> but it's unwise to trust people who consistently advise one behavior but do another themselves.
Well, clergymen haven't been strangers to that kind of inconsistency throughout history. Luckily it's been relegated to gossip tabloids in modern society.
I do not default to trusting pastors (despite being a devout Christian) - the United States is full to the brim of people who claim the title and act remarkably unlike Jesus Christ (a phenomenon predicted repeatedly in the first few decades of Christianity's establishment, I'll note).
> he United States is full to the brim of people who claim the title and act remarkably unlike Jesus Christ
Yeah, indeed. Even though I see myself as both a socialist and atheist I have absolutely zero problem with religious people or religion in itself. To each their own. I actually admire the commitment and self-sacrifice of monks/nuns of various beliefs. What leaves me dumbfounded however is how so many people have somehow managed to cherry-pick all the worst aspects - egoism, intolerance, greed, no empathy beyond the in-group etc. - but still somehow argue that they're followers of a religion based on compassion for others (and especially the less fortunate?).
FWIW, if you believe the Gospel accounts, that's exactly what happened in Jesus' day.
His interactions with the Sadducees and Pharisees are mostly him lambasting them for doing much what you describe.
As he himself said, regarding eventual judgement:
> Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
