ἐκκλησία θεοῦ ζῶντος

Sep. 13, 2011 at 5:06pm with 75 notes

Reblogged from sword-meets-rose

badwolfcomplex:

Do Christians judge?

Hell yes.

We judge actions.

If you want Christians to stop saying certain actions are wrong, i.e. sinful, then you want them to stop being Christian, to stop believing in an objective moral order, and instead subscribe to whatever brand of emotive moral relativism you hold so dear.

That’s not going to happen.

We do not judge people. That’s why we say, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” We don’t say that to feel superior or be condescending. We’re sinners. Good people do bad things. Bad people do good things. God alone knows whether a person is worthy of heaven or hell. Judging that is his job. When Jesus says, “Don’t judge,” he means, “Don’t pretend like you’re God and know who’s going to hell.”

He never said, “Don’t tell someone they’re sinning because it might hurt their feelings, and we have to tolerate sin.”

No.

He threw the money changers out of the temple. He forgave and he loved and then he said, “Go and sin no more.” He said, correct one another in humility and truth.

I’m a Christian. I know there’s an objective right and wrong. I’m not going to “tolerate” your sin by saying “Hey, it’s okay! Do whatever you feel is right!” No. I’m going to do what Jesus did, what he instructs us to: Love. Teach. Forgive. Correct.

“Tolerance” doesn’t mean accepting moral evil. Tolerance means loving your neighbor as yourself, which means respecting human dignity, protecting human life, and encouraging human moral growth in accordance with Truth.

So, do Christians judge? Yes. We judge your actions. We judge our own actions. But we don’t judge people.

You might not want to distinguish between people and actions because you get offended when someone says you’ve done something wrong, that you believe something untrue. But being offended isn’t an argument. You haven’t proven anything.

If the idea that you can love someone while still saying they believe incorrectly or do something wrong really offends you, then never have kids, because parents do that every day of their lives. You’ll have to try not to have friends or significant others who make decisions you disagree with. And then, to really get to the heart of the problem, you’ll have to stop yelling at Christians, bypass all of Western civilization, skip past Jesus, and pick a fight with Aristotle and Socrates, because they were pretty big on the idea, too. And ultimately, sincere there is an objective moral reality that all this is based on, you’ll have to take it up with God. He didn’t invent it. He is it.

If some Christian gets in your face telling you how you’re going to hell, or what a terrible person you are, then by all means, be offended. Feel justified about being offended. If that’s what they’re doing, they’re not acting like Christians. They’re not doing their job. They’re not accurately representing the teachings of Christ.

But if you’re upset and offended and horrified because we believe that some things are objectively evil and we’re not afraid to explain why that is—then check your definition of tolerance. If it says “anyone who believes in an objective right and wrong is wrong and dangerous and should be silenced,” then you’ve missed the point in a big way. Several points, in fact.

If you think that “anything goes,” then by all means, debate with Christians about it. Lots. Intensely. Right and wrong is an important issue because it informs so many fundamental parts who we are and how we live, so it should be discussed. But shouting “Bigot!” at them because they believe not everyone can be right and trying to shut them out of the conversation because they believe that is the definition of intolerance.