Judging and Making a Judgement, Whats the Difference? Your judging!! You evil person you! Judging, the moral racism of Christianity. Do not judge lest you be judged warned Jesus. And yet despite this warning we all do. Yes everyone at some point will judge someone else. Its imperfect human nature to judge people because it can elevate us above the people whom we are judging. Fuel for our pride. Its a feel good thing, and as we all know, if it feels good were in it! No doubt the ills of a judgemental attitude based on pride are manifest. But does this mean we can have no opinion on the actions of others? Do we have no defence against those whos way of life could be a danger to ours, separating us from Gods love. How can we decide between right and wrong, ascertain motive and intention, whats best for our spirituality if we are unable to judge a situation and come to a conclusion. Judging, judgement. Two words that have judge in them but with two very different meanings. Judging is a verb, a doing word as we were taught in school. So if your judging something you are actively using cognitive powers to analyse events and behaviours. To form an opinion using your own conscience to see if something is either good or bad, right or wrong, which in turn leads us to make a judgement. So judging with honourable intentions to obtain a judgement is not in itself bad. We make judgements everyday, all decisions come about from a process of judging. We couldnt get through life unless this occurred. So where does the problem start. It comes about when we make the distinction between judging something and judging someone. We all fall short as we know so this makes judging someone very difficult for the Christian because if were all imperfect therefore no one being superior to each other, how can we judge someone else, when judging requires we stand on a higher platform to those who are being judged. A dilemma indeed. To break the dead lock it comes down to what judgement we come to and the reason behind it. God does allow us to make certain judgements even concerning our fellow believers in the faith, but He does impose a limit. If we were to say of someone, they are totally bad, cant be reformed and only have death awaiting them, that is a judgement we have no right to make. Only the Creator can make such a decision regarding who he will forgive, who will live and who wont. But can we make a judgement on a persons conduct? Providing we are not indulging in the same thing, the answer is yes. I think the main reason people have a problem in judging someone is that it is assumed that the person making the judgement is a hypocrite. For we are all prone to hypocrisy since our deeds do not always live up to our words. But to say that this is always the case is simply not true. Hypocrisy comes in two flavours, the intentional and unintentional. Unintentional when we simply fall short as flawed humans which doesnt mean that the ideals we believe in are flawed, or that we forfeit the right to advocate them. Or intentional hypocrisy when we just decide to be a so and so and use high ideals to hide what we truly are for some kind of immediate gain. Such conduct is not the fault of flawed genes. Nevertheless people dont like to feel inferior even if its an inferiority brought about by their own actions. So the easy way around that is to simply make everyone the same, having no right what so ever to judge our attitudes or behaviour. As imperfect people we are all equal in value as a human life but in what we do the equality differs. Peoples actions and sense of spirituality can at times be superior to others. Yes we all sin but if I confessed that I cheated on a maths examine back in 1986 when I was 15, that doesnt mean Im on the same level of a serial killer, and therefore have no right in saying being a serial killer is a bad thing, making a judgement on that person. If that was the case we would not have been able to take any action against Hitler and the Nazis having been compelled to let them walk free because like them we too are sinners. We have to realise there are different degrees of sin and culpability. And we have to make judgements resulting from judging to see the difference and act accordingly. Surprising as it may sound, not all judgements are incorrect. Many times they can be spot on and something that is needed if we wish to maintain a high standard of Christian adherence. People who accuse others of being judgemental, (the product of judging by the way) inadvertently become spokes people for bad behaviour. They think theyre being all Christ like and loving not judging our brothers but in the end theyre moral cowards and just plain lazy not wanting to think about anything or take a stand on something, maintain it, receiving criticism in the process. They substitute appeasement for standing up for what is right because apparently we cant judge what is right or wrong. Heck if were unable to know the difference between right and wrong, how can Jehovah judge us then. If we have no capability to judge morality that would mean essentially judging us would be no different to judging any animal that has no sense of right or wrong. So if Jehovah can hold us accountable for our lives, surely we can hold one another accountable for our actions and make judgements accordingly. Holding someone accountable is not the same as condemning them. When we dedicate ourselves to God and uphold his principles, we have undertaken certain responsibilities to do just that. These brothers and sisters who go out and commit fornication or become pregnant out of wedlock and then complain that they are being judged by others, what in blazes do you expect? You cant expect everyone else who is not doing those things to keep rolling out the non judgemental carpet just so you can be dissolved of any responsibility. Got to grow up sometime people. (that being my judgement but a damn good one if I may say so) What I find amusing are these brothers who adamantly say you must not judge under any circumstance period! But have no problem what so ever if someone makes a judgment on someone in the affirmative. If I was to say wow that brother is really a terrific bloke, who upholds Christian standards with no parallel Ive just made a judgement! using the process of judging! But no problems with that when its all nice and happy and positive, being that many of our brothers seem to think that Jehovahs Organisation is one big international mutual appreciation society. Sometimes being a Jehovahs Witness is not always pleasant. Thats not Jehovahs demand but the demand of satans system. These brothers who are always trying to downplay the wrongful actions of others by not judging them and shielding them from the consequences are not allowing them to make genuine atonement to God. True repentance has to hurt as my late mother used to say. And she was right. So yes as Jesus said we need to be mindful of the rafter in our own eye. But we must balance that acknowledgement of our personal limitations with the realisation that others have rafters too. Maybe bigger and more dangerous ones. Ive know some brothers in my time whos hypocrisy was to such an extreme that the rafter Jesus spoke of could be more likened to the Great Wall of China going out from one eye, doing a 360 and slamming back into the other. So that being the case dont I and others have the right to ascertain that, make the necessary judgements and protect ourselves? We are not responsible for other peoples sins. But we are responsible in not letting inferior attitudes and conduct affect our standing with God. Judging does not have to be some egotistical superiority thing. It should be used solely as a cautionary measure. So let us use wise and honourable judgements to keep our relationship with Jehovah a strong one and maintain unity among our brothers. While ever there are dangers to that, we must keep our powers of perception acute and active, and not be afraid to make a judgement when called upon to do so.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 05:49:14 +0000
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