I'm a hyprocrite, you're a hypocrite

Tuesday, November 7 2006 | Terry Mattingly: 'Hypocrites are us'

Lots of food for thought here. The key is "Anyone who believes anything struggles to live up to those beliefs in the harsh light of day." Anyone who misses the fact that people often choose vocations in religion in the hope that being more "exposed" will force them to be more faithful in practice needs a refresher in human psychology 101. And those who hide out in vocations that don't expose them are no less likely to be duplicitous, only less likely to be caught.

The same rationale is a motivation behind the ancient churches (Catholic and Orthodox) promotion of confession of sins to a member of the clergy or spiritual father or mother. Though the abuse of confession is "confessing so we can begin sinning again fresh," the intention behind it is that it will add a layer of reluctance to fall into sin because the consequences, in the confessional, are painful on the here-and-now level of everyday life.

See Xnmp for November 7 for link to original article, comments, and background.