"JUDGE NOT." Probably one of the most misused Bible verses taken out of context. Now, popular culture has found a way of also utilizing and politicizing it in political discourse to dismiss or discourage partisan criticism in this growing revolution of the cancel culture.
I recently got a piece of the "citation" first-hand from someone when I made a social media post over a vandalized political signage I saw in the nearby street and made a remark to say that it seems rampant and consistent to be coming from one side of the political ticket than the other (taking into account multiple church vandalism, riots and looting the past several months). It appears it didn't sit well with the person and dropped the "Judge Not" wisdom on me, saying that (or should I say "judging") I was being judgmental. The person raised the following issues and premises:
1.) My rhetoric suggests I'm picking my audience with opposing political leaning or viewpoints to fight each other (i.e, "one side versus the other side").
2.) That I should look beyond the bubble, and put myself on other people's (ie., the vandal's) shoes. (I guess my friend means I should look into and empathize the feelings of the vandal why he/she/they spray-painted other people's property/signage?).
3.) That I'm blindly feeding hate and blame, and therefore I am no different from the vandals. (Ouch!)
4.) Reminding me that both far sides of the spectrum have their fair share of oppressing the views of people, inferring that both are no different from each other.
5.) And capped the comment by inserting a Christian advice to spread love, saying only God can judge.
That's a whole lot of perceptions and presumptions for a single remark I made.
Well, first of all, a lot of people don't know that as Christians, it is OK to judge (except the state of one's soul). Don't take my word for it, just ask theologians who are experts on this Bible verse hermeneutic business more than me and you, in understanding and putting into proper context what Jesus really meant by the things He was saying. And when those words came from Christ Himself, we can be certain that His precepts of "judging" and "loving" are not in contradiction to one another.
Secondly, just because both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of committing ludicrous acts and oppression, it doesn't follow that one party's actions are no less grave and no less egregiously consistent or disproportionate than the other party's, that therefore we shouldn't point out and differentiate two competing ideas and just cancel each other out, instead. Imagine if your spouse or child accused you of being self-righteous, divisive and judgmental every time you mention their shortcomings or flaws? And even returns the favor, points the finger back at you your own set of flaws and say you are no less different? It becomes a circular issue and nothing gets rectified. Just because Hitler also contributed some positive infrastructural and socioeconomic developments in his time, doesn't mean we automatically equate Nazi's atrocities and oppression to that of the oppression of ideals and values committed by Democrats or Republicans. A brave Fr. Ed Meeks recently said in his political exhortation: "Don’t get side-tracked by the spurious 'seamless garment theory' [that tells us] issues like immigration and the environment are of equal weight with abortion."
In the same way, invoking the "judge not" mantra is refusing to see political differences of both sides as well as refusing to contrast the effect, influence and mentality or way of life and thinking of its respective political members and supporters. And this I should say entails living in the bubble. It discourages or denounces someone from giving your political preference a "bad-der" rap versus the opposing side, perhaps because you were merely offended by them for disagreeing with your political leaning. It thus sets a precedence and a danger of cultivating a political sort of relativism or indifferentism. It should be reiterated that different and opposing political ideologies and agenda direct and impact society in different and opposite directions, that is why you cannot just easily sweep the notion of "one side versus the other side" issue under the rug. For example, the left party is ok with abortion, the right party is not. The left is ok with LGBTQ lifestyles, the right is not, etc. You get the point. There is a reason why politicians form a "party", if everyone's of the same ideology, there is no need establishing different partisanship.
So just like we read reviews and check for competing product ratings to inform us as consumers (e.g., You rate/review a.k.a. "judge" products in Amazon to better inform and help consumers make better choices, right?), we need to see differences in political viewpoints, influences, motives, realities and consequences so that it will continue to help us critically discern and shape a more well-informed decision and conscience on which to align ourselves politically.
“To acquire knowledge, one must study;
but to acquire wisdom, one must observe”
- Marilyn Vos Savant
Brian Holdsworth, a prominent Catholic Vlogger, quoted quite succinctly that "just because your idea doesn't agree with your own belief, assumption or prejudices, doesn't mean you're confronted with hatred. Recklessly accusing people of hate speech simply because they disagree with you about something is the actual hate speech, because it's an attempt to oppress that great gift of speech itself." Popular-secular culture, especially on the left, particularly in recent years, had adamantly adopted the "Cancel culture" nowadays to new heights and have successfully indoctrinated and spun the masses by frequently playing the victim, sympathy and race cards to perfection (with the handy dandy megaphone of the mainstream media). Gone are the days of healthy disagreements if we continue to allow the secular its cancel cultural ways.
On a personal note, it's also quite unfortunate that the above people who accused me of being judgmental and divisive are the very same people who have forgotten the fact that they had made mocking social media posts on the opposing candidates the last election 4 years ago simply because their political side did not win. What happened to "practice what you preach"? I surmised it takes a special kind of arrogance to say "Only God can judge... We need to spread the love of Christ... and so on and so forth" you don’t even practice than those who do. It's sort of presumptuous and hypocritical.
Whenever we invoke someone the "Judge Not" mantra, it's always wise to read the verses that directly follows it as well to get a proper context. Matthew 7:1-6 "For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" Jesus tells us that what we measure will be measured out to us. This means that what we are judging them on, we will then be judged on. If I am judging you for being divisive and hateful, but I myself has a history of being divisive and hateful to someone, then God will judge me harsher than He would have been before. Talk about "Putting myself in one's shoes" my critics need to apply to themselves. Invoking the "judge not" mantra is simply ironic and self-refuting. In judging someone for judging, you are in fact judging him or her.
John 7:24 "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."
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