Oct 25-27 Column

Right to Judge or Judging Right

 

During the past 23 years of writing this column, I've occasionally used my platform to cast a negative spotlight on scoundrels, rascals and scallywags.

 

I've even gone so far to name the names of the political pundits, candidates and officials who've used their offices to spew hateful rhetoric on the less fortunate. 

 

And I haven't held back my judgments when it comes to the religious field, I've panned plundering preachers for their judgmental-Jesus, churches who've brought politics into the pew, and chaplains who've pressed their views on the sick.

 

I've censured meandering athletes for their marital missteps, disparaged depraved entertainers, and even called out commanders who forced their religion on their subordinates.

 

My ruminations have occasionally inspired a few readers to insist that I apologize for my judgmental stance toward their cute celebrity, their precious preacher, or their nuclear network commentator.

 

Invariably, there are those who measure my words against Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

 

Matthew 7:1-5 is not telling us not to judge, it's telling us HOW to judge, Jesus is saying we can't judge hypocritically. He never suggested that we can't ever judge!

 

The problem with using the verse against your critics to disqualify their judgments is that the verse loses balance without Jesus' commandment from John 7:24, "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly." (NIV)

 

The former verse is an admonition against self-serving judgment; the latter verse allows us to make discerningly helpful judgments. 

 

It's useful to understand that the first verse plays a small, but important part in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It chastises the hypocrites who use their judgmental pronouncements as a smoke screen to hide their own inequities.

 

This kind of judging is hypocritical and it's not restorative as it only serves to help the judge feel better about him or herself. Over the years, I've heard the verse grafted into a popular philosophy that professes that any kind of judging attitude is wrong.

 

This thinking becomes a flippant way of saying "I'll ignore your shortcomings if you'll ignore mine." 

 

To that I respond, "No. I won't give you a free pass from criticism and neither will I expect one in return."

 

At the end of the day, a world without discerning judgments will become a lawless one. That's why it's important to mix in Jesus's words from the above-mentioned verse.

 

The verse from John 7:24 is a weighty and difficult pronouncement that finds modern clarity in this paraphrase from The Message, "Don't be nitpickers; use your head — and heart! — to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right."

 

This admonition coaches a more self-reflective attitude toward judgment. It calls for us to apply our discernment in a humble manner. That humility only comes when we acknowledge our own shortcomings.

 

In other words, even though we may be right in our judgments, we acknowledge that there is a place inside of us that is not yet right — a place that will only be made right in the sight of God.

 

Finally, while I have used this column to share my assessments about the actions of others, I will not take God's place in determining someone's eternal spiritual fate.

 

That verdict belongs to God, whose judgments I would never assume and whose endless love I can only imagine.

 

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