Judge Judge Judge – Introduction

Story Time

It has been a few years, (well nigh up to a decade if I am honest with you), that I had the pleasure of working with a fellow I will call Fred.  (Not his real name – don’t ya know!)

Anyways, Fred knew I was a believer, and would sometimes bait me (which is so easy to do) or generally make fun of Christianity (which is also so easy to do).  So with those two objectives, Fred had some good times working me over.

It just so happened that Fred was good friends with another fellow in the office that was a believer.  This fella would occasionally come to my office to discuss things of God during lunch.  It was a blessing, and we started a bit of a Bible study.

This caused some relational stress in the office, revealing itself one day with Fred telling me that Christians are too judgey.  It seemed so out of the blue, and yet somewhat providential.

You see, I had recently been reading the beatitudes and Matthew 7 came to mind.  It seemed to enforce his argument, until I asked him if judging was the same as condemning.

I think that set him back for a moment.  I hope he considered the difference.   I had to get back to my design work, so I left him with that.

Question

Is judging something or someone necessarily the same as condemning something or someone?

That difference has helped me in my general thinking regarding how a Christian is to think regarding his surroundings and those he rubs elbows with.  I hope this study will add some clarification to my thinking, and help others consider what it means to “make a judgement” in the Christian life.

As my next post in this series, I will provide a table containing the Greek words I found associated with judgement.  In each of my following blog posts, I will deal with a specific Greek word, and supply the associated verse list.

Some of these words are found often within the New Testament, and I may highlight certain verses that bring light to the subject (at least in my mind, full of cobwebs and creaking floorboards as it is!).  At other times, every verse within the blog may furnish interest and cause me to chase the concept to ground.

Nevertheless, I do hope you will interact with me in considering the topic we travel through.  Please provide comment and ask the difficult questions.

Remember, if we all see the Word as authoritative, that means neither you nor I are!  (Authoritative that is. – Just a bunch of hungry ol beggars looking for some crumbs along the way)

But as brothers & sisters, we can help each other in our understanding of the Word.

I look forward to comments and discussion.  May the Lord give you an understanding heart and a willing spirit to consider the Bible and all it’s wealth.