“Judge not and you shall not be judged……For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”  Luke 6:37-38

“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  John 3:17

First I must point out that I am not a biblical scholar,  so as I look at the similarities of the two words:  judge and blame, I can not verify how close the two words are in Greek or Hebrew, from which the original scriptures were written.  Hopefully, if I am off the mark biblically, someone with that knowledge will correct in a reply and I will make sure that I post it.

As I look at the meanings on the website:  www.dictionary.com, I see that to judge is to form an opinion; to decide critically or conclude about.  As for  the word blame, to place the responsibility for or find fault with.  I find there to be a simularities to the concepts of these words as well as a connection to the process of their use.  The way it seems to work today I will judge, and as I  judge, I will at some point inevitably conclude that something is wrong and I will then decide who is to blame.

So what is the issue with doing that? What harm is there, especially if I have certain training or wisdom that would help me to assess blame?  While this next concept is not definitively included in the strict definition of the word blame, it seems to be intrinsically connected to the process of blame.  In today’s society, it appears once we assess who’s to blame, we make them solely responsible for rectifying the wrong for which we have judged them to blame.  Fill in the blank:  You have not __________________, therefore I am not going to do __________________________, until you have fixed (or done) ________________.  So then the party who is doing the judging steps back and waits until the party who has been blamed fixes the issue and then they’ll resume working (or in some cases even interacting) with them.   And therein lies some fundamental problems.  First, what if I, the blamed party, agree that I failed to do something or did it wrong, but yet have no earthly idea how to either accomplish it or fix what I have done wrong.  While the person(s) who judged me is waiting for me to act; nothing is getting accomplished.  Of course, secondly, I may not agree at all that I have done anything worthy of blame and therefore while you’re waiting for me to do something, I flatly refuse to accept your judgement and again nothing gets accomplished.  I may even have my own opposite judgement that holds you to be at fault so I will not do anything until you act.  Now no one is working to fix whatever issue is at hand.  Do we not see this playing out time after time in today’s world:  Between governments, within governments, between companies, within companies, between families, within families, within churches?

I can hear some saying, okay here we go; no one is held accountable.  Is that what I am saying?  Is that what Jesus said?  Did Jesus say that the woman caught in adultery did not sin?  Of course not he says to her: “Go and sin no more.”  Is Jesus saying that no one will ever do something against you?  No, but he does say you should forgive that person 70×7 times!  But now I hear the question:  well that’s all well and good for the person who is wrong, but how does that help me!?

So, there are two aspects to look at from this.  First, Jesus Christ is God who came from heaven to earth.  As such, being God, he is perfect.  Yet with that perfection, this is what he said about judgement:  “For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” John 13:47.  If, Jesus Christ, who’s knowledge is perfect, does not judge the world, why, with out limited knowledge,  do we think that we are entitled to judge others?  And why, if we, in a practical sense, hold certain individuals, doctors, police officers, pastors to the level of perfection, do we not accept that same level of perfection aimed at us as we carry out our daily tasks?

Second, and from both a practical as well as spiritual sense, there is much good for us to not blame and wait around for the other party to fix.  I have been teaching adults for over 30 years.  Countless times, students have not performed up to the standard that was required by the class requirements.  I could have blamed the student for their performance and told them to go out and fix the problem, study more or something and come back when they are more prepared.  However, what I found more effective is to work with the student(s) and not just more effective for them.  Each time I worked with students, I found that I learned something more about people as well as what I was teaching.  I found that I learned more about the ability to lead, to listen, to collaborate to problem solve, all things I would have missed had I not taken to time to work with the other people.

Jesus Christ had every right to judge us.  Afterall He was there and a vital part of our creation.  Jesus had the choice to blame us from heaven and not even come down.  Once Jesus Christ was on earth and saw how we behaved, He had every right to condemn us and if you don’t think He had the power, remember what He did to the fig tree.  Christ didn’t condemn us, He saved us.  Jesus didn’t destroy us, He died for us.  Let each of us then not be about the process of judging, blaming and condemning each other.  Let us be like Christ and Love each other.  Striving to Glorify the Name of the Father, by following the example of the Son.  In Jesus Christ’s Name we pray.

Amen

Editor’s note:  Some readers have left replies asking for responses to their emails.  I try to ensure that I reply to each comment though sometimes the email address listed comes back undeliverable.  So if you don’t get an email response, please come back to the post where you left the message to read the response posted there.  Thank you and blessings to all.