Recently I was involved in a conversation on Facebook between myself, a self-proclaimed agnostic, and a "hatetheist." Several statements and questions were posed to me during that conversation - here is statement #5:
“One of my biggest problems with religion, organized or any other is that it teaches intolerance in a tolerant age. It is hypocrisy at its best.”
The definition of “hypocrisy” is claiming one thing and then doing or being something else. This does not fit the Bible in any way. With regard to tolerance and intolerance, God, through His Word, teaches us to have an intolerance to sin, to any teaching or requirement that goes against God's Word. It does not teach us to use derogatory euphemisms toward people because of their race or chosen sexual preference. To do so is hateful, and that would be against what God teaches. Therefore, Christians do not engage in these things. This is not to say that there aren't people doing these things who claim to be Christians, but God's Word very clearly states that they are not.
To say that Christians are hypocrites because some false Christians are living lives marked by sin, is the same as saying that all cops are rapists because there have been some rapists who have passed themselves off as police; or to say Special Forces members are nothing more than overweight liars who are puffed up by their fantastical stories, just because there have been some phony Special Forces people who are like that. And if you aren't willing to make those negative statements about all members of Law Enforcement or Special Forces members then the double standards you are imposing in Christians is closer to hypocrisy than holding to God's teaching to love the sinner while remaining intolerant of the sin.
“One of my biggest problems with religion, organized or any other is that it teaches intolerance in a tolerant age. It is hypocrisy at its best.”
The definition of “hypocrisy” is claiming one thing and then doing or being something else. This does not fit the Bible in any way. With regard to tolerance and intolerance, God, through His Word, teaches us to have an intolerance to sin, to any teaching or requirement that goes against God's Word. It does not teach us to use derogatory euphemisms toward people because of their race or chosen sexual preference. To do so is hateful, and that would be against what God teaches. Therefore, Christians do not engage in these things. This is not to say that there aren't people doing these things who claim to be Christians, but God's Word very clearly states that they are not.
To say that Christians are hypocrites because some false Christians are living lives marked by sin, is the same as saying that all cops are rapists because there have been some rapists who have passed themselves off as police; or to say Special Forces members are nothing more than overweight liars who are puffed up by their fantastical stories, just because there have been some phony Special Forces people who are like that. And if you aren't willing to make those negative statements about all members of Law Enforcement or Special Forces members then the double standards you are imposing in Christians is closer to hypocrisy than holding to God's teaching to love the sinner while remaining intolerant of the sin.
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