Who Am I to Judge?, God's Disciple, That's Who

I am so tired of hearing people make statements such as “Who am I to judge?” or questioning someone on their judgement of another. I do agree that only God can judge our hearts as individuals, and he surely will upon our deaths. This is called the “Particular Judgement”. At the moment of our death, our soul will be designated or internally illuminated as to it’s guilt or innocence in relation to mortal sin and the type of life we have lived. The Church teaches that a soul not in a state of Grace because of mortal sin, will be sent to Hell. This really is not so much a judgement imposed upon us by our Father though, it is actually a choice we make for ourselves. God doesn’t send anyone to Hell, we choose Hell for ourselves. We separate ourselves from God by choosing not to follow him, by not following his Word, His Word is Jesus. When we deny his Word, we deny Jesus. Jesus said that anyone that denied him, he would deny before the Father. He was very clear and direct about this.

Matthew 10:33 “ but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven”

Ok, so back to my opening statement about standing in judgement of others. How does that fit into this equation, and why am I tired of hearing it? I believe that we as Christians are duty bound to judge our brothers and sisters. Now, hold on, wait a minute, we don’t judge their hearts or condemn them as our brethren in Christ, but we are held to a responsibility to judge their actions and behaviors. As Christians we have been instructed to proclaim the Gospel or “the Word” to all the nations of the Earth.

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

An aspect of the preaching and introduction to the Gospel is to a certain degree judgement. It is a Spiritual Work of Mercy.

The spiritual works of mercy are:

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To admonish sinners;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead

We have been instructed to guide our brothers and sisters to righteousness in a loving and charitable way. So judging others is our duty as Christians, because our goal is to lead as many souls as possible to Heaven. The choice of whether our brothers and sisters heed our guidance and admonishments is their choice. We are to bear those who continue to sin, with Mercy and Love. We are never advised to treat them with hatred and anger, much to the contrary, for only love will light the way to righteousness.

We are living in a very evil world, a world controlled by Satan. Satan uses tools such as Moral Relativism amongst others to undermine the moral fiber of our society. With that comes a condemnation of teaching concerning Truth and Righteousness. The Devil is a master of lies and very cunning, he tricks us into believing that judging another’s actions or behavior is wrong and unchristian. He plants within us very noble and gracious ideas of tolerance, acceptance, and sufferance. These are traits that we equate to an Earthly Christian existence, but they are wrong, and false. Those of us that adhere to this falsehood will be held accountable, we should know better. We cannot let our own contrived ideas and convictions to be created in direct opposition to what our Church and Scripture teaches us. This is arrogant and egotistical. We can’t make up our own rules. If we disagree with a certain Church teaching and doctrine, do we decide for ourselves our criteria for those objections, or do we dig in and research the reasons, thought processes and debates that have gone into the conclusions on these teaching over the last 2000 years. WE must remember that Scripture and the Church is divinely guided. We cannot simply accept certain behaviors in the guise of being tolerant, charitable and kind. In fact, doing so, is really just taking the easy way out. Isn’t that much easier and more simple to justify? Isn’t it much more difficult to stand for truth when it is unpopular? When we stand for Truth we will be mocked, vilified and even criminalized. True Charity is standing up for the Truth because we know that our brothers and sisters need it. We must be willing to experience the discomfort and unpleasantness that comes with proposing it. Jesus was killed for speaking Truth, do we expect an easier task as mere mortals? If God himself was rejected, how much more will we be rejected, mocked and dismissed.

We must not shy away from judging these behaviors, our goal is Heaven and Salvation, it is the most noble and important task any of us have been assigned. We are in the middle of a battle, a battle for souls, we are warriors. If we fail, because we are afraid, how many souls may be lost forever?

Jesus brought to our world, the Church. The Church is his physical presence and authority on Earth. She is here to guide us and instruct us on Truth. Our ignorance of her teaching is not an excuse to dismiss it, distort it, or misrepresent it. The foundation of all Church Dogma is rooted in our absolute need for spiritual depth and for the arrival at our ultimate destination, Heaven. We must arm ourselves with knowledge of Truth to enter the battle. The search for Truth is a continuous but wonderful and enlightening journey. As we judge our brethren living in error and we begin to teach and instruct them in ways toward a relationship with our Father, we will also grow in relationship with him. Only with Truth can we be illuminated with Light, and as we grow in Truth our light will become a stronger beacon and draw for others.

Don’t be afraid to stand in judgement of error and be a proponent for Truth! If enough of us stand up for Truth, we might change the fabric of our World and live a life eternally with all of those we have had the privilege to teach and lead. Is there any better reason to judge?