By Marc Smith
A troubling experience that is becoming very common for preachers is the charge that we are too judgmental. I have been literally amazed when after I have preached a lesson on a first principles subject like baptism, for instance, when specifics are completely necessary for one to be saved, to hear later from a critic that I was maybe a little too negative. Then, when I ask my critic what was so negative about my tone, attitude or lesson I have been told more than a couple of times that I was just too judgmental. Such individuals might go on to say, Can’t you preach on baptism without necessarily condemning other's Without perverting Gods word here, there is simply no way to do that since any reasoning human being knows that Mark 16:16 says, He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Let me quickly go over this so all will be together on how this charge of judgmentalism comes about.
Clearly, there are two steps involved in the first phrase of this verse. The first step is that first one must believe. The second step is that after believing, secondarily and contingent on the first, one must be baptized. The two steps together produce the resulting salvation. The second phrase of the verse says that if one does not believe (which includes obedience to Gods word, i.e. be baptized) they will be condemned. This is just too clear to have it any other way.
Getting back to this too judgmental charge, please note; I was not told that I was rude, or uncaring, or wrong in what I preached. I was told I was just too judgmental. Was it really me that was too judgmental or does the real problem lie with what the Scriptures say? In years past preachers have, for the most part, had the support of audiences made up primarily of believers. Their real problem has been from those who believed false doctrines.
How has this become so common an experience for me and that I am now hearing this from so many others about judging? It is a remarkable thing that members of the Lords church, Christians, are increasingly telling gospel preachers across the whole country that they are too judgmental. In fact, among many wayward members their overall assessment of the church of Christ is that you are all just too judgmental and I don’t want to be a part of that. Have these become the arbiters of some kind of ultimate truth aside from the word of God to make such statements?
Has it ever crossed their minds that when they make such decrees as this, that they have made a judgment of the accused? They have themselves become judgmental! What hypocrites! To be consistent, they are automatically guilty by their own standards if they raise the charge of judgmentalism against another!
To set the record straight, we as Christians are commanded to make judgments. Of course, most who level the charge of judgmentalism against faithful preachers and teachers of the gospel only know one verse about judging, Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged. They ignore the rest of that passage and especially verse five where the Lord commands us not to make hypocritical judgments. These same one-shot-johnnys fail to realize that John 7:24 commands the children of God to make godly judgments, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Clearly, when we are armed with the whole counsel of God we are to make just and reasonable judgments. When we make these judgments we are to be pure minded and godly and not in any way hypocritical.
Some how, many ignorant and misguided souls have gotten the idea (I’m being judgmental again!), mostly from our worldly society, that making any kind of judgment is somehow intolerant. Didn’t you know it was a sin to be intolerant? (Okay, I’ll admit it, I don’t want to be intolerant either, but can you please give me book, chapter, & verse?)
We are bombarded everywhere today with concepts like political correctness in speech (which is really never truly correct because such terminology is by nature so vague) and multi-culturalism to reverse the centuries old melting-pot of America, already having the effect of further dividing people rather than attaining any perceived benefit. Psychologists for a generation have been telling us I’m Okay, You’re Okay and now we as a nation believe them. As a result the lifestyles of perverts are protected and the godly find themselves universally vilified and castigated; the ultimate victims of the Post-Modernist Age. Colossians 2:8, says, Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
The popular philosophy of our age is to not put pressure on everyone to make absolute statements about anything. All issues are shades of gray and never either black or white. The way to convince others today that you are an enlightened and well-educated person is to show them that you cannot make knee-jerk decisions. Judgments of this type are the most telling sign of an unsophisticated and unenlightened person. Such persons are the lowest form of life and are universally shunned and considered absolutely uncool. It is now more important than any other principle in the world, to be cool. In fact I’ve gotten the idea that cool people prefer any homosexual, cross-dressing, tattoo-covered, purple-cockatoo-haired, every-appendage-possible-pierced, slack-jawed pervert in the world to care for their small children and puppy dogs anytime over those who believe in God and live by His word. What the sound Christian lacks today more than ever is the coolness factor because we are judgmental!
Because brethren are influenced by this cultural trend we have a unity in diversity crowd among our own brethren who have perverted the simple teaching of the apostle Paul in Romans 14 they try somehow to finally get license for their real goal of seeing to it that divorce can be for any reason and that both parties can remarry as many times as they wish no matter what Matthew 5:32 or 19:9 might say. The absoluteness of these two passages is simply too narrow for our enlightened brethren to teach any longer. They are bombarded just like faithful preachers are bombarded, by erring brethren who have irreparably messed-up their lives. They ask preachers, You mean, I am not going to be able to marry again? You are telling me that as a result of what the Bible says, the consequences of my committing adultery require me to live without a sexual partner for the rest of my life? It is clear, that by these questions they seek permission to do what they want.
This is the kind of question that tests the mettle of men of God (1 Timothy 6:11). Every preacher will have to find out if he is a man of God at this point, or a man of the world. Those who decide they are men of the world need to get out of preaching today! The whole controversy over Romans 14 in the brotherhood currently is that many preachers have decided to be one with the world rather than one with God. They do not want to be seen in any way judgmental.
Another illustration of this worldly trend not to make spiritual judgments is the fact that suddenly, a whole lot of preachers can not find a false teacher anywhere! We had no problem before naming false teachers. As an explanation for their blindness, these preachers will give the limp answer that a false teacher is only one who knowingly teaches false doctrine. According to such later day Bible revisionists, such a man must be a liar and a charlatan, to qualify for our naming him as a false teacher.
While I agree that such a person is certainly a false teacher, what about all the other false teachers out there? Whatever happened to common sense in our thinking? Is Billy Graham a false teacher? By the definition of our enlightened brethren he is not! Doesn’t Billy Graham teach Baptist doctrine and once saved, always saved, etc.? Yes he does, but by our too tolerant brethrens definition, Billy Graham is not a false teacher because he is honest in his motives. He may teach false doctrine but he is not a false teacher. WHAT’S THAT? Now wait just a minute! This is not difficult at all to understand. If Billy Graham teaches false doctrine, he is teaching falsely, ergo, he is a false teacher. So, those who follow the doctrine Billy Graham preaches will not go to heaven, but will go to hell because they have believed a false doctrine. Mark 7:7, says, And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Those who want to believe that we cannot name one a false teacher unless we believe he is lying, require us to know the heart of the man which only the Lord has the ability to know (Romans 8:27, Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is. ). Since we have neither the right nor the ability to know the hearts of men, we cannot be the ones to determine false teachers based on knowing their hearts. We can only know they are false teachers by what they have taught. Is that too common sense an approach for the enlightened among us to work with?
2 Peter 2:1, ...there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. Some may see this Scripture as pointing to false teachers who secretly bring in destructive heresies thereby showing their duplicitous nature, being liars. I agree that such are indeed false teachers. But do you realize that the very preachers of renown that have brought about this rush of influential men to make an erroneous defense of them, are well known to have taught their false doctrines privately (secretly) for decades, never in the pulpit, till recent times? Does not this qualify them as being sneaky, dishonest and essentially, liars? So, these very characters may yet qualify in every way as false teachers by even our timid, overly tolerant and non-judgmental brethren!
Brethren, the lost of this world need all Christians and particularly gospel preachers and elders to have spiritual backbones. If you love the souls of men and women in the world around you and do not want them eternally lost you must tell the truth of Gods word. Get up off your world loving bellies and stand upright on the two legs God gave you. Raise up out of the mire of this deceitful world and do your duty before man and God. Be not fearful to make righteous judgments from the pages of Gods word and preach it straight! Now is the time to be like Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2, Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. Be different from the world. Be a man of God, (1 Timothy 6:11).