When to Judge???

Anyone that has spent anytime discussing religion in America has heard the line, "Judge not, lest you be judged!" And of course, the moment that the line is uttered is the moment than any real conversation and learning ceases to take place because the one uttering the line is doing so in order to silence an opposing view.

Jesus does in fact say that line. Yet, we also know from Scripture that we are to make judgments of certain things. Paul admonishes the Corinthians for allowing a man to remain in the congregation that was sleeping with his father's wife. The "Judge Not" crowd would quickly condemn anyone attempting to remedy the situation. But alas, not Paul. He will not allow our Lord's words to be used in order to condone sin. Since the Kingdom of Christ is ruled by a "scepter of righteousness," we cannot ever say that Christ looks the other way when it comes to sin. Hebrews 1:9 "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness." This is said about our Lord. He hates lawlessness, so would never condone the use of His word to cover over sin...

So when do we judge? I know we must be careful as our blogging neighbor KC has pointed out on his blog this week. He writes:

Are you the one? Is it you that was appointed by God to judge what is good and evil in the lives of our Master’s servants? Are you the one elected to judge the hearts and minds of all believers? Are you the one whose knowledge and wisdom is full and whose interpretation of the scripture has been made perfect?

Please tell me what gifts has God given you to impose and enforce your righteous determinations? Do you possess the gift of ridicule? Are you touched with the divine ability to debase another? Could it be that you’ve even been endowed with power from on high (as appointed by men) to prosecute and persecute those who resist your perfect judgments? How marvelous it must be to find yourself exempt from the subjection and humility that marks all other believers!

If it is you then please correct me of my error. I was so sure that all judgment was given to Christ. I was so positive that we were to submit to one another. I was so certain that your position in the Church never existed and that the power and authority you use to govern the hearts, minds and actions of others could only be an offense and I truly am so bewitched as to believe that Christ is the head of the man and the body!

Those are very good questions to ask... and they are very convicting. We are never to have a judgmental attitude and when we are called upon to make judgments on a fellow believer, we need to do so with humility. So when do we do so?

I think the best answer to this question came from Joel Belz's column in WORLD Magazine, the February 17th issue. He writes the following...

It's not what the younger generation has wrong that troubles me. What bothers me ever so much more is what the younger generation isn't sure it has right.

Take the general issue of patriotism, for example. I haven't seen any polls recently saying how well we've passed on to our children and grandchildren a sense that America is without a doubt the very best place in all the world to be blessed to live. Compared to 50 years ago, I have no idea how the young people in my orbit might respond to such an assertion.

I do know that even after nominally agreeing with such a value judgment, too big a majority of the young people I know would then hedge their declaration with a simple six-word disclaimer: "But who am I to judge?"

Yes, of course, I believe that marriage is a societal structure best involving one man and one woman. But who am I to judge?

Yes, I believe that sexual intimacy will always mean more if it is deferred until marriage. But who am I to judge?

Yes, I believe that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life. But who am I to judge?

No, I can't possibly imagine approving of a measure like euthanasia for one of my grandparents. But who am I to judge someone else's situation?

It's been claimed that the best known fragment of the Bible—rattled off by believers and unbelievers alike—is the out-of-context instruction from Jesus: "Judge not that you be not judged." In a society stripped of values, the ultimate value of nonjudgmentalism reigns supreme.

It sounds so modest. No arrogance there. No narrow-minded conceit or self-righteous exclusivism. Just a humble deference to the possibility that someone else might be right and that our orthodoxy might be wrong.

I'm not at all sure when this quiet demurral first set in. On the one hand, it is part and parcel of the onslaught of relativism that so dominates our era. But it is also the altogether natural fruit of the teaching of the Evil One in the Garden of Eden when he asked Adam and Eve, "Did God really say that?"

And by the way, I do believe that Adam and Eve were historical people. But who am I to judge if someone else thinks they were merely a symbolic father and mother?

Indeed, I am a nobody when it comes to making such a judgment. And it's precisely at that point that we need to make a critical distinction as we try to teach the next generation. We need to make sure they know the difference between our saying that something is so and God's saying that something is so.

For example, it is all too easy to put all five of the examples I listed above in the same category. But the fact is that God never said anywhere that America is the very best place one of His children might live. It's OK for me to think that, and OK even to encourage others to be as enthusiastic about it as I am. But I shouldn't represent it as something that God claims as His truth. When I make that claim, it's not just permissible—but actually important—for my children to respond by asking, "Who am I to judge?" It shows they understand the difference between a merely human assertion, on the one hand, and God's eternal truth, on the other.

We do the next generation no favor at all when we blur that distinction—a blurring I fear we conservatives are more guilty of than we may realize. Nor should we blame our children for a lack of courage to proclaim God's truth when we may not have sorted things out as carefully for them as we should have.

But the next time you hear someone ask "Who am I to judge?" summon the boldness to answer: "Well, that all depends on whose assertions and whose truth is being challenged." That should lead to a good discussion.

I think he has made the point in a wonderful way. Who are we to judge? Well, we are no one. But when God's truth is being challenged, then we have a right and a responsibility to speak up. God's Truth is really all that matters and anything that varies from it, is to be cast off and done away with. So, are we to have a judgmental attitude? No, we are not. But when it comes to God's truth, we do need to stick with it, and point out the truth.

We are called upon to stand for truth and this means we have to make moral judgments. If those judgments are based upon us... then we are likely to fail in this area. However, if those judgments are based upon Scripture, then we have the moral authority to speak up. Scripture does give the believer the authority and right to speak the truth, and therefore we must do so.

BTW, Dee at LMC has post concerning one of the main thinkers concerning the Christian's involvement in culture. Read about it here.