A “Better” Christianity (Part 1: Don’t Judge)
Mar 01
Ok, so here’s the start of some blog posts that I promised a little while back to unpack some of the beliefs being presented today–claims for a “better” Christianity. Before I get into the first one about “not judging”, let me say that we must judge these “new” claims by Scripture. I believe it’s clear that they don’t stand up. But part of this “new” Christianity states that we should be cautious to judge such things up to Scripture, since quite a few parts of Scripture appear flawed/misguided in their understandings of God. In effect, these people are judging Scripture and find it to be lacking. This illustrates one of the points I will present in this blog that people who say “don’t judge,” create impossible criteria for what it means to “judge.”
In fact, it is quite ironic that, when I was told that “my” view of Christianity (as if I’ve come up with something new) and my attitude was narrow-minded, judgmental, and arrogant, the very people telling me that I was judging were doing exactly that–and to an even greater degree.
In other words, I did in fact “judge” their positions by stating that I completely disagree with their positions on matters that I believe are central to the Christian faith, and that I firmly believed they go completely against the whole of Scripture. I made judgments on their positions, for sure, but did not belittle them as persons in doing so. In return, those who would say that we shouldn’t judge responded by making judgments not only on my positions (which is completely fair and appropriate), but also belittling who I am as a person when they stated I was judgmental, arrogant, and narrow-minded for believing that Jesus is the only way, for example.
This is what too often happens by those who say “Don’t judge.” When someone tells you that you are judging–by saying this, they are now judging (and not just judging your beliefs, but sometimes even your motivation, intelligence, or character). The reason for this circular conundrum is a misunderstanding of what Jesus means by “Don’t judge.” Almost anything we say is considered a “judgment.” By this definition, that last statement itself is a judgment. See how quickly absurd this can get? This “better” Christianity distorts the intent behind Jesus’ command, and judges any kind of judgment to be against Jesus’ teachings. (Which makes their own assertion go against Jesus’ teachings, if you follow their logic.) Their logic goes something like this:
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DON’T JUDGE!
Shouldn’t Christians be loving people instead of judging people? Jesus said it plainly–‘Do not judge, or you will be judged.’ Jesus taught us clearly to love one another, not judge one another. Yet that’s what so many “Christians” do. They judge other people. Jesus said to let the ‘wheat and tares’ grow together, and God will sort it out in the end. We’re not supposed to do the sorting. We don’t know who is the “good wheat” and who are the “evil weeds/tares.” Only God does. Our job is to love people and accept them for who they are. Not to make judgments on their lifestyles, decisions, attitudes, actions. Jesus ate with sinners. He didn’t judge them. He loved them. But that’s not what we see today from Christians. We see Christians confidently declaring that homosexuality is a sin (even though Jesus never said that). If that’s not judging–what is? And they use Bible verses to tell other Christians that what they are doing is wrong. Hello? Can we say judgmental? Jesus summed up the entire Scripture by only two commands:
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s stop the judging, and start loving like Jesus lived and taught.
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This all sounds good (because there is quite a bit of truth in this argument), but not all of it is true (I’m judging again!). And it is also leaving out quite a bit of truth (another judgment!).
In the same chapter (Matthew 7) where Jesus says don’t judge, He tells us to not cast our pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). Jesus says we should realize some people are swine? That’s judging! In that same chapter, He also says to beware of false prophets. And He name-calls them wolves (Matthew 7:15). What? Jesus says we should look out for false prophets? That’s judging people! Also in that same chapter, He warns that only a few people will find the narrow way that leads to life, but that most people will follow the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). Whoa! He’s saying that most of us are going to hell! Now Jesus himself is judging! He’s not even following His own teaching–He must be a false teacher and hypocrite! Especially when He calls other people hypocrites over and over throughout his teachings–that’s judging if I’ve ever heard it! Or how about when He says that it would be better for a millstone to be tied around someone’s neck and then thrown into the sea, than for someone to lead a little child astray from the faith (Mark 9:42)? That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me! Of course, those who say “don’t judge” pick and choose which passages of Jesus they like and don’t like. You’ll hear quite a bit from the ones that sound “nice” and “non-judgmental,” but as a result you get a severely skewed picture of the message and person of Jesus.
Apparently, when Jesus says not to judge, He doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t judge someone’s message (false teachers). And He doesn’t mean that we should judge if someone is worthy of “our pearls,” or if instead they are a dog or swine (whew, harsh!). But what I believe He does mean is that we are not to set ourselves in a higher level of spiritual authority than everyone else, as in the position of judge of people’s souls. That’s God’s position, not ours. It’s not our place to condemn anyone to hell. We pronounce punishment upon them like only a judge should. Instead, we must help each other out like brothers and sisters ought to (James 5:19-20). This, of course, requires using our judgment. But James also warns us, like Jesus does (Matthew 7:2), that teachers will receive a stricter judgment (James 3:1), because by being a teacher/leader/guide, we now carry more responsibility than just our own souls, but also a certain level of accountability for others’ souls (Mark 9:42 again). But it doesn’t say that we shouldn’t be teachers! It doesn’t say that we shouldn’t guide people in the way they ought to live their lives. We must help one another (love your neighbor as yourself), and that may mean confronting them in order to bring them back into truth (James 5:20).
This must not deter us from loving our neighbor as ourselves. Yes, “don’t judge” has been used to argue against correcting brothers and sisters who are in sin. “Don’t judge them–love them!” But if we are indeed to love them, we must see their soul as just as important to God as ours. If we are not to correct each other in love…why do we preach sermons every Sunday? Do we not in this way instruct one another on how to live for Christ? Why be in small groups? Why be a parent to our children? Why not just live in isolation from everyone else? When Jesus says not to judge, He surely doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t judge/recognize a tree by its fruit, since He commands us to do so (Matthew 7:15-20). When He says don’t judge, He means that we recognize that we are just as much sinners as our brothers and sisters. We are no better off.
Remember when the adulterous woman is presented to Jesus? He dares everyone to cast stones. We all realize we must not do that. Jesus shows love, forgiveness, and compassion on the woman. And the last thing He tells her is, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). He describes her sin as what it is–sin. And He instructs her to leave her life of sin. But He does it in love, not condemnation. This is how we are to love one another. Not by dismissing their sin and allowing them to continue disobeying the will of God. But by lovingly showing them that although we recognize their sin, we love them like God loves them. He asks us to walk away from our sinful life and follow Him instead. And we encourage/instruct everyone else in love to do the same. Don’t stone someone. (That would be judging them.) But help them recognize their sin and leave it. You may have to point it out to them. You may have to be firm with them. That’s not the same thing as stoning them. And that’s not “judging.”
Jesus himself says that we will notice when our brother or sister sins. He doesn’t say to ignore it. Matthew 18:15-17 says that we should instead go to our brother or sister when this happens. And at the end of this method that Jesus teaches, if they still refuse to “go and sin no more,” we are to treat them as a “Gentile and a tax collector.” Sounds pretty harsh, huh?
When Jesus says not to judge, he clearly doesn’t mean we aren’t to use our judgment. He simply means what He says about the tares and wheat–it’s not our place to evaluate someone’s life and determine who is going to heaven and who isn’t. First, we don’t know everything about that person–only God does. And we must also remember–He’s knows everything about us too. No, I refuse to throw stones at anyone. I refuse to pronounce judgment on anyone. But I will love my brother and sister enough to tell them that Jesus is the only way! I will love them enough to warn them about eternity without Jesus. I will love them enough to walk with them when they struggle in their sin. I will love them enough to not give up on them when they give up on their struggle with sin. I will try to be the voice of truth and love. I will speak out, and am doing so even now.
As I’ve said before, I pretty much agree with you about everything here. I have some further thoughts, though.
The point about not judging (in Matthew 7 and in Romans 2) is not about saying that making judgments is wrong so much as that it is hypocritical and unhelpful when the person judging does the same things. I suspect that most of the people who like to quote Matthew 7:1 have never taken the time to read the passaage and see that there is a correct context for judgment provided in Matthew 7:5. The point of proper judgment is to help someone become closer to God rather than improper judgment which simply asserts that I am better than you.
Regarding the comments about love, do people not understand what love is? Loving someone does not somehow mean that I have to agree that they do not need Christ to attain salvation. The following passage (Romans 5:6-8) tells me that you are closer to the proper definition of love than the people who are disagreeing with you.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Love is painful sacrifice rather than painless acquiescence.
Finally, in Galatians 2:21 Paul writes that if salvation could come by the law, then Christ died for nothing. Likewise, I would question how your accusers would respond to the question of what the point of the crucifixion was if salvation could be attained apart from Christ. Without that, there really is no such thing as Christianity.
Great point. When we’re doing the very same wrong thing we judge others to be doing, it makes sense that the same judgment ought to fall on us.
Wow. That’s exactly it. I could have eliminated many words from this blog if I’d only said it that way!!
I don’t consider them “my accusers,” and can only try to speak on their behalf, but based on my conversations, I feel pretty confident in saying that they believe that Jesus died for everyone–not just people who become Christian. (I don’t disagree with this part.) They would also say, if I’m not mistaken, that therefore Jesus died for a Buddhist, for example, who may be taught through his religion to forgive people. (I’m not sure if his religion teaches that, but it probably does–I dunno.) As a result, it is conceivable that he lives more like a Christian than myself. He may thus be living his life more in line with Christ’s teachings than I am, even though he has never heard about Christ, or doesn’t believe in Christ for any number of reasons. And since Jesus died for him too–if I get to heaven as a Christian, why shouldn’t he? He may not have put his faith in Christ to save him, but maybe he lived his life more in line with how Jesus says to treat each other than I did, and shouldn’t that count for something?
This line of thinking has some truth in it, but also contains serious misunderstandings, but I’ll leave that for one of my next blogs! 🙂 Of course, if anyone else wants to jump in on this before then, go for it! I’d love to hear how you see it.
“Accuser” was definitely the wrong word… I was in a hurry. 🙂
I was evidently following the wrong line of thinking. I’ll let you follow up on addressing that line of thinking, though I do have some thoughts on a good response.
I think you are closer to the line of thinking than you think.
Drew: “I would question how your accusers would respond to the question of what the point of the crucifixion was if salvation could be attained apart from Christ. Without that, there really is no such thing as Christianity.”
I think Drew really cut to the pivotal point here, even if he jumped ahead of you a few blogs or so!
My response to those who feel that Jesus died so that everyone will go to heaven, whether they are Christian or not, is that this seems to me to be a very risky belief. When people’s souls are at stake, wouldn’t we want to do everything we can to ensure they end up in heaven? Including evangelizing, telling people about the Gospel, etc? To just assume that they will all go to heaven anyway seems to me to be just a nice belief that helps everyone sleep better at night. If it ends up that way, great, but I don’t see any evidence of that in the Bible, and I’m not willing to risk anyone’s eternal soul on what humans think should happen!
Great stuff, Tim. Two thoughts:
1) Paul specifically tells the church at Corinth to judge in 1 Corinthians 5. But he makes it clear that he’s talking about judging people who call themselves believers and not the world.
2) I agree with Drew about hypocrisy. Right after the “don’t judge” from Jesus comes this: “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
I don’t think many people consider this second phrase. To me it’s the qualification of the “don’t judge” statement. It’s as if Jesus is issuing more of a warning than a black and white rule about it–especially in light of the context, as you both have mentioned. (and if it is a command then we’ve got to ask why Paul teaches something different). Anyway, Jesus isn’t making a value statement on whether or not we should judge, but it’s a statement about how that judgment is made.
It’s late. I’m tired. I hope that makes sense….
I totally agree. I think we as Christians need to look harder at ourselves rather than complaining about how sinful the world is. We need to get over it already. The world has been and always will be sinful. The real question is–why is it entering the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ and myself? That’s when there’s a problem–and yes, that problem needs to be addressed in love, but directly, because of the possible consequences to the immoral Christian (they may be risking their soul), the church body (this will spiral out of control fast), and the world (who will continue to reject Christ because they too see the hypocrisy of “holy” Christians perfectly OK with blatantly disobeying God’s will).
All I have to say, Tim, is AMEN! I was going to bring up 1Corinthians 5 specifically verses 12-13, but Erik beat me to it. I believe that we, as Christrians, are and should be held at a higher standard of living according to scripture. I think that is why Paul puts the emphasis on judging those within the church (those who call themselves followers of Christ or Christians). I would like to hear your thoughts on 1 Corintians 5.
I guess you would assume from my post that I would agree with Paul in this chapter, and you would be right. I do think that Paul’s intent is that our judgment of the brother/sister in sin is directed at someone who is perfectly OK with his/her sin, and might even boast that he/she is free to live this way (even though Scripture would teach otherwise). We all sin–but when a person who claims Jesus is Lord of their life and yet refuses to acknowledge his/her actions as sin, it is the responsibility of the church (i.e. leadership or that person’s friend, not necessarily some vigilante in the church) to address the issue. I would also say that although Paul is very forceful about the necessity of dealing with the issue and the severity of the situation for both the immoral person and the rest of the church if not resolved, he is also emphatic that the motivation of this “judgment” is out of love (seeing the sinful nature of the immoral person destroyed and their spirit saved in the last day)–not a motivation of trying to put people down or make oneself look better than others, as some of the other commenters on this post have already stated here. This is probably why it’s best that those in leadership handle the situation, unless it is a close friend of the person. Otherwise, it may come across poorly and turn into a finger-pointing contest, or even worse.
If the person refuses to receive instruction from the leadership, while we still value/love them as a person, our desire to remain in fellowship with them may need to be set aside for the sake of the rest of the church. Once someone feels it’s OK to do something clearly against God’s will (such as the sins mentioned in this chapter), pretty soon others feel freedom to indulge in their own lusts and depravities–especially when the church is permissive of its members blatantly disobeying God.
The reason I didn’t use Paul in this particular post (even though this chapter you and Erik referenced would be an obvious text on the matter) will be addressed in my next post.