Judge not, least ye be judged

What is this whole “judge not, least ye be judged” thing all about? I judge all the time. I judge what music I listen to, and what those under my authority will listen to. I judge what clothing is appropriate, and what is not. I judge what I will watch and what I will read. I also judge people, to see if they are good or bad for me and my loved ones. I judge anything that could possibly have any bearing on my spiritual well being; and that’s everything. I judge because the Bible tells me too.

Matthew 7:1-5
Judging Others
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 Matthew 7:1-5 is read carefully, one can notice that it is addressed to a hypocrite. Instead of being a deterrence against honestly judging, it is a warning against hypocritical judgment. The last statement of this Scripture commands sincere, honest judgment. If a verse or a part of a verse is taken out of its setting, then it can be made to appear to teach the opposite of what it really means. It is easy to misquote almost anything to produce a desired effect or opinion. Misstating God’s word, however, is morally wrong.

Many who quote, "Judge not," do not see their own inconsistency in thus judging those who obey God's Word about judging what is untrue. Much that is anti-Scriptural has found shelter behind a misuse of the words of the bible. It has been used as an excuse to let people do what they wish without the oversight of God’s Law. The greatest danger of our day is not too much judging, but too little judging of morality, character and spiritual nature.

I thank God above for this ability he has cultivated in me through his Word; and I am thrilled that so many on this site posses it as well, it’s called discernment.

Praise be to God for raising up men bold enough to call out Joel Osteen and his kind for what they are. I could, and probably should, replace the word bold with obedient in the previous sentence.

“When people say to me judge not least ye be judged, I say twist not the scripture, least ye be like satan”. - Paul Washer

Amen!

Hi TJ

you wrote:
Praise be to God for raising up men bold enough to call out Joel Osteen and his kind for what they are.

ZekeO wrote:

Just in case you are serious I will respond.

True sheep will know the masters voice. Some may be deceived for awhile, but if they stay in the Word they will soon discover that not all “preachers” are preaching the same message, some don’t even preach the Gospel at all. New and immature Christians will be glad and thankful at some point that the false teachings and teachers have been pointed out to them.
The goats are deceived, not to blame. I do not understand why you would say such a thing as “tar and feather them”. No one wants to hurt or humiliate anyone, in fact just the opposite is true. If you knew a salesman was selling something that was not genuine to your friends or loved ones, would you not warn them? Our brothers and sisters in Christ deserve our obedience. Pointing out false teachers is Biblical. I will continue to pray for all the deceived, they are special to me. I once was lost(deceived) myself, the same as all sinners.

tjservant wrote:

Praise be to God for raising up men bold enough to call out Joel Osteen and his kind for what they are. Paul Washer

Did you just pull Pastor Joel out of your hat or he was just the first one to come to mind among the hundred of others? :-(

Just in case you are serious I will respond.

On my face,

Welcome to SI tjservant, I hope you will make full use of the tremendous resources here and also, as you are new here, please do give us the pleasure of introducing yourself a bit.

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.

These verses make me tremble. By saying that it is wrong to be disobedient or to twist scripture, I prove that I have knowledge of these sins and therefore I will be held accountable for them.

I thank God above for this ability he has cultivated in me through his Word; and I am thrilled that so many on this site posses it as well, it’s called discernment. Praise be to God for raising up men bold enough to call out Joel Osteen and his kind for what they are. I could, and probably should, replace the word bold with obedient in the previous sentence.

As I read this I couldn't help but be reminded of the following...
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
(Luk 18:11-13)

The goats are deceived, not to blame.

If the goats are not blameworthy, then why does the Lord say this to them?
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left...Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
(Mat 25:33,41)

In Christ,

Ron

Praise be to God for raising up men bold enough to call out Joel Osteen and his kind for what they are. I could, and probably should, replace the word bold with obedient in the previous sentence.

The great problem that folk seem to be overlooking with men such as this is that they are setting the pace for the church in terms of its message. What comes across his pulpit will filter into the churches. And at a time when compromise is long past the call for a reproof, rebuke, and exhort. When we need to turn things around we get a double portion of what is killing us. Future leaders are being molded in his frame and what will we do in the day that they come to power in ministry? When the overall attitude of the leadership is that "We cannot tell if a Muslim or Hindu is saved or not just because they don't believe in Jesus." And a host of other like things. What will we do when the valiant men are replaced with those the likes of which have not been seen or heard since the reformation and before. Doing and teaching unspeakable things.

I’m sorry that I did not come across as serious, for this and all things of God are of the most serious nature. I am never less than completely serious when dealing with such things. I thought my post reflected this. When asked what to do for the sheep, I thought you might have been joking. We pray. I thought this an over obvious answer. I apologize brother.

InTheLight wrote:
Welcome to SI tjservant, I hope you will make full use of the tremendous resources here

Thank you. It is a wonderful site.

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.

These verses make me tremble. By saying that it is wrong to be disobedient or to twist scripture, I prove that I have knowledge of these sins and therefore I will be held accountable for them.

I’m glad we both understand our responsibility.

I thank God above for this ability he has cultivated in me through his Word; and I am thrilled that so many on this site posses it as well, it’s called discernment. Praise be to God for raising up men bold enough to call out Joel Osteen and his kind for what they are. I could, and probably should, replace the word bold with obedient in the previous sentence.

As I read this I couldn't help but be reminded of the following...
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
(Luk 18:11-13)

I would like to look at the whole story and that includes the 10th and 14th verses.

10"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11"The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
13"But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
14"I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

They went to a very public place, the temple. The Pharisee was looking for man praise. He was declaring himself to be better than the people he was listing, and doing it in a very condescending manor. I said nothing that was in search of man praise or condescending to others. I simply expressed my thankfulness to God in front of a small group of like minded Christians. If you look at the 14th it says exalts himself. I was not trying to exalt myself anymore than anyone who says thanks to God for a particular reason in front of his brothers and sisters.

I fail to see how thanking God for discernment, in myself and others, in view of a small group of like minded individuals merits being compared to a Pharisee, especially the one in these verses.
I do not even include myself in the "bold enough" category I thank God for.

I also thank God for the times I have been rebuked and my errors have been pointed out by others, such as now. I guess I should Thank God more privately, least I be compared to a Pharisee. Lesson learned.

The goats are deceived, not to blame.

If the goats are not blameworthy, then why does the Lord say this to them?
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left...Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
(Mat 25:33,41)

He did not ask me what God would do with them, or how God would judge them. I thought he was asking me personally. I do not blame. I think "they know not what they do".

I am new to posting and have made a mess of things by trying to use the qoute feature.

I am truly sorry I posted anything. If I offended any of you, I truly apologize. I meant not to hurt.

tjservant

MrBillPro wrote:

Did you just pull Pastor Joel out of your hat or he was just the first one to come to mind among the hundred of others? :-(

I had just read a post on this site about him, something from a news paper in florida I think.

I shed tears about this very thing.
tj

To original post by tjservant: preach it, brother!

tjservant,

Do not get discouraged so quickly. I like alot of what you had to say in your original post.

Thank God there are still people out there who are asking questions about the sermons preached from pulpits across North America. Thank God for discernment.

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character that the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" Acts 17:11

Welcome to the site dear brother!

Murray

I fail to see how thanking God for discernment, in myself and others, in view of a small group of like minded individuals merits being compared to a Pharisee, especially the one in these verses. I do not even include myself in the "bold enough" category I thank God for.

Yes, I was wrong to make this comparison, forgive me brother.

In Christ,

Ron

Amen we must inquire and question questionable teaching, and when its absolutly clear it is abberrant or heretical to expose it according to the WORD.

Keep it up TJ,
(goats are accountable too, our GOD is just)

Hi DQ,

you wrote:

Amen we must inquire and question questionable teaching, and when its absolutly clear it is abberrant or heretical to expose it according to the WORD.

Merry Christmas,

With Joel Osteen, he denies the exclusivity of Jesus Christ (Only way, truth, light) as a matter of fact when pressed by Larry King if Jesus was the only way to be saved he said..."I don't know", he and other false teachers present a lop sided gospel devoid of sin, and judgment, it is setting up millions who are having their ears tickled, to go to hell.
Quinn

Hi DQ,

thanks for the reply, yes this is indeed a problem. Its quite sad actually, because the little of seen of him preaching he is quite gracious to the sheep.

Oh dear, time to move on.:-(

I've posted an interesting article on another thread, tell me what you think.

all the best,

Found a message called [url=http://towertotruth.net/Audiofiles/judge_not.m3u]Judge Not![/url] by Fran Sankey of [url=http://www.towertotruth.net/audio.htm]Test All Things Radio Show[/url]. In this message he dicusses in detail (to some degree) what I think you were saying in your original post.
Also, there's a Harry Ironside article titled [url=http://www.towertotruth.net/Apologetics/articles/exposing_error.htm]Exposing Error[/url].

An undeserving brother,
richie

Good morning brothers and sisters.

I would like to express some thoughts that arise as I read through this. Please understand that I have no one of you in mind.

[b]A question of our motives comes to mind[/b].

I know that we are to judge in matters of the faith, of doctrine and of practice. And yet, what good is judgement, if it is not made in wisdom. And what is wisdom, if not truth, applied in righteousness?

So I ask,

why here?

why now?

A brother who posted on here for a while had a signature which read omething to the effect: controversy for the sake of controversy is sin.

[b]And there is also a questiton of our methods.[/b]

If in confronting error, all we do is draw attention to it, what good is that to anyone? It gives me the impression that we may seem like to others as these who said

[i]Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.[/i]

And so we may be, holier, yet God said of them

[i]These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.[/i]

Now they did iniquity, that is true, but should we not be carefull also? For James says

[i]Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?[/i]

If then we do see error, why do we not instead speak truth?

You see a crooked line...

...lay a straight one next to it

And the error should be appearant to all. And yet, if some do not see, what did the Lord Jesus say of them, but...

[b][color=660033] Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.[/color][/b]

becuase that

[b][color=660033] Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.[/color][/b]

Again, I have no one in mind in saying these things but only sharing what was on my heart.

Chris

I've posted this article here a few times on different threads titled [url=http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue94.htm]Discernment In An Age Of Deception[/url] by Pastor Bob DeWaay.

DO you fear God's judgements? I don't come to start conversy just for a name, no not at all, but what do you think the worde of the Living God is? Hmm, do you think that the diversites of the operations of God, are foolish and that his word should not be regarded?
Be very carefull lest that what is spoken of in the prophets come upon you. And I say mourn ye and weep, sorrow for your poor brethren instead of celebrating foolishnes.
How is it then brethren? when ye come together every man hath his song, hath his doctrine, hath his tongue, hath his revelation, hath his interpretation: Let all things be unto edifying.
27 If any man speak with tongues, let it be two at once: or at the most three at once: and that by course, and let another interpret it:
28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the congregation, and let him speak to himself, and to god.
29 Let the prophets speak two at once, or three at once, and let other judge.
Try comparing faithofgod.net 1525 tydale english with the King James.

Amen to all the brethren
A signature with myne own hande