A commonly held myth in contemporary Christianity is that we are forbidden to judge. This generally stems from misuse of certain Scriptures. One passage that is greatly misused and abused is Matt. 7:1-5.
As you read these verses, you will see that God is not condemning all judging, but condemning hypocritical judging. If we condemn something in a person, but we allow ourselves to do it, this is hypocrisy. An example of hypocrisy is telling your children not to smoke, but you do...
God did not forbid judging in general! If you read Matt. 7:15-17, it tells us to "Beware of false prophets." How are you going to be aware if you do not judge? You must judge everything and everyone by the Word of God. The Lord Jesus told us to "judge righteous judgement" John 7:24.
We are to judge:
1) Sin in the church- 1 Cor. 5:3,12 plainly states "have judged already... do not ye judge them that are within?"
2) Matters between brethren- 1 Cor. 6:5
3) Preaching- 1 Cor. 14:29
4) Those who preach false gospels, false christs, and false spirits- 2 Cor. 11:1-4
5) Works of darkness- Eph. 5:11
6) Spirits- 1 John 4:1
7) All things- 1 Cor. 2:15-16
We must be very careful! In this day and age, so many are for unity, be kind and nice even if we don't believe exactly the same on doctrine.
Doctrine is EXTREMELY important, and we cannot fellowship with those that do not believe Bible doctrine.
Music is often used to get rid of doctrine. Pat Boone stated, "Doctrine divides, experience unites. We don't all have our doctrine all completely correct, but God doesn't judge us on our understanding of doctrine" (Aug. 17, 2001). Mr. Boone may be a nice man, but he is completely wrong! In 2 Tim. 2:15, we are told that we are to be "rightly dividing the word of truth."
We need to use Godly judgement and keep ourselves (and our children) away from churches, music, youth rallies and any other activity that does not uphold our Bible doctrine. We can judge, and God expects us to judge and keep ourselves Holy before Him.
---Mrs. Linda Jones
