Tosin Akingboye: Thou Shall Not Be A Hypocrite

“Tosin, she’s sleeping with that man for money. Later she will form good Christian in church”

“But you also call yourself a Christian and yet you sleep with your boyfriend” I replied my friend with my left eyebrow raised. My statement was made with sarcasm (okay! Maybe not totally).

My friend was shocked and went to justify her action; she was having sex with her boyfriend for love and the other lady was doing it for money. I was totally shocked that she would think she had the right to crucify another person despite the fact that she was committing the same sin. I jokingly asked her “so you would stand before God and say ‘I was doing it for love’?”
Sadly, my friend didn’t take this as a joke, she stormed out of the restaurant. That conversation happened 2 years ago and that was the last time my friend (if I can still call her my friend) spoke cordially with/to me. Maybe she felt I should have supported her in bashing the girl but I just couldn’t wallow in hypocrisy with her.

Hypocrisy rubs me all the wrong ways! I just cannot stand holier-than-thou attitudinal people. Growing up in a Bible doctrine-believing church, I saw all forms of hypocrisy. To our church pastors back then, any pastor who allowed the use of jewelry, makeup, hair extension etc among his congregation was a fake pastor. These pastors would come on the pulpit and mention churches that were fake churches and would go back after service to be fighting over the midwife! These pastors would preach that jewelry is a form of demon and still go back to kpansh the choir mistress! Scarf-tying church women leaders had no better pastime than to sit down and gossip to their hearts’ content!

I still can’t forget a particular incident; this chorister was a very quiet lady. She could sing high notes like no other! She was the role model that every mother pointed out to their daughters; no jewelry, no makeup; she always did adimole (traditional weaving). Sister X would boldly call any lady with jewelry that she was a sinner and the church women would cheer her on. The first occurrence in the chain of reactions was her pregnancy; ah! How did the holy sister X get pregnant? The so-called rebellious ladies in the church were already taunting their mothers – I tried not to do that with my mum. She gave birth and you would expect that the holy church would suspend her from the choir…no! she continued singing her high notes, they even did naming ceremony for the baby.

Then one Sunday, a man came into the church and started shouting; the ushers calmed him down and they settled the matter after the church service. We later got the story; the man came to fight for the child! Apparently, sister X had lied to man A that she had a miscarriage and gave the baby to man B. To cut the story short, it was a very messy affair and it opened my eyes to how fake, people can be!

I have learnt in life that is so easy for people to give excuses for their own actions but judgments for other people’s actions. I do not know about the Islam religion but in Christianity (true Christianity not see-me Christianity), nobody has the right to judge/condemn another person because of his or her sin! When Jesus said, “he who is without sin should cast the first stone”, He meant any kind of sin; lying, gossip, adultery, fornication, gluttony, covetousness etc.

I once had a neighbor who could condemn people with just her eyes but let a fight break out; she would distribute curses as if she was distributing wedding souvenirs…lol!

My point is, remove the log in your eyes before you talk about the speck in the other person’s eyes! Accept that you’re not God! Leave the judgement & condemnation to God! Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and try to imagine how it would feel to be under hypocritical attack! Before you judge, make sure that you are so righteous that even a white garment would become whiter by coming in contact with you.

Please don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong in acknowledging that sin is sin. What is wrong is the act of condemnation that is so common! I would hear something like ‘with that behavior, she’s not going to have a good & happy home’ and I would start wondering if the speaker had a book somewhere from which they are picking the lines!

Everybody Most people have done something in their lives that they are not proud of! Remember, don’t let anyone sit so high and judge you (only your creator has that right and power).

Photo Credit: Dreamstime |  Maxfx