One of the most abused passages in scripture is 'Judge not lest ye be judged'. I have seen it posted here on numerous occasions over the past few days, usually by those who are shaken by Gospel.
A few things need to be said about this passage.
First, the unsaved people who use it take it totally out of context. This passage refers to HYPOCRITICAL judgment, and has nothing to do with the scriptural duty of every Christian to discern whether a particular person is speaking truth or uttering the lies of the devil. This passage is a prohibition of hypocracy.
Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus Christ commanded his people that they need to "Judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). He told one man that he "hast rightly judged" (Luke 7:43) and asked others, "Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" (Luke 12:57). In order to do the work that God requires of us, we need to know who's in the camp and who's still in sin. How else can young Christians recognise sound teaching from that of the devil, and how else can we know who so desperately needs to repent and come to Christ? We need to be in a position where we can quickly identify sin, and cast it out from our midst.
Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning. These men will not escape the judgment of God for twisting the Truth of His Word (2 Peter 3:16), so they best leave scriptures aside for those of us who genuinely KNOW the Lord Jesus and go back to their theology textbooks and philosophical musings.
30 comments
Oh, I get it. So it doesn't mean what it says, and you don't have to follow it anyway. I think you need to look up the word "hypocrite" in the dictionary, and plaster your picture next to it. And then there's the whole "you can't understand the Bible, because you don't believe it" bullshit. Yet they are the same ones who make the claim that they know more about the Qur'an than Muslims do. Dumb fucks.
Entry: 1judge
1: to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises
2: to sit in judgment on : try
3: to determine or pronounce after inquiry and deliberation
4: govern , rule used of a Hebrew tribal leader
5: to form an estimate or evaluation of ; especially : to form a negative opinion about
6: to hold as an opinion : guess , think
Yes, you silly silly fundie, one word can have multiple meanings and therefore multiple inflections. Get a fucking dictionary.
> This passage is a prohibition of hypocracy.
Everyone seems to know that, aside of quite a few Christians who believe it's a prohibition of any kind of criticism from anybody, because they can't read past a few words.
> Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning.
If the Bible is - as many claim - an absolute guide to morality, then it has to be read by believers and non-believers alike, don't you think? No unbeliever can embrace it unless they know what's actually in it! What use is an absolute guide to morality if you can't understand it without a specific mindset - a mindset that also acts as an unwritten rule of its own?
Besides, not every unbeliever think it's worthless. I think it's a great book, it just could use an editor to remove all boring, badly written. ambiguous and contradictory parts.
> These men will not escape the judgment of God for twisting the Truth of His Word
And how do I know if I'm not twisting the word? How do you?
...the scriptural duty of every Christian to discern whether a particular person is speaking truth or uttering the lies of the devil.
Incorrect. Nowhere in the New or Old Testament will you find that duty listed for Christians. The overriding commandment given to Christians is:
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
The particular duty you've brought up was primarily carried out by the various incarnations of the Inquisition. Maybe you've heard of them.
Hypocritical judgement, WTF?. I actually read when he said that and it means that you have to abstain to passing judgement because you're not over the others. This is funny, when a passage in the Gospel, particularly, doesn't suit their stupid mentality, "it's out of context", "don't quote Scripture", "it doesn't mean what it means". However, the OT atrocities have to be taken to the letter. Oh dear!
Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning.
I could say the same thing about born agains talking about Evolution:
Those who have not studied biology or at least taken advanced biology classes should avoid talking about the ToE altogether, because education hasn´t opened their eyes to its meaning
if i should avoid citing scripture because the Spirit of God has not opened my eyes to it's meaning, you should avoid citing anything related to science or evolution, because you have not been touched by His Pastiness the Flying Spaghetti Monster's noodly apendages.
rAmen.
"This passage refers to HYPOCRITICAL judgment,"
Well, there you are.
" and has nothing to do with the scriptural duty of every Christian to discern whether a particular person is speaking truth or uttering the lies of the devil."
*Fundiebabble translator engaged*
I don't feel like obeying the commands of my own book of fairy tales.
"Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning. "
I'll stay out the your religion that I don't understand if you'll stay out of the science you don't understand.
"Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning."
Uhm, nice try, but no. 1) Just because someone doesn't believe now doesn't mean they didn't at some point. 2) Just because someone doesn't believe (whether they ever did or not) doesn't mean that they haven't had extensive training of one sort or another as to what a particular group thinks it means. 3) I have never heard of this being a part of the Bible. . . citation please?
At least we honestly try to understand what we are talking about before we say it.
"This passage refers to HYPOCRITICAL judgment"
Yes, yes it does. You would do well to follow it:
"Here is a good rule for reprovers; first reform thyself."
(http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/?action=getCommentaryText&cid=48&source=2&seq=i.47.7.1 )
Anyway, I have a Bible too, and your first verse says judge correctly rather than by appearances and arbitrary rules, the second says "you (Simon) answered correctly", and the third sounds like people should be doing their best to make things right between themselves and God. Yay for context.
Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning.
So, those who aren't Christian should avoid reading scripture, because they aren't Christian, despite the fact that the Bible is supposed to convince people to become Christian.
Okies.
'Judge not lest ye be judged' is an inconvenient part of scripture for you is it? You poor thing, and when you get so much pleasure out of being judgmental towards others.
It's a shame. Now you've got to go through a million hoops and perform a billion contortions in order to try and justify one your little pleasures.
Those who are not born again in Christ ought to avoid citing scripture altogether, for the Spirit of God has not opened their eyes to its meaning.
So much, then, for Biblical literalism on any subject.
La-dee-dah. Aren't you special.
If you come on as an asshole, you'll be judged as an asshole. Bible queer or not, an asshole is an asshole.
I love how these idiots believe the first chapter of Genesis must be taken literally, but the words of Jesus, yeah, those need to be understood properly.
And let me guess, those who truly know the scriptures and understand their meaning are you and those who think exactly like you, right?
And they say atheists are self-worshiping!
Similarly the Jehovah's Witness's Governing body claims that lying is allright, as long as it's "for God" (for instance to protect the reputation of the organization). This may also have been part of the justifications when it hid child abuse. But it's not surprising to discover that religion includes hypocrisy, it's nothing new.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.