Hear the interview here (segments older than 3 weeks may be unavailable)
Any Christian who has ever engaged a political or cultural issue and has dared to condemn sinful behavior (whether that's abortion, homosexuality, pornography, adultery, or whatever) as sin has undoubtedly heard the oh-so-thoughtful retort: "Uh, judge not lest ye be judged." Or at least some variation thereof: "I thought you weren't supposed to judge," or "Love, don't judge."
This famous quotation of Jesus in Matthew 7:1 is perhaps the most over-used, and consequently and not surprisingly the most misused statement of the Savior. It is used, erroneously, as a way to get Christians to feel bad about rebuking sin and silence them in the culture.
Dr. Randy White, Senior Minister of the First Baptist Church in Katy, TX, has written an excellent analysis of this popular distortion. Here's a portion of it:
In the context, the Pharisees are in view. Jesus said in Matthew 5:20 that one's righteousness needs to exceed that of the Pharisees. One of the perennial pharisaical problems was a nasty judgmentalism that went to the core of their being. Their attitude seemed to always be, "I thank God I am not like one of them." In the broader view of Scripture, here are six kinds of judgment we should avoid.
1. Judgment outside of our sphere of authority. If it isn't your business, don't make it so! (1 Thessalonians 4:11, 1 Peter 4:15, Romans 14:4).
2. Judgment outside of authenticated facts. We often judge for motive, but we are not very good at accurately discerning the motives of others-or even of ourselves! In Job 1:8-11 Satan attacked the motive of Job. Judgment of motive is a satanic activity!
3. Judgment with hypocrisy. Sometimes we judge others for that which we have not overcome. (Romans 2:1, 2 Samuel 12:1-11).
4. Judgment with haste. How many times have we jumped to conclusions. and jumped into a swamp! Proverbs 18:13 says that fools answer before they even know the question, and John 7:24 says that we should not judge "according to appearance." Sometimes the facts call for a judgment, but sometimes the appearance is deceptive!
5. Judgment that is beyond God's Word. The Bible is clear in many areas, and when it is, we should speak clearly, too. But we like to make the Bible clear about our pet peeves! It is easy to bring in "don't handle, don't taste, don't touch" commands where the Bible does not do so. (Colossians 2:20-23).
6. Judgment that is unmerciful. When we have to judge-and sometimes we do-we should do so with mercy. Our goal is a judgment that leads to repentance!
This is a snapshot of an excellent piece that is worth the read. I invited Dr. White onto the radio show to talk about this issue and the effect this misuse of Scripture has on Christians in the culture.
Click here to hear the entire interview.
