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"The lady in front of me pulled out food stamps to pay for her groceries. I wished I could pay for her groceries myself. That afternoon, I realized it was not the woman who should be pitied, it was me. It was not that I wanted to buy her groceries; I wanted to buy her dignity. And yet, by judging her, I was the one taking her dignity away."

-Donald Miller, "Blue Like Jazz"

It never ceases to amaze me when I hear and see Christians take the opportunity to judge, insult, demean, and be hateful towards other people. I hate to use the word "hypocrite" when discussing matters of religion. It has become so blasé.

I also hate to use it... because it's true.

In reality, all Christians are hypocrites by definition (a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings). All Christians have a set system of beliefs of what is right and wrong based on biblical teachings, and we all (without exception) fail in adhering to those beliefs at different points in our lives.

At the same time, that's the basis of Christianity. Christ was sent here for us because we can't get it right, because we're going to screw up, and because we have a sinful nature. He died on the cross because we are hypocrites.

There are times where I hear Christians called "hypocrites" which causes me to hang my head and feel ashamed of how we are not living Jesus. Ashamed because these actions could easily be avoided. These are what I would call sins of behavior because they are avoidable and controllable. The type of behavior where we become ugly people doing ugly things in the most un-Christlike way possible.

Yesterday, a friend of mine who attends a different church posted a photo from his church's worship service to Facebook while the service was taking place. The person who posted this is a beacon for the Christian community in our city. He lives a good life, talks openly about his faith, and takes significant actions to reach the unchurched in our community and abroad.

I saw the picture and thought to myself "Wow, that looks like a really awesome service...". It shows the kind of worship a lot of people would be comfortable going to. It's bright, colorful, lively, and has a couple of teenagers in the front row who seem really engaged in what is going on.

Then the comments started.

My friend was blasted for posting this picture to his Facebook page while the service was going on. He was asked why he wasn't paying attention to the pastor's teachings, and that this was a "sad story".

I made a comment about how lots of people (including myself) from lots of churches tweet and facebook pictures and sermon excerpts during service even while paying attention. I talked briefly about e-vangelism (the use of technology to talk about God) and how effective it is to reach out to the unchurched.

This was the response I got:

"Are you kidding me! That is such a distraction for those who arent saved, those who are hurting, and kids who we tell not to do it that are trying to pay attention."

After that... a slew of people jumped in and the whole conversation rapidly declined. People were called rude, uncaring, the Facebook police, etc. It got bad enough, that one person even commented and told people to stop mentioning what church they attended! Seriously!

That last part broke my spirit a little. We went from an awesome picture from a really dynamic worship service which might encourage someone to go check out that church, to a series of words, insults, attitudes, and actions which would make going to church the furthest possible thing from my mind. Words, insults, attitudes, and actions... of Christians.

I think my friend said it best:

"...is an awesome place to worship - we just need to understand that with technology - we can do live webcasts, we can tweet the message power points, we can facebook and many other ways to let the message of Christ reach the world. We are in a time and place that technology will be used to enhance current and future worship services. My iPhone does not have a flash, or make a sound when it takes a pic, and you hit one button to upload. We must embrace what the world uses to stay connected, and use it to shine the light of Jesus Christ to a people and places they may not experience our worship and message. Love you all."

I think it goes to show... we can talk Jesus all we want, but what's really important is that we live Jesus if we're going to make a difference.