Making Rules While Judging Others

When someone who says they are a Christian brings a "rule" they think we should follow, go to the Scriptures and prove it. If it cannot be seen in the Scriptures, then you are free to discard it.

 
Mankind always thinks it can make up rules to help God monitor His people. When we look at the mentality behind making unbiblical rules, we see that these rules are based on man's desire to be superior to others.

 
We don't need to make our own rules to make sure people will obey the Bible; those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit will be what they should be because of the Holy Spirit who lives in them. Man's rules are never helpful or better than God's Word.

Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
When the Holy Spirit lives in us we need no extra laws God never gave to intimidate people into making sure they are "doing just right."

 
I was once told by Christians that it was a sin to drink coffee because it was a stimulant. Since I saw no command in scripture that told me this, I dismissed it as foolishness, since food is a stimulant, we have more energy when we eat it than if we didn't eat it. Some things just get silly when people make rules God never made and intimidate others into following their rules.

 
A Christian woman once gave me a bottle of apple juice that was a gift to her. I asked her why she didn't want it, and she told me it was because the bottle looked like a wine bottle and she was concerned that anyone seeing it would think that she drinks wine. I thanked her for the juice and gladly drank it.

The scripture that was used to justify this thinking was that we are to "avoid the appearance of evil." As I pondered this, it occurred to me that she didn't mind giving that "appearance of evil" to another believer but was fearful of her own reputation. I felt a little sad for her because what a burden it would be to have to continually worry about "appearances" when we are not doing anything wrong.
Superficial Christians are often more worried about how they appear than the substance of their character. If we are not doing anything wrong and someone else judges it, then that is on that other person who judges, not on us.

 
When I went back to the scripture and studied further, I realized the verse should have been translated, "avoid evil," rather than anything having to do with appearances.

 
Christ was judged by appearances when He ate and drank with sinners. Should He have avoided sinners to avoid being judged? His mission was to bring the gospel to them.

 
If we had to continually worry about how others are judging us, we wouldn't be seen in public at all, since everything could be judged as bad by those who are self-righteous, looking for things to monitor in others.

 
There are many people who will choose to judge innocent matters because of their angst toward us.

 
One Saturday, many years ago, my husband and I wanted to go to a flea market. The parking lot of the market was full, so we had to go across the street to the closed tavern. Our car was the only car in that lot when we arrived. We parked and walked across the street to the market.

 
A few days later, we were at a family gathering, and a relative loudly proclaimed that my husband and I were at the bar on a Saturday morning, drinking. We don't go to bars, but because we were known to be Christians, this person wanted to "expose" us by tattling on us. It was quite amusing because we explained to the people in the room that the bar was closed, we parked there to go to the flea market across the street, and she looked silly for her tattling.

 
Should we not have parked in that lot for fear of how it would look? No, we cannot worry about every little thing that we do that may be misinterpreted by onlookers.
It has been my experience that if someone doesn't like you, they will deliberately misinterpret what you do because their desire is to harm you in some way.

 
This is what the devil did in the garden with Eve. He smeared the reputation of God because of his hatred toward God. He wanted Eve to think mean things about God so that she would turn on Him and follow the devil, the one who gossiped and lied.
I have even heard people judge a person wearing torn jeans to a Christian gathering, being judged for it, and even a man wearing a suit judged for it because he was said to be too concerned about clothing style. Here's the thing: why would we see the man wearing the suit as being too concerned about clothing, but not the man in the torn jeans as too concerned about clothing?

 
One man once said he thought the old timers were too worried about dressing up for church, so he dressed down because he liked it. It is possible that the young man was the one too concerned about clothing, or he wouldn't even mention it.
I don't notice clothing much when in a gathering, unless it is immoral and distracting. I do think clothing style can reflect disrespect for others. I do have to ask why someone would come to a gathering in a tank top and jeans but go to the office Christmas party dressed to the nines. Just saying!

Perhaps if someone does have decent clothing, they should choose that over the clothes they wear when they mow the grass, merely out of respect for the others.
The only passage I see in Scripture about the Christian gathering was that no one should be treated better because of their financial status, which was reflected in their clothing. In other words, we are not to prefer the wealthy person over the poor person. It didn't have to do with clothing; it had to do with highly valuing someone or devaluing them based on their wealth.

 
James 2:2-4 "2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,
3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 

4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? "

We must judge sin, call it out, and attempt to restore the one who has sinned when there is confession and forgiveness extended. But we have no business judging things that God did not clearly state were sins.

Rules Man Made But God Did Not

I have been told by some Christians that we should memorize the Scriptures. I never found a Bible verse that says "memorize anything," but I have found Scriptures that say "hide My word away in your heart."

I know this cannot be memorization because God never instructed us to memorize a specific language. God's meaning in "hide my word away in your heart" was that we should know Him and His principles so well that they come to mind quickly in any situation.

We can memorize if we wish, but my mind does not think in the words of others; it thinks in principles and commands. We can memorize Scripture and still not live by those principles and commands. The principles and commands should become so much a part of our being that we don't even need words on a page to love and live them. We learn from reading His Word from whichever translation we have, and God translates it into His mind so that we are not misled by errors in translation.
When we seek the Holy Spirit for His Mind, we can read the words on the page, and God will enlighten them so we are not misled by a language barrier.

Often, modern Christianity makes rules out of concepts that God never spoke. Because some people think we must be accurate about the words. They forget that our English words are a translation. God must give us the understanding, no matter what language of the Bible we read.

To know Christ is to know His principles so that we can live them and convey them to others; the exact words are not important, but the truth of God must be accurate.
There have been too many situations in my life in which Christians quote a verse from the Bible out of context, not realizing the rest of the Scriptures negate their understanding. They think just knowing exact words is more important than the idea or meaning God intends to impart.

Our culture imposes upon the text its own Western mindset that is very different from the Jewish mindset of Christ's day. Many things Westerners believe about the Bible are not true, but their own interpretations are based on how their mind works, not on what God actually said.

And, more disturbing than this is the propensity for Christians to read a verse, leaving out something God said to camp on what they wish to believe, using only the part that pleases them.

An example of this problem is the mantra, "don't judge", leading everyone to believe we should never judge, when reading the rest of the passage, where these words are stated, shows us that the command was to judge without hypocrisy. We are not to judge another person for something we are also doing. And, we are commanded to judge righteously according to God's Word. So God commanded us to judge.

Those who don't want to be judged will leave out the part of the passage they don't like.

Matthew 7:1-6
Judging Others
7 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.
2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!"

The "don't judge" mantra comes from psychology that says we can't know what is causing a person to act as they do, they might be going through something difficult, as though difficulty gives someone a license to act badly toward others.

It doesn't matter what someone is going through, we still need to judge the behavior as good or bad. And, when we judge a behavior as bad does not mean we don't love the person who needs correction.

Our culture is based more on "feelings" than on rational thinking. This is the reason people will hate you for doing good, because your good makes them look bad. They are not able to judge the act on its own merit, they will judge based on how they feel, and they will even say, "you made me feel" as though we have power over their feelings and they do not.

Another wrong teaching in our culture is that we should forgive those who are not repentant. God said clearly to forgive "when they come and say 'I repent'". They leave out the part of the passage that proves one must repent to be forgiven.

Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

In the context of the entire Bible, this verse tells us that to be reconciled in a relationship, there must be both confession of sin and forgiveness extended; both are necessary to restore what was lost in the relationship. When we know this, we understand better the salvation message in which God tells us to be reconciled to Him; we must confess our sinful nature and desire to be forgiven and cleansed by Him.

1 John 1:8-10
…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."

No one will change their character if they do not admit their sin. Character is only changed when someone is grieved over their sin and truly hates what they did and wants it to change.

This is what repentance is all about: the repentance that brings healing to the soul and reconciliation with God. Then He will send His Holy Spirit to come and live in those who desire Him, His righteousness, and a completely changed heart.

When we do not understand confession of sin, forgiveness, and reconciliation, we will miss the way of salvation. Many people come to God with the wrong attitude, still hanging onto their pride and rebelliousness, thinking that just claiming to be Christian gets them in the door to heaven. They come with an entitlement mentality, believing that God has to save them no matter what their attitude.

It is only through brokenness over our own sinful condition that God is motivated to change us and cleanse us with His Holy Spirit.

It is all His Word in us; this means it is all His work and not our own effort.

Ephesians 2:9-10 "…9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."

Salvation is so easy and yet the pride of mankind thanks it is too easy because it involves submitting to God. Submission to anyone is not something most people want. So they turn down salvation through Christ merely because they want to have their own way.

We must stop listening to the culture around us based on psychology and Darwinism and embrace God's truth in His Word, enlightened by the Holy Spirit.