If you struggle with an addiction but are fighting it, are you a hypocrite when you try and share your faith?

*Disclaimer*
I'm answering this question assuming that the person asking the question is referring to an addiction to specific sin, and my answer is in regards to that specific kind of addiction.


Short answer, it depends on your definition of hypocrite.

Webster's Dictionary defines hypocrite two different ways.

Hypocrite:

1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

All Bible-believing Christians are hypocrites according to the second definition. Central to Christianity is our inability to live up to God's standards. We're all sinners with sinful hearts. We're all in need of the grace and forgiveness which Christ offers.

So, according to this definition, you most certainly are a hypocrite, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It means we have standards. As long as you're a humble and understand you're no better than anyone else in your flesh, this kind of hypocrisy is ok.

The bad kind of hypocrite is the one who puts on a false appearance of virtue. Those are self-righteous people who claim to be better than everyone else. The Pharisees were the bad kind of hypocrite. They were only concerned with following external rules which they'd created. They overlooked some of the most basic texts on the condition of man.

Jeremiah 17:9
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

You don't want to be the self-righteous hypocrite who lacks humility. You want to be the humble hypocrite with a heart for the lost.

The important issue is whether you're actually fighting your struggle. Showing up at a keggar and preaching of the evils of alcohol with a beer in hand, doesn't seem like an authentic struggle. If you struggle with porn, passing out tracts inside a XXX movie theater doesn't come off like a person fighting a struggle.

If you're truly fighting your struggle, that means you acknowledge it's a sin and you're not perfect. That in and of itself indicates that you're probably the good kind of hypocrite. It's people who don't acknowledge or fight their sin who are the bad kinds of hypocrite.

Posted in: addiction,hypocrisy,text questions