By Eric Johnson 

One of the most common reasons for people not wanting to become Christians involves the hypocrisy of Christians. I am reminded of the story of John and Peter with Jesus in John 21. In this passage, Peter was asked three times if he loved Jesus, and Jesus told him to “feed my sheep.” Pointing over to John, he asked, “What about him?” (v. 21) Jesus replied, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.” Sometimes we worry too much about other people when we should only be concerned about ourselves. While we can’t help other people from being hypocritical, we certainly have the power to defeat that mindset in our own lives. We are commissioned by Jesus to “Follow thou me.”

Let’s just be straight up and say that, indeed, Christians are sinners, many of whom can be very hypocritical. Should the idea that some followers of a particular faith are not consistent in their obedience to the religion’s teachings negate the faith? For example, suppose I were to say that I know certain Latter-day Saints who are hypocritical—yes, hypocritical Mormons do exist! With this, imagine if I declared that Mormonism is not true! Is this reason valid? No, it seems to be shallow and, by itself, is not a good reason to reject a particular worldview.

 It hardly seems fair to judge a religious worldview based primarily on the behavior of some of its adherents? This hardly seems fair. Instead, the better question to ask is “Are Christians followers of the truth?” This is the question that ought to be considered. After all, if Christianity is true, then it is true regardless if some of the people fail to follow the teachings.

Thus, I would encourage you to consider the claims of Christianity. Compare these with those of other faiths and philosophies. Base your decision on this rather than the actions of a few believers. Truth really matters.