When mature Christians are offended, they say so privately. Hypocrites get loud.
So I’m in the café, complaining about all the thumping that goes on in the upstairs hall. “It sounds like someone has a trampoline up there,” I commented.
“It’s probably R,” said one of my hallmates, who was at the table at the time. “She bounces around a lot.”
“If this weren’t a Christian college,” I commented, “I’d presume she was doing something inappropriate.”
This offended the others at the table.
“If this weren’t a Christian college,” I reiterated.
Still offended.
Ah, but were they?…
The greatest asset the Pharisees had was a pack mentality. Here, I was surrounded by a group of—presumably—good Christians, some of whom live in my hall. I have personally witnessed how “good” my hallmates really are. They’ve said much cruder things than I just did, using four-letter words or their euphemisms; some of them swear solely in Spanish, assuming that white English-speakers won’t know what they’re calling their moms. Compare, now, with how I never said what inappropriate thing R might be doing. But since there were women at the table—women they found attractive—they suddenly became the biggest bunch of self-righteous hypocrites to ever piss off Jesus.
Nah, there have probably been bigger hypocrites. But you see what I’m dealing with here. And ladies, you might also notice what you’re dealing with. If a guy starts to get righteous on you about another person’s inappropriate comments, consider this: Truly righteous people ignore such things. They’re better than that. If they feel the need to discuss your inappropriate behavior, they take you aside and do it privately. Hypocrites, on the other hand, get loud about it.