Seriously.<\/p>\n
What if it\u2019s <\/i>me<\/i><\/b>?<\/i><\/p>\n
What if I\u2019ve always said to love my neighbor as myself but then I intentionally choose some not to love?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n What if I\u2019ve announced my pursuit of the truth and nothing but the truth and then justify why it\u2019s ok to promote falsehoods or fake news?<\/i><\/p>\n What if I say \u201clet\u2019s all be tolerant\u201d but then choose to denounce the person who\u2019s intolerant?<\/i><\/p>\n What if I vow to respect all life but then prioritize some lives over others?<\/i><\/p>\n What if?<\/i><\/p>\n What \u2014 dare I ask \u2014 what if that\u2019s me?<\/i><\/p>\n The origin of the word \u201chypocrite\u201d comes from the Greek word, \u201chypokrit\u1e17s.\u201d<\/i> The word was commonly used to describe actors on the stage, derived from the words \u201chyp\u00f3\u201d<\/i> \u2014 which means “under” \u2014 and kr\u00edn\u014d<\/i> \u2014 which means \u201cjudge.\u201d<\/p>\n Hence, by definition, the masculine noun equates to \u201cproperly, a judging under,<\/i> like a performer acting under a mask (i.e. a theater-actor), <\/i>or (figuratively)<\/i> a two-faced person; a \u2018hypocrite,\u2019 whose profession does not match their practice \u2014 i.e. someone who “says one thing but does another.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be honest. I don\u2019t hate<\/i> a lot of things. In fact, I have taught my children that the only things worthy of hatred are, as best discernible, what we know God hates (i.e. haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family).<\/i><\/p>\n But sometimes I hate<\/i> hypocrisy.<\/p>\n I arguably hate it most when I see it in me.<\/i><\/p>\n Sometimes, friends, I have said one thing, but done another. Sometimes, I have failed to love another well. Sometimes I\u2019ve been inconsistent. And sometimes I have done something, believed something, or said something contrary to what I say I would think, say, or do.<\/p>\n Dr. Robert Kurzban, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, published a fascinating piece in 2011, aptly titled: \u201cWhy Everyone (Else)<\/i> Is a Hypocrite.\u201d<\/b> He says:<\/p>\n \u201cThe book is really about human nature. It\u2019s about contradictions in human nature. It\u2019s how we can believe two things simultaneously which are mutually contradictory\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n I think the way to understand this is to use the example of the smart phone. So the reason that today\u2019s smart phones are so smart is not because they have one killer app; they\u2019re smart because they have a lot of different applications \u2014 all of which have really narrow functions \u2014 and these functions are bundled together in a phone that allows you to do lots of different things.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n What I argue in the book is that a human mind is very similar to a smart phone. Mechanisms that are designed to do things like cause you to eat good foods and cause you to seek mates and do all the different things that humans do that you can think of, [are each] applications. And the crucial thing about these applications is that because they are simultaneously running in the same head \u2014 and they have different jobs \u2014 and they\u2019re isolated from each other \u2014 often times they can have mutually contradictory information; they can contain contradictions. And by understanding these mechanisms and how they work and how they operate simultaneously \u2014 often, without our awareness \u2014 we have a much deeper understanding of human nature.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n And so as much as possible, I try to say what I mean and mean what I say. I desire to practice what I preach, so-to-speak. But my sense is that sometimes, I contradict myself. Sometimes I’m not as moral as I think I am. Sometimes, I am actually the hypocrite.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a very humbling reality\u2026 and one that prompts me to examine the need to give much more grace to everyone else.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Imagine\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2026 giving more grace to everyone else…<\/p>\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seriously. What if it\u2019s me? What if I\u2019ve always said to love my neighbor as myself but then I intentionally choose some not to love?\u00a0 What if I\u2019ve announced my pursuit of the truth and nothing but the truth and then justify why it\u2019s ok to promote falsehoods or fake news? What if I say … <\/p>\n