The first argument non-believers will give a Christian when trying to reach them about Christ is Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, lest you be judged". First problem is they only know this verse by the King James Version. They have no idea what it means anyway. For all purposes The Complete Jewish Bible or the NIV will be used in all scripture references.
There is a huge difference between what "judging" means in Matthew 7:1 and what the world thinks it is. First of all you need to read the rest of the story. Matthew 7:2-5 says:
- 2 For the way you judge others is how you will be judged. The measure with which you measure out will be used to measure you.
- 3 Why do you see the splinter in your brother's eye but not notice the log in your own eye?
- 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let's take out the splinter in your own eye', when all the time you have a log in your own?
- 5 You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye!
The verse, when read by itself, tells us not to judge, but in reality the whole passage is telling us be careful how we see and view others because we have problems of our own and it wouldn't be right for us to question others if we ourselves are not following what we preach. It doesn't really have anything to do with actual "JUDGEMENT". Because if that is the case then wouldn't praising someone for a good deed that they have done be judgement too? Even so, we can "judge" if what we are doing is calling out to people the change they need in their life. Nathan "judged" David. Paul "judged" Peter. What you have to be careful about is not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
If we do not call out to people what sin really is then we are ignoring what the truth is. People in today's world do not know what truth is. But, unfortunately sometimes neither does the church. We are called to tell the world the truth.
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