Who Am I to Judge?

Who am I to judge?  I saw this “quote” once again in a comment on Facebook this weekend and it absolutely made me cringe.  It seems to me this singular quote and the apathetic and relativistic philosophy that it signifies and demonstrates is at the root of what is wrong in our churches and society today.  That absolute lack of any kind of moral integrity and defense of truth is what has precisely gotten us where we are, and has always led us astray onto the paths of peril and unholiness.  Why are we and why have we always been so reluctant to call out sin for what it is? Why do we constantly sit back and let Satan have his way, again and again.

Fear is the big factor that plays into this notion, fear, misunderstanding and ignorance of the Scripture.   Those of us, whether we are aware of it or not, that tend to want to live according to a relativistic moral philosophy tend to subscribe to that notion because we don’t want to offend, or imply morality on others.  

Now wait, what do I mean by not wanting to impose morality on others?  Imposing our own morality on others is not right, what gives me the right to do that?  Well Scripture does, actually.  Jesus commands us in the same exact chapter to do exactly that as well, when it comes to sin.  You see, the whole reason we are here on this Earth living these temporal lives in community and with one another, is to do exactly that.  Call each other out when we are living wrongly, immorally and get each other back on the right track to holiness.  The thing is, the Devil has been tremendously effective and successful at convincing us that when we do this we are being “unkind”, not nice, and judgmental.  He plays to those human weaknesses we all have, the weaknesses of needing to be included, liked, and popular.  We certainly don’t want to be shunned because we believe in the sanctity of life, sexual purity,  sacramental marriage between one man and one woman, and the falsity of divorce.  After all, these are pretty rigid standards to live by, aren’t they?  You bet they are!  Which is exactly why we are called to hold each other accountable to them!  We can’t do it alone, we need each other.  When one part of the body of Christ is weakened by sin we all falter.  Which is why the Church has the spiritual works of mercy, and why we are called to admonish the sinner and instruct the ignorant.  If we don’t, the ramifications can be eternal, for everyone.  We are called to know and serve the Lord in this life so that we can be with him in the next.  If we say that we love Jesus and our brethren then we cannot be afraid to call out sin when we see it. This is the ultimate love we can show our brothers and sisters, a love that leads to Heaven.  It will probably cost us, it cost Jesus, didn’t it? There is nothing nice or loving about escorting someone down the roadway to Hell, doing so will have eternal ramifications for those of us who do choose to look the other way, and make excuses to ourselves as to why we cannot speak up, at the risk of being ourselves judged as intolerant and mean.

Now, understand, we must take a very prudent approach when calling out the sins of others, and not cross the line of judging another’s soul.  We judge behavior not people and their souls.  Another effective tactic that has been adopted by those who choose to live in sinful lifestyles, is to identify themselves as people, as their sin.  You see this in the whole transgender and a gay pride movement.  A person’s sexual preference and behavior has become that person’s identity.  That maneuver is gaining momentum because it deflects the condemnation on the behavior from the behavior to the person themselves.  The criticism of the behavior is defected as an attack on the person, because the behavior is who that person is. Which makes our task at hand more difficult. It is a task that calls for great love, because it is love which motivates it.  It also requires empathy and patience, after all, we are all sinners in need of being called out for whatever particular sin we are most susceptible to.  We must let the Holy Spirit guide us with this process.  We want to help others grow closer to Christ when we do this, not drive them farther away.  There is definitely tact and approaches that must be used so that we can be effective and influential.  That doesn’t mean though, that we should abandon the task, even knowing these risks.

There is a lot at stake here. If we truly believe that judging others is wrong, then this whole outrage against the scandals that keep arising in the Church are unfounded and erroneous.  If we are truly called not to judge, then Cardinal McCarrick and any of the other clerics who have been found to abuse others and/or cover up these kinds of offenses, shouldn’t be facing the scrutiny that they are right now.  Aren’t we in fact judging this behavior to be wrong and immoral?  That certainly doesn’t seem tolerant.  Why is some immoral behavior acceptable and other immoral behavior not acceptable.  Our culture doesn’t get to decide these things, our God does.  Our laws and judicial system certainly have made the determination that some laws and behaviors are acceptable and others are not. If a man made judicial system can make these determinations, then why can’t a divine institution like the church make these kinds of moral determinations as well.  God given authority should outweigh the authority of man, shouldn’t it? Man gets it wrong quite a lot, God is Truth because God is Love.

When we say “who am I to judge”, we are misquoting Scripture and appointing ourselves the judge of what is moral and immoral, right or wrong.   We are determining that God through his Church doesn’t have jurisdiction, because “for me” those behaviors are relative, and only we can determine individually for ourselves what set of rules and behavioral standards to follow. This is what has lead so many to a faith of Cafeteria Catholicism.  And that, my dear brothers and sisters is what has brought us to the world we live in today.  A world filled with vice, sin, hate, and an intolerance for God and Truth.

So, if we keep surrendering to the notion of not judging the actions of others, and will continue our downward spiral of not holding each other accountable, we will continue to live in the deserts of sin, because only God’s way will lead us to Heaven.  The rules that we find so intolerant and judgmental will lead us to happiness, fruitfulness and give us peace if we follow them and let them.  God knows this, he made us, he knows how our actions will affect not only ourselves but all those around us.  Our pride has led us down some very wrong paths, it is time for a new direction toward the path of Truth, no matter how uncomfortable it is, and no matter how much it might personally cost us.  There isn’t an Earthly price we shouldn’t be willing to pay for eternal happiness and a life in Heaven.  The martyrs and Saints all know this, and it cost them everything while here on Earth. We, like them, must be willing the pay the ultimate price for our salvation. We must strive to be Saints, for ourselves and all those we love.