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“Judge not” is the command, and it has had me wondering this week. I realized one day that I scorn the fans and participants of cage fighting, and to a lesser extent boxing. To me it is barbaric and gives nothing of value to society. Thankfully we have moved beyond public hangings and beheadings, but we still cheer those who beat each other to a pulp. So my question is does this constitute a judgment on my part? Should I not have an opinion such as this on the actions of others? Where does opinion end and judgment begin?
President Uchtdorf spoke of a bumper sticker he read: “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” How does this apply here, and how do I direct my thoughts to comply?
I’ve always differentiated between judging people (making decisions about their individual worth here and where they will end up after death) and judging actions (what people do). There is no way to get around judgment of actions – except for psychopaths, who don’t have the capability to judge actions. That type of judgment is unavoidable. There also is not way to get around having those judgments influence our interaction with others, since, for example, if I know someone has sexually abused children, I simply must consider that fact if I have children the same general age as those s/he abused. To not consider those actions in such a situation is unthinkable.
However, “to judge someone” means, legally, to act like a judge and make a final determination about someone that determines offiical standing for that person – and which, in real terms, imposes or does not impose limits on that person. It is making a decision that literally affects someone else’s agency in situations that don’t invove the one making the judgment. I do not judge someone in this way by keeping my kids away from someone who has abused kids in the past – but I do judge someone in this way if I assume s/he will not and cannot change ever, assert that nobody who has done such a thing ever can repent and insist that Hell is the only possible outcome for all of “them”.
Did Hitler do horrible things? Yes. Does a part of me assume he will end up in the Telestial Kingdom? Sure. Am I open to the possibility that there are things about his situation that I don’t know and, therefore, that he might not end up in the Telestial Kingdom? Yes. Can Hitler be saved? I believe he has been. Can he be exalted? As much as I want to be able to answer that question in black-and-qhite terms, I just can’t put myself in the position of his judge and make that call.
That is the judgment I try to avoid, especially when it comes to projected results after death. That’s why, “Damn you!” is such a heinous curse in our scriptures – in that it puts someone in the place of God and pronounces final judgment on someone else.
I always try to remember that I have no freaking clue, really, why others act as they do. I have a hard enough time figuring out why I do what I do. Thus, while I can’t avoid judging actions in a real way, I try very hard not to presume to know the motivation or cause of those actions – which leaves “final judgment” to God.
My ideas are only forming on this but I have had these recurring throughts: 1. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with certain kinds of behavior observed in others to govern one’s own life.
2. Unsolicited opinions and commentaries on the actions of others is an unwanted/unhealthy judgment.
3. Providing such opinions and commentaries are unwanted/unhealthy unless someone a) has a formal role that requires them to do so or b) you’ve been asked to provide a judgment from the person who is behaving a certain way.
4. When forming personal judgments, it’s better to suspend any firm conclusions unless one has all the facts necessary to make a very wholesome judgment, and that complete possession of the facts rarely ever happens.
5. Certain kinds of acts should be condemned notwithstanding any extenuating circumstances, but these are very extreme.
6. When someone behaves in a way that is offensive to you, you have every right to judge whether their action was appropriate, and stand your ground, forgive, or see their perspective — whatever you feel is right based on the facts.
Even then, we should try to love the person who committed the objectional acts to the extent possible.
Orson wrote:“Judge not” is the command, and it has had me wondering this week. I realized one day that
I scorn the fans and participants of cage fighting, and to a lesser extent boxing. To me it is barbaric and gives nothing of value to society. Thankfully we have moved beyond public hangings and beheadings, but we still cheer those who beat each other to a pulp…So my question is does this constitute a judgment on my part?Should I not have an opinion such as this on the actions of others? Where does opinion end and judgment begin?…President Uchtdorf spoke of a bumper sticker he read: “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” How does this apply here, and how do I direct my thoughts to comply? I think the line of judgment that is usually a bad idea to cross is to the point of disrespect and contempt. You can generally disagree with people without being overly disrespectful or hateful about it. So in your case if you say, “I don’t like MMA” then maybe some MMA fans will make their own less-than-flattering judgments about you if they hear this but for the most part I think the typical reaction would be “fine; you don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to.” However, if you say something like, “No one should like MMA” then I think that crosses the line into disrespect for those that do like it and hard-core MMA fans will be more likely to angrily object to your attitude and get defensive about it plus the realistic chances of them ever suddenly changing their mind simply because of hearing your opinion about it are probably not very high anyway. Personally I try to see things from other people’s perspectives even if I will never agree with them and this helps reduce the level of frustration with how wrong they are to think differently than me because conveniently it turns out that I am usually right (in my own mind).
There are some differences of opinion where it is completely pointless to hope that they will ever change enough to come to a real agreement. Maybe some people will always value happiness and comfort over the truth if they had to choose between them while others would always rank them the opposite way. Some people could value the approval of others over freedom. Some people could value competition and excitement over peace and unity. I don’t worry that much about not judging extreme or unusual cases like criminals but if I sit around thinking my wife is ignorant even if I don’t say it directly it could still have a very negative impact on my marriage (sometimes in completely unconscious ways). That’s why I think a more realistic approach is to understand and accept the fact that sometimes it is impossible for her to see things the same way I do given the differences in gender, personality, background, education, personal preferences, etc.
Thanks for your comments guys. Ray I really appreciate the distinction between the action and the individual. To me that says my judgment begins when I pretend to know or speculate on someone’s motivations, sincerety, understanding, abilities, or standing with God. Of this many fine lines may be drawn, and most people in casual conversations may sometimes miss the distinction of what is actually being said — but I appreciate seeing the difference. For example I see these as judging comments:
“They don’t go to church because they were offended” (UNLESS this is not speculation and is simply repeating a reason given)
“She wears short skirts to get attention or because she has low self-esteem”
“Anyone against gay marriage is a bad person and should be shot”
“You don’t pay your tithing so you’re not really faithful to God”
“You believe in what can’t be proven so you’re a fool or intellectually dishonest”
Based on looking at the action and not the person I now see these comments as NOT judging explicity, though sometimes they may be inconsiderate or inappropriate — or accompany an unspoken judgment”
“To disobey commandments is to distance yourself from God”
“I disagree with …” or “I don’t appreciate …”
“I am sad to see (some person say or do some thing)”
So this line of thinking makes me want to say it would be judging if I said “HE is a barbaric fool because he is a cage fighter” but on the other hand a simple “I think cage fighting is barbaric” is a statement of my feelings on an activity and not a judgement of any individual. Though it does come across as a form of judgment on everyone involved in the sport.
Thoughts?
The ultimate judgmental statements, for me are: a) “Oh, so you feel disaffected from the Church, then what commandment did you have trouble keeping?”
b) “He’s an experienced High Priest — he should KNOW BETTER” (speaking of a HP who is not active anymore, for example)
And the list goes on.
Yeah, we shouldn’t do it that way. 
This is one where I much prefer the JST to the KIng James for Matthew 7:1.
Quote:“Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged; but judge righteous judgment”
We have to judge, but we also have to be aware of our attitudes and motivations for the judgement. Judge properly, fairly, not with pride or wilfulness – righteously. Mostly I don’t live up to the standard, but I am trying to improve.
Luther Hegs wrote:This is one where I much prefer the JST to the KIng James for Matthew 7:1.
Quote:“Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged; but judge righteous judgment”
We have to judge, but we also have to be aware of our attitudes and motivations for the judgement. Judge properly, fairly, not with pride or wilfulness – righteously. Mostly I don’t live up to the standard, but I am trying to improve.
Also, for anyone that has more confidence in the Bible than Joseph Smith there is this original scripture:
John 7:24 wrote:“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”So does this contradict the “judge not” scripture because one is saying don’t do that but the other one gives the impression that it is perfectly alright to make “righteous” judgments? Personally, I think the “judge not lest ye be judged” scripture is basically talking about the general idea of how would it make you feel if others judged you as harshly as you judge them? If you think that would be unfair in your case then it only makes sense that it’s not very nice to act that way toward others. It basically goes along with the Golden Rule and the general idea of other things Jesus taught such as “loving your enemies”, “forgiving 70×7 times”, etc. Maybe this kind of empathy would be a bit too idealistic and impractical to expect out of mere mortals when dealing with the worst offenses in the real world but I think this general attitude would typically be good for both the individual and the larger society when dealing with most minor everyday offenses and differences of opinion that people generally fight about.
I think it all comes into better focus when we properly define “righteous.” As Ray says righteous effectively means “right with God” or in this case as God would judge. Do any of us have confidence that we can judge as God would judge?? To me that means with perfect love (charity) and insight. Do we have the perfect insight and love that is required to judge righteously? I prefer to focus on “judge not” because I will be judged in the same way as I judge (coincidentally here on earth as well as after).
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