When is it Okay to Judge Others?
February 2nd 2011 00:13
Some people ask this question, “When is it okay to judge others?” The answer: “Never.” This is a common misunderstanding among Christians and non-Christians. The bible repeatedly tells us to discern between good people and bad people. How? By reading the Word of God. There are clear guidelines as to discern the difference between the two groups. This is not “judging” an individual or group of people, it is simply taking what we know to be true from the Word of God and applying it to our life to help us do what is right. When it has already been written by God's chosen and deemed right by God, He has judged it to be so- not us.
Judging someone is to form an “opinion” about something. When we form an opinion on our own authority, it becomes a “judgment” about the matter. Scripture tells us never to judge another person.
Here are examples of righteously “discerning”: A person who lies is a liar. A person who steals is a thief. A person who takes a life willingly is a murderer. (Why? Because the scripture has taught us what is good and what is sin.)
Here is an example of “judging”: Look at that woman's skirt, anything above the knee is just sinful to wear! Those parents shouldn't be disciplining their child in that manner, it's just wrong. I know that his mother wouldn't approve that he said/did that, but I don't care, to me, she doesn't need to know. (You see, aside from things that are DIRECTLY stated as good or bad in the bible, no one has the right to pass judgment on another.)
You'll notice though that the above examples of judgment still need a common sense approach. For instance, the skirt, if the skirt is so high that it shows a woman's bottom or panties, a Christian woman probably shouldn't be wearing it. It wouldn't be a sin but it wouldn't be reflecting Christ-like modesty. As for the area of parental discipline, each parental unit is different, God made them that way. As long as there is not beatings or serious abuse, Christians should be trusting that God knew what He was doing when He put that man and woman together to raise their family. The same goes with the last example in that area; if a parent has trusted you to watch over their young, you have no right to interfere with parenting styles or what should be kept away from the knowledge of that parent. If you do, you can almost guarantee that your relationship will suffer greatly by your arrogance and self righteous behavior.
So, it boils down to this, you either follow God's word, or your own. If you follow both, you live in sin as we should be submitting ourselves and living sacrifices which is to say we sacrifice our own authority and submit to His. Romans 14 is a good scripture to read on this but please read all of the listed scripture below.
Matt 7:1
Luke 6:37
Romans 14
1 Kings 18:21
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