HEY GOODFIGHT! WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?
Without a doubt, the most common complaint or accusation we
hear from skeptics is that we are “judging” and that as Christians, more
the reason we shouldn’t be doing it.
The two ironies that are somewhat humorous at times are the fact that
the very skeptics that vehemently accuse us of “judging” commit the very same
act as they hurl insults and names at us in their emails and guestbook posts as “hateful”,
"hypocrites", “unloving” and the list goes on. Sadly, adjectives of a profane and
vulgar manner are often used. The most
grieving side of this is when “professing” Christians use the very same adjectives. The second irony is I find that many of these very
same skeptics attempt to quote scripture to support their reasons for claiming
that we, as Christians, are not to “judge”.
What is Fight the Good Fight’s position on “judging” you
ask? Well allow me to answer by
addressing the very scriptures that the skeptic commonly uses when writing
us. Perhaps you’re familiar with them…
John 8:7
"He who is without sin among you, let him {be the} first to throw a stone"
Matthew 7:1
"Do not judge"
Well here we have two scriptures that seem to be quite
direct. In fact, Jesus Himself made
each statement! They seem to be saying
exactly what the skeptic is trying to tell us however there is one
problem. These scriptures have been
isolated from the context in which they were said, thus made to seem as though
no one should in fact judge.
Unfortunately, many are under the impression that the bible teaches
Christians are not to judge. In fact,
try this - select a handful of people you know, both Christian and not, and ask
them “Any idea what the bible teaches about judging - are we allowed to judge
people?” I wouldn’t be surprised if the
overwhelming answer would be something like “the bible says ‘do not
judge’”. Again, these isolated and
truncated scriptures reveal nothing of the true context in which they were
spoken.
Let’s first deal with John
8:7. Recently we received an email sent
to the webmaster email address, which consisted of no subject and when I opened
it all that was written was…
“Ya Right! Ye who are without sin cast the first stone!”
It was quite clear to me that this person had a problem with
us exposing the many artists listed on this website. I can understand, that without a proper understanding of John
8:7, how a person can feel this way. So
let’s examine the verse closely and see what Jesus really has to say about
judging…
John 8:3-7
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her
in the center {of the court,}
4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act
5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone
such women; what then do You say?"
6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him.
But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is
without sin among you, let him {be the} first to throw a stone at her."
A couple of things to notice are...
How strange that these Pharisees brought only the woman to Jesus - after all they did say they caught her in the
very act of adultery - the law of Moses required that both the man and the
woman were to be stoned to death - here Jesus is confronted by men having an
agenda to simply test Jesus. Keep in mind these are the same group of people (Pharisees) that later plotted to
kill Jesus for raising a man from the dead - so are they to be trusted? Imagine if Jesus took their word, which
wasn't worth much, and said stone her - he would have not followed the law of
Moses correctly as the man involved should also be brought forward for
death. So knowing these men were out to trick Jesus and seeing that they weren't following the law of Moses
correctly - how could he condemn her.
Notice that Jesus reveals to them that He knows they're up to no good!
They are in sin as well (by only bringing the woman and trying to test Jesus).
So notice that He does not say don't stone her or don’t judge her, he basically says go
ahead -BUT the one that is going about this without sin (not in a sinful
way/having no other agenda but justice) can be the first one to cast a stone.
You see, Christians ARE to judge, the key is that judging is to done in a righteous manner - with all
fairness. In fact, notice what Jesus says directly on the issue of judging…
John 7:24
"Do not judge according to appearance, BUT JUDGE WITH RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT."
If only John 7:24 would be the bible verse most remembered when it comes to the issue of judging. It would definitely reduce the number of skeptical comments we
receive. As for righteous judgment, please know the judgments made here are done in sincere love and concern for
those deceived by Satan’s deceptive devices. We at Fight the Good Fight Ministries research, with great diligence,
every quote found on our site and video expose. In fact, in our video, They Sold Their Souls for Rock and Roll,
you will find the majority of the quotes which are used to substantiate the
artists’ involvement in the occult, etc. come from the artists’ own mouths as
we provide, in their proper context, audio and video taped interviews,
etc. In fact, these artists do not deny the quotes or their context, which we use to expose them.
We are a responsible ministry that gives serious consideration to the consequences of slandering an artist, thus we
investigate and research everything ourselves.
Now let’s address Matthew 7:1, the scripture that records Jesus specifically saying “Do not judge”.
Matthew 7:1 is probably the one scripture that is most often misquoted, truncated and taken out of context in an attempt
to tell Christians to stop "judging".
To grasp the true context, let’s take a closer look at Matthew 7:1-5…
Matthew 7:1-5
1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of
measure, it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own
eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log
is in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye."
If you have never read past verse 1, then perhaps you are seeing the true meaning of this verse for the first
time. Notice that Jesus did NOT ever say, don't judge - period. He exhorts us to judge with righteous judgment in John 7:24 and here in
Matthew 7:1-5 He says first be sure you're right with God before pointing out someone else's sin, thus granting the right to judge.
The correct understanding of Matthew 7:1 is that simple! Verse 5 clarifies and exposes the skeptic’s erroneous understanding of “Do not judge”, by
giving the green light, if you will, to judge so as long as it is not done in a
hypocritical manner.
Notice here what Jesus says…
Matthew 7:15-16
"Beware the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves, you will know them by their fruits...”
Here Jesus Himself is making a judgment of someone then expresses that we will need to make judgments
ourselves.
The bottom line is that we, as Christians, are expected to exercise discernment and righteously judge.
Now you might be asking why is it that we take the liberty to post the “artists’” names, pictures and details of their religious practices, teachings,
lifestyles etc. - the answer, again, is we are simply holding to the commands and guidelines of God’s word…
Ephesians 5:11
Have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness but RATHER EXPOSE THEM.
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