Can Christians Judge?

Lately I have seen so many Bible verses thrown back and forth in so many debates about social and cultural issues, that it seems that people have clearly taken text out of context or have no clue about the context its used in anyway. I want us to take a look at Matthew 7:1-2




 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

 

It would seem to many that Christians are not supposed to judge, especially on cultural and social issues. I know without a doubt that I will be judged, by God, at a point in the future. "The same way" you judge is how you will be judged. Christians have the right to judge. We have no power to sentence, condemn, execute or input fines but we have the right to judge. It comes down to how we judge. Do we judge with love? Do we judge with hate? Are we judging from a standpoint of trying to win an argument? I believe the best way to judge is through love. I have had people that love me judge me because they want the best for me, now and in the future. Have I sinned? WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!! I've sinned today. I have at some point in my life broke all 10 Commandments. I've murdered people with my mouth. If words speak life, then they can speak death too. Now here is where lots of Christians fail, confession of sins. How many do you know that will admit to what I just did? I see my sins. People that love me see my sins and hopefully will point out them to me. Lets look at the next scripture.

 

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

 

Here's a great example of the hypachristian. Telling someone that drinking is not good for you while drinking a beer, is an example. That's what the scriptures are talking about. How can you look at a brother and see his sin but don't see your own sin. The scripture tells us that first we must remove the plank out of our eye. How?

• Self examination.  To find a splinter in your eye, you have to look in the mirror. Same with sin.
• Confession. No box needed. Confess to God in prayer your sins and seek forgiveness.

Then we are able to see clearly to help our brother to clean out their sin. There is the paradox. I see that Jesus here references an eye, a very sensitive part of the body. If I was to ever be tortured and they went after my eyes, I would tell every secret, like Chunk in the movie Goonies.  Imagine a splinter in the eye. Ouch. To me that's sensitive. It insinuates that sin in a persons life is a sensitive issue to be dealt with tenderly. Are you going to let someone run roughshod on your sensitive eye? Didn't think so. So it would stand to reason you wouldn't let someone run roughshod on the sensitive portions of your life either. To help someone with sin includes sensitivity to the person. Love, patience, confession, prayer, devotion and kindness are tools used to remove sin from a brothers life.

Now the part that deals with judgment.



"They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."


Banana's and plantains are similar in appearance, texture, shape and size. So what's the difference? Well that comes through testing them. This passage is also about judging and testing. When you go to buy a car you judge cars on MPG, safety, manufacturer, resell value, looks and performance. The judging is not wrong here because you are testing.  Same things go for Christians. We know them because of their fruit. The idea that Christians can't judge is absurd. Again we can not pass sentencing, rulings, penalties or such. Judging means:


to form an opinion about (something or someone) after careful thought; or
: to regard (someone or something) as either good or bad


To form an opinion is what judging is. We all have them. Lets look at ways we should be judging based on the above passage.

• The eye test.  Does it look like a banana? The eye test is one of the most important test. f you were to pluck a apple of the tree to eat, would you examine the apples first with your eyes? Of course so. You would avoid the ones with black spots and wormholes. That's the eye test pure and simple.
• The touch test.  When you pluck it does it feel soft in your hand? Does it have soft spots or other weird things growing on it? This is another example of testing and judging.
• The taste test .  Pepsi and Coke look the same in a clear glass. Pepsi marketed this idea in the 80's (greatest decade ever) with the Pepsi Challenge. It was designed for random people to taste both soda's in a blind taste test. Since they look the same the only way to tell a difference is to taste it. Same for banana's and plantains. They look a lot alike. They feel the same but the taste is a whole different game. The plantain is starchier and less sweet.

This is how we as Christians are to judge. Careful thought and examination in forming an opinion.
We have to view this idea too. If we judge something or someone as bad, is the bases for that biblical? Just because I don't like the Red Sox, doesn't mean they are bad or anything. To dislike abortion on the other hand is right and biblical.  This is the Christian judgment. We must first judge ourselves against the law of God and determine where we are. Its not an easy process. It can be painful to do but we must in order to help others with their sin. Judgment isn't a bad thing as long as its done in a proper manner, a Godly principal based manner.