I’m concerned with the misunderstanding and misuse of the concept of “judging” among Christians. Wow…we need to divide the Word of truth!
Although this article by Dr. Laura doesn’t have direct Scriptural inference, it is a brilliant, logical explanation of how important it is that we “judge” others for their wrong actions. You may be surprised…
“We are in an era which judges “judgment” as evil. It isn’t. Morals, values, principles and ethics are prophylactics against pain and destruction, and not just somebody’s evil attempt to wrest momentary pleasure from the grip of innocent bystanders.”
Shame On You-Shame is For our Good!
A few more thoughts I retrieved on judging:
“Judge Not?” Does the Bible Self-Contradict?
So, did Jesus not say first remove the beam (log) in your eye and then remove the mote (speck) from your neighbours? Was he refusing judging?
Did He not state that He himself judges righteously?
Is there no Righteous Judgment?
Does not the spiritual man judge all things and is judged by no one?
So, what is the context of judge not?
It is simple, if you practice evil or still struggle with evil and a certain sin in your life, then you can judge no one while practicing the same thing…
First get delivered from that sin then go and deliver others after you are free…
From: Yesumulungi
“Judging doesn’t mean we never talk about anyone else’s sin. How do I know that?
In the inspired Scripture, the apostle Paul speaks of others’ sins and even calls those people by name. “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (II Timothy 4:10a). “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme” (I Timothy 1:19-20).
“Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works: Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words” (II Timothy 4:14-15).
He speaks of rebuking Peter in Galatians 2. Other biblical writers speak of other people’s sin as well: see the Old Testament prophets, Jude, II Peter 2, II John 2:18-19, III John 1:9-10 (”I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.”)”
15 comments
You are right, I would be surprised–not by Dr. Laura’s attitude, which is oddly rough for a woman with her, shall we say, checkered past–but with your agreeing with it:
Matthew 7:1-5:
7:1You must not judge in order that you may not be judged, .2for in which judgment you judge you will be judged and in which measure you measure it will be measured to you. .3But why do you observe the speck, the (speck) in your brother’s eye, but the beam in your eye you do not mentally-perceive? .4Or how will you say to your brother, ‘You must leave (me so) I may throw-out the speck from your eye,’ and look!, the beam in your eye? .5Hypocrite, you must firstly throw-out the beam from your eye and then you will throughly-observe to throw-out the speck from your brother’s eye.
I think there’s a world of difference between having and upholding moral standards and merely resorting to shaming and shunning as ways of punishing those we think have not lived up to them. The worst people in the world can shame and blame and attack others–that doesn’t make those they attack any better off and it certainly doesn’t indicate any superiority or godliness in the attacker.
From my perspective its better to lead by example than to curse others for their failings.
Elspeth
Anon,
I’m prone to delete your comment, simply because it is so far from the posts’ topic.
This article by Dr. Laura has nothing to do with the Scripture you quoted.
It is clear revelation of how badly we’ve misused and misunderstood the concept of “judge not”.
We live in a society that almost forbids shame when a person has done wrong, because our society has blurred the lines of right and wrong to a point that “you can’t really judge because you don’t really know”…which is ridiculous.
Honor and integrity can only be distinguished when there is dishonor and shame as its antithesis.
As Dr. Laura put it, it’s the very shame that is innate in the realm of human community that often keeps evil from becoming the norm.
When Jesus approached the shameful, he didn’t say “Oh, we really need to work on society’s acceptance of this behavior so you won’t feel bad about it”. No, He said, “Go and sin no more.” Gasp!!! He called it sin!
Dr. Laura did not say we are to go around wagging a finger in the face of someone who has been immoral or unlawful.
But what we’re seeing happen is people who try to erase shame by erasing wrong; “if it makes me feel shameful, then it’s your fault for being ‘unloving’ or ignorant’…”
Shame on us! We must never stop calling sin “sin”; and we must never try mitigating the shame in order to make people feel better about wrong choices.
This is the world’s relativistic thinking, not a Christians. Christians say “Yes, that is sinful and shameful, but Christ has come so that you may be freed and forgiven, and have the power to live uprightly.”
We are to have a godly opinion (JUDGMENT)about things and if we don’t…that becomes what we get snagged in. So if you don’t judge…beware you more than likely get entangled in the not judging and that becomes your sentence. Judge NOT:in other words you didn’t make a judgment call. Least you ARE JUDGED: with you NOT taking action and embracing a godly opinion, you now are caught in an ungodly mess!
Deanna
Thank you, Kelly. I agree with you that this is an area of misunderstanding in our culture and in the church today. We are often accused of judging when we are actually making judments. If my neighbor murders someone, then he is a murderer. If we make this judgment, no one has a problem. But if we make judgments about other sin, we are called judgmental. I have long believed that the church has it’s “pet” sins, and those are the ones you must not “judge”. It is okay to judge the others. I’m afraid we often look very hypocritical to the world because of this. The lack of good judgment in our society and in the church today leads to the new tolerance, which I fear will be our destruction.
Elspeth,
As someone with a… how did you say it, checkered past myself, I have to say that I agree with Kelly and Dr. Laura on this one. When we remove shame and embarassment from shameful behavior, we are encouraging seared consciences and a continuing and spreading of that behavior. And as Kelly noted, Jesus never gave a sinner the impression that they were anything but sinners. He just didn’t stop there, as many of us do. He lovingly pointed them in the right direction.
Lastly, the scripture you referenced didn’t say that we are NEVER to judge. It says we are to not be hyppcrites, that we are to remove the beam from our own eye first. That means that if I used to be an alcoholic, but have been set free, it is perfectly acceptable for me to look my sister in the eye and say “You, dear, are a drunk and you need to get some help before you destroy yourself and your family.” Not ALL judgment is bad judgment.
Hm,
I disagree entirely with what you are saying. First of all, I don’t think that judgement has dissapeared from society or from our families or our schools, but certainly people feel a good deal of hesitation in assigning blame to strangers and people we don’t know. Why is that? Because strangers and people we don’t know, far from our social world or our own families, are none of our business and can’t be fully understood. Judging people and finding them wanting is a very pleasurable excercise for some. I find it, well, a waste of time. Does it help me with my own family and their lives? Using other people as an object lesson in their life failings is as likely to lead me to falsely exalt some sinner who has cloaked their sin successfully as it is to kick a neighbor who is down. Ted Haggard comes to mind, and many another whited sepulchre and high status person acclaimed for their moral perfections one moment, and then attacked for their obvious moral failings the next.
At any rate Dr. Laura is, of course, an excellent example of this. She was a notably bad child to her own mother, and a person of low morals who has sucessfully passed herself off as some kind of leader of scolds. But there is nothing in her personal life I would want to imitate, or want my children to imitate. So shouldn’t I throw the first stone and stand on attacking her rather than listening to her? And if I should put aside my judgements of her personal history in order to savor her words of wisdom, then wouldn’t that be becoming part of the moral relativist crowd?
elspeth
Elspeth, I don’t know if you read my comment thoroughly. I was NOT referring to our response to the perceived sins of strangers, though I WILL say that fornication is fornication is fornication, whether commiteed by my own friend, or some hollywood starlet, or even me personally. I agree with you that we should spend much more time attending to our own morality than judging others. We agree on that. I was simply stating that society’s blanket excusing of any and all behaviors is NOT a good thing and we need to be able to hold each other’s feet to the fire, particularly within the body of Christ. We are commanded in Scripture to confess our own faults as well as admonish and encourage one another.
As for Dr. Laura’s past, I’m not familiar with it so I can’t comment. Furthermore, is there any among us wo hasn’t done something we’d rather not have revealed to the light of day? I don’t think that past failings disqualify a person from dispensing advice, particularly if they’ve changed course and have acknowleged their sins.
Elspeth,
To add to what Terry is saying, Dr. Laura (or I) was not talking about “kicking your neighbor when they are down”. You still have a misunderstanding of what’s being discussed here.
We’re talking about the horrific sin that the Bible talks about when God’s judgement falls upon His people because they have “called good evil and evil good”.
Yes, the way the whole society views sin affects us and our families.
If Sarah Palin’s daughter is hailed a hero for choosing to keep her baby,(that’s the topic that spawned Dr. Laura’s post, I think) but nothing is said of the normal shame that should be attached to immoral behavior, our daughters have just learned a destructive and powerful lesson…I know because when I became pregnant with my child out of wedlock, I held this one girl in my mind, who had been constantly esteemed for her “strength and integrity”, and I felt intermittent moments of “heroism” as I carried my child.
No one had to “kick me while I was down”, but nor should anyone be patting me on the back telling me what I did was OK.
We could take the sin of homosexuality and understand why more and more Christians, God forbid, are succumbing to it. It’s becoming more of a badge of strength to “come out” instead of the shameful lifestyle God calls it.
No, not all sins are visible so “pointing fingers” at people is not what the Christian life is about. But when we stop calling sin what it is, God has already written our judgement on the wall.
This should be so clear…let’s beg God for eyes to see and ears to hear.
I don’t mean to start an argument and it sounds like we are all in agreement, really, that the issue is what is the object of shaming and blaming another person for their failings, a neighbor, a stranger, or a public political figure–just going out a distance from the holy circle of our own families, churches, communities to the larger nation.
I’m just not sure where the line gets drawn. I very much fault Sarah Palin as a mother for not attending to her own daughter’s needs, education, training and upbringing. And I fault the Republican party for being willing to ignore its own stated position on such things as premarital sex, parenting, and teen pregnancy to essentially exalt this girl and her family as “role models” simply because the party needs to rally its voters behind this flawed candidate and his flawed co-president. So its not like I’m anti morality or anti judgement. We all have to make critical judgements, as I think the Original Poster has said on many occasions. But I guess what I mean is that I think the Palin question is really a different one from the blanket question Dr. laura asked which is how much abuse should a pregnant teen expect, accept, and even request for her sins? How much is abuse or instruction or condemnation helpful in locking the barn door after the horse has escaped and, in the case of these young mothers, a new life has been brought forth needing instruction?
I think the Palin case is not really one of these. I, and my husband, are being asked to make a judgement on the Palins, or on teen pregnancy X, because the party is asking us to put our trust in these people as instances of what a “good person” with “christian character” would do facing difficult circumstances. The argument is that Governor Palin made lemons out of lemonade, I suppose, by forgiving her daughter and supporting her pregnancy and thus…what? would do the same when the army makes a mistake? or when a foreign leader makes a mistake?
I don’t think, as a christian, that its my place to argue that any parent should have taken a harder line with their pregnant teen. (I don’t know what conversations or griefs the Palin family may have had about this difficult topic.) I’m pretty sure that they didn’t have the kind of conversations and moralizing that I would have had before the pregnancy! But that being said some actions are public, some judgements become an issue for public conversation and, yes, have to be judged as right or wrong, good for us as a people or not good for us as a people. I agree with that completely.
Elspeth
WOW. Elspeth, I would be extremely careful about making a judgement call with regard to Sarah Palin’s parenting skills. The best of homes often produce children who either don’t follow the Lord or make bonehead moves. Is sex outside of marriage sin, according to the Bible? Absolutely. But, sin happens, and there is redemption in Christ. It is not for you to make a judgement call about the conversations that took place in the Palin home vs. the ones that take place in your home. You have no idea what went on and it is wrong to assume that you do.
If your kids grow up to love God and desire Him, praise God–alone–for the results. Please do not take credit for it. Instead, with gratitude and humility, thank the Lord that He saw fit to give you kids that follow Him–despite your parenting. Even if you follow the Word to the nth degree, you are still a flawed, frail, tainted-by-sin human being in need of God’s grace.
Be Free in His Grace,
Cathy
Cathy,
My point entirely. The original post was about how important it is that we judge, and even judge harshly, those who we think are not moral. The example Dr. Laura gives was a pregnant teen, later a grown woman who regrets the pain and shame and the forced marriage she suffered trying to make up for her original sin of having an unexpected pregnancy. If we are to judge this girl harshly, shouldn’t we judge all those around her who didn’t help her make good choices also harshly?
As for myself, I don’t think its useful to place blame on other people merely for the sake of placing blame or use other people’s failures as a source of education for my own children saying “see, there but for the grace of god go you and me.” I thought that it was no one’s place to blame another person–in this case the pregnant teen–but rather our place, as christians, to reach out to them and show them gods love as we have had it shown to us. If that is not our position as christians, can you show me what is? That would be my attitude towards Bristol Palin, of course, or any young woman (or young man) who found herself or himself suffering as a consequence of wrong actions. And I’d pretty much have to take that attitude regardless of whether they had yet repented but only in the hope that they might repent.
How does that apply to Sarah Palin? Of course, I’m sorry for her troubles but we are talking about her vaunted expertise as a christian and as a mother. Under those circumstances how can I *fail to judge her* not because I’m not sure there are many extenuating circumstances for her: she was working outside the home, she was overwhelmed by her job, she did not have time to spend with her teen, she was unaware that her teen was dating a young man with little or no interest in god. But that being said Sarah Palin is being offered to us not as a model mother but as a Vice Presidential candidate. As a mother? I don’t think much of her though if she were to ask me for help as a christian I’d offer it, of course. But she’s not asking me for help as a mother, or as a christian. She’s asking me to vote for her in a job that is clearly too big for her. She could be the best mother in the world and be utterly unprepared for the job of Vice President, or President.
Elspeth
Elspeth,
Don’t vote McCain/Palin, then. That is your prerogative. But, to make statements about her skills as a mom strike me as unbelievably arrogant. I’m sure that is not your intention, but your tone is pretty off putting. I guess that I don’t understand why it is necessary to assess someone as a Christian, mother, friend, etc., with relation to qualifications for government higher office. Who’s talking about her “vaunted expertise as a Christian and as a mother (your words)?” Where are you getting this stuff? Some considered Ronald Reagan to be a good, even, great president, but his family issues were well-documented.
To go sideways on Palin’s skills as a mother/wife/Christian, is, from my perspective, out of line. You’re not being asked to judge her skills at anything but VP. If you don’t like what you see, vote for someone else.
Finally, I reread your last paragraph and am utterly confused. Perhaps you can disregard when I said in the two previous paragraphs. It sounds like double speak to me. First, you go after her skills as a mom, but say that even if she was the best mom in the world (or something like that), that she isn’t qualified to run for VP. THEN, why in the world bag on her abilities as a mom and her Christian walk? It seems a bit incongruent–and critical.
Maybe it’s me.
Cathy
Cathy & Elspeth,
I think maybe y'all need to call a truce on this one 😉 I think y'all agree more than you realize, and that there is some confusion in understanding each one's intent.
And might I clarify this post has nothing to do with assessing Palin's qualifications as a mother or a VP.
It really isn't as complicated as it is being made: sin is sin, and we must never fail to recognize that there are certain normal, healthy consequences to it. That's what Dr. Laura was trying to say.
When someone gets caught for theft, their rightful consequence is restitution–paying back or serving time or both. We don't say to them, "oh, I'm sure you're sorry about it so don't worry about that sentence…I wouldn't want you to feel bad."
Kinda the same concept. I don't give my children birth control pills to "protect" them from the consequences of having sex.
We don't stand piously over people and "shame" them for wrongdoing; but we don't mitigate the behavior either.
It is healthy and necessary for us to have to face the unpleasant consequences of wrong behavior. To think otherwise is to ascribe to the idea that nothing is right or wrong. A VERY dangerous place to be.
Kelly,
Scripture does say, “judge not lest you be judged.” It does say, “with the same measure you use will it be measured to you.” However, common sense tells us that this can’t mean judging right from wrong!
It is the plain meaning of Scripture that in areas of universal morality, as opposed to personal conviction, we are to judge. Paul judged at least one person for sin (1 Cor. 5:3-5). In Rev. 2:20, we see God’s anger because people didn’t judge a woman who was sinning in their midst!
But there is a difference between judging in the sense of distinguishing right from wrong (as outlined in the Scriptures cited above) and judging in the sense of declaring that someone is or is not saved (as outlined in Matthew 7).
And here’s the thing – nearly everyone knows instinctively that it is okay to judge! If they say it is wrong to judge, just ask them what they think of a stepfather who rapes his wife’s 3 year old daughter. Watch their reaction. See if they don’t show any evidence of judging that sin as wrong.
See, Kelly, we agree on some things! 🙂 We likely just disagree on where the line is drawn between absolute moral matters and personal convictions.
~Jenna~
Jenna–thanks, that’s a good conclusion…that’s what I meant by the issue being simpler than we were making it. But we do need to be aware that there are nuances in the church that are now saying it is wrong to hardly recognize evil…that’s where the confusion over judgement comes in..like you said, it’s really common sense.