Judge Righteously

I've had this blog post draft in my drafts folder since March of 2016.  It was written with a lot of emotion and was pretty fierce, so I never posted it.

So I'll probably delete most of what I wrote and redo it.  But I have had this topic in the back of my head for a while. Here's what's left of what I wrote over three years ago.

I'm tired of people judging me unrighteously.  First of all, I'm sick of people telling me not to judge, to soften my heart, and to forgive.  Guess what, nobody knows my heart but myself and my God.  So who's judging who?  I'm ready to account for my life to my God, are you?

And for all of you misinformed people out there, here's an FYI -- we are supposed to judge.  People do it all the time.  Granted, often times unrighteously.  Anytime you go anywhere you are judging others by their appearance, what they say, what they do, etc. you can't walk into a Wal-Mart-- or any public place -- without judging people. 

The key qualifier is righteously.  We are to judge righteously. There are many scriptures about judging righteously.  Here are four just to name a few.

"Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." -- Proverbs 31:9

"O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously..." -- Psalms 67:4

"And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit." --Doctrine and Covenants 11:12

"Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again." -- Alma 41:14

Interestingly the last scripture is Alma speaking to his son, Corianton, who had gone astray and committed sexual sin and because of his actions, the people would not listen to his father, Alma, who was preaching the gospel to them. Notice how Alma is telling his son to be good?  And that if he is he will be rewarded.

Okay that's all I left from the original blog post draft.  If you think that's fierce, you should have seen what I deleted.  :-)

It's true, as mortals, as natural men, we are constantly judging one another.  Often times unrighteously.  Because we don't see the whole picture.  Unless you have walked in someone else's shoes, you really have no basis for judging them.  You just don't have enough information to make a thorough righteous judgment.

For example, you have not walked in my shoes.  You don't know what it's like to be quadriplegic.  You don't have my personality.  You don't have my life experiences. You don't know what it's like to be me.  Likewise, I have not walked in your shoes.  I have not been cheated on, and abandoned by a spouse.  I have not suffered the pains of infertility.  I have not struggled with pornography or any addictions such as alcohol and drugs.  I have not struggled with mental illness nor the pains that go with it. The list goes on and on.

My point is, we are all individuals with our own struggles and trials that we deal with and are often times judged on.  We don't know someone else's breaking point.  Something that may appear to us to be an easy trial to overcome may be extremely difficult to someone else.  That's why we can't or shouldn't judge others actions and behaviors.

This is why Jesus Christ is our judge.  He has been through everything we will ever experience and more.  "...as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things..." (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6)  He understands our heart and intentions.  He is and will be a fair judge.

Indeed, it is human nature to judge one another unrighteously.  But before we start pointing out the mote in each other's eyes, we need to remember the beam that is in our own eye.

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Luke 6:41)

It would do us all well to work on our own salvation, work on removing the beam from our own eye.  Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing wrong, and judging them on the mote (tiny speck) that we see in their eye.

Maybe they are having a bad day.  Maybe their hormones are out of whack.  Maybe they have reached their emotional breaking point.  Maybe what you see is uncharacteristic behavior.  We don't know why people make the choices they make or why they behave as they do.  So why not give people the benefit of the doubt and try to judge righteously but leave harsh, unrighteous judgments behind?  And let our Savior, who has descended below all and comprehendeth all things, be the judge.

Like Elvis said, "Before you abuse, criticize, and accuse -- Walk a mile in my shoes."

That's my two cents.