What would you say to someone who says “I don’t go to Church because it’s full of hypocrites”?
I would wonder how that person ever leaves the house. Hypocrites are everywhere.
And I’d thank my lucky stars that my Church welcomes all types of sinners, otherwise it wouldn’t welcome me.
I would not have a blanket reply for each person who would say that.
The Catholic line on this is that in faith and morals the Church has not made error.
I would personally play the wait and see approach. You need to know what their outrage is before approaching. It could be something from the past, or something from the not too distant past, you need to be aware of all the various objections.
You learn more by listening.
Let them talk it out. Then you may get more details to narrow this down with.
I would tell that person that we always have room for one more!
I would say that there are saints and sinners in the Church, members in all stages of spirituality.
Even if it were true that the Church is “full of hypocrites” I would still go because it is there that I receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of my Lord Jesus Christ
LOL! You made me snort my coffee with that one!
In seriousness, though, you are correct. We are all there, not because we are not sinners, but precisely because we are!
I might say, with a pleasant expression and a mild voice:
'I hope you don’t really think that, because that is a judgemental statement, and might seem quite hypocritical to those who go to church! It could seem to be gross generalization regarding a whole group of gathered individuals whose hearts and souls you could not possibly know."
Or something like that.
“Oh … one less hypocrite then.”
I would wonder how he knows there are hypocrites there. This sounds like more of a smokescreen. People who say this may have had a bad experience with a church in the past or a church member. Like was said above, the church has room for people in all sorts of stages in their spiritual life and that is no reason not to go to hear the Word and receive the Sacraments.
I would kindly explain that this person probably doesn’t know the definition of hypocricy. Most people think a hypocrite is any person who fails to live up to the code they have set for themselves. That’s a better definition of what it means to be human. Real hypocrisy is pretending to have virtues that you don’t; you’re lying to everyone about what you believe. Having virtues and failing to live up to them is not hypocrisy.
Why go anywhere at all then?
You stole my line, LOL Ann Landers or someone put it another way: the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints
Its not about the other people that go there, its about the fact that God will be there. It gives that specific person to be with God directly.
It’s a cop-out. The world is full of hypocrites and there’s no reason to be part of it at all if it’s too difficult to bear.
Matthew 7:3 Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the great log in your own?
:bible1:
:rotfl:
That made me laugh. Very true. (:
I would tell the person (hopefully, more kindly than this will read) that it’s a childish and intellectually lazy point of view.
I think I’ll do a Fred Sanford and say, “Then what’s keeping you from leaving this planet?”