Posted By: Windmill
Judging people - 02/18/05 12:56 PM
The bible says not to judge people..... yet it also says, according to my dad, that "by their fruits you shall know them"- isn't that saying that we can judge? Yet, doesn't the bible also tell us
not to judge people?
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Edited to add a topic icon only. - Daryl
Posted By: Cheri Fritz
Re: Judging people - 02/18/05 02:00 PM
Great Question Windmill!
As you walk along a path in nature, perhaps you see a few trees, and some spring flowers. Then you also remember the names of the trees, and the names of the different flowers. These are not judgments but knowledge. So it is like this with the church of God.
You will know God's church because the Holy Spirit will be blessing them with the fruits of the Spirit. Not just this fruit or that fruit, but all the fruits of the spirit will be produced.
If you see someone committing adultry, lying before others or any command, we have a responsibility to go and talk to the person that is causing sin. I suggest reading Matthew 18 to help you understand more.
quote:
The Fruits of the Spirit:
Galatians
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
How are the fruits given?
2 Peter
1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make [you that ye shall] neither [be] barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
quote:
Matthew
7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Read carefully.
Now another lesson is the wheat and the tares. They will grow together. So let us consider how the wheat and the tares grow together.
Now you cannot tell (discern) the difference between the wheat and the tares, for they look the same .
Now wheat is a grain that represents the fruitful crop and tares represent the hidden fruits of wrong doings.
So you will not discern the difference of the two grains growing together until: quote:
They bear up their fruits.
And in the Lord's Church there is a process to remove the wrong fruits. It is a process done through much prayer and humility.
Thank you,
Your Sister in Christ Jesus,
Cheri
Posted By: Jeff
Re: Judging people - 02/19/05 09:40 AM
Taking what Cheri said even further, Jesus did tell us not to judge, but, He was talking about a certain type of judging.
quote:
Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. (2) "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. … "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (NASB)
The type of “judgment” that Jesus said not to do is selfish judgment, like when people try to cover up their own faults by pointing out other people’s faults. He called people who do that, hypocrites.
But there is a type of judgment that is right that we NEED to do.
quote:
John 7:24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." (NASB)
Jesus is simply saying to use right judgment, good judgment, fruitful judgment, seeking out the truth of the matter for the good of all involved. Not judging just by what things LOOK like or not just so that it makes one’s self look better. Judging with a right judgment is for a righteous cause.
We should learn how to judge rightly so that we can detect dishonesty. This becomes important more and more as you grow older, because in life we often have to make decisions at least partly based on what someone tells us—both secular and spiritual decisions. Whether or not we can trust what someone says will often depend on rightly judging that person’s motives and character.
But just as important, as Jesus implied, we need to be able to discern not only other people’s character, but also our own. We can tell by people’s fruits if their words match their actions, but this also works with ourselves as well.
God Bless,
Jeff
To continue in the thread, a good question to ask when feeling the urge to judge someone for something is, "does this apply to me too and if so, how?". As an example a story I read in the church bulletin today. "A woman asked Gandhi to advice her son not to eat suggar. Gandhi answered, come back in a week and I will advice your son. So the next week the woman and her son came to visit Gandhi and he told the womans son about the perils of eating suggar. The woman then asked Gandhi, why couldnt you have told my son this last week? to which Gandhi answered, 'last week I too ate suggar'. "
One reason to be carefull about judging is that sometimes the faults of other people that annoy us are the ones we fight with ourselves, or perhaps have surrendered to, and we dont like being reminded of this.
/Thomas
Posted By: Windmill
Re: Judging people - 02/21/05 10:54 AM
Thanks
![[Smile]](images/icons/smile.gif)
this has helped me heaps! You guys rock
![[Big Grin]](images/icons/grin.gif)
Posted By: Daryl
Re: Judging people - 02/17/07 05:17 AM
The conclusion here then is that we can judge people by their fruit, and their fruit is revealed by their works or actions?
Posted By: Tom
Re: Judging people - 02/17/07 05:32 AM
The conclusion here then is that we can judge people by their fruit, and their fruit is revealed by their works or actions?
We're not very good at judging. We can leave that to God. Some things jump out at one though. Not judging someone is not an excuse to allow open sin.
Here's something from the Spirit of Prophecy:
He who looks often upon the cross of Calvary, remembering that his sins placed the Saviour there, will never try to estimate the degree of his guilt in comparison with that of others. He will not climb upon the judgment seat to bring accusation against another. There can be no spirit of criticism or self-exaltation on the part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary's cross.
Not until you feel that you could sacrifice your own self-dignity, and even lay down your life in order to save an erring brother, have you cast the beam out of your own eye so that you are prepared to help your brother. Then you can approach him and touch his heart. No one has ever been reclaimed from a wrong position by censure and reproach; but many have thus been driven from Christ and led to seal their hearts against conviction. A tender spirit, a gentle, winning deportment, may save the erring and hide a multitude of sins. The revelation of Christ in your own character will have a transforming power upon all with whom you come in contact. Let Christ be daily made manifest in you, and He will reveal through you the creative energy of How word--a gentle, persuasive, yet mighty influence to re-create other souls in the beauty of the Lord our God. (MB 128, 129)
What wonderful counsel this is!
Posted By: Tammy Roesch
Re: Judging people - 02/17/07 01:33 PM
This is such an important subject. Judging...
I am thankful for all the light the Spirit of Prophecy sheds on this subject. John the Baptist comes to my mind...and the statement she makes quite a few times that he was an example for our time:
The work of John the Baptist, and the work of those who in the last days go forth in the spirit and power of Elijah to arouse the people from their apathy, are in many respects the same. His work is a type of the work that must be done in this age. Christ is to come the second time to judge the world in righteousness. {Mar 22.2}
I'm sure that when he preached "Repent and be baptized", that many accused him of judging. By him telling them that they needed to repent, he was telling them that they had sin in their lives....and you can be sure, there were many like Herodias who didn't want to hear that....and would accuse him of judging.
So, it shouldn't surprise us, if we follow in the footsteps of John the Baptist, to be accused of judging, as well. As someone mentioned earlier, there is such a thing as "righteous judgment". In fact, I believe that if we do what is right, live and preach the truth, we too, will not be liked by many in leadership positions, any better than was John the Baptist...or Jesus for that matter....
Posted By: Davros
Re: Judging people - 02/24/07 04:22 AM
I know it seems like I quote it all the time, but it is only because it has become one of the most obscure text in Christianity. Believe it or not, we are actually told to judge by the apostle Paul!
I wrote you in my earlier letter not to associate with those who sin sexually. But I did not mean you should not associate with those of this world who sin sexually, or with the greedy, or robbers, or those who worship idols. To get away from them you would have to leave this world. I am writing to tell you that you must not associate with those who call themselves believers in Christ but who sin sexually, or are greedy, or worship idols, or abuse others with words, or get drunk, or cheat people. Do not even eat with people like that. It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church. The Scripture says, "You must get rid of the evil person among you."
1 Corinthians 5:9 – 13 NCV[/b]
Posted By: Daryl
Re: Judging people - 02/24/07 04:44 AM
That is a very relevant quote, particularly with what is going on amongst some of those who use the name Seventh-day Adventist, which we are still discussing in one particular forum, which we won't say anything further about here.