Jesus said 'do not judge, lest you be judged'......so why are the majority of Christians so judgemental??

Question

It seems Christians (I know this is a huge generalisation and does not apply to all) judge homosexuals, those who have abortions, sex before marriage, and those who are not Christians. I would have expected them to accept and love anyone regardless, as long as they are a good person.

Answer 1

It probably isn't just Christians, but I find a lot of so-called Christians (and no doubt this applies to Muslims etc. as well) are really nothing of the sort. Many people need some reason to look down on others, and religion is something that they might use to make themselves feel superior. They don't follow religious writing absolutely, but pick and choose the bits they want to follow. And things like love thy neighbour, forgiveness, treating others as you would be treated are not important to such people. I'm not a Christian but I still have a moral code that I live by, and have been appalled by the behaviour of many so-called Christians whose hypocrisy would not have impressed Christ if he existed.

Answer 2

The verse you are referring to is found in the book of Matthew.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. Matthew 7:1 KJV

The verse is often used incorrectly. To make a gross generalization of my own....why do so many who do not heed the Word pretend to know the Word? I will also leave room for those who say they heed the Word and never study the Word. However, this is a valid question given that it is often used against Christians.

"Judge not" refers to an unfavorable and condemnatory judgement. This does not mean that a Chrsitian should never exercise judgement of any kind under any circumstances. The point being made here is that we are not to judge the inner motives of another. We are not to render a verdict based on prejudiced information. We are also not supposed to use ourselves as a standard of judgment.

"That ye be not judged" refers to the ultimate judgement by God rather than our own judgement.

To understand a verse one must put it in it's proper context. You must know who is saying it and who is it being said too. You must consider the preceding verse and the following verses. It is essential that we keep the Word within the context is was written. Afterall, God doesn't like being taken out of context anymore than anyone else. If I only hear part of a conversation I can easily have the wrong interpretation. At least that we can all agree on.

The problem you have is that many Christians mix up hating the sin and not the sinner with hating the sinner. Sadly, hating the sinner is a specialization of some Christians. However, calling a sin a sin, is NOT hating the sinner. Christians under the Word of God can discern good from evil. There are many many Christian ministries that minister to homosexuals, drug addicts, girls who had abortions and the alike. There are many churches who welcome the opportunity to minister to those in need. However, nothing compares to the Word of God and the love of Jesus Christ. There are those who claim to be Christians and are not. There are those who claim to know biblical truths and are practicing false doctrine. Seek the true Christians. Seek the Word. There you find truth.

Answer 3

Kate,

I love the Lord but one thing that God has been showing me NEVER to judge a person until I walked at least a mile in their shoes meaning I need to put myself in their position before judging or making assumptions.

Unless we have been hungry, poor or down and out we don't know what someone is going through unless we have been there ourselves.

It is easy to judge and point fingers at people than it is to really love them, in my area where I live there are a lot of single mothers some as young at 14 and others walking the streets with their kids and one in a baby carriage.

The only reason ANY of us have what we have is BY the GRACE of God and nothing else.

I have also got to bear in mind that not everyone comes from a nice home or lives as nicely has we do and for this my spouse and I are grateful.

However Jesus came to save sinners and John 3:17 says that Jesus came into the world NOT to condemn the world so they may be saved.

Christianity should not be a clique but an outreach we need to pray a lot more than we judge because I have been judged very unfairly at times and would never want to do this to anyone else

Answer 4

Sometimes people forget the forest for the trees and they focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. When they do this with sin, you end up condemning that one thing violently without looking at everything else that is wrong. Yes, the Bible declares that homosexuality is a sin, but so is lying and stealing. How many rallies do we have against those things. Yes homosexuality is declared as an abomination in the Bible, but so is pride. I use homosexuality because it is one of the biggest current nationwide debates. When we focus just on that, we judge homosexuals harshly and forget about our own sin. We become puffed up and proud and take the doctrine of love, which is what Christianity is supposed to be, and become just like the Pharisees that Jesus condemned because of their judgmental and proud attitudes.

What we should do is love people. Too many times we shy away from what is different or wrong because we don't want to get tarred with the same brush. But fi we could remember that God loved and accepted and called each of us while we were sinners and enemies of the Gospel, then we would learn to love and embrace our erring brothers. Until then, we'll just be throwing around hate.

Answer 5

God is actually going to do the judging when you die or really so there after. Christian here now can do no real judging they can only point to what God has said is wrong. Although that probable feel like they are judging you , again they really can't there are just pointing out what God has said. but if there is no God dont worry about it You will die we will all die so you better be sure of what you really feel is true before that final time and fallow it. Because if there is no God you better do all you can as fast as you can and have fun as you see fit . and hope every body else doesn't have the same attitude because this world would be very very scary then , what is happening now would be nice in comparison

Answer 6

Many fundamentalist Christians are confused and have actually turned out to be like the Pharisees in the Bible -very hypocritical and judgemental of anyone different from them. I am a Christian but I am not like not. Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus loves sinners. Jesus came to save the sinner. And we are all sinners, no matter what we do. God loves us all, gosh darnit! Even our enemies. The Bible says to love your enemy. After all, it's pretty easy to love only the "good people," and how in the world would that be defined? Everyone would have a different opinion on what a good person is.

Don't worry, not all Christians are like that. It's just the loudest ones that you hear on the news!

Answer 7

If the Bible says, don't murder, be homosexual, or lie, I can tell someone they are wrong. Not because I said so, but because the Bible says so. I will love them and try to get them to come to Christ because I want them to be saved. But I can't condone sinful behavior. And I won't Judge them because it isn't my job, God will Judge them on Judgment day. Being a good person will never be enough to get to into heaven. God is perfect and Holy. So any sin, no matter how small you think it is will keep you out of heaven. Only by accepting Jesus as your savior do you have a hope of heaven.

Answer 8

This is a difficult question, but the answer lies in the parable of the Samaritan Woman and the story of Jesus telling the woman to "sin no more."

Jesus never condoned sin but gave the sinner the opportunity to redeem his or herself after the fact. Homosexuals lived in Jesus' time (Romans, Greeks, some Jews, foreigners, etc.) and Jesus preached the Word of God to those who were receptive.

In the modern system, we have judges who judge us in a secular fashion. When we attend church, the priest is not supposed to judge us but to speak to us in love and faith.

I personally do not judge homosexuals, those who've had abortions, those who've had sex before marriage, etc. Being a good person is only one aspect of being a Good Christian - the parable of the Good Samaritan shows how "good people" ignored a suffering man and avoided him.

Answer 9

I completely agree with you. It seems that any overly religious person is so much more judgemental and cruel then any of the nonbelievers ever could be. It's ok not to agree with someone's choice, like sex before marriage, but another thing to judge them for this. Christians aren't alone in this, I've seen many religions, or I should say people who practice different religions behave this way.

Answer 10

Because they believe in a different type of judgement. They believe people should join them, and when they are joined, they will no longer be "corrupt" in any way, and so they will not be judged. And because Jesus said "lest you be judged", somehow he seems to be right, doesn't he? Everybody is judging everyone else. It's the human way. And because one man judges another, that man may not like it, and he may lead other people against this other man who judged. Anyhow, Christian people sometimes seem to accept only those who follow them. "Ignorance is bliss"?