JUDGING! by Dr Vijay

JUDGING!

I have read & heard enough nonsense about "Don't Judge!".

Judging is one of the most difficult subjects in the Bible to grasp, but it is also very important. Multitude of Christians, partly through ignorance and partly through disobedience, often contrary to scriptures do not judge when they should!

In human society, in various areas and various levels, God has appointed men as judges. Even in the history of Israel, judging and ruling were never divorced from each other. In the Old Testament, the sacred word for God, ELOHIM is actually applied to men who were judges. Why were they called ELOHIM (gods)? - because their function as judges was to take God's place and to judge His people. Their authority came from God AS LONG AS THEY WALKED RIGHT BEFORE GOD.

When God announced to Abraham His intention to judge Sodom, Abraham objected i.e., he questioned God's judgement! . He said " Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked;, far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Abraham established an important principle in the beginning of the Bible: It is contrary to justice to treat the righteous as the wicked. Abraham as a son (note small 's') questioned God. The reason why Abraham was bold to do this was because he knows God intimately.

How much more, we who have the Spirit of God living in us - also sons of God and Royal Priests must act righteously and judge when there is injustice done against the innocent and society.

God judges in the temporal arena, and the eternal. In this life God will judge a person's actions, but always (except when the person has irrevocably rejected Him) holds out the chance for turning back and repenting. Only on the Last Day, at the great white throne judgment will God pronounce eternal judgment on a person, forever determining his or her destinies. From this judgment, there is no appeal or second chance.

We Christian, on the other hand, is never given the right or the responsibility of eternally judging anyone (unless they have clearly rejected Christ permanently). Christians cannot correctly weigh action, motives, opportunities, nor know all things about any individual: God alone is capable to do so.

However, Christians are to make decisions (appraisals, discernments, and even take corrective actions). But even judging in this aspect is intended to be remedial, and leaves the door open to the person for repentance and reconciliation. Any judging on the part of a Christian which does not, is a false aspect of Christian judgement clouded by sentimental love and not agape (righteous) love. We are called upon to ''judge righteous judgment'' (John 7:24) and failure to do so is to be negligent in a crucial aspect of our Christian calling.

We need to be Christians of conscious. As long as Christians maintain a pacifist attitude and continue to parrot "Let God be God", justice will never be served because we have failed to protect the innocent. In fact I dare say that those who hold on to such 'false truths' have DONE NOTHING FOR THE PRESERVATION OF JUSTICE. Even if they did they had not exploited the full potential of FAITH but played along the shore line and never ventured into the deeps that God's TRUTH may prevail. While they say 'FAITH' they forget "WORKS" never realising they are two sides of the same coin!

We all can learn from William Wilberforce. For two decades, William Wilberforce (1759-1833) led the struggle in the English Parliament to abolish slavery, and it was his principal concern as a Christian politician and a reformer. He rightly judge that slavery was wrong and did something about it.


JUDGING - REFERENCES

For those who wish to know more, please refer to the references below.

1. Accountability: The Way To Touch God's Anointed Often, criticism of certain Christian teachers is condemned by those who claim Christians should not ''touch God's anointed.'' Clete Hux, of Watchman Fellowship, uses scripture to show where this argument goes wrong.

2.Are "God's Annointed" Beyond Criticism? Do Christians who judge "touch the Lord's Anointed"? By Hank Hanegraaf, of the Christian Research Institute http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0148a.txt

3.To Judge Or Not To Judge by Richard Fisher, of Personal Freedom Outreach http://www.pfo.org/notjudge.htm

4. Who are we to judge? by Lewis B. Smedes, professor emeritus of theology and ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Published in Christianity Today, Oct. 1, 2001 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/october1/29.70.html

5. Should Christians Judge (Jewish perspective) http://ezinearticles.com/?Should-Christians-Judge?&id=105276&opt=print

6. Judging - When? Why? and How? Derek Prince.


Submitted By Vijayan