Judge Not, Lest Ye ... What?

Spirituality Column #208
November 2, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Judge Not, Lest Ye … What?
By Bob Walters

“Judge not, lest ye be judged.” (Matthew 7:1-2)

Is there a more widely celebrated scripture verse in society today?

Or one whose true meaning is more misunderstood?

My friend Brent Riggs’ “SeriousFaith.com” blog provides illuminating reading for any biblically literate believer. He says it’s illogical “not” to judge.

“People say, ‘the Bible says don’t judge.’ What the Bible says and means is ‘don’t judge … in a manner that will bring judgment on you.’ Everyone leaves out the second part,” Brent writes. “It means don’t judge in a way that 1) is hypocritical and 2) uses human standards instead of God’s divine standard that is above pettiness, selfishness and the agenda of man.”

“Don’t judge”? Nonsense. We have to judge. We have to discern. We have to develop smarts and discretion and wisdom. We have to judge – constantly – between good and evil, helpful and harmful, loving and unloving, right choice and wrong choice.

Psychology and sociology have unfortunately replaced theology and philosophy as the primary behavioral guiding lights in the Academy. The post-modern academic world of science and research universities constantly seeks to diminish, decentralize and compartmentalize truth. It abhors judgment based on the absolute moral authority of God. In its “judgment” – firmly and ironically – there are no God standards.

Perhaps, like me, you find it disturbing that these soft-science academics (along with journalists and pundits) pass for arbiters of ultimate worldly judgment guiding our cultural conversation on who can judge whom about what.

Why do we intellectually allow that? God’s standards are high, so why do we dumb down expectations of ourselves and each other, reacting to corrections and rebukes by misapplying a Biblical proof-text?

“Don’t judge.” Baloney. We may as well say it in the vernacular: “Get out of my face!” In other words, it’s not “Don’t judge,” but “Don’t judge me.”

My favorite definition of sin is “anything that falls short of God’s standards.” And God’s standards according to the Bible include declaring one’s faith in Jesus Christ, loving God, loving and serving others, and engaging one’s heart, soul and mind in pursuit of God’s truth, to gaze at the face of Christ.

Channeling Johnny Cochran, “Human standards are in dispute, while God’s standards are absolute.”

Saying “don’t judge” is akin to saying, “don’t think.” Even secularists know we have to think; believers know how comforting it is to think of God first.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) felt that a discussion on right judgment and God’s standards was appropriate on Election Day.

Grace, Not Flames

Spirituality Column #165
January 5, 2010
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Grace, Not Flames
By Bob Walters

A friend pondering a rare trip to church (possibly a life-time first … I didn’t ask) on Christmas Eve, commented, “I’ll probably burst into flames.”

Ho, ho, ho.

My, there is a lot packed into that statement: humor, surprise, humility, assumptions, conclusions, misinformation, and more than a hint of sarcasm.

But not much truth.

The comment reminded me of when I was baptized just a few years ago, wondering – considering my sin – if God would let me up out of the water.

Why is it that we think an encounter with God, like a baptism or a Christmas trip to church, is an exposure to punishment, rather than a bridge to the peace and safety of salvation?

Most of us – believer and non-believer alike – have figured out that our lives fall short of perfection; that “sin” isn’t a good thing. That my friend equated church with a Godly encounter is a good thing. Even wrapped in sarcasm, the fact that he “got” the sin thing is encouraging.

That he approached the throne of grace with fear and trepidation, i.e., “flames,” doesn’t say much for how we Christians present the throne of grace.

I wish more people readily understood that faith in Christ is the ultimate flame retardant; that any expression of that faith – even a mildly coerced Christmas trip to church – is an encounter with grace, not a fearful, flaming encounter with hell.

Christians should never allow the eternal, loving glory of God in heaven to be framed merely as the opposite of earthly sin, nor to think that what punches our ticket through the pearly gates on judgment day are fear, shame and guilt.

The Bible doesn’t provide many specifics about heaven or hell, but every bit of the Bible, ultimately, expresses God’s desire for a personal, loving, saving relationship with each of us.

God sent Jesus Christ to draw us near to Him, not to drive us away. Faith and God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8), not fear and our guilt, punch our ticket to salvation.

Quoting my wonderful Christian friend May: “Praise God that I am a sinner; it is the only thing that qualifies me for God’s grace.”

With Christmas – the birth of hope – a couple of weeks past, in this New Year let’s work on receiving, with hope and love, sinners like us into our churches. We’re all welcome.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) prays for the peace and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to dwell with us all in the coming year.

Obedience: Fear, or Love?

Spirituality Column #63
January 22, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Obedience: Fear, or Love?
By Bob Walters

To obey God, or not to obey God, isn’t really the question.

But … if you are inclined to obey … do you obey God out of love, or out of fear?

Now there’s a question.

Obedience in the religious sphere is the active exercise of ones faith. It’s where the rubber meets the road of our faith journey. Whether the load is heavy or light, I think, is governed by fear on the one hand, and love on the other.

Christian obedience is especially tough. Old covenant, new covenant. The 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 5). The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-6-7).

God seems to be saying in the Old Testament: Obey my Laws or face my wrath. What he is really saying is: I will be faithful, no matter what.

In the New Testament, Jesus says He alone is the way (John 14:3) to God; to have faith, and to obey his commands. Paul says we are saved through God’s grace by faith alone, and that the Law brings wrath (Romans 4). James says faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26).

Then there is freedom, which further muddies the waters of obedience. Christ came to set us free of our sin. God gave us free will so we could love Him (love is an act of free will, not coercion); that is, if we decide – with that same free will – to even recognize Him.

And … if we are free, why do we have to obey anything?

It’s confusing, and open to great interpretation. That’s why there are so many churches. The bride of Christ, it would seem, has many gowns.

When Christians obey God out of fear, that faith usually seems to be accompanied by great doses of guilt, judgment, condemnation and the like. God is wrathful. The Bible is a rulebook. A heavy yoke.

When we obey God out of love, then our faith tends to look more like the peace, patience, kindness (“fruits of the spirit”) list in Galatians 5:22-23. Christ is our companion. Our whole trust is in God. The yoke is light.

We can be tossed about by the stormy seas of life’s turmoil regardless, but the love-or-fear nature of our relationship with God determines the roughness of the ride.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes candidly that it is easier to discuss obedience than to actually be obedient. Mea culpa.

Judgment Day? That's a matter of opinion

Spirituality Column #10
January 16, 2007
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper

Judgment Day? That’s a matter of opinion
By Bob Walters
Author of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

The most crippling “doctrine” visited upon Christianity is the one that suspends individual judgment. Atheists and postmodernists love it.

You know the line … “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” and its several iterations in the Gospels of Mathew (7:1), Luke (6:37) and John (7:24).

This truly great advice, directly from Christ, is one of the most dangerously misapplied verses in all scripture. Non-Christians and misguided Christians wield that line against believers, and against the absoluteness of God’s truth.

Judge not. I mean, you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, would you? All that God stuff doesn’t give you the right to judge me!

Well, judge this. Suppose I’m a drug dealer. You had better have the right to judge me; not for my sake, but for yours. “Judge not” doesn’t mean you can get away with being blind.

Here’s a news flash: without judgment, you die. Without judgment’s first-cousin discernment, you can’t know God. Without God, there is no right and wrong.

Judgment, really, is how we survive. Discernment is how we know God. That’s why God gave each of us a brain, for judgment and discernment.

Even an atheist who shouts down Christian judgment will ignorantly “judge” the “wrongness” of a Christian holding the “opinion” that God exists, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Holy Spirit abides with us. That same atheist won’t see his own wrongness of heart, emptiness of head … nor the plank in his own eye.

You are the one with mush for brains, you silly Christian believer! An atheist’s highest belief in the universe is the sovereignty of his own intellect.

If that were the case (thankfully it’s not), I’d wonder about the universe.

Postmodernism is a big word but easily defined. It means this: absolute truth does not exist and your own opinion is sovereign. Right and wrong are in the eye of the beholder. I don’t remember ever meeting anyone who actually said he/she was a postmodernist, presumably because the position is so morally vapid, intellectually unsound and, in general, just plain silly. But they are out there. Everywhere.

Judgment is inconvenient and un-postmodernist, but very Christ-like. Think Christ wasn’t judgmental? Better read the New Testament again and this time, pay attention. He IS the Judge, and the Truth, and the Light, and a lot of other stuff.

Atheists can’t fathom God, and postmodernists can’t fathom truth. God the empty promise, and truth the matter of opinion, are what you get when judgment is absent.

Love God and love others, but for heaven’s sake, show some judgment.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is not a drug dealer.