He sent me the email just in case I hadn't seen him call me the anti-Christ on my own blog. I don't have the time or the inclination to dissect his comment thoroughly, but I would like to point something about hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy in the Greek means "play actor" or "performer." It is someone who says something or pretends to something (like helping the poor) and is then shown to contradict it later (like enriching themselves through anti-poverty donations). You don't get to call someone a hypocrite when they contradict what you think they should believe. You get to call someone a hypocrite when they contradict what they say they believe. The first is just caused by you projecting your beliefs, wants, and desires onto another person. The second is them being inconsistent with themselves. The first one doesn't count and the second one does.

For the record, I don't pretend to be a great Christian. I'm a sinner saved by grace. Sometimes I'm heavy with the sinner. Sometimes I'm strong on the grace. If I have ever given anyone a "holier than thou" vibe, my apologies.

I also have never pretended to be a pacifist. I just can't reconcile that theological and moral position with God's actions throughout the entirety of the Bible.