PART THREE:
At this juncture one should have begun to see the scriptures for what they are actually relaying to the readers pertaining to judging. Matthew 7:3-5 will help one understand if one can judge according to the scriptures or not. Matthew 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? In this verse one may think that this is Christ ridiculing one for judging, but that understanding could not be more wrong. Clearly, Christ is telling the judger to examine himself before judging his brother. Verse 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? In verse 4 again Christ is telling the judger to judge yourself before you judge your brother. In other words, Christ is telling the people to make sure you are in order first. 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Verse 5 just closed the door on all who believe that one is forbidden to judge according to the scriptures. Christ has given the people an order of how we can judge. We must first not be guilty of the same infraction and then we can see clearly to judge our brother. For instance, I could not be stealing a snicker and you are stealing another candy bar and I yell out stop stealing to you., that is being a hypocrite. Here are a few more examples of everyday judging that takes place all over the world. Imagine that you are looking to hire a nanny to watch your children while you are at work. You interview the person, all goes well, but you do a background check and find out that the potential nanny had a child molestation conviction, would you hire the child molester to baby sit your children? Example number two, Let’s say that you are going away on vacation and you are looking for a house setter. Would you have a well-known thief to stay in your home while you are away on vacation? If not, did you or did you not judge that person or persons? This way we can clearly see that God does want us to use discernment or to judge others, but we have to understand too that we are held to the same standards that we have set forth in our discerning judgment. In other words, be careful in your judgment of others if you are guilty of that same infraction.
Do you still believe that we are forbidden to judge?