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Introduction: what it means to judge based on biblical views
So we have all heard the saying judge not least ye be judged, but then at the same time judge with righteous judgement, and People who are against biblical views and anti Christians will use this verse to try and get the upper hand in any discussion.
But I have the viewpoint Christians should never fear challenging their own beliefs, I do it all the time and normally the answers I find don't actually pull me away from God but give me a deeper understanding of what the truth is. Whether it is science or religion, asking questions actually makes me more humble in accepting that the bible doesn't answer every question, just like science doesn't have every answer. Now I know it might be controversial to say that simply being a true Yahweh believer is simply not enough to lead a good life. I have known true Christians who believed and trusted in Jesus but that committed suicide, had broken marriages, stole money from the church and cheated on their spouses. So as much as everyone might say just put your faith in Christ and your life will be fantastic and peaceful, Christians in the church who mess up badly shows differently. They have Jesus, the pray, they go to church and yet they still sign, badly, according to the human scale of good vs bad. So this suggests we actually require something else outside of the Sunday Church service. And this is where I think our individual responsibility to ourselves and those we love come in. Asking the church to fix your problems is not going to help you. We as individuals have to look at our individual lives and take accountability for ourselves. So what it means to judge based on biblical views? let's find out.
So back to what does it actually mean to Judge people?
If we consider todays society and the way the word Judge is used, it can have many connotations based on the context of the sentence and the situation where it is used. The original Greek word for Judge is krī́nō (pronounced Kre-no) and can have one of the following meanings: To separate, divide or distinguish
To order or arrange
To inquire or investigate
To select or choose
To decide a dispute
To judge
To discern
To pronounce
To accuse
To pass sentence on, condemn or criticize
to secrete
Now if we look at the modern world, this actually gets applied in everyone's lives on a daily basis and we judge accordingly. We have legal proceedings where a judgement gets made.
We have sports events where judgements are made for a winner.
We have business dealings where judgement calls are made.
We Judge movies and performances based on our individual criteria when viewing them. We judge people's work performance based on a set of criteria.
We judge people behavior based on a moral standard
and at times\
We judge people harshly without understanding the individual circumstances and facts behind it. That would be to condemn someone. We see this all the time where a person spouts the sentence you will go to hell for being such a horrible sinner, repent and admit how horrible you are so I can feel like I did my Christian duty and saved the horrible sinners of the world. We determine the whole individual based on an individual act or trait of that person.
Imagine someone was drinking and ran someone over. Should we condemn that person for the rest of their lives and label them a horrible individual who deserves hell for eternity because of it. Or should we look at them with love and see the individual mistake and not label them completely because of it. At the same time, we should not just raise our hands and say I cant say what you did was wrong as that would be judging you. Of course not, we would still say you made that mistake, and that mistake needs to be judged accordingly and acted upon. The person would be told to go into drug rehabilitation, probably serve some jail time of some kind, and certain expectations would be had of them from that point onward. Is that harsh? no, its the consequence of a decision.
So that is where we need to Matthew 7:1 must be read and interpreted correctly. The Judge not lest ye be Judged would be more accurately defined as Condemn not, lest ye be condemned. This verse was also aimed at the Christians of the time who were on a mission to point out everyone else's sin and not look at the sin they are comfiting themselves. To put this into a modern context, imagine you had someone whom you knew to be a alcoholic and a wife beater, come to you and say you have an issue with anger, and you must repent and deal with it better. Now I would look at the person and say are you serious? your beating your wife and drunk 5 times a week, go away and figure out your own problems. before I call the cops on you again or something like that. But lets reverse the situation, If I came to this person and told them you are a evil sinner, your worthless in gods eyes and all you are is a drunk and a angry old wife beater who deserves hell. Chances are I will either belittle that person so much they will give up on life or tell me to go away in anger. Now imagine both situations, but said from a point of love and understanding. Without accusations of how good or bad they are, no belittling, just a loving honest conversation. The reality is there is still a issue there that must be dealt with, one that hurts more than the individual itself but those around them, and this cant be ignored because we are not going to judge this person.
Practical Examples in my life
I have a mother in law who smokes, and lets be honest it is a unhealthy habit and dangerous to the user and those around them. We also have a two year old, and so whenever she smokes, I keep my son and myself away from her. We don't want to have our health impacted by her decision to smoke. Nor should we. She chose to smoke, that should not be anyone else's problem. I have never said she is a horrible person, or deserves hell for this, but I don't condone her decision or allow her to influence my son from that perspective by saying it's ok to smoke and has no negative affects.
So when it comes to something like today's big issues eg lgbtqia++, I have never condoned these acts as something the human race should condone, But mine has never been from a religious moral perspective, I have always considered this from my personal experience with it, combined with biology and psychology, and then added a moral layer to it. In my teen years I had social issues, one being that I was constantly being told I was homosexual, not a man, and this came from everyone in school to even my own brother, who kept saying this until my early 30's due to whatever reason he had to keep wanting to try and hurt me like that. Now when I was in my teen years, with all these accusations being told to me, it makes me start to wonder whether I was actually homosexual, or maybe I should be more girl like because I am not a man apparently, but then I had a dilemma to solve. Either everyone else and the thoughts I am having as a result of what they are saying is true, and I am homosexual, a girl not a boy, etc or my biology is correct and I am a boy and straight and they are all wrong and I cant trust my own mind anymore. Now I don't know about you, but my human brain cant be trusted. It lies to me 10 times a day because it has been conditioned to believe certain things based on how I was treated even though that is not true. For example, getting bullied at school made me think people are out to get me, made me very nervous and afraid and unsure. So how could I trust my own brain to tell me the truth, when all this is causing it to be telling me things that are not true. I mean in my teen days I looked at straight porn not gay porn, so I never had a inclination to be that, but yet I still questioned whether everyone else is right and I should maybe be that. So I made a choice to believe my biology and work to change my mind and not what everyone else tells me. I am still working on my mind to this day to make it believe more positive things that the negatives around me and see situations for what they actually are and not what my messed up mind sees them as.
I do hope that everyone else out there who is struggling with something can find some inner peace with who they are as they were created and not have to go through multiple changes and change mindsets and adapt because some people said something that made them feel a certain way and question themselves. There are support groups out there for when you are unsure of what to do and whom are what to believe. If you need someone to talk to about what your going through, even if it is me, I will assist in whatever way I can. All I ask for is honesty and the truth and not versions that make everyone else the problem. You are in charge of your life. Take a hold of it.
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