JUDGING
I am told daily on this debate site mainly by unbelievers that I have no right to judge, that I should basically keep my mouth shut that judging is not right it is wrong. What they fail to understand is that they judge as well. They think that faith and judging are mutally exclusive to Christians. But people who do not adhere and reject God judge as well if not more. Look at the judging that goes on by unbelievers on this forum, yet they point the finger at people who believe in God.
One does not need be a person who believes in God to judge, everyone does it, we could not live if we didn't. How would we protect the righteous?
I believe in society today people take a negative attitude when it comes to judging. It resents authority and everything that goes with it. The primary function of judging is not to punish the wicked its to protect the righteous. Our justice system today is a perfect example of this. We bend over backwards to protect the criminal and do little to protect the victim. This kind of thinking is warped.
Here is a big verse they throw at Christians. "Judge lest not you be judged. You therefore have no right to judge me when comes to my sins." What does this mean however? In the context of this verse Jesus is telling the disciples not to judge one another, something the Bible condemns. In other veses Jesus talks about the speck in his brothers eye. But in John 7:24 it says, "Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgement." So if someone sins by killing, stealing, commiting adultry...the Christian can make a righteous judgement by telling the sinner or believer they are wrong and that these sins will have eternal consequences.
Who here has not judged a spouse, parent, teacher, pastor, priest, police, kids friends, children, sibling, lawyer, doctor? We all do it ...but somehow if a Christian does it its worse. They are accused by people who do not understand what all the scriptures say. There is a doule standard. The Bible says that I can judge another believers words and actions but that I can not judge their heart. Only God can do this.
Here are a few other verses that show we can judge.
Matthew 18:15-17 Jesus talks about if someone offends you...you seek him out and tell him his fault. If he does not listen then you take more people with you and if that does not work...you address the concern to the church.
1 Cor 5:11 We are told not to associate with immoral people. He is telling us that juding is a responsiblity that we must do.
1 Cor 6:1-4 This talks about judging and throwing the sinful person out. It talks about leaders have a responsiblity to judge. We appoint jurors and judges the authority to judge....we have to have do it.
For the people who are debating on this site who point their fingers at Christians who judge ..how do you explain the fact that you are judging as well?
The fact is everyone does it...we could not survive if we didn't.
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i find that healthy self analysis and introspection can help you realise when you judge, but most importantly it can help you realise when you judged someone and came to the wrong conclusion, as much as i like to think i don't judge people, i know i do, but i would not let my opinions of a person alter how i treat, i let their general behaviour determine that. The reason people judge is because it is in built into our genetic programming to do so, be interact with oneanother by making a staggering amount of comparative calculations which go on all over our bodies, our senses measure and colligate this data, and relay it to the brain for processing i.e. suitable mate, potential danger, superior to me in certain ways, inferior to me in certain ways etc.....etc........ 2
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But some beleive that only some people need a healthy self analysis. I do believe what you say that sometimes we judge unfairly. I see a lot of that on this forum particularly with the group who like to bash believers. You see watch now....who comes in to thread to throw their two cents in...not debating the subject of "judging" but to just show hatred towards people with a different worldview. They think they are so different..that they do not live by the same things that we as believers live by. All humans judge...they point fingers whether fairly or unfairly. We all live by faith even if that faith is in ourselves and not God. I guess my real question is why judge someone simply because they beleive in God...why think that they are hateful, spiteful, stupid, narrowminded? What is wrong with accepting someone and respecting them enough to allow them the space to believe what they want. I would not pressure anyone to become a Christian. I am here to debate the issues and to lay out the evidence as I see it....but I don't hate anyone, certainly not the athiest or agnostic. I just get infuriated when I see the unbeliever tell me I can't judge...when I know the scriptures lay out in fact that I can in certain circumstances. They are judging me.....by telling me that I can't judge. Double standard. I do agree with your post however that as humans it is built into our human-ness. That gives us no excuse to judge unfairly. 1
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"But some beleive that only some people need a healthy self analysis" I do not agree with those people in the slightest. "The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being" -Socrates "I do believe what you say that sometimes we judge unfairly." Yes we do, its a matter of accuracy and ego, the ego prevents us from see thigns clearly, and our own abilities to perceive limit how accurate our perception of this existence is. Like everything else some are better than others, some are excellent, and can peg an individual within the first few seconds of observing them, while some make judgements they beleive to right when in fact they are wholly incorrect, or maybe partially incorrect. The main point is that the people who are 100% right in their judgements, and the people who are 100% wrong in the judgements, and everyone in between all beleive themselves to be 100% right, and it is only through self-concious effort and deep introspection that one can realise when one is wrong, and just how wrong one is, but most do not even begin to engage in this, and thus we get our modern fucked up world. Not saying that is everyone was really introspective is would be a utopia or anything. "You see watch now....who comes in to thread to throw their two cents in...not debating the subject of "judging" but to just show hatred towards people with a different worldview." Sometimes this is true, sometimes they think they are simply responding to what they beleive is ignorance, but again its all relative, especially on this site. " They think they are so different..that they do not live by the same things that we as believers live by" Everything doesn't need to be reduced down to thiesm and athiesm. "I guess my real question is why judge someone simply because they beleive in God" I don't, and i don't look kindly on anyone that does. "What is wrong with accepting someone and respecting them enough to allow them the space to believe what they want." Nothing as long as that person beleifs in no way tamper with how the other people choose to live their lives. "I just get infuriated when I see the unbeliever tell me I can't judge...when I know the scriptures lay out in fact that I can in certain circumstances." I don't accpet that beause your scriptures tell you you can judge that means you can, i beleive that regardless of whether you beleive in the bible or not you have no more rights than any others, if you want to beleive you have tfair enough but don't be surprised when the responses you get are less than hospitable. 1
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