Marauders, Masks, Maladies, and Mendacities Hypocrisy is a word much bandied about these days. Heard it ad nauseam as a pastor. “I don’t go to the church because of all those hypocrites!” The word often refers to someone who is two-faced or inconsistent in words and deed. It always amazed me that marauders visiting the church for their own benefit accused everyone else of hypocrisy. Assuming their lives void of such a malady, they cast disdain an entire group of people. Seems, hypocrisy is everyone else’s deficit but mine. Right?
Hypocrisy – To Wear a Mask Interestingly, “hypocrite” comes from two words describing one who acts pretentiously, a counterfeit, and a person who acts under a feigned character. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be something …show more content…
By wearing a mask, an actor could project a character. That character projected was not the actual person behind the mask. There was the real person and the unreal projected person. Hypocrisy is the practice of projecting a disingenuous person; a fake.
The Mendacity of Mask Wearing
Hypocrisy in the New Testament carries only negative connotations. Referring to duplicity it implies the quality belying one’s true intentions by deceptive words or action. Insincerity, dissimulation, or hiding under false pretense is the idea here. Disguising one's thoughts or feelings for deceptive motives is a contaminant we all display from time to time.
The Practice of Pretending
The idea of hypocrisy is to pretend or to act as something one is not. It creates an impression that is at odds with one’s real purposes or motivations. Hypocrisy is characterized by play-acting, pretense, or outward show. It means to give an impression of having certain purposes or motivations, while having quite different ones, usually to the harm of another individual.
Removing Our