Judging Christians

Christianity is under attack. Of that we all have no doubt and we were told to expect it. However, I have had several discussions with non-believers only to discover that their biggest complaint about Christians is that they are very judgmental people.  My immediate reaction was to go on the defensive, but instead I chose to ask “in what way are they judgmental?”

I was told about Christian’s who have sent vitriolic messages to people, like Richard Dawkins, condemning him to hell and hoping that he gets there soon.  I have heard about Christian’s who condemn people with tattoo’s, piercings and addictions. Churches where people are not allowed in unless they follow a specific dress code or where unmarried mothers are unwelcome.

Now as much as I do not like what Richard Dawkins and those of his ilk are doing, I think it is far more important for us to pray for him than attack him! He is a man who is so far removed from God and His infinite love that his life is centered around trying to disprove the existence of God. How awful that must be to spend so much time and effort on something you do not believe in! To not know the awesome love of our Creator! If all Christians were to pray for him to have the scales removed from his eyes and see God for the loving heavenly Father that he is, imagine the impact his revelation would have on all the other unbelievers who are already hanging on his every word!!

As for those Christians who condemn unmarried mothers, addicts and people who do not behave according to their ideal morals and principles – have they forgotten who Jesus spent time with? Our precious Saviour did not spend time with the Rabbi’s and other religious people! Instead He spent time with the lost, the prostitutes, the diseased and all the other people that the religious leaders condemned. Jesus paid far too high a price for us to decide who can come to know Him.  We are not told to just minister to the poor and suffering, but also to those who are lost – spiritually lost! Spiritually destitute and spiritually suffering!

We are told not to judge, lest we also be judged. Matt 7:1-2 “Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  I therefore call for the church – the body of Christ, to stop condemning others, no matter how low in life they may have sunk, but rather to reach out a hand to them, to pull them up out of their darkness and despair and to lead them lovingly to Jesus!  Is that not, after all, what Jesus commissioned us to do? Matt 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”