Elephant #5: Judgmentalism

Judgmentalism is the feeling of being condemned based on opinion. This is the second biggest complaint about current Christianity just behind anti-homosexual and just ahead of hypocrisy. We are consistently warned against becoming judgmental by Jesus Himself and by the other NT writers because it is easy for us to do. We believe that we are right, that God is on our side and we have the verses to prove it. But rarely has one turned to God because we won an argument or pointed out their sin. It usually has the opposite effect - they run from you, God and the Church. Jesus called people who judge hypocrites and it is the only sin that He consistently pointed out. Many Christians feel the need to say something about behavior they disapprove of but Jesus did not take this approach. When tempted to judge you should ask the three questions that Jesus brought up when discussing this issue in Matthew 7. 1) Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye? Why do you really care about the issue that you are upset about? What are you really feeling toward this person? 2) Why are you blind to the plank that is in your own eye? Jesus says that this attitude should cause you to look at your own life and heart. He is saying that the plank in your eye is causing more damage than the speck in theirs. I believe the planks are the
elephants that we have been uncovering in this series. These things are not bringing people to Christ but repelling them. 3) How can you help your brother? The answer is that you can't if you ignore the planks. He is not saying that we shouldn't help but that we should do it with a clean heart, the right attitude and pure motives.