Don’t Judge? Who Says?
If you’re at all like me, you’ve found yourself voicing negative opinions about the behavior of so many others, in greater measure, more often in the last several years. The reason, of course, is that personal behavior, generally, seems only to get worse and worse as time moves on. That which was unthinkable a few decades ago is now considered to be no big deal. We have been desensitized to such a degree that violence, sexual excess, and a host of other unfortunate behaviors are now no longer held in the disregard they once were, and are even lauded in some circles.
I wrote a piece some time back criticizing the behavior of our Hollywood “idols,” and specifically addressed the spate of so many within Tinseltown having babies out of wedlock. A few of my acquaintances read the piece and took some issue with it, deciding that I was being far too judgmental (this speaks to why they are acquaintances as opposed to friends). One, however, went too far, when she indicated that I was flat wrong, in part, because the Bible instructs us to refrain from judging. It was then I decided to formulate this piece.
We’re all familiar with the “don’t judge” crowd, and more importantly, with their agenda; their only interest is the validation of unethical, illegal, or immoral behavior, so that they may continue to earn a pass for their own transgressions. For me, the only thing more offensive than the idea itself is the effort by too many to gain support for their view from the Bible. How many times have you heard some idiot (see? I love to judge) say something to the effect that the Bible teaches people not to judge others? While I will never be mistaken for a Biblical scholar, even I recognize how ridiculous and offensive it is to ascribe such a “teaching” to the Word of God.
Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to refrain from judging. Most of the misinformed justify their ludicrous idea on the basis of what has probably become the most misused verse in the entire Bible, Matthew 7:1. It reads (New American Standard version), of course, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” Taken out of context, one might conclude what others do: The Bible says not to judge. However, it is important to keep that verse in its proper context to gain a proper reading, and in order to do that, one must read on. Verse 2 continues, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” Verse 5 ties it all together: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
What this passage (verses 1 through 5) presents is not an advisement against judging, but rather a lesson in how to judge. It imparts basically two ideas: Don’t judge unless you yourself are prepared to be judged, and that you should not judge if you are guilty of the same transgression as that committed by the person whom you’re now judging. As a matter of fact, the passage does not even go as far as to say that you cannot judge someone if you’ve ever committed the particular sin for which you’ve placed your brother under scrutiny; it says only that you should clean up your own house first, and then you may assist your brother in the effort to clean his.
Let’s think about this in another way. Why would the Bible, filled with so much wisdom, say something as ridiculous as, “Don’t judge?” Well, it wouldn’t, and it doesn’t. Have you thought, even for a moment, about the consequences to any society if individuals or collectives were forbidden to judge? There would be no prisons, because there would be no one to put inside of prisons. How could you, without judging them? For that matter, how could there be any justification for the enaction of any laws in the first place, so dependent on the enforcement of laws is the mechanism of judging? What about the living of everyday life on an individual basis? You would not be allowed to discriminate against anyone on the basis of anything, regardless of how egregious one’s behavior might be. You would ostensibly have to accept anyone into your personal life and into the lives of your children because to elect to do otherwise would involve the use of judging. Indeed, the very concepts of “good” and “bad” would have to be redefined or discarded altogether. I could go on and on here, but suffice it to say that judging is as inherent a part of being human as thinking itself, and the Bible obviously recognizes it as such. The simple fact is that the consequences to society, if we lived truly judgment-free, would include finding ourselves persisting in anarchy at all levels…and, of course, the Bible teaches nothing that would result in anarchy.
In the end, the problem with society today, vis-à-vis judging, is not that we have too much of it; it’s that we have too little of it. Societies will always be well-served by the social stigmas that result from the mechanism of judging, for they go a long way to regulating socially irresponsible behavior. That we’ve strayed from them to the degree that we have is evidenced by the decay around us that is so obvious that only the most morally and ethically challenged cannot see it. A return to stigmas, and the judging that serves as their central component, is long overdue.
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Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Contributing Editor – www.ChristianMoney.com
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