Within the cultivation of an authentic Christian lifestyle, there is a sacred religious piety that evolves within the individual. This piety is not fulfilling any type of rote of religious practice. Piety is the hallmark of one’s reverence toward that which is sacred and holy. There is genuine piety in a person’s relationship with a Sovereign Heavenly Father and then there is a pretense of piety that offends a Sovereign God. This religious pretense is a danger to authenticity because it is more of an outward appearance rather than a genuine inward change and transformation.
In Matthew 23:23-26 describes the religious pretense of the scribes and pharisee’s:
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full [b]of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
It is one thing for someone to walk in disobedience. However, it is entirely more dangerous to walk in disobedience and present a more outwardly appearance of maintaining compliance to those same commandments. More dangerous because the focus of the individual is not on the inward self that is defiled, it is maintaining an appearance to hide the inward defiled self. Genuine authenticity in the Christian life begins with an inward transformation. It is cleansing of one’s heart, soul and mind. Through this process, the inward self flows outwardly in order for us to grow in love and reverence of the sacred and holy.
Are you living a life that is based on outward glamour and religious pretense? Or, have you had a genuine change of the inward self where piety has taken root and is producing a truly transformed authentic Christian life?
Mindful Latter-day Saint Apologetics 