On the Question of Whether or Not Christians are Hypocrites -- - A Response to Scott M Sullivan

In my previous post, I began with Sullivan's second counter to nonbelievers 'objections' to his religious beliefs. Now, I will start at the beginning of his little book titled "How to Answer a Jesus Critic" with the first objection that, "Christians are a bunch of hypocrites."

Definition of 'hypocrite - a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

 The key word here is 'pretend' because that is what Christians MUST do if they claim to be virtuous and have morals, because their religion teaches them that all of humanity are BORN SINNERS. i.e., they are taught they can't help themselves from doing bad things.  They are going to do bad things  no matter what, because according to their teachings, their human nature is INNATELY BAD.  This means they are taught they have NO CHOICE-- i.e,. They have no free will to choose to do the right thing every time. Yes, I mean every single time. I'm happy to say I don't believe that philosophy, so I do choose to do what is right every time, but if I make a mistake, I own it. I do not consciously rape, murder, steal etc. and use the excuse that "I'm only human."  This is the domain of the Christians.  Their religion expects them to be bad so they will continue to come to the church seeking absolution. It's a vicious circle of sin, repent, sin, repent, repeat when necessary, which results in women being beaten to death, children being raped, and a host of other 'sins' being repeated over and over again--and churches lining their pockets with the guilt of these so-called 'sinners.'

That being said, these same Christians who profess to be virtuous, and moral while doing heinous acts are Christians because they believe Jesus supposedly took the blame for all their misdeeds on his shoulders. If this was true, this would be the most immoral action ever, as it absolves perpetrators of their crimes. No responsibility. 'Christians' do commit heinous acts--and are expected to. 

He goes on to say that, "A religion should be judged on what it professes, not on the failings of those who do not live in accord with its teachings."

My response to him is that I DO judge on what Christianity professes which results in heinous actions based on those teachings. I object to this philosophy as it promotes the notion of humanity being born innately flawed-- but it's ok, because Christians somehow don't have to take responsibility for their actions based on those flaws--unless, of course, the secular courts have anything to say about it.  I'm actually judging Christianity ON its teachings and the consequences of those teachings. As the ancient Christian saint and philosopher Pelagius said long ago, this philosophy leads to 'moral laxity.'  It teaches its followers to 'keep trying' to be good, but they are also taught the will continue to fail because, well, they're  'born sinners. As long as they say 'sorry to Jesus,' however, everything will be fine for them. Unfortunately, there is no compensation for the child that was raped, or the mother that was murdered by these same Christians. 

For this reason, in a world dominated with people who are Christian, we are subjected to a planet inundated with rapists, murderers, thieves,wife beaters, etc., who believe they can't help themselves from being rapists, murderers, thieves, wife beaters, etc.

Christians must believe that they ARE virtuous and at the same that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be virtuous which goes against the law of non-contradiction.  This means Christians can conclude ANYTHING from the teachings of the Bible. They are hypocrites and they are not hypocrites at the same time. More to follow on this subject at a later time.