I have often heard it said that we as Christians should not judge. That we are to be loving and tolerant and forgiving and accepting. But what does that mean anyway?
To investigate this we must look at the circumstances under which this claim is most often cited and by whom it is mentioned. And to do this we are going to have to make a judgement for ourselves. And I think that's part of the distinction under which the commandment was given.
Most often this is mentioned when something has happened and the consequences of someone's decisions are beginning to manifest. Then most often someone will make a remark that this is what happens in such cases and someone else will counter stating that we shouldn't judge. Now the particulars may change but more or less this is the general story.
Now before I go saying who is right or wrong, let me generalize the types of characters usually involved in such cases. The person who made a mistake is typically someone who is young and lacks life experience. The details of what mistake can vary greatly and really aren't important here.
The person making the comment can vary greatly. It might be someone of a religious persuasion who is attempting to make a point or lesson using someone's mistake as an example. It could be a self righteous individual who is attempting to make themselves appear superior to others. It could be someone spreading gossip. Ultimately what matters is the motive.
Now let's look at the person who says not to judge. They almost always fit into only one of two stereotypes. Either they are genuine, or they are justifying. They are coming from opposite extremes. But either way the person making such a comment has themselves made a judgement. Either they recognize person making a remark has done so unjustly and they are attempting to put a stop to slandering, or they are advocating the act and attempting to appear morally superior to someone else in the process. There really isn’t much middle ground.
Now in any case motive is one of the most important matters, but let's make one thing clear. In any situation, we are always making a judgement. But what are we judging? Let's be honest with ourselves. So far I have left out particulars because circumstances vary so wildly and my goal in this article is not to say that thus and so is right or wrong so much as I'm trying to teach a principle and bring out some truth.
Those who say that Christ says not to judge are most often speaking of two entirely different things. Most often they leave out the entirety of what Christ actually said and the principle Christ was trying to teach which is contained in the context.
So let's start with the context. In Christ's time you had classes of people, many different sects and denominations just as you find today. And one of the things you had was that people rank themselves based upon how well they believed themselves to be keeping the Commandments relative to others. So as a natural conclusion men would assume themselves to be better than others based upon the judgements they conclude just as they do today. Now Christ was trying to teach a lesson here, that our methods of judging are not based on truth, but rather on moral relativity.
“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:16-17
Now an example of this. Let's take two young men, and one of them makes the mistake of stealing. Now we can look at this and most will agree that stealing is bad and the act is wrong. Now in this example one might also draw the outward conclusion that the boy who didn't steal is therefore morally superior to the one who did.
But this might not be a correct conclusion. Notice that no context is given as to and of the circumstances surrounding the crime or the circumstances surrounding the second boy's innocence. We don't know the facts to make such a judgement beyond whether the act was right or wrong, in other words we don't have the information to judge either boy's character.
What if we find out the boy who stole was in a very destitute state? That doesn't make stealing right, but it does make his circumstances more understandable. What if we find out that the boy who didn't steal has not been put in such circumstances? What if we find out that the only reason we know the one boy stole was because he confessed it and was trying to make it right? What if we reversed the roles and found that given the same circumstances both boys would behave in the same way?
And that's a part of the reality. It's easy for us to look at someone and say, if I was in their shoes I wouldn't have made that mistake. The reality is we aren't in their shoes, and in most cases we don't know how we would behave if we were. It's easy to place ones self on a moral high ground to judge someone in different circumstances than our own. What we ought to do is make the best decisions we can in the circumstances that we are in, and we need to be striving to help others.
Now that doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to things that are wrong or justify evil under the banner of "not judging". Ignoring evil can cause incredible harm too. If something is not right, in must be judged and acknowledged as such. In my example the boy who stole did do wrong. So how is this going to be resolved. If it is ignored or justified the behavior might continue. Also others might decide that such behavior is acceptable.
When the woman caught in adultery was brought before the Savior, He didn't justify her behavior. He firstly brought to light the false motives of her accusers, which caused them to leave in shame. But then He offered to the woman forgiveness on the condition that she repents. He acknowledges that she is guilty, but He doesn't condemn her.
But he doesn't ignore the matter either. He gives her an option by instructing her to "Go and sin no more". He extends to her a compassion and understanding. As a topic for another article, the story never tells what becomes of this woman, but one can very, very sure that her life will be very difficult, and Christ has a compassion and understanding of the hard road she has ahead.
A lot has to do with our motives. The men who brought the woman before Jesus were trying to justify in their own hearts their feelings of moral superiority. They wanted to trick or trap Jesus by placing a moral dilemma before Him, and they clearly cared nothing for this woman. But when Jesus showed what was really in their hearts, he showed that their pride had lifted them up. They were all guilty of something, many were guilty of the same or even worse.
It is said in the scriptures that pride is the greatest of all sins. And pride defines our motives. In order to be lifted up in pride we must thing ourselves superior to others. If our judgements are based upon our pride, then as we are judging so shall we be judged.
