Do not judge me! Really?

QUESTION?

Can we judge somebody else, yes or no?

ANSWER!

'Political Correctness' has clouded the mind of the average Catholic when it comes to this topic of 'Judging Someone' and I would like to clear up this common misunderstanding that is very prevalent in the Catholic faith today. Political Correctness calls good evil and call evil good, it calls white black and black white, it calls darkness light and light darkness. P.C. is the straight from the pit of hell. How often have you tried reaching out to someone enslaved to sin, only to be told in response, “Who are you to judge me?”  It is so unfortunate that many Catholics today buy into this deception.  What deception am I speaking of?  The one that says it is “judgmental” to correct another’s sinful actions and call them to repentance.  But didn’t Jesus say (Matthew 7:1-6) “Judge not, lest you be judged?”  He most certainly did, but you need to read everything he said in that paragraph and not take that one verse by itself. Here is what he said:

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” Jesus is rebuking hypocrites. He says you have to amend your life first, before you try to amend other people’s lives. Therefore we can judge someones ungodly behavior, only if we are living according to gospel principles.

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Here you have to make a judgment as to who is unholy in order not to profane what is holy (the Gospel).

We cannot condemn a person and make rash judgments maliciously (cf. CCC 2478). However, we are called to make judgments on behavior.

There is a biblical distinction between judging a person (always wrong) and judging a person’s sinful actions (always right).  I will show plainly why judging a person is a sin, while judging actions is a work of mercy and compassion.  

·       We are to judge not in a condemnatory sense but in a rational sense. In Matthew 7:15-19 you have to make a judgment as to who are the false prophets. In 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 it says "test everything, retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil." Obviously you have to make a judgment as to what is good and what is evil and that usually involves people and their actions. Jesus also says, “And why do not judge for yourselves what is right” (Luke 12:57), and right before this he just preached fire and brimstone (in verses 49-56). Jesus also says in John 7:24 “Do not judge by appearances but judge with right judgment.” Moses says in Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” InGalatians 6:1 (NAB) it states, “My brother, if someone is detected in sin, you who live by the spirit should gently set him right, each of you trying to avoid falling into temptation himself. Help carry one another’s burdens…” Notice that you have to judge someone’s action – this is the demand of our Christian conscience. In order to keep one another accountable to the Lord, we must help and aid each other in overcoming sin.

1 Kings 3:7-12 “Now, LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed David my father; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act— I, your servant, among the people you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil. For who is able to give judgment for this vast people of yours?” The Lord was pleased by Solomon’s request. So God said to him: Because you asked for this—you did not ask for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies—but you asked for discernment to know what is right— I now do as you request…”

In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 St Paul argues that Christians should quit suing each other before pagan (unbelieving) courts, rather they should settle and judge their issues amongst themselves. Why? St Paul says that "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that you will judge angels? How much more, matters pertaining to this life! (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:1-3). In fact in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 St. Paul judges a Christian brother who has been fornicating with his Fathers wife, here is what he says, "I for my part...have already...pronounced judgment on the one who has committed this deed...you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh..." So you see, we can and must judge actions, we cannot judge the final destiny of the persons soul, because (1 Sam 16:7) "Man looks on the outward appearance (human behavior) but the Lord looks on the heart" (intentions of the person and destiny of the soul). In short, I cannot judge your soul and say with complete certainty that you are going to heaven or hell, but I can and must judge a fellow Christians behavior (in charity and with genuine concern for their soul) when they are in unconfessed, unrepentant mortal sin. The best way we can demonstrate our love for one another in this relativistic culture is to not withhold the truth from one another, for it is the truth which shall set us free (John 8:32).  To allow you to remain in error and sin is not love, it is actually hatred. We must help keep each other be accountable to the Lord at all times. St. Paul says we must encourage one another and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). In this context, part of the way God tries to help us so we will not stumble or fall in our faith is by incorporating us into a Body, a true spiritual family.  In Matthew 12:50, Jesus says that whoever does the will of the Father is His mother, brother, and sister.  We are a real family when we are baptized into the faith.  Like any loving family, we look out for each other.  We keep each other accountable.  This is seen in passages such as 1 Thessalonians 5:14, where we are told to, “admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient towards all.

This, then, brings us to the issue at hand.  Is there a distinction between judging people and judging actions?  There most certainly is, here is an example, Paul judged Peters hypocrital actions, he did not judge his soul (cf. Galatians 2:11-14).  Jesus Christ tells us that it is always wrong to judge one another, but what exactly is He talking about?  In context, He is saying that it is wrong to catch another person in sin and say, “Look at how bad you are.  You deserve damnation because you are so bad.  If only you were more like me.  I know better.  You, on the other hand, are nothing but a pitiful sinner.”  This sort of attitude is condemned by Jesus Christ, and yet this was the typical attitude displayed by the Jewish leaders of His day in their dealings with others.  They saw themselves as being more righteous simply because of their ancestry to Abraham.  Throughout all of the Gospel accounts, Jesus is constantly having to remind these leaders of their hypocrisy, telling them to examine themselves and see how they are inwardly sinful.  Why does Jesus tell them this?  Why does He say it to us?  Because it is pure hypocrisy to take the attitude I just mentioned, and yet not realize that we ourselves are weak sinners as well, in need of God’s grace just as much as anybody else.  If you do not think you are any better off than anyone else, reread 1 John 1:8, which says if any of us say we are without sin then we are a liar.  Jesus Christ suffered and died for all of us. 1 Timothy 1:15 says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  That is you and me.  We are all on the same boat, because none of us are perfect.  All of us fall into sin and are desperately in need of God’s undeserved grace.  This is chiefly why we cannot judge other people, because to do so assumes we ourselves are sin-free and thus makes us hypocrites.  All things are “naked and open to His eyes,” Hebrews 4:13 tells us.  Scripture reminds us that there is only one true Judge in this sense, and that is Almighty God (Romans 6:23).  The reason why only God can judge us in this sense is because only He can see into the heart of a man, and we cannot (Psalms 44:21,Hebrews 4:12, 1 John 3:20, Revelation 2:23).  And when all is said and done, it is by our heart ultimately that God will judge us (Psalms 7:10, Matthew 5:8).  So why can't we judge people?  Because that is God’s prerogative alone, since He alone knows the heart and intentions of a person.

Now we move on to the second point.  While we can't judge people, we are called by God to judge actions.  This was seen above in the fact that Scripture calls us to hold each other accountable for the purpose of helping one another get to heaven.  If we cannot tell someone else that their actions are wrong, then the command to hold each other accountable makes no sense at all.  Why correct another person’s sinful actions?  Because we want that person to get to heaven.  There are two false (and demonic) assumptions behind the statement, “Who are you to judge me?”  The first is: All morality is relative, and thus whatever I feel is right must be right, and so you have no reason to tell me it is not right.  This is false.  God has given us a moral standard for us to follow, and it is absolute, not relative.  We do not have the freedom to redefine “sin” to make it fit with our lifestyles or choices.  Sin exists as an objective reality, and there are standards of right and wrong we must follow.  This is laid out in the ten commandments, and also explicitly illustrated by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5-7.  Catholics do not believe in relative morality; we believe in absolute morality.  The second false assumption: There is no such thing as hell, but even if there is, only really depraved guys like Adolph Hitler go there.  Many people feel no one has a right to tell them that their action is wrong because they have already concluded that they think the action is right (in short, they have deceived themselves, as so often we do; we rationalize our sin).  But this is incorrect.  Our God is so holy and honorable that for one sin, we are deserving of damnation.  It is by God’s grace and mercy that He is patient with sinners and gives them strength to overcome sin, repent, and live an obedient and faithful life.  It is also by His grace that He gave us the sacrament of Confession (which heals us of mortal sins) and the Mass (which heals us of venial sins).  Jesus Christ actually said that the path to damnation was wide and many would choose that road, in contrast to the narrow road which leads to heaven (Matthew 7:13-14).

Ezekiel was called to be a watchman for Israel to warn them of their sin, but in order to warn them he had to judge their actions as being either righteous or wicked (cf. Ezekiel 3:17-21; 33:7-9). Also, St James (5:19-20) says that "if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death..." Now, in order for you to know who is an unrepentant sinner and evangelize them you have to make a judgment that they are in fact unrepentant sinners. On Judgment day, Christ the judge is going to share this power with the Saints (cf.Rev 20: 4).

The Bible can get no clearer than that.  The motive for correcting one another must always be a pure and sincere motive: to help one another get to heaven.  If the motive is anything else, remember that God judges the heart of a man on Judgment Day.  We should help others overcome sin in their lives, because it is the devil’s desire to keep us from God.  In fact, we should hope and pray that others would love us the same, to correct us if they ever caught us in sin and exhort us to seek out the mercy and forgiveness of God.  Our motive should not be to find faults in the lives of other people, for to do such a thing would turn us into a hypocrite, and as our Lord tells us, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye?  You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).  Our purpose and intention must always be rooted in true charity, desiring the other person’s salvation above all, since we know willfully committed mortal sin keeps us from heaven (2 Timothy 2:12—“If we deny Him, He will deny us”).