I think Christians’ favorite verse right now is “Do not judge so that you will not be judged,” (Matthew 7:1). And their favorite places to apply it are where culture meets religion (homosexuality, infidelity, pre-marital sex, etc.). It’s an easy way to deal with complicated topics which are not popular to confront. The only problem? The verse is being misapplied.

As many of these people point out, we should be more focused on setting ourselves right with God (John 8:7). Every one of us, regardless how “good” we are, are still screwing up one way or another. We have enough things that we should work on that we really shouldn’t have too much time to focus on what others are doing.

Additionally, as humans we aren’t to judge salvation. We don’t know the condition of a person’s heart, let alone their salvation. But if we are condemning actions that God already says are wrong, then we are appropriately judging (John 7:24).

Finally, God’s word applies to His people. You can’t force non-Christians to follow the Bible. Our society regulates the morals of the country. The Bible lays out the expectations God has for His followers. Don’t confuse the two.

Now that we got that out of the way, what’s the problem with not judging behaviors of fellow Christians? Refusing to look at behaviors critically leads to relativism. If you need a refresher in philosophy, relativism is “a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). If we can’t state what is right and wrong, everything becomes relative. Sleeping around might not be right for you, but it is for me. The girl next door has a drug dependency. The guy down the street thinks pornography is acceptable. And so on to the poit that nothing is confronted and we spiral out of control into moral depravity.

As Christians, we should speak Biblical truth. God has never taken kindly to those who distort His word.  He’s never been apathetic to false doctrine.  Notice His scathing words to Eliphaz, one of Job’s counselors: “…My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has” (Job 42:7).

A wise theologian, Joe Buonassissi, had this to say:

These men [Job’s accusers] were, no doubt, sincere.  But they were sincerely wrong, spreading false teaching.  In this case, their whole position was based on the erroneous doctrine of prosperity theology.  Job took an opposite position.

Notice that God didn’t say, “Look, just love each other; be tolerant of one another’s views.  Don’t make that the hill you’re going to die on.  Job sees it one way and Eliphaz and his friends see it another way, and it really doesn’t matter all that much.  Can’t we all just get along?” He said nothing of the sort.  Instead he called out Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar and told them to repent.  Job had his doctrine right and his counselors were wrong.  It was black and white with no hazy shade of gray.  There wasn’t any “non-discernment zone” of comfort where they were free from the obligation to accurately understand God’s thoughts.

Christians believe that right and wrong are absolutes. Are there topics that are not explicit in the Bible and leave room for interpretation? Yes. But a lot of what we accept this day in age is not open for dispute. The way we determine right and wrong is through discernment (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). We are supposed to judge what is right and wrong, but we aren’t supposed to judge people’s heart.

If you are engaging in a discussion of right from wrong, here are some key things to avoid:

Hypocrisy (Matthew 7:2) – Whatever standards in which we are using to judge other Christian’s behavior, we should be applying to ourselves FIRST.

Self-righteousness (Luke 18:9) – God is pure and without sin. If you have pure gold and you introduce any impurity, it is no longer pure. Our sin leaves us un-pure. It doesn’t matter how significant that sin is; any sin results in impurity. So instead of comparing how great of followers we are compared to someone else, we should understand that our small sin required the same sacrifice as every other sin.

I write this post to encourage people to speak the truth. Too often we are scared to stand on our principles because we are afraid of offending or being called judgmental or intolerant. Never did God say to us to turn a blind eye to sin. He did, however, say to love our neighbor as ourself. So while I do believe it’s important to point out sin for what it is, I only believe we do that from a place of love.