The Holier Than
Thou Syndrome in Christianity
Some Christians speak mighty things.
Their majestic words make it seem as though they have the power to read and judge the heart of another
Christian. They tend to speak for God Almighty about whether somebody is
really saved or not; whether the person is a true believer or not; and
whether, in fact, the person is worshipping Him - that is: the God
Almighty, in spirit and in truth.
Some of these Christians, obviously
with all honesty in their heart, do not seem to see any possibility that
someone who is not a full member of their denomination, or someone who
disagrees with them in any way or someone with whom they disagree (even
if the person is a member of their church), could be a true Heaven-bound born-again child of God.
These Christians also seem to be more gifted than others in knowing who is
a hypocrite and who is a true believer.
They spend a lot of time observing and pointing out the discrepancies in
the beliefs and/or lives of other professed Christians.
In the days Christ was
here physically, He decried the attitude of the Jews who prided
themselves with the fact God had revealed the light unto them. The Jews were
a chosen nation, but rather than humble themselves with thanks and
adoration of the Almighty's magnanimity, they were overtaken by pride
and looked down upon other nations who were still
in darkness. They despised and dismissed those nations as Gentiles --
heathens.
Today, we understand that God chose the Jews as a means to bring the
ultimate light of His salvation unto the world through Jesus Christ. We
cherish the marvelous light and grace we have freely received through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. The problem is that many Christians seem to see
themselves as having received more light than others, and they may have taken
some kind of pride in it.
The tendency is to feel or act holier or doing better than others in the
Christian race.
Yet, no
Christian ever openly admits that he or she probably has a "holier than
thou" or "I know better than you" attitude towards another person or
group of persons - Christian or non-Christian. Nor is it easy to find a
Christian who readily admits that that he or she feels that he or she is better
than other Christians - or professed Christians.
But that's exactly what many of their words portray.
Their words exude a certain level of conceit with their supposedly sound
Christian standing -- and with the amount "grace" they have received. Some pray to God to help the other so-called Christians or
sinners to come to believe the truth as they see it, i.e., what they themselves believe
in. They might pray to God to move mightily on the other people's heart to start acting or worshipping the way they think the other
people should act and worship as Christians.
In point of fact, most
Christians in many churches do not believe that they could have any
doctrinal error at all. Yet, many denominations modify their beliefs (or
practices) from time to time, and never accept that they may have been
wrong in the past, even with the very doctrines they modified. They find
very creative ways of minimizing their error. For example, some will say
that they change their doctrines and practices as God reveals more light
- not that they might have been wrong the past. These
Christians who are supposedly doctrinally infallible see other professed
Christians (even sometimes people of the same denomination with
the slightest differences from their faith) as not being true Christians
or as being counterfeit Christians who are spreading or living the lies
of false religion.
They abhor such people.
They regard them as the
enemies of the true Gospel of Christ and avoid them like plague
(wondering what light should have to do with darkness). For them to show any form
of tolerance or kindness to such people becomes a great Christian
accomplishment on their part -- a saintly action that may warrant testifying to, at a Church gathering.
Normally, they would
only
be willing to accept the "fake Christians" when they - that is, the "false
worshippers" are ready for "the truth."
Many Christians even have more tolerance for
non-Christians than they do for those they perceive as fake Christians who have
clung to erroneous
beliefs or systems of worship.
Some enjoy; are eager to; take pride in; or are quick to point
out the false teachings of other churches. In fact, they earnestly
search for those false teachings in order to attack (or most likely in
their minds, in order to
seek to correct) the erroneous teachings or beliefs of the other groups. When they are
engaged in a discussion (that usually becomes an argument - or sometimes
a vicious, fierce contest), they present very good cases like a good
lawyer presents in a courtroom as to why the other people are wrong; why the
other people are not true Christians -- and in extreme cases, why they cannot enter the
kingdom of God unless they turn from their false beliefs. Eager to prove
their point, or to win the contest in a more decisive way next time,
they read the Bible hard and look for, or wait for opportunities for more
debates where they'll show they are right. They may call it witnessing.
Let no one get the
wrong message here. Christianity is not an anything-goes affair. We
should never approach God's Word with a liberal attitude. God has laid
out His ways in the Bible. It took Jesus Christ leaving His divinity in
heaven, and coming down here to assume our sinful position, which is
degraded by sin, and laying down His life for us in the most
excruciating and humiliating manner. The salvation of a single soul was
that serious for God. Now that he is gone to prepare a place for us, the
Holy Sprit abides with us, as we seek Him. He leads us through our
tumultuous passage through this evil world. He teaches us all things.
For us, the gospel is a matter of life and death -- eternal life and
eternal death for that matter. As such, it is right, and indeed, it is commanded, that we study
the teachings of the Bible closely so as to know and be able to defend
what we believe. We are commanded to search into "the deep things of
God" so far as they are revealed in Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:10). It
is right to reach out to others with the knowledge that we have received
and to seek to correct others when they err. To do this is to be a true
apostle and a witness for Christ. That's the great commission. But it
must be done with Godly humility. The sole goal should be to win a soul for Christ.
Our purpose
should never be to deride anyone or to impress others by representing ourselves as Bible
experts.
To appear to be the definitive authority on the Word of God ought to be
a scary role for anyone to assume.
There is an unfortunate problem in the Christian community, whereby a certain pride
is mingled with the consideration of Bible truth. As such, many people
feel defeated and humiliated if they cannot present themselves as being capable
of explaining every portion of Scripture to others. It's too degrading
to them not to prove that they understand all the inspired Words of God.
Consequently, when they present strong arguments about a doctrine, they feel it's ungodly
or hardening of the heart for
the hearers or readers not to totally trust and accept their analyses
- being that the other people ought to know and respect them as powerful
and well-learned men and women of God.
As ministers, pastors, elders, good,
baptized church members, who have been in the faith for decades and
probably labored and won many souls for Christ, some Christians feel a great sense
of accomplishment and expect a certain level of respect and recognition
when they speak or write. Truly, they may have deeply studied the Word of God and
their books may be top-sellers. As a result, they
are unwilling to seek and wait patiently until God shall see it fit to
reveal to them, any possible truth which they might have missed and
may have probably preached to others over the years. Worse, these people cannot fathom
being in a position to learn from others. When they hear a sermon,
they're more interested in assessing how well the preacher performs, and
not what they can learn from that preacher's discourse - except maybe, a
new, powerful preaching style.
Although
they may call themselves students of the Bible to appear humble to
others, they
may actually consider themselves teachers of the Bible.
The Bible warns he that thinks he stands to be careful, lest he falls. It's better to
surrender
to God in honest humility, so that He will lead.
Spiritual pride is dangerous.
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What is Holier Than Thou?
The "Holier than Thou"
syndrome is defined as exhibiting
an attitude of superior virtue; or of being
self-righteously pious.
While
Christian teaching, rebuke and correction, borne out
of true Christ-like love and humility, are essential
tasks of the great commission, some ordinary Christians have wondered why there
seems to be many in the fold, who seem to
have assumed the role of ultimate arbiters
of Christian truth, assessors of piousness and judges
for Christ.
They develop and publicize yardsticks and
checkmarks for others to use in determining who
should be declared a Christian and who should
not.
The utterance of some these Christians
appear to be, sometimes,
too overreaching and exude an authority that is easy to be seen
as more of conceit than heavenly assurance.
The following Web
sites might directly or indirectly address or illustrate the matter of some
Christians judging
other Christians (or professed Christians) with
mannerisms which might be
highly
disturbing to some ordinary Christians:
-
Is Obedience Legalism? by Amazing Facts Prophecy Seminar -
addresses the issue of some Christians declaring that any attempt to
obey God's law - including observing the seventh-day Sabbath as
contained in the fourth commandment - amounts to legalism
and is tantamount to the rejection of
salvation by grace.
-
Obedience vs. Legalism by Simon Schrock - shows how some Christians might
condemn other Christians, who are following Gods commandments as they
believe.
-
The
Cult Awareness Information Center - "switching the light since 1995"
and lists "both cults & isms." This Web site was
founded by Mrs. Jan Groenveld (1945 –
2002) who was a former member of the LDS
Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses. She
is cited as, and has not objected to
being called, a "cult expert."
Some of the organization she lists as
cults or isms include:
Mrs.
Groenveld cites reasons for declaring the
organizations as cults or isms and
offers help to bring people out of those
organizations.
-
Counterfeit Christianity
[Sorry, but that Web site has moved
and we're unable to locate the new Web
address.]
It was "a Christian outreach to those trapped in
cult groups" by Lorri MacGregor - declared the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, along
with Islam, Buddhism, Eckankar, the Rosicrusian Order (Armoc), Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons as
false Christianity or outright cults.
-
The isms
of Legalism [Sorry, but that Web site does not exist
anymore, or it has moved and we're
unable to locate the new Web address.]
It was authored by by J. James Albert -
and showed how some Christians view (or treat)
other Christians that differ from them.
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