ok so the bible tells you that only god can judge so how can a church tell you what is right?

Question

wouldn't that be judging? i'm not really religious (but i read like half the bible before i got bored) but this kinda bothers me how some churches and church people can tell people what is right or wrong. they should just tell people to read the bible or help them study it and figure it out themselves.

Answer 1

Teaching people what is right and wrong from God's Word is not judging. And the Bible doesn't say that we shouldn't judge the way you are thinking. The Lord stepped up to the prostitutes defense because she was going to be stoned for something he knew the people were 1. probably guilty of themselves 2. and not willing to bring the male perpetrator forward to stone as well.

It's like condemning someone of being an adulterer when you cheat on your wife. Or pointing the finger at someone as a gossip when you spent the day talking about them to everyone that would listen.

God didn't intend for his people to point the finger and condemn all the time, but help eachother get victory over their sins. We all sin and hopefully get victory over our sins as we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. Meaning the more we study God's Word, the more time we spend with fellow christians in church and in gatherings, the more we pray...the more we will be able to get a handle on our sins and become more like Christ.

We have to judge. The Bible clearly speaks of man being subject to man's laws. I just read in Genisis how God commanded that if a man spills another's blood then he should suffer the same fate. Jesus spoke of abiding by man's law as long as it isn't contradictory to God's. You have to be judged in the criminal justice system. We have to judge our children's behavior and determine rewards and punishments. It's a part of life and it is an integral part of the Bible.

So church doesn't tell you what to do...they teach you what is in the Bible that you can't seem to finish because it's too boring. The Bible is God's word. The Bible is God speaking to you. Maybe if you looked at it as God speaking to you, you would be able to stay awake and then verify for yourself if what the church has taught you is correct. Not all churches teach correctly that's for sure....no where in the Bible does it say you should ever pray to anyone other than the Lord. So think of it as his personal letter to you. You will be amazed at how well it applies and what will jump out at you.

A few guidelines:

1. Always remember to read the whole passage and then try to cross-reference what you have read to other places in the Bible. Never take a verse out of context. A concordance is good for this.

2. Read another source like "What's in the Bible" by RC Sproul and Robert Wolgemuth. Maybe even take a course or start attending a Bible study group.

3. Avoid like the plague anyone that tells you the Bible isn't 100% true and the inspired Word. God didn't put us here on earth to wander aimlessly with no direction. He left us a guidebook that is reliable and 100% true. Come on he's God. He can do anything. Everything in the Bible can be proved.

4. It is an amazing, complex, intricate book. It is not something you will skim in a week. Men have studied it for years and continue to get things out of it every time they read it. I've read it twice straight through and I've studies various parts repeatedly. I'm always amazed at something new that jumps out at me.

Answer 2

The bible teaches us clearly what it right and wrong, that is how churches know the difference.

Judging people is not a matter of saying whether an action is right or wrong, it is more like saying a person has a bad heart (which only God can know). People were rebuked for gossiping about other people's sins when they were doing the same thing themselves.

Answer 3

I think you answered your own question....in that you said you read the Bible half way and got bored, so how will you know what is in the other half is the church doesn't tell you?

Frankly, you are naive in thinking that the church judges you, they do no such thing, they are simply there to guide you through life.

Also, they don't have to judge you, you sound as if you are already judging yourself.

As for the church telling you what is right, they are simply repeating God's words as stated in the Bible...which you would know if you bothered to complete reading it!

Answer 4

If you are a member of a church, then the church has a right to judge you. If you are not doing right, the church has a right to confront you. That is biblical. If you are not the member of the church, then the church cannot judge you, it is God's problem. It is only biblical to judge within the church. We are to do it in a loving way in hope that the person will recognize their sin and turn from it. It is never meant to run a person off.

Answer 5

Are you trying to unsurp the power of the priests? Reading and deciphering was and still is in their hands as they are the chosen ones such as Peter the "Head of the Church". They managed to position themselves up there with the leaders and got supplied off the backs of others for their service. They are not about to lose that soft job.
The common goat herder sheep farmer COULD NOT READ OR WRITE.... and did not have the time for that nonsense as they were busy in the fields growing and accumulating food for the day to day survival.
>If you had to subsist on what you could accumulate in a day(and we are not talking money to buy stuff) but to go out and forage for you and your family which were doing the same thing< you would be pretty hungry wouldn't you ....and taking a day off"for rest" is a day of starvation.
Only "leaders" would conceive such a notion as they are not the ones looking for food.

Answer 6

Well, the Church is representing God through what he says about judging in the Bible. They are just trying to help us be righteous people after God's own heart, though they should be not TOO overbearing, because then they are being mean to us and trying to force us, which God doesn't like.

Answer 7

In the Bible Paul commends the Bereans for going to the Bible to check out EVERYTHING they were told. I suggest everybody do the same then they will know if they are being judged or instructed. The Bible say, "Study to show yourself approved, rightly dividing the word of truth." and "Know the Truth and the Truth will make you free." If it's in the Bible then it should be obeyed. If it's not then it's between that person and GOD and no body's business.

Answer 8

We have the word of God and His word is the judge also. We will be judged by the Word of God. Most people speak out of love for you and they do not think of it as judging. We think of it as jerking the unbeliever out of the fire as the Bible says. A Bible Study teacher is like any other teacher who believes that he/she knows the subject. We can all be wrong. The mature Christian is to judge within the Christian group.

2 Timothy 3:16,17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof(rebuke,express disapproval of)
for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Answer 9

It is a pastor's responsibility to guide his flock in a Christian way of life. If he does not tell them what is right and what is wrong according to the Scriptures, then they will not know. this is not judgment, but education and effective guidance. the shepherd must lead the flock. Read Psalm 23 and you will get a good idea of what a shepherd is supposed to do. Judgment is self-righteousness, when a person puts his/her personal beliefs over that of another. Yes, only God is to judge, but pastors and minister are responsible to counsel and guide----God has appointed them to their tasks. Counseling and guidance should always be done with love and understanding, and I admit that not many men of the cloth are very good at it. Judgment, that is the judgment of men, is not an act of love, but of wrath. the wrath of men is never righteous. the wrath of God, however, is always righteous anger because it comes from God who is our Creator. No Christian has the right to judge another Christian because we are all created new creatures in Christ, therefore we are all equal. the potter judges the pot that he has made, but a pot cannot judge another pot because it is the potter who decides how each pot that he has created shall be used.

Answer 10

Telling someone that they are conducting themselves in a manner that places them in conflict with God is not judging them.
When God sent Judges to Israel they set up schools of instruction, giving people an opportunity to see the problems in their lives that was separating them from God.