Word Count: 1028

Contact James Barringer

"Judge not so you won't be judged" - Non-Christians' favorite verse

by James Barringer  
5/09/2010 / Christian Living

If you were the kind of Christian who played drinking games, you could probably make a night out of preaching the gospel in a public place and taking a shot every time a lost person told you, "The Bible says not to judge." I'm fairly sure that most people who know no other Bible verse can produce the one about not judging people - typically when they are the "people" in question, and they feel that you are the one doing the judging.

However, the word "judge" has taken on a life of its own, and has come to be applied to anyone who disagrees with anyone else. The unspoken implication is that everyone on earth should basically be free to do whatever they want, and if they start abusing that freedom, blame belongs to the person who dares to call them out on it. This is, in its own special way, an offshoot of postmodern philosophy, which holds that there is no absolute truth and as such no one has any right to critique anyone else's behavior. However, even people who claim to be postmodernists still believe that there are some absolute rights and wrongs - if someone molested their kids, for instance, they would certainly act as if such a thing was absolutely wrong.

When people quote (out of context) Jesus' command not to judge, they seem to be implying that the Bible endorses the idea that we should all butt out of each other's business. In fact, it teaches the exact opposite. Even Matthew 7, the passage containing the admonition not to judge, teaches the opposite.

There are two definitions for judging. One is to determine right from wrong; this usage can be found in John 7, where Jesus advises his disciples, "Don't judge based on outward appearances, but judge with right judgment." That's correct: he actually commands them to judge. However, the second kind is the kind that we're not supposed to do, which is treating someone differently based on our opinions of their lifestyle. This is what Jesus teaches in Matthew 7. "Don't judge, so that God won't judge you" - in other words, don't interact with people based on what you dislike about them, so that God won't deal with you on the basis of what he dislikes about you. He adds, "With the measure you use, it will be measured out to you" - someone who is brutal and insensitive should expect insensitive brutality from God. They may not get it, because God is merciful, but they have no right to expect God to treat them well if they don't treat their fellow men well.

If you still aren't convinced that Jesus wants us to judge, just keep reading Matthew 7, where Jesus tells a story of a man who has a log in his eye trying to clear a speck out of his brother's eye. The story ends, "Take the log out of your eye, and that way you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." He doesn't command us to leave each other alone. In fact, he commands the exact opposite: to clear up our own moral vision, so that we will have no obstacles when we go to pick specks out of people's eyes. God doesn't want humanity running around with crud all in its eyes. His goal for us is that we all have clear vision - that we all live lives characterized by loving him and living in righteous harmony with each other. Anytime a person fails one of those two criteria, we have an obligation to work that speck out. The only prerequisite is that we have gotten the log out of our eyes and are living those two things ourselves - loving God and loving other people - because we can't teach what we don't know.

This is the challenging part for us as Christians, because there are two motivations for judging - in the good sense - other people. The first and best is that we genuinely care about them, their happiness in this life and for eternity, and so we challenge them with grace and tact in a way that's designed to lead them to salvation. We could scarcely call ourselves "loving" if we failed to do that. However, I've found that many Christians judge - in both the good and bad senses - merely because they are under the impression that things should be a Certain Way, and they get angry and defensive when someone challenges the social or moral order that is comfortable to them. Their reaction is usually to get loud, angry, and arrogant, calling names and presenting the gospel in a truncated "turn or burn" format that, while possibly true, really does no benefit to anybody, other than allowing the speaker to think that he has somehow preached Jesus to people.

Only the person who judges knows within his heart whether he's doing it rightly or wrongly, and for what motivations. Yet we're clearly cautioned in Matthew 7 that the measure we use will be the measure that God uses on us. If we judge people with patience, care, tact, and real concern for them as image-bearers of God, then God will return those things to us. If our discussions with non-Christians are not characterized by those things, then we have no reason to expect God will treat us any better. The Bible does not at all teach that we're supposed to butt out of other people's business - quite the opposite, it tells us that God is after a world full of people who have true and right moral vision, who understand what it means to love him and each other with pure love. The Bible orders us to create that kind of world, which means stepping on a few toes, challenging the culture's morality, and showing them a better way. Sitting back and letting them live however they want is simply not an option to us as Christians, but we must make sure that both our content and our delivery honor the kind of God whose love we claim to talk about.

Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by James Barringer

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:

Not readable? Change text.

The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer