Judge Me Not

Yesterday I was lucky enough to stumble upon a fellow APU grad on set at Suburgatory. I had seen her around several times before but never talked to her and we got into a conversation I would not have expected to get into with a fellow Christian. It felt very much like talking to a non-believer based on the way she approached spirituality as such a subjective, experiential, individualistic way a deriving one's own beliefs about God and truth in this world. We got into a complex conversation about "good and bad" and whether or not Christians are to make judgements in this world about anything. She majored in Psychology and is getting her masters in Spiritual Psychology but it shocked me how little she knew about theology or scripture. She found me on facebook and sent me a lengthy follow up message to our conversation saying basically that we can't judge people's actions because their actions are so unique to the person experiencing the situation. Here was my response:

I know that when anyone enters APU they walk into a world of scrutiny. A lot of times it hurts to feel like people are constantly expressing disapproval for the way you live life, or for what you believe. Too often, people start to define this inappropriate behavior as "judgement". People go on rants and tirades about how we should have no negative opinions of their actions and scream "don't judge me!" as they walk unknowingly down harmful paths of sin.

First off, I believe that we are called to judge. Most importantly we are called to have GOOD judgement. Jesus says in John 7:24 "Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly". We should judge situations, people's actions and most of all our OWN actions. Judgement in and of itself is not bad. Judgement is what happens after we have analyzed a situation and used discernment to come up with a Godly, Biblical opinion of a situation. IF someone does something we approve of and we say "Good job!" or "Well done good and faithful servant" we are making a Judgement. But, no one ever complains if we make a judgement that ends in a positive opinion of them.

2 Chronicles 19:7 says 7 "Fear the Lord and judge with integrity, for the Lord our God does not tolerate perverted justice, partiality, or the taking of bribes.” Clearly there are bad things in this world that should be judged accordingly.

The type of judgement that God condemns is when we judge people's salvation. Matthew 7:1 is the famous "Judge not lest you be judged" that people usually quote to advocate against having any negative opinions about other people's actions. But this verse is in the context of damnation. In Luke 6:37 we see this same verse but with more context. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven."

Jesus hung out with the people who received the harshest judgements in society i.e. prostitutes, tax collectors, adulterers but he never judged them, in the wrong way that is. John 12:47 says "I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it". Yet we see Jesus, John the Baptist, and Paul constantly judging religious leaders and calling them out for being "hypocrites" and calling them "broods of vipers".

We can judge people's actions but not their salvation, and if we do deem their actions as inappropriate than we must still continue to love and forgive them as brothers and sisters in Christ. IF we start condemning people to Hell than we are overstepping our bounds and will receive divine punishment. Ok, that said we should not be spending so much time judging people's actions as we do. It goes back to the whole taking the plank out of our own eye before we complain about the speck in our friend's eye (Matthew 7:3-5). We are called to love people first and foremost (Mark 12:28) and we forget that far too often. Christians should be the least judgmental people with the best judgement. It's a tough paradox to master but that's where I fall in this topic. I hope this helps clarify my position!