Is it wrong to judge?

This is a question that based on the teachings of Jesus Christ that I’ve asked many times and had asked of me many times over the years.  Jesus’ instruction to His disciples was to “judge not”… and yet then we see Him stating ‘judge righteous judgment”.

So are we to “judge” teachings, situations, and even people?? Many seem fearful of making judgments, and unclear if this is the mission and duty of the church, to do so. Is it wrong to judge and if the scriptures are to be used for correction, reproof, instruction in righteousness, etc…. then shouldn’t we be looking very carefully to what it is that they show us??

A point that so many seem to have missed again from the opening pages of the bible is that God’s commandment to man was not to partake of the knowledge of good and evil from any other source. As Jesus said He spoke only what it was that God gave him to speak, telling His followers to “judge not”… wasn’t about being in fear of using proper judgement or reasoning… or lack of understanding of God’s will… it was about hearing  from God and not partaking of the knowledge of good and evil from anyone else.

We can say that scripture is useful for correcting such conditions… but how can we use scriptures for correction and instruction in righteousness if it tells us that we’re to live by what comes from the mouth of God himself to us and not partake of the knowledge of good and evil from any other source??

We all are very much aware that just about anyone can use some segment of the bible to justify their actions or point to this or that scripture and their own understanding of it… or lean on the understanding of someone else about it… to determine what is right and wrong.. good or evil… but isn’t that having missed the message as well? Isn’t that still taking of the knowledge of good and evil from one’s own understanding of even the bible… rather than simply hearing whatever it is that God has to say on the matter directly from His own mouth about it as those in the bible say was to be done??

Even righteousness outlined in the pages of the bible began with what someone heard from God…. and either did it (righteous) or did not do so (unrighteous). So if we look to the scriptures for correction, reproof, instruction in righteousness that so many say they believe them to be… then we have to recognize that the instruction in righteousness always begin with hearing from the mouth of God whatever it is that GOD has to say on it… not our judgement… not our understanding… not leaning on our own understanding.. or that of any other… or even a group…. because any decision as to what is right or wrong for us to do… any thou shalt not or thou shalt is to come from the mouth of God!!

Jhn 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

This passage tells us not to judge according to appearance… but judge righteous judgement… so righteous judgement will always begin with what comes from the mouth of God about any situation or person… and each of us living by whatever it is that proceeds from the mouth of God to us as Jesus example was.

What we also have to realize is that within each of us, from our beginning, is the abilities and capabilities to know what it is that we are to do and not to do, without having to have that come from someone else.  That is what the opening pages of the bible has been sharing with its readers for centuries now, that so often seems to have been missed, ignored or overlooked, and yet is the echoed in the passages where Jesus tells His disciples, that “the kingdom of God is within you”… and that “the Father knows what ye have need of before ye ask”… and so many other passages in the bible that tells us that God provided all that would be needed within each Himself.

So when we encounter any situation, its not like we have to stop, pray, ask God or grab our bibles and search for passages within it to know what it is that we are to do… or what it is that we are to refrain from…. that comes from within each of us.  It is just that man from his beginning, as the bible records, was told to trust that, and NOT partake of the knowledge of good and evil from any other source…. not to hearken to the voice of another… and yet that is what we’ve all been taught to do, and have been practicing in our lives for years now, all the while saying that doing so was the reason that man was separated from God, and how “sin” entered the world, as outlined in the opening pages of our bibles.

So what we have to do is to “stop” doing what it was that Adam did.. and learn once again to trust what it is that we hear from the mouth of God, what God writes in our own hearts, and on our own minds, what it is that we know from within ourselves and the abilities and capabilities within us all…. as is in all things!!

Doing this is what Jesus states in the pages of the bible that was His “way”… He did whatever it was that God gave him to do, could do nothing in and of himself, spoke whatever it was that God gave him to speak…. and knew what others were doing or thinking from within (God)…. “the kingdom of God is within you”… and surely if the kingdom of God is within, then there is nothing lacking in the kingdom of God, and we have all the abilities and capabilities that having the kingdom of God within us would include… Right??