One of the giant complaints about Christianity and followers of Jesus is that the Church is full of hypocrites. People who do not practice what they preach or live contrary to what they say they believe. Unfortunately, there is a ton of evidence to back this up. From celebrity preachers having “huge” moral failures to every day parents displaying behavior that teaches their kids to do as I say, not as I do.
Your concluding thoughts regarding folks who have not committed themselves to living as a Christ follower are appreciated. It called to my mind this passage from the Gospel of Luke (12: 47-48):
"47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his -will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
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I did want to push back on the idea that we should do any form of judging our neighbors and their relationship with God. I'm not convinced that what you did was judge the couple in your example. I would say that you expressed pastoral discernment. You would not be judging another person's relationship with God to call someone to repentance or to decline to celebrate unrepentant sin. Would you make a distinction between judgement and discernment?
Could the telephone pole be entirely removed from our own eye in this life? Can we ever be godly judges while we still sin (1 John 1:8)?
The Hypocritical Judge
Yep, we’re all a work in process, and I want to work hard in this area of humble accountability.
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Your concluding thoughts regarding folks who have not committed themselves to living as a Christ follower are appreciated. It called to my mind this passage from the Gospel of Luke (12: 47-48):
"47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his -will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
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I did want to push back on the idea that we should do any form of judging our neighbors and their relationship with God. I'm not convinced that what you did was judge the couple in your example. I would say that you expressed pastoral discernment. You would not be judging another person's relationship with God to call someone to repentance or to decline to celebrate unrepentant sin. Would you make a distinction between judgement and discernment?
Could the telephone pole be entirely removed from our own eye in this life? Can we ever be godly judges while we still sin (1 John 1:8)?
As always, thanks for the thought provoking post!