Judge Not

[Bioture]

I wish to bring to your attention something that has been troubling me lately. It seems as if everyone has this sweeping generalization that somehow Christians are not supposed to judge. And only God can judge people. And we can see in Luke 6:37:

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven."

This is all fine and dandy, however there is a small problem with this. We (christians) are supposed to help each other. We see in proverbs 27:17:

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

In order to help another person, shouldn't we first acknowlege or recognize their faults? Isn't this judging? I'm not playing devils advocate on any of the passages, but I truly believe that currently, liberalism has caused us to find any means necessary to feel shameless and accepted - and so the problem with society is exposed here.

I say: "hey, doing drugs are bad for you" and then someone else can say "you're not supposed to JUDGE anyone because you are christian." How am I supposed to help another man, without judging him first?

I think "judging" comes in different contexes. I don't think you should condemn, but judging is okay IF you have the positive intention to actually help someone, and not just say "this is wrong." So its wrong to say "smoking is just wrong" but its not wrong to say "I think you should stop smoking, and I will help you."


Please give me your insights on this issue. Please don't turn this dialogue into an argument about existence or whatever else that is drawn and has been done before.

[Fit of Rage]

I'm fairly certain that the connotation in "judging" in those two instances has to be different. If you judge someone based on the Luke passage its essentially passing judgement on them, which you have no right to do, however, the second instances brings about this idea: suppose that in order to recognize your friend's faults, you don't judge them per se, you identify the cause of their problems, rather than target they themselves for their wrongdoing.

[Liquid Blue]

In order to help another person, shouldn't we first acknowlege or recognize their faults? Isn't this judging? I'm not playing devils advocate on any of the passages, but I truly believe that currently, liberalism has caused us to find any means necessary to feel shameless and accepted - and so the problem with society is exposed here.

I don't believe you are judging someone by recognizing their faults. For instance, say someone has a weight problem:

Not Judging- " Hey Cindy, I know you asked for help with your weight and I was thinking that maybe you should try jogging. Even power-walking will help you get on the right track, as long as you make sure to eat healthier from now on"

Judging- " Cindy you fat fucking cow! You know what's yellow and orange and hot all over? Twinkies, Cindy. THE DEVIL'S TWINKIES. Do you want to go to hell? Too bad lardbuckets, you can't stop whoofing down those fluffy sinful treats of satan, so you better get ready to burn for eternity! And no, you won't lose weight you incompetent slut! YOU'LL BE FAT, YOU'LL BE BURNING, AND I'LL BE PLAYING TIDDLYWINKS WITH JESUS"


See the difference? It's all about how you go about helping the person, IMO. Judging involves you believing you are worthy enough to decide how well they have been living their life; while helping simply means you are trying to aid them in improving their life.

--
The society and shameless acceptance thing has been a slow, upward trend over the past decade or so. It seems like everything is mass marketed now, even the stuff that used to be "rebellious" and "different". Look at stores like Hot Topic, Thug-wear stores, metal/goth stores, etc etc. Some could argue that it's a sign of improving times (more variety, wider range of clothes and styles to choose from, acceptance of individualism, etc) - but I think it's really just doing the opposite. Think about the people you see in school or on the street, and try to think up how many different styles there are. Don't give any bullshit answer like " his throwback is blue, that guys sean john shirt is red lol " , it's the same style. Off the top of my head I'm going to go with about 5, 6 stores, not including the plain janes and ordinary jim's who get their shit at JCPenny or some shit. There I go ranting again, I'll post more later.

[Subjugation]

If you are looking for a religion that doesn't contradict itself, pick one not named "Christianity".

[Squeezer]

If you are looking for a religion that doesn't contradict itself, pick one not named "Christianity".

funniest post of the year. :P

[Bioture]

thanks for not addressing the issue at all. next time, please read the initial post and try not to bring down the intelligence and context level of the thread down a few notches, ok? thanks a lot.

[Subjugation]

Don't judge me, Bio. It's not Christian.

Edit: I hope you know I'm only teasing you, and not trying to start some religious war. Ok, I will stop now. Last post by me in this thread. Good day, sir. Ps, jesuslovesu.

[Liquid Blue]

thanks for not addressing the issue at all. next time, please read the initial post and try not to bring down the intelligence and context level of the thread down a few notches, ok? thanks a lot.

Did my post not go through :fear:

[Fit of Rage]

Or mine which LB totally ripped off (asshole!).

[Riesen]

Corinthians 11:14 - "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?"



Hmm. . .

If you said, "Hey, I don't think it's all that good of an idea to smoke." and Smoker John says, "Don't judge me." Ask him how you were judging him, and ask him where religion ever came into the equation.

I was raised to never discuss religion with others unless it was a friendly debate or something like that. Why? You don't know who you're going to piss off, offend or whatever. Just keep religion out of it and it will be fine. Keep thine own faith to thyself. God damn.

[Epinephrine]

*holds up a sign that says 'John 3:16'*

Ask your priest or something, the TW message board is a bad place to find ultimate religious truths

[Liquid Blue]

Or mine which LB totally ripped off (asshole!).

OMG stop judging me.

:wub:

[Sarien]

thanks for not addressing the issue at all. next time, please read the initial post and try not to bring down the intelligence and context level of the thread down a few notches, ok? thanks a lot.

That's kind of hypocritical, isn't it?


Passing Judgement, Judging, it's all the same, and you've stumbled upon one amongst various reasons why the bible and people that try to follow it letter by letter and word by word is a bunch of hoo-ha.

It is impossible not to judge. Not. Possible. You depend on 5 senses for survival and communication with your surroundings. Each new experience to you, has to have some sort of analysis or "judgement" of said experience in order to wrap your mind around it and process it.

You stick your finger in a light socket.
It hurts.
You judge that light sockets aren't a place for fingers, and that putting it in there would be a bad idea.

Judging people? Same thing. You read this and you agree or don't agree with the following statement:

The bible is a book that only a fool would try to wade through the various contradictions and nonsensical jargon placed between the frequent bad idea, in order to try to live by word for word.

See? You just passed a judgement. You agree or you don't. The first of many to come, let's hope.

[PH]

Stop judging Bio's opinion, you assholes. Before my penis judges your rectal cavities in a violent manner.

[Volny]

Well, searching "truth" in book or respectively compilation called Bible which (especially old testament) was created by many ppl over many (hundreds) years (and some parts were not approved - as lately discussed gnostics evangelias) is pointless. (so if u quiting especially from both testaments you will find everything)
Or do christians believe that that book just fell from heaven?