NOM

It started when I was young. The messages I got at church were how to judge others by their outward appearance and behavior. Things that were lifestyle choices morphed into deviant behavior. I learned these people were defective and needed fixing.

Fast forward 60 years and it is a hard habit to break, but I work on it everyday.


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To judge is to be human.

For me I would say I learned what to judge as a mormon, and it was all wrong. We are judgement machines and I don't think there is a way to stop it. So I've tried to change what I judge from swearing and modesty and caffeine and R-rated movies and church attendance and garment lines to fairness and kindness and understanding.

You’ll get used to my Mohawk eventually!

Linked wrote:To judge is to be human.

For me I would say I learned what to judge as a mormon, and it was all wrong. We are judgement machines and I don't think there is a way to stop it. So I've tried to change what I judge from swearing and modesty and caffeine and R-rated movies and church attendance and garment lines to fairness and kindness and understanding.

Good advice. If you hurt someone you get on my bad list. Not so much if you have purple hair.


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Joseph Smith had to mess with the scripture where Jesus said not to judge, so it is doctrinal to judge "righteously"

Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. 7:1) is changed to “Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment” (JST, Matt. 7:2).

I remember one of the times I brought a room full of priesthood to uncomfortable silence when I said that the longer I lived the more I realized how hard it is to judge righteously, and that I wished Joseph had left that verse alone.

Duplicate post

DPRoberts wrote: ↑

Fri May 14, 2021 7:04 pm

Joseph Smith had to mess with the scripture where Jesus said not to judge, so it is doctrinal to judge "righteously"

Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. 7:1) is changed to “Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment” (JST, Matt. 7:2).

I remember one of the times I brought a room full of priesthood to uncomfortable silence when I said that the longer I lived the more I realized how hard it is to judge righteously, and that I wished Joseph had left that verse alone.

To "judge" at that time carried the implication of condemnation with it. Perhaps it still does. But the Pharisees to whom Christ was speaking had an entire set of the " commandments of men" that they judged by.

Luke:

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"

So even if we estimate someone else's behavior as being against God's law as it is truly written, we still have no right to condemn that person because their life isn't over yet. There may be numerous reasons for their behavior or future opportunities for improving that behavior.

Joseph may have picked up his "inspiration" from John 7:24
"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

The Pharisees judged by the appearance of those they considered beneath them rather than "looking on the heart" as God does.

The only exception I would make to the above would be in various criminal cases where I believe the law should be allowed to run it's course.

I love 1 Samuel 16:7

"But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

I think the church teaches members to judge themselves first and foremost, and that for most members, all other judgment flows from that.

When I let go of judging myself - when I realized I was terrible at it, and the commandment to "judge not" applied just as easily to self-judgment - I largely stopped judging other people. I wanted everyone to make it to super VIP heaven, and thought almost everyone would. Such a large burden lifted. A very Christian attitude, and maintaining it was like forcing a square peg into a round hole.

A big part of my disaffection was realizing that evangelicals understood grace better than church leaders did.

Reuben wrote: ↑

Sat May 15, 2021 2:10 am

I think the church teaches members to judge themselves first and foremost, and that for most members, all other judgment flows from that.

When I let go of judging myself - when I realized I was terrible at it, and the commandment to "judge not" applied just as easily to self-judgment - I largely stopped judging other people. I wanted everyone to make it to super VIP heaven, and thought almost everyone would. Such a large burden lifted. A very Christian attitude, and maintaining it was like forcing a square peg into a round hole.

A big part of my disaffection was realizing that evangelicals understood grace better than church leaders did.

I had a similar surprise about grace. I think I was on my mission when I realized what Jesus grace actually meant. It's sad I was able to go to church weekly, through 4 years of seminary, and half a mission before getting it. The church wants to control so much that the grace part just gets in the way. They pay lip service to it, but their actions speak louder. I felt like an unorthodox thinker because I thought grace was as important as I did.

Once when I was halfway out the door I was talking to a church friend and mentioned that I was done feeling guilty about stuff. I was a pretty scrupulous kid and the guilt was constant and overwhelming and not helping me become a better person, so I decided it didn't get to make my decisions anymore. My friend told me to be careful because he knew someone who had left the church after not feeling guilty. I thought that was a bad sign for the church, that to stay in you need to hang onto your guilt.

If Deseret Books were to offer a Judge in Israel certificate, I suspect it would become a bestseller.