Judge Not...Or Maybe Not

Are Christians allowed to judge?

The liberal side likes to silence Christians with the words, "judge not." Usually, liberals do not like references to the Bible. However, one place where they do is where Jesus said, "Judge not, that ye may not be judged."  Matthew 7:1

LOS ANGELES, CA - Scriptures must be used in context, so the context is Jewish society and tradition as a whole. Jews are raised on the Torah, the first five books of Moses, as well as the Old Testament prophets, otherwise known as "the law and the prophets."

If you read through the Old Testament, there many calls for justice as well as judgment on wickedness and evil. Jesus was raised in the Jewish tradition. He used the Old Testament in various ways. 

He read from Isaiah 61 at the beginning of his ministry. He told a leper who was cleansed to go show himself to the priest (Luke 5:14), which was required in Old Testament law. Jesus quoted from the Old Testament. He was familiar with it, and he fulfilled the prophecies of it through his crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus who said, "Judge not," also said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement." (John 7:24)

Righteous judgment is the righteous standard of the Torah. He is not saying, ignore evil. Again, looking through the Old Testament, we can see numerous calls to judgment.

When the world tells the church not to judge, it wants to put the church in a corner so that the church will not raise a standard of righteousness. If it weren't for the pesky Christians, the world could go on and simply "eat, drink and be merry." 

Telling Christians not to judge is a way to get Christians out of the realm of politics. However, Jesus said to be salt and light. (Matthew 5:13-16) We should examine things in the light of God's word as the standard for judging which way to go individually, as well as when making business and political decisions.

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This is a site where the referenced letter was republished in full, and it also gives a link to the original letter. To search for the post, the title is: "The Treason Bowl -- February 2, 2014".