The Nature of Judgment (and I am sure this will make some angry)

The nature of judgment is one of clarity, sensibility, and unbiased views. However, people will sit in judgment of another based on their own views, thinking that if one person does not fit their ideal of what a person in a given position should be like, then they are lesser. People will also sit in judgment of another based on their religious views or society views, placing themselves on level with God or even going so far as to elevate themselves above God by condemning another to an eternity of eternal torment. When it is then pointed out that in some theological traditions, it is bad to judge, they then use another theological tradition to justify judging and condemning another to an eternity of eternal torment and, eventually, death of the spirit.

For instance, in the Christian tradition, Jesus says for us to not judge because we will be judged in the same manner that we judged another person. Many will then retort that we are to use our own judgment and to hold onto whatever is good or that, or, if you are spiritual, you judge. The thing is, though, when you condemn another, you are not using judgment or discernment. You are taking someone that you dislike or something you dislike about that person, and that is the basis of your condemnation. We are called to humble ourselves and to not elevate ourselves over another, but to consider others better than us in the Christian tradition. Yet, when you condemn another to an eternity of torment and then death spiritually, you are elevating yourself over another and even elevating yourself over God.

The second problem with judging this way is that you are judging based on what you presume to be write and true about that person, when you do not know the state of that person's heart, their mind, their struggles, their relationship with the spiritual, if they have

a relationship with the spiritual, and you do not know God's view on that person or their life. Only God knows the state of the heart and of the soul of the person, truly. He knows the secrets that are kept better than anyone else does, and while, in empathy, we may catch glimpses of that, God knows it on a personal level, just as it is known the atoms on the smallest level and the interactions there.

The third problem, and the biggest problem in my opinion, is when you judge someone so harshly, you claim to know the mind of God. You claim to know what exactly is thought in this infinite being's mind, based upon the writings of fallible men in a book that many have claimed is infallible because it was divinely inspired. My friends, the only infallible Word of God is Jesus Christ (if you are of the Christian tradition, that is). You claim to know in your limited mind, that we use less than ten percent of, what is in this vast and infinite being's mind who spoke the universe into existence. It is the height of arrogance to even presume that you know the mind of an infinite being, just as it is the height of arrogance and a largely misplaced trust in men, to presume that a book written by men who claim to be divinely inspired is infallible. You not only allow your own prejudices and fears to speak for you, but you also claim to know the mind of a Creator who spoke the universe into being.

As previously stated, in the Christian tradition, Jesus Christ was and is the Word of God. It states that in the beginning of the Gospel of John by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God.” Judgment is not reserved for those who do not fit your ideal or who do not act accordingly to everything that is written in a book that was supposedly divinely inspired. And it is certainly no human being's place to judge another.

The nature and spirit of judgment is supposed to be one based upon knowledge that is sought in many different areas and experiences gained. Judgment is supposed to be discernment and not condemnation. Judgment is supposed to be clear not muddled and sensible. The nature of judgment is not condemnation, but understanding and clarity.