I've always been somewhat suspicious of the blanket claim "Christians are taught not to judge," mostly because it seems obviously false. It seems perfectly clear that some people in certain positions of the church are not only allowed to judge the activities of others, but are required to (elders/overseers, for example). But I've never really bothered to look into it in any detail. So I just did a search on bible.com (God, I love the internet). One caveat; it's in the KJV, so it's not the most accurate version, but this is what I've found. Note: I searched the word 'judge'. I've ignored passages indicating Christ judging (since it seems reasonable to believe that he might judge in situations where we shouldn't) and those where 'judge' refers merely to a human judge (as in "The kingdom of heaven is like an unjust judge"), as these are of limited relevance to the present topic.
A few times, Jesus says something like "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Looking at the similar passages where this occurs, and doing my be to ignore the archaicness of the language, what he seems to be saying is that the same standard you judge others by is the standard by which you will be judged. But this seems to refer to a judgement of someone's eternal salvation (or lack thereof); to the extent that we say to others "You're a sinner, therefore you're going to hell," we are condemning ourselves to hell. But this doesn't preclude condemning individual actions. (Matt. 7:1-2, Luke 6:37,
As I've indicated earlier, sometimes scripture encourages certain forms of judgement. John writes, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement." (7:24, NRSV) But the announcement of how we should judge indicates some role for judging in our lives.
Romans 2 talks a lot about not judging, but in that passage, it is explicitly regarding judging someone for doing the same sort of thing you're doing. "In passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things."
I'm guessing Romans 14 is going to be the strongest support for a strict 'do not judge' position. It certainly contains the broadest language. But looking at the examples (drinking wine, eating meat, observing holy days), it seems to be talking about things which aren't really moral commands. We shouldn't judge those who sing only Psalms in their services; we shouldn't judge those who sing only praise songs in their services (except at worse, perhaps, bad taste). But it doesn't seem to directly address the question of what we say to someone who is clearly sinning.
I Corinthians 5 is interesting, since it pretty clearly states that we should only judge the activity (here, even more interestingly, it's sexual activity) of those inside the church.
On the other hand, there's I Corinthians 6:2 "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" However, given the context, this probably is referring to the last days.
Again, James 4:11-12 seems to speak generally against judging, but given the context, it seems more likely to speak of judging publically, and so should probably be considered with that other passage that indicates if you have a problem with a fellow believer, you should first approach them in private, then with two or three, and only after that publically.
So from all this I gather that the ultimate judgment belongs to God, but also that to some extent we are called to, as it were, encourage our brothers and sisters in righteousness. What does this mean specifically for homosexuality?
At this point, I should note a few things explicitly, in the interest of full disclosure. I tend towards the opinion that homosexuality is wrongful, but I am quite far from holding it firmly. I think that scripture in general is against it, but it's not the clearest case to make. I don't think there's any reason other than scripture to think that such activity is wrongful. But for the sake of the rest of this post, to indicate how I think a Christian more convinced than I of the wrongfulness of homosexuality should respond, I'll give responses as if I were convinced of its wrongfulness.
It should be clear from the scripture above that I should not engage in a general campaign to make homosexual activity illegal, or to restrict their civil rights, or anything like that. Rather, if someone were to ask me what I think, or for my advice, I would give it kindly and honestly (the proportions of each would depend on the person). I would not consider it my duty to point out to someone engaging in homosexual activity that that activity was wrong without them approaching me first, unless for some other reason I had an obligation to that person; for example, if they were a close friend, or if I was an elder in the church, and even then it would depend on the situation.
The key to me, for how Christians should deal with 'sinners', is found in the story of the young woman caught in adultery. If you recall the story, Christ says "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." So no one casts the first stone.
But after that, after everyone has left, Christ asks "Is no one left to condemn you?" She replies "No sir." Then Christ says "Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." That, to me, is what we should be saying to someone who we believe is sinning, when we are in the proper position to do so. We should say "You are not condemned, but you need to go and sin no more." And we should say that as many times as we have to.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Gilda
“A truly religious person worries about his own spiritual well-being and the physical well-being of every other human being on this planet; a hypocrite worries about his own physical well-being and the spiritual well-being of every other human being on this planet.”
Rav Yisroel Slanter
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One more thing (and I'm sorry that I'm adding this after an entirely too long post). This may be true. But a saint worries about his own spiritual and physical well-being and the spiritual and physical well-being of every other human being on the planet. Else, what does it mean to love your neighbor like you love yourself?