We Indeed Must Judge Because God Calls Us to Admonish Sinners

[Michie]

Ironically, secular society hastily quotes a famous Bible line to push their godless agenda on Catholics and other Christians. This quote that today’s culture – and regrettably, inauthentic Christians – love to recite is from Matthew 7:1, where Jesus states, “Do not judge.” With those simple three words resounding in their ears, along with the culture’s misguided influence and aggressive peer-pressure, too many self-described Christians today feel justified in letting everyone do anything they want, from a man so-called “marrying” another man to a girl so-called “transitioning” to become a boy. Today’s off-the-mark culture insists that Jesus would have cautioned against opposing so-called gay marriage or so-called transgenderism because it would be the sin of acting judgmentally.

The haste is in failing to quote all of Jesus’s words about judging. Let’s put things in context and read more Scripture than just these three words, so we can recognize that Jesus went on to say 99 more words in this portion of the Gospel of Matthew. Don’t stop at verse 1; continue reading all the words in verses 1 through 5:

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

When listening to all of Jesus’s words and breaking down the passage line by line, Jesus was not telling his disciples to never judge the behavior of others. Instead, the Lord wants us to not make rash judgment and to not be hypocritical. If we have to admonish our neighbors for something that we know would be bad in God’s eyes, it will come across as sincere and be more effective if we aren’t hypocrites.

If we try our best to live our lives according to God’s commandments, and if we strive to properly form our consciences, we will know sin when we see it. It is because we care for others’ salvation that we sometimes must judge them in our efforts to help get them on the right path. We are not judging their eternal reward or damnation. Only God gets to judge what will become of us when we die. But we are judging if an action is sinful or not, and in a loving way letting people whom we care about know, in hope they will see the light and change their sinful ways. Basically, Jesus expects us to judge, but with right judgment. Judging objectively is allowed; judging subjectively is not.

Continued below.

We Indeed Must Judge Because God Calls Us to Admonish Sinners - Catholic Stand

There are times when we must admonish others for sinful actions, our children might scream, "I hate you!" when we judge their actions.

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