In Defense of Hypocrisy

This evening while watching a perfect picture in Hi-Definition I remembered the first television my Dad brought home 65 years ago.  It was an amazing 12 inch black and white picture filled with snow.  If the picture wasn’t rolling like a scroll it was slanted sideways. We thought it was wonderful.  A few years passed and our next door neighbor started bragging that he had color television.  It was a piece of plastic attached to the front of his screen.  It was tinted blue on the top and green on the bottom.  It wasn’t too bad for outdoor scenes but looked rather ridiculous for the inside of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s apartment.  I guess it was fun to pretend one had color television.

We define the word “hypocrite” as one pretending to be something they are not. Usually it is someone pretending to be better than they are; however, I once knew a student who really was a good kid but he pretended to be bad because he thought it would make him popular.  Traditionally we have been very hard on hypocrites.  Jesus really took them on in Matthew 23.  But I would like to speak in defense of hypocrisy. By pretending we become. If we assume a persona or a role and work on being that, we are slowly transformed.  I am aware in Jeremiah 13 we find the following, “Can a leopard change its’ spots?  Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.”  But that is the point.  If we become accustomed to doing good, ever so slowly we do change.

No, I am not preaching humanism.  We still need Jesus for righteousness.  However, we can be better people by consciously practicing being good people.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 1, 2013

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA

Rogerbothwell.org