We all have heard scoffers exclaim: "I do not go to church on Sunday, or anytime at all for that matter, because they all are a bunch of hypocrites. They lead a double life, and have a double standard. They judgmentally preach one thing, but contradict themselves by doing the opposite during the week. So I do not trust anything they say, and simply do the best I can within the law - sleeping in or jogging or golfing Sunday morning after I party Saturday night."

Talk about throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater from such condemnatory critics! "Cannot trust anything they say?" Isn't that going quite a bit overboard?

For example, if they preach that one must stop at red stoplights, do they actually stop at red stoplights when they encounter them on the roads? If they consistently do stop at red stoplights like they say everyone must stop at red stoplights, they are not being hypocritical - at least regarding that.

And concerning (not "regarding") judgmental-themselves critics who say that they themselves obey the law while Christians do not obey the law (at least obey the "civil" law of allowing so-called-"legal" "same-sex marriage" but actually same-gender homosodomy-unions licensings, and "civil" law allowing prostitution-in-nonadmitted-effect "legal" massage and escort "services" of "companionship"), do such critics completely stop at stop signs on the road - or merely slide through them without completely stopping. . . for whatever irrationalizations they utter to attempt to excuse themselves?

The behavioral reputation of those who preach the Bible and Christianity is important - to be sure - but it is obvious (or should be obvious) to naysayers finding fault against and not with Christian preachers and congregants that NO one is perfect with what they say compared to what they do. But why should that negate the validity of the Biblically-based principles that non-legally-threatening Christian preaching is based upon?

After all, no one is going to have to answer before fallible and inconsistent Christians on Judgment Day, but instead has to answer to God the Ultimate Judge Himself. Alluding to inconsistencies of "what other people do, or have done" simply will not cut it in terms of personal responsibility to the truths of Scripture one is obligated to obey - no matter what the somewhat consistent or frequently-inconsistent human preaching source of such obligatory info one encounters along life's way.

First Corinthians 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

And some have looked sillier than politicians, prancing back-and-forth on stage, shouting and waving arms up and down, pointing fingers with righteous indignation.

Indeed, not merely contemporary modern-day Christians have been somewhat inconsistent, but the Bible authors themselves were far from perfect (as will be pointed out toward the end of this piece), and yet they gave what could and is reasonably construed as "God's Word" for everyone of all time.

Before we get to that, keep in mind WHY Christians are and have been kind of inconsistent in "not practicing what they preach" and, to elaborate, such Christians have inwardly wanted to practice whatever of the Bible they have preached, but because of non-solicited, non-asked-for temptation to which they have occasionally caved for various "understandable" reasons and causes, they have no done everything they sincerely intended to do.

Romans 7:9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died;
10 the very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me.
11 For sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me.
12 So the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.
17 So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which resides within me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the Law of God, in my inmost self,
23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

For instance, the desire of particularly male Christians (I being one of them) is and has been the intention to get sexually aroused by and only ejaculate with and inside my own wife, but when I have encountered the indecently-hairstyled mopheadedness and/or sleevesless nude arms and slacksless-in-shorts-or-shortened-skirts naked legs or sockless feet in noisy flipflop sandals of frequently-but-not-always-anonymous exhibitionist females (or photos of them) - even during church services and on church premises, not to mention in grocery and hardware stores, gasoline service stations, along the roadside as joggers and bicyclists - I have been sensuously diverted to (at least covertly when alone with my Android or laptop) direct my semen elsewhere (typically by self-sodomizing masturabation) when and where it was not intended to be wasted. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so to speak, and one simply cannot deny reality.

Such deviant and immoral lunacy is MY fault for not exercising erotic self-control when besieged and attacked by such non-asked-for exhibitionist temptation virtually shoved into my face and down my throat? Or the fault of the "warm-weather-excused" carelessly-irresponsible, men-only-to-blame-for-sexual-harassment, quasi-indecent, female exhibitionists who had no right to display themselves immodesty in my presence? Or both?

Obviously:

Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

. . . is only one side of the coin!

Proverbs 4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they have [immodestly] done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made some one [lustfully] stumble.
Proverbs 4:19 (paraphrased) The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. ["Oh, I did not know that being misdressed as I am was bad and that I was being naughty misdressed thist way. Oh, sorry, I won't do it anymore, now that the damage is already done"]

Job 34:32 " . . . teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more"?
Job 34:33 Will He then make requital to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.

Hosea 5:5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them.

Romans 14:15 (paraphrased) If your brother is being injured by how you immodestly are publicly misdressed "because it's so warm out" or "it's simply the seasonal style - not meant in any way to be sexually alluring", you are no longer walking in love. Do not let your exhibitionist mopheaded, nude-armed, naked-legs-in-shorts-or-shortened-skirts, barefeet-in-sandals disorderly-conduct public-nuisance indecency cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.
Romans 14:21 it is right to not eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother stumble.

And IS it the responsibility of guys alone to blindly "turn away and not look if it disturbs them" and thus endanger themselves by not being able to see where they are walking to avoid seeing non-asked-for immodesty they do not want to see?

Deuteronomy 27:18 'Cursed be [she] who misleads a blind man on the road.' And all the people shall say: "'Amen." Now we are getting to the heart of the matter as far as "hypocrisy" goes, its causes, and what must be done about it.

Clearly, the Bible itself decries discreditation from hypocrites who say one thing and do another (but as a result of such factors previously mentioned above):

Leviticus 18:30 "So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and never to defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 19:26 You shall not eat any rare or medium-rare flesh with the blood in it. You shall not practice augury or witchcraft.

Ezekiel 16:27 Hey, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you, and diminished your allotted portion, and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.
Ezekiel 16:51 Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations which you have committed (not "performed").
Ezekiel 16:52 Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have made judgment favorable to your sisters; because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, because you have made your sisters appear righteous.
Ezekiel 23:43 Then I said, "Do not men now commit adultery when they practice harlotry with her?"

Ezra 9:14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you would consume us, so that there be no remnant, nor any to escape?

Matthew 7:21 "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he/she who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 On that day many will say to me: 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, belong to and attend church and Bible studies and camps and and do many mighty works in your name?'
Matthew 7:23 And then will I declare to them: 'I never knew you; leave me, you evildoers.'

Matthew 23:1 Then said Jesus to the crowds and to His disciples,
Matthew 23:2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;
Matthew 23:3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do, because they preach, but do not practice.

Matthew 23:28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to people, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?"

Romans 1:32 Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.

Romans 2:23 You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the Law?
Romans 2:24 For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

[That is, critics condemn hypocritical Christians, all Christianity and all Christian churches, and even their self-professed God . . . who judgmentally preach but do not correspondingly practice what they preach]

Second Corinthians 4:2 We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
Ephesians 4:19 they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness.
First Timothy 4:15 Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to discriminate [yes: discriminate!] good from evil.
James 3:16 Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

Setting a good example, without confusing inclusion of hypocrisy and inconsistency, is vital for turning people to Christ, His Law, and His Gospel:

First Peter 3:1 Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, although they do not obey the Word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
2 when they see your reverent and chaste behavior.
3 Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing,
4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
5 So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were subject to their husbands,
6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him: "sir". And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you.
7 Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, bestowing honor on the woman as the weaker gender, being that you are joint heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers be not hindered.

Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality.
Revelation 2:20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman-[clergy] Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

So, with the above-quoted Scripture verses, we see not merely basis for the hypocrisy of so-called "christians" (and even actual Christians reluctantly sinning at times under non-solicited temptational duress), but the judgmental-themselves hateful and spiteful motivation driving scurrilous and blasphemous revilers and critics against such fake saints and real saints.

The lack of uniformity among various Bible translations does not help the situation in terms of lessening ridicule, and grossly exacerbates the dilemma.

For instance, the KJV type translations render Ezekiel 16:25 as:

25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. . . . whereas the RSV vaguely (in my opinion) put it as:

25 at the head of every street you built your lofty place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself to any passer-by, and multiplying your harlotry. So, WHICH is it? "Spread your legs" to any passerby . . . or instead "offering yourself to any passerby"? Cannot be both. One is wrong and the other is right. Can't have a red stoplight and a green stoplight simultanously to a not-needing-to-be-confused motorist trying to avoid intersection collision.

Another one:

Hosea 13:13 [RSV] The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son, because now he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb. Sounds descriptive enough to give guys ideas where to stick in their penises relating to the reproductive subject at hand, if they are unsure of where to do that without precise-enough (albeit picture-less) Operating Manuel Instructions from the Lord.

However, the KJV-type translations merely state instead:

Hosea 13:13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.

Not as descriptive. Who knows where the heck "the place of the breaking forth of children" is?

Such inconsistent translation of the Bible are not only confusing and causes understandable criticism, but is downright deplorable and non-acceptable.

The worst one is where every known translation has the incorrect word: "breasts" for the actual Hebrew word: "nipples" in:

Proverbs 5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
Proverbs 5:19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her nipples (see Strong's Hebrew word #1717 in Ezekiel 23:21) fill you at all times with delight, be infatuated always with her love.

"Nipples" and "breasts" are two completely different things with different English-alphabet lettering, even though they are remotely related, as trees are remotely related to (but not synonymous with) insects, birds to leaves, cirrus clouds to lakes, and tidal seawater is related to the Moon.

The seemingly-random choice of words which the Holy Spirit determined should convey every intended aspect of God's will in terms of His doctrine has been proverbially "etched in stone" - just as even though there are slight differences in the types of aerolas and nipples and breast sizes of various adult women (as there are slight varieties in the hairy bush design and vulval lips formations), all women are basically constructed the same, and all translations should thus now be worded identically to avoid disarray and confusion. You cannot have one part of a group of kids singing: "He IS risen" and the other part singing: "He WAS risen" resulting in discordancy, but all should agree to sing the occurring-only-once-back-in-history gramatically-correct latter phrase: "He WAS risen."

First Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

In this case, "variety" is NOT "the spice of life" but instead breeds disruption, disagreement, and ultimately incompatible and irresolvable breakup.

Ironically, I myself have often considered that the factual concepts of Christian dogma could have been stated using other words in different order throughout the Bible to convey the same idea in perhaps clearer and more concise fashion. For example, when it states in KJV's rendition:

First Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
First Corinthians 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering.
First Corinthians 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

. . . it could (maybe should?) have instead read:

First Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
First Corinthians 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering.
First Corinthians 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom of allowing a woman to misregard erotic display of her sexually-titillating loose long hair in mixed gender public view sufficient for a prayer covering or veil, neither do the churches of God.

Seems to me that my "preferable" wording would have made crystal clear the immodest and quasi-indecent impropriety of a [mopheaded] gal, albeit pseudo-"innocently" and/or subtly, flaunting her loose long hair during church services in church sanctuaries.

But alas, what the Spirit decided was the final (vague, in my tentative opinion) exact wording was what He had St Paul precisely write pertaining to that concept and situation.

Such abhorrence against and avoidance concerning public mopheadedness would certainly tie in with the mopheadedness-only-reserved-for-spouses-in-private-together following snippets of Scripture:

Song of Solomon 7:5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple [of MY spouse, MY bride -- not some mopheadedness of some whore or slut prostitute who does not presently belong to me in marriage]; a king is held captive in the tresses.

. . . and closely related to the other contextual verses supplementing the aforementioned idea:

Song 2:14 Oh MY dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff [take it home, get a room!], let me see YOUR face, let me hear YOUR voice, because YOUR voice is sweet, and YOUR face is attractive (not the sexually-alluring voice or face of some newscasteress on radio or TV, or masseuse/escort want-ads harlot, or internet porn model displaying her indecency in playboy, penthouse, hustler, czechcasting, gifsauce, pinkfineart, nubiles, amour angels, femjoy, met-art, rylsky, wearehairy, coedcherry, pornhub, tubesafari, etc.).

Song 2:3 As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow [knelt naked in front of him], and his [penile] fruit [giving him fellatio] was sweet to my taste.

Song 2:15 Arrest, fine, and imprison the mopheaded foxes, the little foxes, that spoil our own sexual bodily vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."

Song 2:16 MY beloved is MINE (not the temporary property of some fly-by-night streetwalker) and I am HIS (not adulterously belonging to every Tom and Dick and Harry), he "pastures" "his flock" among "the lilies" [use your imagination as to what such figurative poetic metaphors and symbolism refer to!].

Song 4:16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! "Blow" upon MY "garden," [moistening hairy pussy, amongst other bodily parts] let its "fragrance" be wafted abroad. Let MY beloved come to HIS garden, and eat "its choicest fruits" [cunnilingus, massage frontside and backside with kissing and licking, genital insertions from various angles in various positionings, etc.].

Song 8:12 MY vineyard, >U>my very own, is for MYSELF [no spouse-sharing nor wife-swapping!]; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

I know, I know. My additions or substitutions too graphic and explicit to be put into the Song of Solomon. What a pity. Seems to me that clarity with sensible elaboration would have been in order. But the LORD had a purpose for being so bland and almost-comically or even pathetically vague.

But alas, what the Spirit decided was the final (vague, in my tentative opinion) exact wording was what He had Solomon his scribe precisely write pertaining to that concept and situation.

Speaking of hypocrisy, consider the resumes and reputation of some of the "questionable" Bible characters and writers who were used by the Holy Spirit to author "the Word of God".

- Eve and Adam, who ate the lethal Forbidden Fruit.
- Noah, who got drunk after he got off the Ark.
- The daughters of Lot, who committed incest with their father and thereby got pregnant.
- Rebekkah and Jacob, who impersonated Esau and lied about it to Isaac.
- Tamar, who disguised herself as a roadside whore to commit incest with Judah her father-in-law.
- The sons of Jacob, who lied about the cause of Joseph's disappearance.
- Rahab the God-fearing harlot, who lied to the men of Jericho about the location of the Hebrew spies.
- Moses (author of the Pentateuch of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) was a murderer who killed an Egyptian and who disobeyed God by striking a water-bearing rock instead of only speaking to it.
- The old prophet, who lied to a younger prophet, about a false command to eat when God had given no such command.
- Samson, who lay with a harlot in Gaza before removing the gates of the city to some high hill.
- Samuel, who anointed (and later regretted) anointing Saul king of Israel.
- David, who committed adultery with the ambitious bathing woman Bathsheba and then set up her husband for war-time murder when she consequentially got pregnant.
- Bathsheba, who was an ambitous nude exhibitionist, knowing full well the possibility of her seducing David by her publicly-visible bathing.
- Solomon, who married idol-worshipping women and had a hit-list against his opponents later on during his reign.
- Hosea, who married and impregnated the harlot Gomer.
- Zechariah who disbelieved the angel and thus temporarily became mute.
- Peter, disloyal traitor who denied knowing Jesus.
- The penitent thief on a cross, who at first reviled Jesus.
- The Roman centurion who nailed and oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus, and later called Him the Son of God.
- Paul, who admitted that he was a fool for bragging about himself as a superior apostle.

So the question is: Can a person get to be saved by the influence of a maryolatrous, purgatory-superstition-believing, pope-infallibility-claiming, apocryphal-fake-"scripture"-espousing catholic? Or a Book-of-Mormon-is-also-the-Bible Mormon? Or maybe even a Jehovah's Witness, with a mistranslated bible? How about a Jew loyal only to the Old Testament, matzo-ball soup, unleavened crackers, gefilte fish, horseradish herbs, Yiddish idioms and expressions, and passover lamb?

How about a Christ-as-Creator-unadmitting deist who simply believes that God the Creator is benevolent, very imaginative to the point of being omniscient, omnipotent and beyond the confines of Death, and impeccably consistent from Day One?

One must be true to what one has experienced during their lives so far, as to what they have seen and heard and felt and sense to be accurate, correct, and right . . . in all honesty, without hypocritical, arrogant, and baseless denial.

Luke 1:2 . . . just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word

Second Peter 1:16 We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

First John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, regarding (NOT "concerning") the Word of Life --
First John 1:3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
First John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son as the Savior of the world.

Psalm 5:6 You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors bloodthirsty and deceitful persons.
Psalm 43:1 Vindicate me, God, and defend my cause against a godless people; from deceitful and unjust people deliver me!
Psalm 52:4 You love all words that devour, deceitful tongue.

Psalm 78:56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe His testimonies,
Psalm 78:57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
Psalm 78:58 They provoked Him to anger with their high places; they moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.

Psalm 109:2 Wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.
Psalm 120:2 "Deliver me, LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue."
Psalm 120:3 What shall be given to you? And what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?

Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?

Micah 6:11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Micah 6:12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Zephaniah 3:13 . . . those who are left in Israel shall do no wrong and utter no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. Yhey shall pasture and lie down, and none shall make them afraid."

Second Corinthians 4:2 We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
Second Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Second Corinthians 11:13 Such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Ephesians 4:14 . . . so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.
Ephesians 4:22 Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts,

First Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.

First Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared,
3 who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving;
5 for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you put these instructions before the brethren, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which you have followed.
7 Have nothing to do with godless and silly myths. Train yourself in godliness;
8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
9 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.
10 For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
11 Command and teach these things.
12 Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
13 Until I come, attend to the public reading of scripture [Sorry, ACLU and PAW and SPLC and HRC and AUSCS and FFRF and similar], to preaching, to teaching.
14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands upon you.
15 Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.
16 Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Second Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.