thoughts on hypocrisy

[Imran Siddiqui]

Inconsistency is at the heart of hypocrisy.

The difference is, if you want to get really technical, to be hypocritical you must hold a different position from your actions on the SAME issue. To hold a different position from your actions on a different issue, if there is somewhat of a link between those two issues, is merely an inconsistency.

As UR was alluding to inconsistancy is a part of hypocracy, but it doesn't mean every inconsistancy is hypocritical.

[NeOmega]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
What does it profit a man (or woman!) should s/he gain the world but lose his/her soul?

Boy, gender equity sure deflates eloquence...

[Zero]

Originally posted by NeOmega

A murderer has no right to say murder is bad, so yes, he would just be lumping himself with more "immorality" to make such statements.

murderer has every right to say murder is bad. Just because you did something doesnt make that action good. You have the right to acknowledge that.

[Ned]

Originally posted by GePap
Hypocrasy can be very damaging, since someone who is a hypocrite does more to undermine the values they state they defend when they are found out than someone who commits the same act without any hypocrasy involved.

One of the reasons the US does not have a very good image in Latin America, for example, was the utter hypocracy of stating the fight vs. Communism was all about democracy while giving aid and support to anti-communist right-wing dictators. No one has forgotten, and it takes a lot to undo such damage to credability.

No doubt you are right, GePaP. This is one of the reasons I am very queasy about our relationship with the current dictator of Pakistan.

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by GePap
Hypocrasy is a form of lying...

... But more dangerous for the self.

When I lie, I know the truth and I try to deceive someone else about something external to me. If my lie is discovered, I will be judged as having acted badly; only a small part (an act) of who I am will be depreciated.

I am an hypocrite when I try to deceive others about who I really am, because I expect that they will have a better opinion of me. If my hypocrisy is revealed, my whole person will be depreciated in the eyes of others. Dangerous game.

[st_swithin]

At what point does the hypocrit become? What if a murderer truly had no idea how bad it would be to kill someone until he did so? Does it make him a hypocrit to denounce murder, since he himself is a murderer, or does it give him an informed opinion?

[Japher]

"It is evil to type the word BLAB on Poly forms."

BLAB, BLAB, BLAB

Am I hypocrit?

No: I never said I wasn't evil

Lies, hypocracy, clouding of truth, pulling the wool over ones eyes. I think hypocracy is plainly 'saying one thing and doing another'... A lie is a subtrifuge of truth, i.e. "It is not evil to type BLAB on Poly forums"...

Saying "I never type BLAB on Poly forums" is both a lie and hypocracy. You can lie without being a hypocryt, but you can's be a hypocrit without telling a lie.



Having done something that you admit is wrong, and then advocating against that thing is not being a hypocrit. It's called being enlightened.

[Ben Kenobi]

Boris:

Regarding gender equity, I agree. I am already starting to get sick and tired of these alterations in the new Catholic catechism.

For example, how they mangle my favourite OT passage.

"God created [humans] in his own image, in the divine image he created [them]; Male and female he created them."

It completely destroys the feel of verse.

In the NIV:

"God created man in his own image,
in the image of God He created him,
male and female he created them. "

Ned:

An ostentatious display such as going to church or carrying the Bible may be sufficient to make one a hypocrite if his personal conduct is inconsistent.

Be careful. By the standards of Christ, none of us live up to the teachings of the Bible. Your criterion would hold all Christians to be hypocrites, since no one can live the same life of Christ.

I think an essential part of the definition is refusal to acknowledge fault. For example, a Christian who recognises his own sin and asks for forgiveness cannot be considered a hypocrite because he recognises his own brokenness.