by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
If I judge Christianity by what people tell me I should think, I would come away with a very different perception from what I can read in Scripture.<\/p>\n
If I judge Christianity by the people alone – people who, like me, are so flawed and sometimes hypocritical – then I would, again, have a very different view from what I gather in reading the Scriptures.<\/p>\n
There is a reason people are not the standard. There is a reason what people say is not the standard. Both set up an impossible and inconsistent standard of authority that comes only from other people.<\/p>\n
Hear for yourself. Read for yourself. Don’t rely on what you hear people say about Christ and his church. Don’t rely on perceptions gathered from people who don’t always act right or speak with grace.<\/p>\n
“This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 2:13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Doy Moyer If I judge Christianity by what people tell me I should think, I would come away with a very different perception from what I can read in Scripture. If I judge Christianity by the people alone – people who, like me, are so flawed and sometimes hypocritical – then I would, again,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,219],"class_list":["post-44507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41510,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-judging-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":0},"title":"When is judging a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about when judging people becomes a sin. I was thinking about how my friends take the Lord's name in vain sometimes. And I was thinking to myself well if they don't confess then they might not end up where they expect (when they die). Then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35116,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-afraid-to-convert\/","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":1},"title":"I’m afraid to convert","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I hope you are doing well and staying healthy with your family.\u00a0I found your website on the Internet while I was looking for advice from Q&A's, and I read numerous articles of yours. I am in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend for over two years. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-preachers-struggle-with-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":2},"title":"Do preachers struggle with sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Jeffrey, I know as a Christian, we are to do our best to abstain from sin at all costs. I also realize no man, except Jesus, is perfect. I have befriended my preacher, and he speaks as if he and his family are living in a glass house,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-some-people-think-christianity-is-a-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":3},"title":"Why do some people think Christianity is a problem?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why do people think that the concept of religion and God is a problem? I understand that many evil examples by apparently religious persons have turned people away.\u00a0Still, I don't fully understand why they think it's something that needs to be eliminated. Answer: \"He who walks in his uprightness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-god-immoral-for-killing-the-canaanites\/","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":4},"title":"Is God Immoral for Killing the Canaanites?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Judge of All the Earth God is the Judge of all the earth. He does not kill anyone arbitrarily, and when He does take a life out of this world (Genesis 15:16), it is always just and right. If God commanded the killing of the Canaanites,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65464,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-observations-on-judging\/","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":5},"title":"Some Observations on Judging","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by George Bosworth Some observations about judging, from I Corinthians 4:3-5: \"I (Paul) am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. So don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}