The 411 on Judging (Jesus, gospel, grace, blood, hell)

[brotherjim]

The 411 on "judging":

1) The Holy Word forbids the Christian to judge those outside the church.
--Mt. 7:1; Lk. 6:37; Jn. 12:47; Rom. 2:1; 1 Cor. 4:5, 5:12-13

2) Regarding judging other Christians, the Holy Word gives clear procedures, and confines it to those of our own local fellowship.

3) Judging of others in our local fellowship is confined to those outwardly evident, provable sins.

4) In no case is one human being allowed to judge the motives of another, for only God knows the heart---just to presume to know someone’s motive ("thoughts and intents of the heart") and judge it as being evil, is sinful judgment and condemnation, even when not voiced and just secretly thought ("whoever looks upon a woman to lust---"; Mt. 5:28).

5) Those who violate the above are passed by in the First Resurrection, kept in store for Judgment Day.

6) The only exception in the Holy Word to the above is for those who have obtained from Heaven the supernatural Gift of the Spirit of Prophesying (1 Cor. 14:1, 5, 39, etc.), whereby they then will find themselves from time to time in a situation parallel the Lord Jesus': "I do not judge, but if I do judge, you can know my judgment is true, for it is not me who is judging but the Father so doing it through me: for I did not come to do my own will, including any judgment of others, but to do the Heavenly Father’s will, so that the world might be saved." (Para. and ampl. and compiled; Jn. 3:17, 5:30, 8:15-16, 12:47.) But someone must be very, very certain that they are indeed operating supernaturally in the Spirit in this, for otherwise they will be judging and condemning their own selves.

Very, very rare.

7) The Holy Word declares we are not even capable of judging our own selves---for the heart is desperately evil and self-deceptive---but since elsewhere we are commanded to so do, then we can know such self-judgment must be a concerted effort between the supernatural revelatory ability of God's Spirit, and us as a willing listener---hence the prayer closet vitally needed on a reg. basis.

8 ) The unbeliever will be convicted, if such is possible, by the will of God, by simply preaching the Holy Word's Gospel. To wit:

Until 2,000 years ago God winked at sin, but ever since has commanded every human being to stop living selfishly and instead; 1) Love God with all facets of their being, and; 2) Love every human being they know to exist, even all enemies, even at times to the degree Jesus Loved us by dying for us. For those who commit in their heart and mind to so do---by receiving one Grace after another until they are either perfected in God's supernatural Love or die in the process---they will live forever in a New Heaven with God and in a glorified body. (If not, they will be resurrected to stand before God and be judged by Him.)

Acts 17:30-31; Lk. 10:25-28; 1 Jn. 2:3-5, 4:12b-13, 4:16-18; Jn. 5:24-29; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 22:14; Eph. 2:8-9; etc.

(Read again the first post-Jesus-in-the-flesh-and-Blood sermon of Peter’s [Acts 2], and perhaps see how it convicted the audience of their failure to love as was commanded the Hebraic Jew [Lev. 19:18 vs. Acts 2:23, 36], them succumbing to some of the same heart reactions perhaps felt at "this" moment by some of you for me [if not true of you, do not judge me as flattering myself, or---].)

But since today's so-called "Christian" is living disobedient to the above Love Commandments, they do not share such a message, for by so doing they would condemn their own selves, hence they resort to the "envy and strife" (KJV) methodology, judging and condemning others in those things that the witnessing Christian has either overcome or is able to keep under control and hidden in their heart, such as some of the Ten Commandments---but seldom if ever The Two. (And yes, I claim to be writing prophetically.)

Truly sorrowed to be the [alleged] messenger to say, brother jim

brotherjim@mail.com

[Jaymes]

I must admit, reading that first bit surprised me, brotherjim. Could you please give me a verse that talks about the first point you address? I'd never heard that before, and I'd like to learn more about it.

[michel]

A lot of it surprised me.

[Scott1]

Thanks Bro Jim!

[brotherjim]

Originally Posted by Jensa

. . . Could you please give me a verse that talks about the first point you address? . . .

1 Cor. 5:12-13; Jn. 12:47.

(Perhaps others too---dunno. I was a bit premature, I guess, having done the thread starter "from memory," so to speak, and am now in the process of referencing all the Scriptures for the various points. I'll repost later with them.)

jim


P.S. Not to mention the numerous generic Commandments of Christ, "Judge not---

[jonny]

John 7:24 - "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement."

I think we all have the ability to know good from bad and that we can tell when someone is doing something wrong. While we do not have the right to judge and say that they are going to Hell, we do have the ability to make a judgement.

Dallin H. Oaks, an Apostle in our church, gave an interesting talk on this where he said that we needed to meet a few conditions for our judgement to be righteous.

First, it must be intermediate.
Second, it must be guided by the Spirit and not anger, revenge, jealousy, or self-interest.
Third, it must be within our stewardship.
Fourth, we should not judge in instances where we do not have adequate knoweldge of the facts.
Fifth, whenever possible we should refain from judging people and only judge situations.
Sixth, forgiveness is a companion principle.
Seventh, a righteous judgement will apply righteous standards.

If you want the full text you can read it here: http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/JudgeNotOaks.htm

[Aqualung]

Originally Posted by jonny

Third, it must be within our stewardship

what does that mean?

[jonny]

Originally Posted by Aqualung

what does that mean?

This is what it says in the article. He can say it better than I could.

"Third, to be righteous, an intermediate judgment must be within our stewardship. We should not presume to exercise and act upon judgments that are outside our personal responsibilities. Some time ago I attended an adult Sunday School class in a small town in Utah. The subject was the sacrament, and the class was being taught by the bishop. During class discussion a member asked, "What if you see an unworthy person partaking of the sacrament? What do you do?" The bishop answered, "You do nothing. I may need to do something." That wise answer illustrates my point about stewardship in judging."

[Aqualung]

Originally Posted by jonny

This is what it says in the article. He can say it better than I could.

"Third, to be righteous, an intermediate judgment must be within our stewardship. We should not presume to exercise and act upon judgments that are outside our personal responsibilities. Some time ago I attended an adult Sunday School class in a small town in Utah. The subject was the sacrament, and the class was being taught by the bishop. During class discussion a member asked, "What if you see an unworthy person partaking of the sacrament? What do you do?" The bishop answered, "You do nothing. I may need to do something." That wise answer illustrates my point about stewardship in judging."

Oh, I see. Thanks.

[brotherjim]

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement." John 7:24

Sadly, when the heart of the Christian has not been further sanctified subsequent to the New Birth, it still containing such unclean idols as "envy & strife" (KJV), it bends and twists and perverts the Holy Scriptures to justify its continuing evils, and the person remains in a state of denial.

The above quoted verse from John is one of innumerable examples.

If someone will read John 7:24 in its context, and if they have been given spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear ("My sheep know my V(v)oice, and follow Me"), they should understand that it was being said in reference to a person erroneously and sinfully judging as evil that which is holy and from God. This was a common mistake of men as recorded throughout the Bible, and remains so to this day.

In other words, compare John 7:24 to, "Is your eye evil, because I am good?"

[Edit+: Acts 13:26-28 is another good example epitomizing the need for the commandment of John 7:24.]

brother jim
brotherjim@mail.com


(True apostles are nearly non-existant in our world today, and practically never, if ever, found among men who use such a title within 20 words distance of their name. [Paul and those who so used the title in their writings, did so in direct obedience to dictation of the Holy Ghost, but then---]

(Jer. 17:9-10.)