"All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." -2 Timothy 3:16-17
We live in a society that doesn't want to believe in God so everyone can live happy lives full of no responsibility. This society only accepts what it wants to be true, and is unfortunately seeping into the church. It bothers me that I can't go to any camp or girls day or anything at all without hearing about purity. It's not that I don't want to hear about purity, but that it needs to be discussed so much. It bothers me that there are so many people who are unmarried with children, or people cheating on their spouses. You can't even turn on the tv without seeing it. In a society that only cares about itself, it clearly won't want to accept a god that we can't touch or see, and they certainly won't follow a god who condemns them for acting a certain way. Christians get a bad name and are unfortunately often alienated. Today I find it necessary to address a few of these misconceptions that we see often in the world.
#1 "All Christians are hypocrites." It can be easy to see Christianity as hypocritical. From the world's point of view, we look down on sin yet sin ourselves. We condemn others for sinning and then go out and sin ourselves, as we see in Romans 3:23, everyone sins at one point or another. However, a true Christian acknowledges sin and that everyone has it. A true Christian understands that they have sin in their lives that needs to be fixed. It is not the least bit hypocritical if we say that others have sin, and so do we. It is also not wrong to know when something is wrong. If the Word is made for reproof, correction, teaching, and training, how are we supposed to do those things unless we see sin in others? Now, we shouldn't point out these flaws rudely, but go to them in a loving matter.
People of the world believe that Christians are hypocrites because everyone sins, but how much more hypocritical are they who point out the supposed hypocrisy of Christians who are trying to help others fix their problems? Yes as Christians it is possible to be a hypocrite just as anyone else can be, but Christianity in itself is not hypocritical. We also have to be careful and not really be hypocritical, because that won't help anyone find God.
#2 "All Christians are judgmental." YES! Matthew 7:1 says "Judge not that you be judged" but that verse is taken so out of context! That passage is talking about hypocrisy, and making sure you are right with God before you condemn someone for being wrong so you can see the situation clearly. If you say that something is wrong and you back it up with scripture, then that is not being judgmental. You can do it in a rude or know-it-all way, but if we do it right in a loving manner then we are not being judgmental. In fact, when someone acknowledges that being judgmental is a sin and they don't believe in Christianity or sin at all, then they have no argument because they don't believe in sin! This one also falls under the category of hypocrisy, but it is just as relevant.
#3 "All Christians contradict themselves." I'm not talking about saying one thing and doing another so much as saying two completely opposite things. I know this is a bit straightforward but there is only one God, one Bible, and one way to get to heaven. There are two paths, the narrow and the wide, and only one of those ways gets us to heaven. Now please tell me if I am wrong, but would a narrow path give room for variation? Would a narrow path have room for several different beliefs? I can tell you that a wide path does. Unfortunately there are so many denominations that everyone gets confused about who God really is (another misconception is that the church is denomination, when really we are the one church, not one of the many). This is why we need to spread the true word of God, so that people don't get this misconception.
Once again I couldn't go through all of these because there are at least hundreds. Maybe thousands or millions. I know that as women it can be hard to teach others about how these misconceptions are false, especially with men, but that doesn't mean we can't ask others for help. That doesn't meant hat we can't study these things for ourselves and be examples of what Christians should be.
