The Ambiguity of Saints
There is the story of the man who came down from the North Carolina mountains. He was all dressed up and carrying his Bible. A friend saw him and asked, “Elias, what’s happening? Where are you going all dressed up like that?” Elias said, “I’ve been hearing about New Orleans. I hear that there is a lot of free-runnin’ liquor and a lot of gamblin’ and a lot of real good naughty shows.” The friend looked him over and said, “But Elias, why are you carrying your Bible under your arm?” And Elias replied, “Well, if it’s as good as they say it is, I might stay over until Sunday.”
Double Message Noted
A man sat down to supper with his family and said grace, thanking God for the food, for the hands which prepared it, and for the source of all life. But during the meal, he complained about the freshness of the bread, the bitterness of the coffee, and the sharpness of the cheese. His young daughter questioned him, “Dad, do you think God heard the grace today?”
He answered confidently, “Of course.”
Then she asked, “And do you think God heard what you said about the coffee, the cheese, and the bread?” Not so confidently, he answered, “Why, yes, I believe so.”
The little girl concluded, “Then which do you think God believed, Dad?”
The man was suddenly aware that his mealtime prayer had become a rote, thoughtless habit rather than an attentive and honest conversation with God. By not concentrating on that important conversation, he had left the door open to let hypocrisy sneak in.
The Better Way
Hypocrisy is the homage which vice renders to virtue.
One Must Observe
A certain Irish priest, newly arrived in New York City, decided to visit the section known as the Bowery, haven of homeless alcoholics and other derelicts. As he walked along one of the Bowery blocks at night, he suddenly felt a gun in his ribs. Then he heard a raspy voice: “All right, mister, gimme all your money.” Quickly, he reached for his wallet and, as he did, the holdup man noticed his clerical garb. The thief was overcome with shame. He said, “Forgive me, Father. I didn’t know you were a priest.” To which the victim replied, “That’s all right, son. Just repent of your sin. Here, have a cigar.” The thief replied, “Oh, no, thank you, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.”
Levels of Love
A little girl stayed for dinner at the home of her first-grade friend. The vegetable was buttered broccoli, and the mother asked if she like it. The child replied very politely, “Oh, yes, I love it.” But when the bowl of broccoli was passed, she declined to take any. The hostess said, “I thought you said you loved broccoli.” The girl replied sweetly, “Oh, yes, ma’am, I do, but not enough to eat it!”
Self-deception
Before God can deliver us from ourselves we must undeceive ourselves. –Augustine
Potency
We cannot make a tiger eat grass by removing his teeth or turn a lamb into bull by tying horns onto his head.
The Obvious Truth
If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? –Abraham Lincoln
Appearance of Goodness
To win over certain people to something, it is only necessary to give it a gloss of love of humanity, nobility, gentleness, self-sacrifice—and there is nothing you cannot get them to swallow. –Friedrich Nietzsche
Moving Up
Members of the Methodist Women’s Church Circle in one Wisconsin town some years ago were disturbed because a widowed church member and her three small daughters were staying away from services. Finding the reason to be a lack of suitable clothes, the ladies’ group corrected the situation in a generous manner. When the little girls still failed to appear at Sunday school, some of the ladies called to inquire about their absence. The mother thanked them sweetly for the clothing and explained: “The girls looked so nice, I sent them to the Presbyterian Church.”
War of Pretense
In a small college town, a tavern frequented by students ran the following ad in the campus paper during the days before Parents Weekend: “Bring Your Parents for Lunch Saturday. We’ll Pretend We Don’t Know You!”
The ad was soon challenged by the college chaplain, who posted a revised version on the campus bulletin board. It read: “Bring Your Parents to Chapel Sunday. We’ll Pretend We Know You!”
The Truth in Others’ Eyes
However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image of others have of us. It is not so much the example of theirs we imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words. –Eric Hoffer
Caught
A brand new lawyer in his brand new office on his first day in practice sees a prospective client walk in the door. He decides he should look busy, so he picks up the phone and starts talking: “Look, Harry, about that amalgamation deal. I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally. Yes. No. I don’t think 3 million will swing it. We better have Rogers from Seattle meet us there. OK. Call you back later.” He looks up at the visitor and says, “Good morning, how may I help you?” The man says, “You can’t help me at all. I’m just here to hook up your phone.”
The Power of Hypocrisy
Years ago in Germany, there was a young Jewish boy who had a profound sense of admiration for his father. The life of the family centered around the acts of piety and devotion prescribed by their religion. The father was zealous in attending worship and instruction and demanded the same from his children. While the boy was a teenager, the family was forced to move to another town in Germany. In the new location, there was no synagogue, and the pillars of the community all belonged to the Lutheran church. Suddenly the father announced to the family that they were all going to abandon their Jewish traditions and join the Lutheran church. When the stunned family asked why, the father explained that it was necessary to help his business. The youngster was bewildered and confused. His deep disappointment soon gave way to anger and a kind of intense bitterness that plagued him throughout his life.
He left Germany and went to England to study. He sat daily at the British Museum formulating his ideas and composing a book. In that book, he introduced a whole life and worldview and conceived of a movement that was designed to change the world. In the book, he described religion as an “opiate for the masses” that could be explained totally in terms of economics. Today there are billions of people in the world who live under the system invented by this embittered man. His name, of course, is Karl Marx. The influence of this father’s hypocrisy is still being keenly felt around the world. –R.C. Sproul
Sculpting the Face
We mold our faces to fit our masks.
Hating Hypocrisy
We hate the hypocrite more keenly than then mere liar because the hypocrite adds to his lie the lacquer of flattery, which we are gullible enough to accept as tribute to our merit.
Peaceful?
Washington is full of peace monuments. We build one after every war.
Form and Substance
A devout Christian who had a cat used to spend several minutes each day at prayer and meditation in his bedroom. He read a portion of Scripture and a devotional book, followed by a period of silent meditation and prayer. As time went on his prayers became longer and more intense.
He came to cherish this quiet time in his bedroom, but his cat came to like it, too. She would cozy up to him, purr loudly, and rub her furry body against him. This interrupted the man’s prayer time, so he put a collar around the cat’s neck and tied her to the bedpost whenever he wanted to be undisturbed while at prayer. This didn’t seem to upset the cat, and it meant that the man could meditate without interruption.
Over the years, the daughter of this devout Christian had noted how much his devotional time had meant to him. When she began to establish some routines and patterns with her own family, she decided she should do as her father had done. Dutifully she, too, tied her cat to the bedpost and then proceeded to her devotions. But time moved faster in her generation and she couldn’t spend as much time at prayer as did her father.
The day came when her son grew up and wanted to make sure that he preserved some of the family traditions which had meant so much to his mother and grandfather. But the pace of life had quickened all the more and there simply was no time for such elaborate devotional proceedings. So he eliminated the time for meditation, Bible reading, and prayer. But in order to carry on the religious tradition, each day while he was dressing, he tied the family cat to the bedpost.
Thus forms become more important than the faith they are meant to convey.