Gary Varvel Essay: – Hypocrites-R-Us

HYPOCRITES-R-US

The late motivational speaker and author, Zig Ziglar once told a story about inviting a friend to church. The man answered, “Well, I’d like to go. But the church is so full of hypocrites.” Ziglar replied, “That’s okay. There’s always room for one more.”

I’m a hypocrite. Some readers reminded of it last week. And I was also emphatically told that I’m “not a conservative.” Why? Because I took my family to the theme park which must not be named.

My long career of drawing cartoons with Views From The Right and receiving hate mail for doing so has all been in vain because I went to the Wonderful World of you know who.

I admit that I anticipated some negative feedback and it got me to thinking about all of the other hypocritical things that I have allowed into my life. So I have some things to confess.

1. I confess that worked for 40 years for a secular newspaper that sold advertising to strip clubs, supported things like abortion and same-sex marriage to name a few. That paper also printed my cartoons about the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter and Christmas cartoons that focused on the birth of our Savior. I also drew cartoons against things like abortion. But does that excuse getting paid with money from sinful advertisers? There are many companies I would never work for but I justified it in my mind at the time. And I wasn’t alone. There were other Christians who worked there also.
2. I confess that in 1984 I was introduced to Apple Macintosh computers and I have used them exclusively ever since. I’m not proud of it but I have also owned several Apple iPhones and currently I draw my cartoons on a iPad Pro and I am also writing this essay on a iMac Pro laptop. I have given Apple thousands of dollars. Business Insider reported in 2021 that 7 of Apple’s suppliers were found to be linked to suspected forced labor of Uyghur Muslims and other persecuted groups sourced from the Xinjiang region. I’m praying that President Trump can convince Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to bring manufacturing back to America.
3. I confess that I’ve owned foreign cars from countries. Oh, they were made in America but a percentage of the money I paid went to overseas to a country in which the major religions are Shintoism and Buddhism with Christianity making up 1.5%.
4. In 2023, Newsweek listed the top 10 companies that had gone woke. I confess that I have bought a few of the products from these woke producers. They are:
   1. Unilever
   2. e.l.f. Cosmetics (beauty supplies)
   3. Mars (M&M candy, Pedigree dog food)
   4. Pernod Ricard (Seagram’s gin, Jameson whiskey)
   5. Campbell’s (soup, Goldfish snacks, Prego pasta sauce)
   6. PepsiCo (soft drinks, Gatorade, Quaker Oats)
   7. The Hershey Co. (chocolate, SkinnyPop snacks)
   8. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
   9. Mattel (Fisher-Price games, DC Comics-licensed toys)
   10. McCormick (Lawry’s spices, French’s mustard)
5. I confess that I live in America. Although, its beginnings where Christian, it has drifted far to the left. Our government supports unBiblical policies and teaches ungodly principles in public schools and my tax dollars support those ungodly actions. Where should I go to not be a hypocrite in this case?

The list of wrongs I’ve that I’ve knowingly and unknowingly committed is too numerous to list. So what is the Biblical principle to live by in this sinful world?

BIBLICAL VIEW

In the early church, Gentile converts began joining Jewish believers in local fellowships. Some Gentiles had been idol worshippers and they ate meat sold in the marketplace that had been used as a sacrifice to those idols prior to its sale. The Jews believed that eating meat sacrificed to idols implied approval of idol worship.

In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul explained that an idol is nothing because there is only One God and He made the meat. But, and here is the principle for us to live by — Do not become a stumbling block for a fellow believer with a weaker conscience.

1 Corinthians 8:7 says, “Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.”

In other words, don’t flaunt your freedom to eat meat sacrificed to a nothing idol in front of someone who is upset by it.

Paul was reaffirming a decision made by the Jerusalem Counsel to settle this divisive issue — In order to keep the peace, everyone should abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols.

In 1 Corinthians 10:9-13, Paul said, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

FYI: I confess that my family had a joyous time and we created some memories. But I told my wife afterward that I can’t imagine any circumstance in which we would ever go back to the place that cannot be named. Nevertheless, I won’t rebuke anyone who does.