One of the most common lines heard in Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christian Churches is “Don’t Judge.”
After all the Bible says:
Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1)
Anytime the leadership, pastor, elders, deacons, or Granny Jones is questioned about an issue, teaching, etc….the questioner is told DON’T JUDGE.
Christians are expected to suspend rational judgment and just believe. After all faith is belief when there is no evidence.
In the 1980’s Jack Hyles, at the time pastor of the largest Church in America, was carrying on with his secretary. The evidence of his affair and misconduct was overwhelming.
People were told DON’T JUDGE. No matter what the evidence said, just believe. Believe that Jack Hyles was a man of God who could NEVER do such things. Believe that it was all a Satanic plot to destroy him.
Pastors use the DON’T JUDGE line to hide their misconduct, sometimes getting by with improprieties for years until someone/somewhere is willing to stand up and say I WILL JUDGE.
On one hand it seems strange to hear DON’T judge because Evangelical and Fundamentalist Churches are notorious for judging the world. It seems that the no judging only applies to the Church itself. Pastors thunder from pulpit on every real and imagined social ill. Many sermons are 90% judgment, 10% grace.
Yet, these same Churches have lists of rules that every member is expected to keep. (both written and unwritten) As a Fundamentalist Baptist we drew up lists of rules that Moses could only dream of. Please don’t tell me YOUR Church doesn’t have any rules. You are not being honest. EVERY Church has some set of rules, written or unwritten, that govern what is acceptable and unacceptable. No Church, no matter the flavor, is without rules. (they may hide as “Bible truth” but they are rules)
So the NO judging actually becomes a lot of judging. Self-judgment. Judgment of fellow Church members. Are they keeping the rules? Are they really, really, really following Jesus? After look at how they are dressed. Do you know they cuss at their house? I heard they drink beer. He looks like a hippie. They are pro-choice. They watch R rated movies. They voted for Obama. Did you know they are a Democrat? They didn’t even vote at all. Did you hear what they said about Saint Sarah Palin? That skirt is pretty short. Did you see that they have a tattoo? They are divorced. She is pregnant and NOT married. They read Harry Potter. They saw Jesus Christ Superstar. Do you know they went to a secular college? Do you know they send their kids to the public school? Do you know they use the NIV?
And on and on it goes…
At this juncture I suspect some of my more smug liberal, emerging Church Christian readers are smiling and saying “See we are not like that. We don’t make any judgments.” While I question if that is really true (just different rule standard you judge by) I actually have more respect for the Evangelical/Fundamentalist non-judger/judger. While they deny they should judge they know that life is filled with making judgments. Every day we make judgments.
The liberal wants everyone to love them. The liberal wants to be voted most liked person in the class. The liberal piously say don’t judge and makes few judgments about anything. They fear confrontation so they judge nothing. They cross themselves and say “ I leave the judging to God. “
Have I pissed everyone off? Good. Let it out. Judge me. You can do it.
Stop living in denial.
We all make judgments. We all judge people, places, and things every day. We judge our family, spouse, children, government, neighbor, and the dog next door.
What matter is HOW we judge. What matters is whether we make judgments according to knowledge.
Few people read the verses that follow Matthew 7:1. Let’s look for a moment at verses 2-5:
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
So much for NOT judging.
The Bible ACTUALLY teaches that we SHOULD judge. Gotta love context. There are two things that jump out of these verses.
- By whatever standard we judge others we will be also be judged
- We should self-judge ourselves before we take on the task of judging others.
Preacher when you stand up in the pulpit and preach your famous “holiness” sermon remember you’ll be held to the same standard. You will be judged! (in this life btw)
Before we judge others let’s take a long, hard look at our own life. Let’s clean up our own trailer lot before we clean up someone else’s. Before we judge anyone let’s make sure we can clearly see the issues before us.
Let’s be honest with each other. We are going to make judgments. We will judge each other. You will make a judgment about this post. If you leave a comment I will make a judgment about your comment. (and my wife may know my judgment when I shout out bullshit)
In fact I welcome your judgments. I write what I believe at any given moment. I am not infallible. I expect challenge. But I expect to challenge me with reason, facts, etc.
Challenging my posts on the ten Christians in Haiti who took the children with comments that say “Don’t Judge. Only God can Judge” will be summarily dismissed as Bible thumping rhetoric that I don’t believe and neither does the person quoting it. The real problem is that I have a different judgment than theirs and they don’t like opposition or being challenged.
So, please do judge. Use your brain. Make intelligent, reasoned judgments. The future of human race, of the world, depends on people being able to make rational judgments.
Thanks to Lorena for provoking me to think about this bit (a comment she left on her blog)
“So, please do judge. Use your brain. Make intelligent, reasoned judgments. The future of human race, of the world, depends on people being able to make rational judgments.”
This. A world of this.
On the other hand, this:
“The liberal wants everyone to love them. The liberal wants to be voted most liked person in the class. The liberal piously say don’t judge and makes few judgments about anything. They fear confrontation so they judge nothing.”
…is a wonderful Straw Man. That’s not to say that there aren’t people like that – I’ve met a few – but it’s nothing to do being liberal per se. (In fact, the first example who leapt to mind is quite conservative, and would be somewhat offended to be identified as a liberal.)
Good judgment Michael.
I was just trying to make a broader point that on this blog the more liberal minded readers tend to find smug joy in not being like those judging fundy’s. Thank God I am not like THEM.
Of course I don’t believe they don’t judge because it is our nature to judge. I respect the Fundy more because at least they are open with their judgment.
I am a liberal who judges. Of course I was a Fundy who judged too. The difference, I hope, is that I actually use my brain now when I judge.
Bruce
For, the emphasis was never on “not judging” – I’m not sure how that’s even possible – but on making cautious, measured judgements, and being willing to revise those judgements in light of new evidence or experiences. I got most of that from my father, along with a strong emphasis on keeping a good sense of perspective.
I’m pretty sure I got the ability to rant from my Mom’s side.
I think Jesus might have had it right. It was the church that started the “don’t judge” mantra when too many pastors and church leaders started to be exposed for who they really were.
It’s a mantra to cause Christians to switch off their brains so that they would not rise up against the leadership.
Yep. Rules, rules rules. Fundies have made entire careers out of making (and braking), their precious rules.
It’s disgusting. Living the life of the eeeeevil Agnostic is really liberating. No more having to worry about rules and regulations. Just live and enjoy your life. What little there is left.