Tough Questions Part 2
Are Christians known for being judgemental people? If so, why? Should Christians be judgemental? Doesn't Jesus mention, "Judge not lest you be judged"? What makes some Christians judgemental towards others? Is judgementalism a form of self-righteousness? Is it a turn off to others both Christians and non-Christians when Christians are judgemental? Are you turned off by judgemental people? Why or why not? Should Christians change from being known as judgemental? If so, how? Do you think it is important that Christians strive to be less judgemental towards others? What is you or your church doing to be less judgemental towards others? How would you help someone who feels bad towards Christians or Christianity because of judgementalism? How can Christians overcome the label of being judgemental? If you think Christians shoud judge others, why? how? with what authority? kind of Spirit?
What do you think?
Share your thoughts.
posted by preacherman @ 4:16:00 PM
19 Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:12
For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
Christians need to totally drop the judging until they have weeded out the immoral people WITHIN their churches. Otherwise they WILL be considered absolute hypocrites, because the non-christians personally know many immoral "christians"...
The world soemtimes mistakes the teachings of Christian morality for judgmentalism. If you say that anything is wrong you are accused of being judgmental. Some say the Sermon on the Mount is judgmental. Some of the accusations against Christians are unfounded.
Others, however, are on target. We do not know the hearts or motives of anyone else. Only God has ALL the information. Nor do we have any business making judgment calls for others on anything for which there is no express statement of Scripture.
Even if there is an express statement of scripture, it is not our place to lay judgement on our fellow beings. Ours is to love one another. Period. There are "express statements of scripture" that it is ok to own slaves, beat your children and animals, subjugate your wife, etc. There are also injunctions against wearing cotton/polyester blends, eating shellfish, etc. All of these have been reversed, and for good reason. The dietary restrictions were for health and safety reasons that no longer exist. The human rights issues were barbaric and the reasons that they were tossed seem obvious to any modern human. There were stigmas attached to women who chose not to marry, as well as to homosexual people. Puberty is coming earlier and earlier for women, while women are waiting longer to get married, opting for education first. As a result, there is now a ten to fifteen year gap between puberty and marriage, if they marry at all. Meanwhile, with advances in mental and medical sciences, we have begun to understand that homosexuality is no more a "sin" than left-handedness or curly hair (both of which represented evil in times past), and is a trait in roughly ten percent of human and about four hundred, fifty animal populations. Things that are regarded as unequivocally wrong now, such as beating your child for backtalk or selling your daughter to the neighbor's son, was considered fine by previous civilisations. "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us." ~Abraham Lincoln
www.sharonbohn.blogspot.com
Just when I start thinking they aren't, I am usually confronted by a Christian who slaps me down! I've heard it put a lot of ways, "Standing on the truth" or "holding people accountable," or "christian morality," but we shouldn't have to point the bible at others. I believe that it was intended for us to point at ourselves. God takes care of people's hearts and consciences, we are only called to love others. We should be living in such a way that our way of living is magnetic to others. I believe sincerely that the more Christians who get our and start serving others, the more their hearts will change to be less judgmental and more servantlike.
I think this is a hot button is this culture for a number of reasons, which is why we're talking about it. Of course nobody wants to be judged, and Matthew 7:1 commands us not to judge lest we be judged the same amount. But most Christians I know aren't judgmental at all, yet are constantly accused of being judgmental despite their actions—self included. Has anybody else felt that frustration?
I wish there was a way to tell people that I love them and that I'm not judging them. But people are scared to death of it before they even meet a Christian, and this preemptive fear comes across as anger. In response, Christians—like myself—have run on the treadmill of trying to "prove" that we're not judgmental, some fearing the accusation to the point of fearing association with people who speak the truth candidly, to very little avail.
So I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Judgmentalism on both sides is tied to self-esteem...people with low self-esteem judge, and people with low self-esteem are terrified of being judged. And the only source of self-esteem is God.
I don't have a problem talking to judgmental people, because I don't fear them. But some of my friends would have a cow! (And I don't mean to laugh, because they really can get seriously wounded.) The Bible says don't fear men, but fear God. He is the only judge. I think both sides can take that to heart, because there just comes a point when trying to prove your love just isn't working...
(As an aside, I agree with Wade. I'm in college, and worse, I'm a psychology major, so we're literally taught that morals are unhealthy, including unhealthy to teach children. The idea is that if morals could just disappear—of course, by ostracizing students who have them—the world would be a much less judgmental place. Sad to say, that's not realistic; and it also makes the assumption that people who have morals are already judgmental.)
Maybe it is not the judgments or opinions that people object to but the prideful way in which these are delivered?
Yes we have a great reputation of being judgmental and so we are.
I certainly judge everything and everyone, your deeds, words, intentions, motives and what is in your heart and whatever is there to judge, and so should you.
I judge every post you write and everyone's comments.
I judge every spirit and every angel; in fact I judge myself and every motive of mine.
What else is there to judge? I'll judge it.
The Lord Jesus made it clear in His Word, that everyone who is spiritual judges ALL things (Col. 2:15 and 1 Cor. 2:15).
We even ought to judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3), but tell me when are you going to judge angels? When you are dead? I think that is to late then.
However, there is one thing I do NOT do, that is to sentence or passing on a sentence. That alone is the Lords judgment on all who do not believe in Jesus Christ our Lord.
In fact, everyone who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is already sentenced and the wrath of God is on him or her.
If any unbelieving one thinks that he or she is not already sentenced, then look around you and see the earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, wars, famine, sickness, disease and devastation of every kind.
If you cannot see that, then I would judge you to be blind and suggest that you go to the Lord Jesus and buy yourself some eye salve (Rev. 3:18), so that you might be able to see.
I know that it doesn't sound loving, but lots of love Paul.
Kenny/PM I have a question for you, are Christians judgemental if they are only repeating what is in the bible?
Bob and Paul, can you give examples of judgements by Christians that are not taken from scripture?
Is a statement judgemental, if it starts with "The bible says".
Are Christians as a lot really judgemental, or do they just repeat what the judge has already said?
Here's something crazy. My wordpress stats tell me that almost every day somebody finds my blog by googling "do not judge".
Isn't it crazy that this is a common google search? To me that's telling, suggesting that there are a lot of questions about that out there.
This is a very tricky question the we Christians are faced with. For we all judge, not matter how righteous we strive to be. There is a key point that many of us tend to miss when this question inevitably comes up. The key is to what extent, in terms of severity, are we judging others? Anybody that says they do not judge someone is mistaken.. for example: Say you meet someone, a new member of the church if you will. You take some time and get to know this person better over the next few months (any time frame really) and you will come to generate a personality for this person... Is he a good guy, is he helpful, does he run late, is he funny.. the list goes on and on. Whether you want to accept it or not, you just judged that person. You mean no harm by it, and let me tell you, it is ok. It is fine for you to judge in this manner, keeping Jesus at the center of your heart will keep you from the condemning judgement calls. So friends of the Christian Faith, I leave you with a verse that comes from Matthew 7:2, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Sorry for leaving another comment. The previous post by "Spread the Word" was by me. I got confused as to how to leave a proper comment. Again, sorry! Great topic by the way!!
Laymond; I like your last question.
Yes we are as a 'lot' really judgmental, but only those who believe in Jesus and not those who do not believe; because those who do not believe are not spiritual therefore they do not and can not judge.
Any man must be born again or born of the Holy Spirit before he can enter, see or judge anything spiritual.
As you have said, we also repeat the judgment which the Lord Jesus already has pronounced on all the unbelieving, and of course that is not received joyfully.
Example of a Christian judging another Christian and sentencing him to death;
John Calvin judged Michael Servetus of false doctrines and then sentenced him to be burned to death.
By the way; Michael Servetus also rejected that devilish doctrine the Trinity.
So then it is the 'sentencing' which the Lord does not want us to do, that belongs to Him.
Before I present the gospel of salvation to someone, I first judge them whether they are saved or not. If they are already saved, then there is no need for me to tell them that they need to be saved.
Example of judging a person without sentencing them;
Sharon Bennett Bohnenberger.
This is a section from her post on her blog.
See for yourself if you care, and there is much more.
"I do not believe that this planet and all that is in it was created in six twenty-four-hour days, or that the Great Flood covered the entire planet, but likely enough of the then-known world to be catastrophic and place itself firmly into legend.
I do not believe that there is some finger-pointing, parent-figure god in the sky who watches us and intervenes in our history.
I do not believe that this god allows my family member to be healed and lets someone else's die because I had more people praying for mine.
I do not believe that God diverts natural disasters away from my interests, which would necessarily mean toward someone else's.
I do not believe that natural disasters, accidents and disease are some sort of divine punishment. I also think that it is quite odd indeed that this god only seems to punish those who have pissed off the right-wing fundamentalists. When your god hates all the same people you do, you have successfully created this god in your own image.
I do not believe that anyone who requires bloodshed to forgive wrongdoings is worthy of my attention, much less my adoration.
I do not believe that virgin births occurred ever before the dawn of artificial insemination. Virgin birth is a biological impossibility. Even with artificial insemination, we still need both egg and sperm to make the magic.
I do not believe that Jesus restored physical sight to someone who had either been born blind, or who had physiologically lost their eyesight.
I do not believe that Jesus physically fed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.
I do not believe that Jesus died as atonement for our 'sins' so that this bloodthirsty man in the sky could then restore us to some pre-fallen state that we never had.
I do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead in any physical or literal way.
I do not believe that heaven and hell are physical places of eternal reward and punishment after death.
I do not believe that this god is waiting, recording our every thought and action, to judge and reward or punish accordingly.
I do not believe that the Book of Revelations is some sort of fortune-telling, end-of-the-world-tell-all book, but rather a wartime novella."
My judgment on that is that Sharon does not believe one word of the Bible. She does not believe that the Bible is the Word of God, or that there is a God who created all things and that He will judge and sentence the great and the small the rich and the poor the good and the bad according to their deeds, in fact everything she said is contrary to the Word of God.
Does God the creator know better? Or does Sharon know better?
Does Sharon's unbelief nullify the Word of God?
I think not!
All those who were destroyed under the rubble in Haiti and Japan never thought that God would utterly destroy them because of their unbelief.
(Jude 5) God destroyed all those who did not believe.
Gods Word said that whosoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life.
I can surely say that Sharon is on the highway to hell unless she repents of her wicked ways and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever believes in Jesus will have life and abundance of life 'now' and has escaped from Gods judgment.
There are only two ways; either Jesus has suffered on the cross for Sharon's sins and transgressions, or Sharon has to suffer for her own sins.
Sharon; if you read this comment, then please turn to Jesus Christ our Lord and be saved from the wrath to come.
Kind regards
Paul
Paul, I am a Christian. If you read the section below the one you cited, I think it is telling that you did not choose to quote what I do believe...
"I do believe that the mystery at the heart of our faith is our attempt to define and describe this order.
Yet another quote...
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR ~
"There are fewer things that get under my skin than people who are sure that they are right. You have to be awful arrogant to so convince yourself that yours is the only way that you are willing to tell people who disagree with you that they are going to hell. Whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Wiccan, Buddhist, Hindu, or any other myriad of believer, you eventually have to come to terms with the fact that at the heart of our faith lies a mystery. We catch glimpses of the sacred in our everyday lives, but can never fully and finally understand the mystery. We cannot claim to know the mind and nature of God/Goddess. I get perturbed at the mass ignorance of people. I have had no less than a half dozen people tell me that I am not a REAL Christian because I do not take the Bible literally. I choose to take the Bible seriously instead. The Bible is not a novel (not even a good one), a history of the world, or an instruction manual; it is a collection of separate books, each written at different times and in different places by different authors. These books were written from different points of view and in different historical and political contexts over the course of about fifteen hundred years. When you go to a library, you don’t start with the first book on the left-hand side of the uppermost shelf and read them in order around the building from there, assuming that they are all one literal, inerrant story-line. The Bible makes no more sense read in this way than would any other library. They are a collection of books that were canonized not because they are literally true or inherently inerrant, but because they are the best attempt that we have at expressing a reality that is ultimately beyond human expression. We have seen glimpses of the sacred. About two thousand years ago in the Middle East, something happened in the life of a young Jewish man that the people around Him couldn’t explain. People were able to see something of God revealed in the life of Jesus. The Gospel record is not a biography, but an attempt to explain this encounter with the Divine and what it means. We all have had moments in our lives when our words have failed us and we could do nothing more than stand in absolute awe before this Mystery. Since the dawn of humanity, we have tried to express this Reality in a million different ways. However we see God (or whatever we call the Divine), He or She can only be glimpsed vaguely at best. The Gospel message is not by any means for the faint of heart. It is liberating and life-affirming, but it is also very difficult and challenging. If we would spend half the time working together to solve real problems that we spend fighting with one another over semantics, imagine what we could accomplish! So, hey, why don’t we try something radically different and ACTUALLY love our neighbors?"
Also, Paul, if this is an example of "judging a person without sentencing them," then how can you "surely say that Sharon is on the highway to hell unless she repents?" I thought the sentencing phase wasn't yours to decide. Unless you are claiming divinity, I do not believe that you can "surely" say anything to my fate.
I do not take the Bible literally. I choose to take it seriously instead.
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