Religion or Revolution? 5

We do need to judge ourselves. And then we can help others with their faults. This seems to turn the tables on judgmentalism. Because we are dealing with sin in our own lives and finding God's mercy, it's all about helping others to find that same mercy.

At the same time it's not like we arrive and don't have to pinch ourselves when we do cross the line and think badly of another. While at the same time we need to stop ourselves in our tracks when the judgment from our lips on us is also not according to God's revealed will concerning us. As I seek to think rightly of myself, I can better think rightly of others, with sober judgment.

Interesting post.

Jeremy, I think pretty clearly that the Corinthians passage means that we should not tolerate those who are notorious sinners to continue in fellowship in the body of Christ as if they were doing nothing wrong. This seems to be an instruction for a particular sort of situation, but not really an approach for dealing with people in general. We do need to keep sight on what is right and wrong, moral and immoral. Those things do matter. But there is a difference between allowing someone who is openly and notoriously engaged in scandalous behavior to continue in fellowship as if they are A-OK and pulling out our scales to render judgment on the worth of each human being we pass.

I don't think anyone is saying that not being judgmental means we should turn a blind eye towards things which are clearly beyond the pale - adultery, theft, addictions, etc. But more often, we are guilty of judging people as not people we should be expected to associate with based on good faith differences of belief (ie creationist vs evolution), whether the person is attractive and easy to get along with or if they are rough and uncomfortable. And the simple fact is that this is a danger because we humans are capable of coming up with rationals for just about anything we want to do or think. Pretty quickly, we go from the biblical injunction not to associate with a man involved in incest to feeling quite justified in refusing to deal with the woman you think is dressed inappropriately who smokes and talks too loud. Even worse, in today's world we seem to find ourselves too often in a place where we don't feel we can say anything to the couple living together who attends church every week and wants to lead a small group, but feel quite justified in shunning people who violate one of our sacred cows (manners, dress, opinions, etc) in the name of judging rightly.

I also think that we need to be careful even in dealing with those whose sins are quite clear. The 1 Corinthians passage you quote specifically says that such people should be turned away "so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." IOW, it's for a purpose greater than being able to say, "I judged rightly." In Paul's day, being turned out of the church would mean being turned out of a tight community. And given that it was a community that was not very well accepted, the person being turned out must have seriously wanted to be there, so being turned out would be quite jarring. It would be much more like the Amish shunning someone who left the faith than what most people would experience at the local church. So, I think it is legitimate to ask if simply turning someone away because they are sinning will actually serve the same purpose that Paul is talking about here. Unfortunately, there are no good pat answers to that one. For example, I have known pastors who refused to perform wedding ceremonies for couples living together, others who perform them without hardly saying a word. And one wise pastor who would only marry couples who agreed to live apart for 6 months while going through pre-cana classes and would even help make arrangements. It seems to me that often the church places too high a premium on rendering right judgment while pretty much refusing to consider how to best achieve the larger goal of bringing the person to repentance. The simple fact is that in our culture today, there are very, very, very, very, very, very, very few people who will be brought to repentance because they feel judged by the church or a Christian. At which point, our judgment, while perhaps correct, is likely to be completely counter-productive.