Don't Judge me!

Judgement is one of those things the world has put on it's universal black list. In this day in age, the only person allowed to judge anyone must be seated on a pedestal, wearing black robes and holding a gavel. Unfortunately we still don't really let them judge anyone, we expect them to read off a paper: "You get this sentence because of this law, and a jury decided that legally we're bound to do this to you."

Anyone caught judging is immediately labeled as the worst in society: they are prejudiced, racist, bigoted. If you mention sin, the world has begun to learn a single Bible verse to use on Christians who will tell them that what they do is wrong: Luke 6:37 "Do not judge and you will not be judged, do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven." Alternately, they also like to use Mat 7:1 "Do not judge or you too will be judged."

Interestingly you find yourself stuck in a conundrum to use this verse, because usually the tone is spoken with "You're going to hell because you judged me!" Unfortunately for the unbeliever these verses are grossly out of context when used this way, furthermore, the person who is concerned over their sin is most likely not judging them at all.

Judge, unfortunately, has several meanings, and the greek is no clearer than the english on this one. Too bad it's not like the greek "Love" having five different words. Judge in english should really be like snow to an eskimo. We need a bunch of meanings.

Judge can mean:

To form an opinion through careful weighing of evidence

To sit in judgement on

To determine or pronounce after deliberation or inquiry

To form an estimate or evaluation

To hold as opinion.

Too often I see people actually using opinion number one.

I judge that you are behaving sinfully because of careful weighing of your actions and my perception of your intent. And you immediately say "Don't judge me!" I haven't sat in judgement on you. I just compared your action to a list of actions and said "They look the same!" I haven't told you that you're going to hell, that you'll get herpes, or declared any punishment on you for your actions, to be honest I haven't even really ascribed any quality to you personally by noting that the actions you take are sin.

In essence I believe it is not our place to condemn another by placing our estimation of them as the final say in their eternal value and worth. I do not nor will I ever believe that we ought not carefully observe and weigh evidence to form an opinion, that's called foolishness, but this is what the world wants when they say don't judge.

They say "Just let them alone, they aren't hurting you" "What does it matter?" Basically they are saying that I ought not form my own opinions by weighing the facts. Of course, they came to this conclusion by weighing the facts of their discomfort over being called out on their sin. And they hypocritically tell me I shouldn't judge, then they go a step farther and sit in judgement over me because I dare to call sin sin.

I would ask that men do judge me. Weigh carefully, observe what I do. Form an opinion, and odds are this opinion will show more about you than it does about me. And should you decide you're big enough to sit in judgement and tell me my value, I will kindly disregard, because I judge you inadequate compared to the creator of the universe to estimate my value.