Stages of Faith

    I think some people think that to be religious at all is to automatically be a hypocrit, and there is just no such thing as true Christianity and a good person who has faith.  But a lot of the people who promote those accusations are often the people who have created a culture so vile that basic human decency and honesty might really become impossible standards, and where the people who have Christian morals aren't allowed to follow through on their beliefs and therefore are constantly tempted to pretend to achieve Christian ideals anyway. A lot of people who call us hypocrits have truly made it impossible for us to succeed at our faith by deliberately corrupting every system that we have to be a part of to stay alive. So we are stuck with a choice to either be honest animals or fake saints, where we at least give some kind of shout out to what we were striving for by doing some pretending here and there.

    I also think in times that Christians fall short and truly do show some hypocritical tendencies, like when we choose to use people and "turn in" unbelievers to churches by showing everyone how we are reaching out to people, that this kind of unacceptable behavior is often just a phase or stage of growth on a path that in the big picture is actually very glorious and the victims of our two-faced double-dealing are actually still indebted to have any inkling at all of the mere existence of church and Christian truth.  I mean I say that knowing full well that stench is stench and people are right to be disgusted by fake friendship and condescension, but we should protect ourselves and everyone around us from the lies of the media, or literature, and of academic people who invest so much effort in trying to convince people that Christians are the ones who are perpetually dishonest.  I hope that maybe somewhere quiet in people's minds, they have the strength to do the math, and to think to themselves, "okay, what is really suspicious here? Is it the people who praised sobriety but couldn't help but party a little too hard with people they love? Or is it the people who brag about reading Lolita and mock autistic homeschool children because they said they are thankful to be forgiven for their sins? I think in the end, it is most questionable to try to block a door to heaven, and quite hypocritical, too, since it is impossible to close a door held open by two hands that have nails through them.