Love, Tolerance, Forgiveness

A common misguided teaching is that Christ wants us to be loving and accepting of others regardless of their choices. This attitude is often used to shame those who voice their views on things such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce, morality, etc. They always state that Christ teaches us to be loving and accepting.  The world loves this politically correct, "don't judge" attitude. They will quote:

"Judge not, that ye be not judged." Matthew 7:1

But in order to understand this saying properly, we need to keep in mind the context in which it was given and the principles Christ was trying to teach. 

So let's look at the bigger picture. 

"Judge not, that ye be not judged.  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." Matthew 7:1-5

Now when we look at the whole passage you see a different picture here. It is common nature for men to look at a situation with limited information or understanding and make a judgement. By this they will adjust how they treat and value people. 

But more interestingly, this passage seems to be addressed to those that are looking for faults in others.   The Lord brings out an interesting fact here, that we are not perfect. We are here on this earth to learn and grow.  And part of the process of learning by experience is that we will make mistakes.  If we want to judge and condemn the actions of others, then using that same measure how do we stand?  Most often we judge with a double standard.

Another concept and pehsps the most important part that is brought out in the last portion is that we need to correct our own weaknesses and faults instead of pointing out the faults in others. Not from this simplistic "mind your own business" attitude. Rather, Christ wants us to overcome our failings so that we can be effective at helping others. 

So what is the principle that Christ was trying to teach? The idea that we shouldn't judge isn't really possible. We make judgements so that we can make decisions on a continual basis. And judgement is often a positive thing. What we are not supposed to do is condemn others. It's not our job to condemn, our job is to help others. And that help come by way of understanding their struggles. We need to learn how to understand the difficulties that others are facing so that we can help them to overcome. 

When I look at these passages, I don't see the  new age "acceptance" doctrine the world wants to teach. What I see is a call for repentance. By repenting and resolving to overcome our faults we become far more effective tools to affect real change around us. And by learning to overcome our own sins, we can more effectively teach others how to overcome theirs. We need to learn to love as God loves, and we need to understand that it does not mean embracing the sins and follies of the world. It means first repenting ourselves, then showing forth good fruit so that others may choose to follow the same path. Lead by example.