Who should judge?

[Rochir]

Who should judge another person?

 

[selfinflikted]

We each should. If we didn't judge, how could we move through life on a daily basis? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question...

 

[.Sabre.]

God alone can judge people. None of us are perfect so how can we call anyone else "evil"?

 

[Rebekka]

God should judge, we shouldn't judge lest we be judged ourselves.

 

[TheManeki]

<sylvester stallone voice>

"I am the law!"

</sylvester stallone voice>

 

[chaz345]

Define judge.

In the Bible there are two very different words that were translated into our word judge.

One, and the one that we are clearly called to refrain from is more cleanly translated as to pass sentence upon.

The other, which I believe we are called to do, is to compare to a standard.

 

[Lynden1000]

Define judge.

In the Bible there are two very different words that were translated into our word judge.

One, and the one that we are clearly called to refrain from is more cleanly translated as to pass sentence upon.

The other, which I believe we are called to do, is to compare to a standard.

But we pass sentences on people every day in courts of law.

 

[bgrass1234]

But we pass sentences on people every day in courts of law.

And christians should have no part in punishing anyone for anything.

At least not punishment where violence is involved.

 

[TheManeki]

I'm reminded of a passage in Orson Scott Card's novel Speaker for the Dead. Not having the book in front of me, I can't quote it in its entirety (although someone else is welcome to do so), but I'll leave you with this snippet from Wikiquote:

Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.

 

[selfinflikted]

God should judge, we shouldn't judge lest we be judged ourselves.

But we are judged. Everyday. Unknowingly, unwittingly. There's nothing wrong with it.

 

[chaz345]

But we pass sentences on people every day in courts of law.

But that has to do with the punishment for breaking the law of the land, which we are specifically commanded to obey.

The passages about judging are more relevant to breaking God's law. And in that case, sentence should be left entirely to God, but pointing out another's sin (IOW comparing their actions to a standard) is entirely appropriate.

In any case my point remains that the term judge needs to be clarified. Too often somone who has been told that their actions are wrong starts jumping up and down about how we should not judge and their objection is baseless since we are never commanded in scripture to not evaluate the actions of another as compared to a standard.

 

[CCGirl]

But we are judged. Everyday. Unknowingly, unwittingly. There's nothing wrong with it.

Yup

 

[Ohioprof]

I find the wording of the poll too ambiguous to enable me to answer. I can't check any of the possible answers. Of course we are "allowed" to judge others, in our minds anyway. That's what freedom of thought is. We should be "allowed" to make any judgments we want.

Asking whether we should be "allowed" to judge others is different from asking whether we should judge others. And whether we should judge others depends on the context, of course. I served on a jury once, and it was my duty to judge whether someone was guilty or innocent, based on the evidence against him. Most of us don't serve often on juries, and most of us do not have the job of being a judge in a court. So that context is relatively rare for most of us.

It's more common for us to judge political leaders, since we regularly vote for them. Those judgments are accepted as part of living in a republic.

I think we all probably judge ordinary people all the time in our minds in the context of everyday living. A big question that emerges from this is whether and how we should act on our judgments. What should we do about our judgments, if anything? I think that depends again on the context. If someone has just robbed a store, we report it. If someone has just caused a traffic accident, we report it. Those are legal and civic responsibilities. If we discover that someone is cheating on his wife, what do we do then? That can be tricky. Do we tell the wife? Do we keep silent? Do we confront the man who is cheating? What are the likely consequences of these choices? This is where we often must seek out wise counsel and consider carefully how our actions can serve the best interests of the people involved.

 

[moogley]

So the people who voted for #2 believe that any man made laws are rubish?
I would vote for #1 and #3. Legally #3 - but I judge people on smaller things everyday..

 

[tcampen]

Every human being judges every other human being they encounter every single day. We judge their credibility, reliability, experience, how they present themselves, how they interact with others, whether they present a danger to anyone, if they are acting consistently with previous encounters, whether they are in need of assistance of some kind, and on and on and on.

We could not function in the world without judging others...it is a necessity of our existence. The real issue is how we go about judging others, and whether we do it justly. That is the real challenge.

 

[ChaliceThunder]

Who should judge another person?

I think of judging as two-fold:
* determining the guilt of a person based on an action
* then passing sentence on that person.

It scares me that most people, so far, have voted that they should be able to judge.

We all need to judge our own actions, and we need to see rightly what goes on around us. But is is just plain not our right to pass judgment on others. The planks in our own eyes (ALL OF US) are too big to be able to see the specks in the eyes of others.

 

[chaz345]

I

We all need to judge our own actions, and we need to see rightly what goes on around us. But is is just plain not our right to pass judgment on others. The planks in our own eyes (ALL OF US) are too big to be able to see the specks in the eyes of others.

So according to the never passing judgement on another person, if you saw that someone's kid was covered with bruises that could only have come from abuse, it would be wrong to alert the authorities because that would be judging the person.

 

[ChaliceThunder]

So according to the never passing judgement on another person, if you saw that someone's kid was covered with bruises that could only have come from abuse, it would be wrong to alert the authorities because that would be judging the person.

would it?

I think one would need to investigate.

Is Child Protective Services the judge in these cases?
(no)

 

[ChaliceThunder]

So many people here are relentless in justifying your positions of judgment. While we all hope to hold one another to high standards - the only judge of those standards is God.

 

[chaz345]

would it?

I think one would need to investigate.

Is Child Protective Services the judge in these cases?
(no)

You wouldn't be judging in the legal passing sentence sense, but you would be making a judgement that something was going on that shouldn't be.

What I'm getting at is that the first part of judging, that is evaluating soneone's behavior against a standard, is something that is not only ok, it is necessary for daily life.