Malachi 2:7 says, "For the lips of a priest (pastor) ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.”
One of my responsibilities as a minister of Jesus Christ is to preserve knowledge by speaking truth according to God’s word—the Bible. That is why I blog about hot button issues like gay marriage rights and abortion. When pastors abdicate this duty churches loose their power to influence culture. When religion is weak in a nation, its morals become confusing and its institutions become corrupt.
One philosophy that is destroying America today is the relativity of moral values.
Chuck Colson says, “This myth hides the dividing line between good and evil, noble and base. It has thus created a crisis in the realm of truth. When a society abandons it transcendent values, each individual’s moral vision becomes purely personal and finally equal. Society becomes merely the sum total of individual preferences, and since no preference is morally preferable, anything that can be dared will be permitted. This leaves the moral consensus for our laws and manners in tatters. Tolerance substitutes for truth, indifference for religious conviction. And in the end, confusion undercuts all our creeds.”
Moral relativism makes it extremely difficult to communicate truth without people thinking you are a mean and narrow-minded person. Since I was a young kid, my parents taught me to tell the truth, and to only trust those who were truthful. Moral relativism is deceptive because it causes us to despise the people we should value the most—the ones who will tell us the truth.
Ephesians 4:15 says “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
Unfortunately, many Christ-followers have not done a good job speaking the truth in love. It takes wisdom, social grace and interpersonal skill to do this well. Too often Christ-followers have deep convictions but lack compassion for people who are living in sin. Also, too many Christ-followers live a hypocritical life, and therefore, lose their moral authority to speak truth to others.
Is it possible to judge without being judgmental? If so, how?
Before I write my thoughts, I would love to read how you would answer this question. I look forward to reading your response.
2 comments:
Just wanted to say I loved your message on Sunday! Loco!!!!
Pastor Ron,
I believe that it is possible to judge without being judgmental. Judging someone consists of forming an opinion about an attitude(s), behavior(s), or characteristic(s) of that person. It is possible not approve of one aspect of a person and still enjoy Christian fellowship. For example, you may not approve of my drinking beer but that does not have to keep us from enjoying fellowship together as long as I am respectful of your position.
A person is judgmental when they allow there disapproval of one or more aspects of a person's life to dominate the friendship. If you were not able to get past the fact that I drink beer. We would not be able to fellowship together.
Sometimes we tend to look down on people based on a shortcoming in their life. This is a shame becuase there are a lot of hurting people who need us.
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