By Dave Eden, Eden Political Cartoons
“Unfortunately, many today often quote Jesus’ command ‘Judge not, that you be not judged’ to mean that we are to suspend our critical faculties in relation to other people, to turn a blind eye to their faults, to eschew all criticism and to refuse to discern between truth and error, goodness and evil. But that is not what Jesus was saying at all. If it were, we could never distinguish between a Mother Teresa and an Adolf Hitler. John R.W. Stott explained what Jesus meant in this way: ‘The follower of Jesus is still a ‘critic’ in the sense of using his powers of discernment, but not a ‘judge’ in the sense of being censorious. Censoriousness is a compound sin consisting of several unpleasant ingredients. It does not mean to assess people critically, but to judge them harshly. The censorious critic is a faultfinder who is negative and destructive towards other people and enjoys actively seeking out their failings. He puts the worst possible construction on their motives, pours cold water on their schemes and is ungenerous towards their mistakes.’”
-Rev. Mark Creech, Ex. Dir. Christian Action League