Thursday, October 2, 2008

Follow up from 10/1

Hi All!
We had a great discussion last night on James 2:1-13. I loved the questions that you raised. Questions are how we learn~think of how many times Jesus answered a question with another question...anyways, your questions have had me thinking and I hope have done the same for you as well!

Here's the first question that we didn't get to...it is a TOUGH question!! I'd love to hear other's feedback on this too. The question was...How do we determine right and wrong without being judgmental??

This is an interesting question that I've been struggling with for awhille now. I did some research and here's what I came up with so far (by no means does it completely cover the subject). I think we are all scared of the verse in Matthew 7:1-2 where Jesus says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." I looked up a little about this verse and here was a good quote from biblegateway.com..."Many people have ripped this passage out of context. Jesus warns us not to assume God's prerogative to condemn the guilty; he is not warning us not to discern truth from error" (see 7:15-23). Discerning truth is a must for those of us who know truth. But, as we talked about last night we have all sinned and broken the "royal law" and will all be judged by Christ. Aren't I thankful that He is FULL of mercy?!? So how much more should I show mercy to my fellow sinner!! AGAIN this seems to be all about our heart and our motives (whether or not we are condemning others/judging vs discerning right from wrong).

There is so much more that I could write about this topic but I'm curious to hear some thoughts from YOU!!

1 comment:

GFish said...

In line with Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus talks about the speck and plank in the eyes. Notice that it doesn't say "Never point out the speck in your brother's eye." Instead it says "take the plank out of your own eye, then...remove the speck from your brother's eye."

So there is a point at which we are allowed to "remove the speck" i.e. point out the wrong. You're right on that the motivation is the key. Once we've humbled ourselves enough to remove our planks, then we can point out the wrong.

Paul often made it clear that we are to point out the wrongs of other believers. 1 Corinthians 5:12 he asks "Are we not to judge those inside the church?" Implying that we do hold each other accountable. In Galatians 2 he opposed the apostle Peter to his face, rebuking him for the wrong he was doing.

But again the motivation should be that of restoring your brother or sister gently (Galatians 6:1).