I’ve noticed, from time to time, people in the public sphere making statements about not judging people. It seems, though, that this has become an umbrella term for not only ‘not judging’ but also ‘not making judgments about people’. This gives the impression that not only can we not judge people, we can’t make judgments about people. This seems to be a false assumption. I even remember seeing a public service announcement with a famous celebrity saying, “Don’t judge!” They’re right, we shouldn’t judge anybody. The thing is, though, that we can and should make judgments about people. In fact, we do it every day. We make judgments about who we marry, who we become friends with, people we hire or don’t hire and even what celebrities we admire and ones we don’t. And these things aren’t bad necessarily. I mean, they can be bad based on what your judgments are based on. But the point is, that we have to make judgments about people and I don’t think a lot of people understand the difference. Therefore, I think, the term, ‘judge’, often gets misapplied.
You may be wondering, “What does he mean”? Well, let’s explore this a little further. I may see someone do something wrong and I can say to myself, “What they did was wrong.” Now, when I make that statement, I’m not judging that person. First of all, I don’t have the right to judge any other person. What I do have a right to do is determine the validity of their actions. Our entire criminal justice system is based on that concept.
Imagine a man who robs a bank and ends up standing in front of a judge and jury. It’s determined without a doubt that he committed the crime for which he’s been brought to court. And standing before the judge and jury, the judge says to him, “Now, it’s been determined that you are guilty of the crime of robbery. However, we don’t want to be judgmental, or judge you in any way. So, we’re letting you go.” Now, you would say, “That’s ridiculous and absurd.” I agree. But you listen to a lot of people talking about judging, or not judging people today, and that’s how they’ve begun to apply that principle in their lives. It’s become this twisted and perverted logic, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it. The above example illustrates this. Sometimes you have to be absurd to illustrate the absurd.
Apply this to our own lives. Like I said above, we make judgments about who we marry, who we become friends with, who we hang around all the time. Yet, we don’t judge those specific people. So, what’s the difference? It all comes down to this. I don’t judge people in the sense that I don’t compare them to myself, or look down on them in any way. Also, I don’t make a judgment about people based on my standard. I make a judgment about people based on ‘the standard’. You say, “Well, what’s the standard?” I’m glad you asked.
The reality is we all have to have a standard. And we all have to have the same standard. If we all go according to our own standard, then it’s not a standard. It would all become chaos, because nobody could agree on anything. And it would defy the definition of a standard. A standard means it’s applied universally across all people. So, what’s the standard? Well, it’s the Word of God, the Bible.
The Bible tells us in AV Matthew 7:1: “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.” See, this is not saying we can’t judge people’s actions. What we can’t do is judge that person. The reason being is that we don’t know anyone’s heart. Only God knows that. When we judge somebody we are making a lot of assumptions about them, about their circumstances, and about their heart. The reality is, we don’t know their reasons and all the circumstances of that situation. Only God knows that. So, we leave that in God’s hands. And I don’t want to be anyone’s judge, because if I judge them, then I will be judged the same way. But how do we know that the Bible is the standard?
Jesus said in AV John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.” Jesus said that His words are spirit and are life. If His words are life, then that’s certainly something I want to be associated with, isn’t it? The flesh profits nothing. That can also apply to our worldly understanding of things. It says the spirit quickeneth, which means ‘to make alive.’ When we receive His words, they have the power to awaken us and make us alive. Jesus also says in AV John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” So, we know He’s the standard.
Anyway, those are drastic situations where they put you in need of vardenafil price digital picture recovery. generic cialis overnight For example one needs to get a physiotherapy clinic like PhysiCo. As the capsule is easy to swallow and it absorbs in the blood quickly the drug levitra 60 mg assist you to recover from such problems. This raises the significance of practicing http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/2010-4.pdf discount levitra online safe sex. How does this happen? In AV John 16:13 it says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” God speaks to us through His word, and His word is confirmed to us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word of God. AV 2 Peter 1:20 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” What does this mean? This means that we know and understand His word through the Holy Spirit. Since there is only one scripture, there is also only one interpretation of scripture. Man may try to interpret a different way, but the Holy Spirit will always point us to the correct interpretation.
AV 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” We can know that God has given us His pure word. We can use this word to apply in all areas of our lives. It’s meant to teach us doctrine, to correct us, and instruct us in righteousness, or right ways of living. This is our standard. The Bible tells us it’s the truth. And it speaks the truth about its own truth.
AV Matthew 7:1: “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.”
AV John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.”
AV John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
AV John 16:13 it says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
Peter 1:20 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
AV 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”