Judging Judgmentalism

The recent flurry of current pop culture events has given rise to another chorus of a tired old refrain.

Remember the song that doesn’t end, for it goes on and on again? It is sort of like that. “Doesn’t the Bible teach that you shouldn’t judge, but you Christians are so judgmental?” Josh Dugger is a hypocritical scoundrel according to some because he is a child molester and yet was fighting against homosexual mirage. The Dugger’s are so full of judgmentalism and double standards, how dare they push their viewpoints on the rest of us when their house is a petrie dish for sexual molestation, and evil patriarchalism!

Christians who have the wits to recognize that a celebrated male athlete who has decided to become an old granny (via silicon and photoshop) is really a sad wreck of humanity to be pitied, rather than a courageous individual to be applauded are quickly told that we Christians are always “sooo, like, judgmental!” One passing comment in regards to the Bruce Jenner issue, our culture is now celebrating a man leaving his children and grandchildren fatherless and grandfather-less. We are calling this action “courageous”. I think the term we are actually looking for is “selfish”.

But, I forget, I have suddenly lapsed into judgmentalism and that is the worst crime that can be committed in today’s society. If you aren’t tolerant of Bruce Jenner, or if you agree with the Dugger’s that homosexuality is wrong, you are a homophobic, transphobic bigot and your judgmental intolerance will not be tolerated, for society has decided to be judgmental towards judgmentalism.

Thus, my only recourse is to ask a few questions; shall we?!

Why was it wrong for Josh Dugger to touch the breasts of sleeping girls? Was it because there was no consent, because of their age, or because it was a breast? On what basis was it wrong? Why should we judge a 14 year old boy for embracing and exploring his sexuality? Aren’t we supposed to support Josh’s self-discovery and sexual liberation (Try this article for an example))? If the girls had been awake and consenting, would that fix it? If not, why is it wrong for siblings to get it on? If he was experimenting with another boy, would it still be wrong? If he was secretly dressing up as a woman, and fondling himself, would that be wrong?

Speaking of Mr. Jenner…Should Bruce Jenner’s medals be taken away because he was really a woman and therefore competed illegitimately? Did Jenner feel like a woman when he came to sexual climax and conceived six children? Are his wives now victims of non-consensual sex, because they did not consent to having intercourse with another woman (even though she looked and felt an awful lot like a man)?

I’d like some answers please. Give me the basis for why what Josh Dugger did was wrong. In essence, the tolerance, no judgmentalism crowd has to find a basis to condemn what their conscience testifies to them is wrong. The only solution is to say that “we as a society have decided that incest and inappropriate touching is wrong”. Why do “we as a society” think that? Who gave us the right to make such judgmental, narrow-minded, intolerant determinations for everyone else?

You see, Biblical Christianity is the only worldview that can provide us a consistent rule for right and wrong; furthermore, it teaches us that we are all judgmental little usurpers. Mankind has, since Eden, desired to determine right and wrong for ourselves…but we always are confronted by the fact that this power doesn’t rest with us, but with the Almighty. And yes, it teaches that hypocrisy is wrong (Mt. 23), right along with a man thinking he looks mighty pretty with a boob job and corsets (Deut. 22:5). Oh, and, sure enough, a judgmental heart is roundly condemned by Scripture (James 2:1-5); interestingly the secularists like to quote from James 4:12 (two chapters later), “…who art thou that judgeth another?” But they miss the entire context of that verse (and really the whole passage), “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgeth another?”

And so, they are caught red-handed, judging judgmentalism! They are caught in their own net…yes judgmentalism is wrong…why? Because there is a Lawgiver, and HE determines right from wrong, up from down, straight from crooked. The same Lawgiver who condemns the hypocrisy of judgmentalism, is the One who condemns us for picking and choosing which of His laws we like and don’t like. Again, James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” If you want to keep God’s law in one point, you’ll need to hold all of it.

The Gospel teaches us that we are all violators of God’s Holy law, and thus, we all stand condemned. We are, all of us, judged to be lawbreakers. The only way out of our punishment is repentance of our sins, and faith in Christ’s atoning work. This means we must repent of both our sin of self-righteousness and our sins of unrestrained rebellion to God’s natural order for our gender.

The Great Commission doesn’t send us forth to proclaim our own righteousness, but the righteousness found in Another. The Gospel comes along and confronts us with the fact that we are all condemned: gay, straight, and the child molesters too. The Gospel’s solution to this impending judgement is a call for us to forsake our sin, and cling to Christ. It calls us to go and sin no more…and in so doing commands us to go and call others to go and sin no more. Jesus had the audacity to tell the woman in adultery that her adultery was sin; he judged her, all for the sake of justifying her!

The sin of judgmentalism is using your own personal standard of righteousness, and thereby feeling yourself to be superior to others. True Gospel judgement recognizes that I don’t even get to make the standard, God does. And according to his judgement…I’m the crookedest of the bunch. But I am justified by Christ the King, and now I live according to the King’s law. He commands all people, from all nations to weep over their arrogance, pride, and judging based on their own standard rather than His; He commands us again from James 4:8-10 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Notice, this passage points out that I’m an arrogant, self-righteous sinner whose proud heart must be humbled by God the Lawgiver, before it can be lifted up by the Savior. As Christians, we hold up God’s standard, not man’s; and by the way, it judges us all. And yet wonderfully true, it affords the only means of being justified as well! As always, the Gospel is the only remedy.