Hypocrisy in Religion

Imagine for a second, that the "religious" are illustrated as a mustard tree, and the "non-religious" illustrated as one seed on the mustard tree. Now, the sun is between the horizon and the center of the sky, painting an awesome shadow across the plain. The only problem occurring, though, is that the shadow of the one seed is overwhelming the shadow that should be cast by the whole tree. How, I ask, could this be possible? Enough of the parables. The question is quite simple. How can the number of people that live "godless", and/or "like heathen" create such a disturbance, that their actions totally out-weigh the actions of the "godly"? Would it be fair to assume that there is a lot more "hypocrisy" from the "religious" than we care to acknowledge? In other words, those that call themselves "religious" are only "religious" in name, and not in deed? True, "wickedness" might be hyped up by the media to make it appear that "religion" has no face in the worlds' societies, but what about the atrocities done by the "religious" in the name of "religion"? Are these to be over-looked and ignored now, because of the negativity so eagerly focused on by our media juggernauts?

Religion. A word introduced sometime during the 13th century into the English language. The origin of the word derives from Greek. Threneo means "to lament, or mourn". Threskeia means "a ceremonial observance". Threskos means "pious". Sebomai means "devotion through adoration". All the words before you mean "religion", or "religious". It is estimated that Christianity has a following of about 2.1 billion people world-wide. Islam, 1.3 billion. Hinduism, 900 million. Chinese traditional religions, 394 million. Buddhism, 376 million. African Traditional and Diasporic, 100 million. Sikhism, 23 million. Juche, 19 million. Spiritism, 15 million. Judaism, 14 million. The list goes on. Let us take into consideration that even the Atheist, though having no "faith" in any "god" or "religion", still lives somewhat by a conscientiousness, giving them a pretty good idea as to what is right, and what is wrong. Let us also not ignore the 25 million or more of those not listed, earlier categorized as the "list" the "goes on".

Christianity is the only religion I can honestly say I know something about, whereas the other religions I have only read so much as to gain very little knowledge about (enough for minor conversations), and cannot make a fair analysis when discerning their "righteousness", or lack of "righteousness" thereof. Therefore, I ask that we humble ourselves when considering that my thoughts are not to "trash" Christianity, but rather, to bring all to an understanding with the hopes of a better spiritual growth for ourselves individually, and as a whole. My examples are as follows. Although Christianity teaches that the Son of God died for the sins of the world (I'm assuming the whole world), it seems that Christians spend a lot of time concerned with the lives of homosexuals. I'm a truck driver, and I've seen more billboards about the sins of homosexuality than any other sin, only equaled by that of abortion. After careful examination of the Bible, one must agree that homosexuality is considered a sin, under the categories of "fornication" and "lust". More can be said, obviously, but I think these spell it out to the point. As true as this may be, aren't there more "liars" in the world than homosexuals? Where are all the billboards practically condemning "liars"? From what I've read, the wages of sin is death, and doesn't give us a list as to what sins are seen as more or less worthy of death than the other. Do homosexuals make more of a negative impact on the societies of the world than liars? Are we to believe that liars are more trustworthy than homosexuals? What about people who might be angry with their neighbor without a cause, or better known as people with anger-management issues? Is it better to be in an elevator by yourself with a homosexual, or with a person who might go off the deep-end at any given moment? Is it safer to have a thief watch your valuables, or a homosexual? Aren't there more thieves in the world than homosexuals? Doesn't theft around the world make a more noticeable tear in the fabric of our cultures than the crime of homosexuality? Before I forget, let me speak briefly, if I may, on the issue of abortion while it's still lingering in my thoughts. First of all, it is this "Christian" nation that is allowing abortions to take place. It's no wonder our youth have no respect for "consequence" when they're always given a "way out". Abortion, I conclude, is murder according to the Bible, with only conception from rape as an exception, depending on the individual. The doctors practicing these procedures we must, then, consider murderers. Does God have levels of murder that we're to recognize? Some, like that of doctors to be admired, while others, like that of Jeffrey Dahmer to be scorned? Or, are all murderers in need of repentance? When is enough really enough? Now...let me, I pray, continue with my hopefully non-offensive barrage against the possibility of "hypocrisy" in religion, focusing mainly on the Christian religion. I believe I've read in more than a few places in the Bible that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. Paul taught to those that wondered at the decline of the Jewish religion, and increase of the newly-formed Christian religion, that although it might be misconstrued, the Jew was not totally cast away from God, but that rather, the Jew must believe in Jesus as the Messiah in order to be accepted by God. And yet, there are groups, such as the "Ku-Klux Klan" that literally hate people of a "brown skin" persuasion, Jews, and anyone else not Caucasian, and yet consider themselves "Christian", and claim to teach the doctrines of Christ. It's also well known, without even mentioning them, the crimes done by such "religious" groups.

It must be told, that to be "Christian" is to imply one is "Christ-like". With what is being witnessed around the planet by "Christian" groups, we must conclude then that Jesus is a liar, and a thief, and a fornicator, and a murderer, and pretty much every other "sin" we read in the Bible. If not, then we must conclude that Jesus is still perfect, while the rest of us are "hypocrites".