Judging
Over the last several weeks/months we have had several 'flaming' topics that touched on peoples religious convictions--abortion, single mothers, teen mothers, homosexuality, women in the pulpit, etc. Without fail, people who came down on the 'conservative', for lack of a better word, side of things were admonished for being judgmental, self righteous, and plain ol' unChirstlike. This caused me to do some self examination (and a brief Bible study) to see if I was ('cause I was one of those folks) indeed being judgemental and this is what I found. I hope you will read and receive in the spirit of love that it is given.
Most folks quoted, in part, Matthew 7:1 "Juged not, lest ye be judged" However, I think it is important to also look at a statement Jesus made regarding judging in John 7:24 "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." In addition, Paul states in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 "For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person."
I look at all of these passages and say that as Christians we cannot judge the hearts of others because we do not know their motives or intentions and we should not base things on how we think they 'look' (i.e. so and so is immoral because she did XYZ). We also should not judge people on things that we are doing. That is the ultimate hypicrocy (sp?). We should however, 'judge righteous judgement' those that are 'within' (i.e. other Christians). What I understand righteous judgement to mean is that we judge by a righteous standard and the only one righteous is the Father. So, as a Christian I should use the standard set by the Father and given to me in His Holy Word to judge other Christians. I cannot use it to judge those that are not Christians. As a Christian it is wrong for me to see sin and not speak against it.
This is my understanding of those scriptures. I welcome all comments!!
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