Judging

Judging

There is good judging, which is the built in mechanism each of us has in order to choose right or wrong. With this type of judging we notice what is good and what is bad to clarify our decisions…

Then there is the bad judging or condemnation of another in our hearts. This is where we take it upon ourselves to think someone is a lost cause. This is an inaccurate or false way of looking at people because of the Atonement. Everyone has their agency to choose to change and become forgiven of something they have done that is wrong. Even throughout the Millenium there will be chances to repent (It might be much more difficult than in this life…but nonetheless, a chance) It is never too late for people until the Lord says it is…it is the Lord’s place to condemn or forgive. We cannot take HIS job away from him and try to do it ourselves…this is where we can have bad or false  judgments against someone else. And that type of judging is what this blog is about.

Another Perspective

As soon as someone says the word 'Judging" it is assumed they mean the rich looking down on the poor...or the righteous looking down on the un-righteous....However...it goes both ways...what about the poor person looking at the rich and judging them that they do not serve enough or give enough or assuming they are judging them??? That is also unrighteous judgement. Perhaps that rich person is dealing with cancer and all their money is going for the treatment of a loved one...and they are so overcome with their own problems that they do not see someone who is poor and do not help them. It is not fair for the poor person to judge that seemingly rich person...maybe they are not rich but someone gave them an expensive pair of shoes...hence the judgement of them being rich??? We should not condemn that which we do not know.

I believe that in the end of life...our brains are more powerful than a computer and everything we have seen, heard and done will be recorded in them and we will be eventually be judging our own selves. So whatever system of judgement you have set up for or against others...will be the exact system you will be measuring your own self with. I believe everything we do or systems we develop within ourselves, will be ours to use or deal with in the next realm.


I notice that we usually judge that which we are aware of in our own lives. Example. I used to bite my nails and judged and was aware of anyone else that bit their nails. I would say to myself "I'm not as bad as they are"  one day I quit biting my nails, I then looked at other people who bit their nails and would think "They will eventually quit...I did"  Eventually I never noticed nail biters.
Think about this: If you just bought a new white car...don't you notice all other white cars on the street.
If you just got engaged ...don't you notice all other people wearing engagement or wedding rings?
Etc... People notice what they are doing...thus we notice and are annoyed by what others do wrong that are similar to our own faults. (thus in the scriptures when it said you notice the mote (small problem) in another's eye when there in fact is a beam (larger problem)  in your own eye) 
Also said, "When you point a finger at someone else, notice there are 3 of your fingers pointing back at you."
Neal A. Maxwell said, "If I am not Happy with Me, other people suffer." 


Let's start by talking about JUDGING AND OUR POINT OF VIEW: :

·         If someone else takes a long time they are SLOW; if we take a long time…we are THROUGH.

·         If someone else doesn't get something done they are LAZY, if we didn't get it done…we were BUSY.

·         If someone else has success that was LUCK… if we have success… it was HARD WORK.

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “While one portion of the human race isjudging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; … He holds the reins of judgment in His hands; He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, … ‘not according to what they have not, but according to what they have,’ those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 218

We all make judgments in choosing our friends, in choosing how we will spend our time and our money, and, of course, in choosing an eternal companion. Some of these intermediate judgments are surely among those the Savior referenced when He taught that “the weightier matters of the law” include judgment (Matt. 23:23).

Church leaders are specifically commanded to judge. Thus, the Lord said to Alma: “Whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also. … “… And whosoever will not repent of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people” (Mosiah 26:29, 32).

Also remember that Church Leaders are Human and they may have faults and not know how to do their calling the best Christ Like way possible....they are all trying but also need to learn how to Lead and Serve. So do not judge them if in fact one does not handle your situation the way you think they should have. Thus, do not condemn a Church Leader for handling a situation poorly in your opinion.

REMEMBER all Leaders should judge OUT OF  LOVE  Heavenly Father and Jesus loves us so much that we can commit the worst sins possible and because he loves us we only need to be truly sorry, humble, make amends and come to him with our broken heart and an anxious desire to change and a commitment never to do it again and the Atonement pays for the sin, Wipes it away and we are Completely Clean and Brand New. Yes, maybe it might take excommunication for a year or so to make sure we are really serious. But sincerely for a length of time working repenting and working towards being one of the fold and All can be forgiven and Welcomed back into the Fold. THE SACRAMENT is the weekly upkeep for repenting of the smaller daily sins we all commit

(such as judging others- ha ha)

Someone has said that you cannot slice cheese so fine that it doesn’t have two sides:
There are always TWO or more sides to every situation.

Two experiences illustrate the importance of caution in judging. A Relief Society worker visiting a sister in her ward asked whether the woman’s married children ever visited her. Because of a short-term memory loss, this elderly sister innocently answered no. So informed, her visitor and others spoke criticisms of her children for neglecting their mother. In fact, one of her children visited her at least daily, and all of them helped her in many ways. They were innocent of neglect and should not have been judged on the basis of an inadequate knowledge of the facts.

Another such circumstance was described in an Ensign article by BYU professor Arthur R. Bassett. He stated that while teaching an institute class, “I was troubled when one person whispered to another all through the class. I kept glaring at them, hoping that they would take the hint, but they didn’t seem to notice. Several times during the hour, I was tempted to ask them to take their conversation outside if they felt it was so urgent—but fortunately something kept me from giving vent to my feelings.“After the class, one of them came to me and apologized that she hadn’t explained to me before class that her friend was deaf. The friend could read lips, but since I was discussing—as I often do—with my back to the class, writing at the chalkboard and talking over my shoulder, my student had been ‘translating’ for her friend, telling her what I was saying. To this day I am thankful that both of us were spared the embarrassment that might have occurred had I given vent to a judgment made without knowing the facts” (“Floods, Winds, and the Gates of Hell,” Ensign, June 1991, 8).

The scriptures give a specific caution against judging where we cannot know all the facts.

King Benjamin taught:“Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—“But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. … “And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance” (Mosiah 4:17-18, 22).

There is one qualification to this principle that we should not judge people without an adequate knowledge of the facts. Sometimes urgent circumstances require us to make preliminary judgments before we can get all of the facts we desire for our decision making.

Only God knows all the facts. 

Even in our country we should almost ignore some publicly reported conduct because“in this country you are supposed to be presumed innocent until you are proven guilty.” .

Some personal decisions must be made before we have access to all of the facts. Two hypotheticals illustrate this principle: (1) If a particular person has been arrested for child sexual abuse and is free on bail awaiting trial on his guilt or innocence, would you trust him to tend your children while you take a weekend trip? (2) If a person you have trusted with your property has been indicted for embezzlement, would you continue to leave him in charge of your life savings?

In such circumstances we do the best we can, relying ultimately on the teaching in modern scripture that we should put our “trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously” (D&C 11:12). BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM)

Another principle of a righteous intermediate judgment is that whenever possible we will refrain from judging people and only judge situations. Judge the action, not the Person.

Even the Savior, during His mortal ministry, refrained from making final judgments.

We see this in the account of the woman taken in adultery. After the crowd who intended to stone her had departed, Jesus asked her about her accusers. “Hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:10). When she answered no, Jesus declared, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). In this context the word condemn apparently refers to the final judgment (see John 3:17).The Lord obviously did not justify the woman’s sin. He simply told her that He did not condemn her—that is, He would not pass final judgment on her at that time. This interpretation is confirmed by what He then said to the Pharisees: “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man” (John 8:15). The woman taken in adultery was granted time to repent, time that would have been denied by those who wanted to stone her.The Savior gave this same teaching on another occasion: “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47).

MY GRANDMOTHER MARY ELLA GAGON WROTE THIS POEM TO HER CHILDREN

Called

“If We Only Understood”

Could we but draw back the curtains

That surround each others lives

See the naked heart and spirit

Know what action underlies

Often we should find it better

Purer than we judged we should

We could love each other better

If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives

See the good and bad within

Often we should love the sinner

All the while we loathe the sin

Could we know the powers working

To o’er throw integrity

We should judge each other’s errors

With more patient charity

If we knew the cares and trials

And the efforts all in vain

And the bitter disappointments

Understood the loss and gain

Oh we judge each other harshly

Knowing not life's' hidden force

Knowing not the fount of action

And how turbulent the source

Seeing not amid the evil

And the golden grains of good

Oh we’d love each other better

If we only understood.

Goethe said, "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being."  
Along with that we should all try to see the other persons point of view and potential and LOVE them...not JUDGE them. Perhaps that will help us to also be kinder judges of ourselves.