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| Judge No One! |
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I was reading a young man's blog very recently. This is a young man who has rediscovered faith recently and is attending our church. He mentioned how it had been difficult to get back into going to church because when he would go, people often stared at him since he's all tattooed. I cried as I read his words, knowing fully well that he feels completely at home and comfortable at Canvas Church. What a wonderful church!
So as I wondered to myself, "why do Christians pre-occupy themselves so much with judging others," I found a spot in the gospel of John that I'd like to share with you all.
"As for the person who hears My words but does not keep them (or believe), I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has that which judges him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." Words of Jesus in John 12:47, 48 taken from both the NIV and NKJV translations.
Jesus Himself says that He did not come to judge anyone, but to save us all. Why do we humans concern ourselves so much with this business of judging each other? Maybe we do it to make ourselves feel better about our own failures. I don't know. What I do know is that each and every one of us makes mistakes and commits sins. As much as we think ourselves to be dedicated Christians, we know what it is to reject Jesus and His words and His ways. There is no one who is exempt from this; it is human nature. For this reason, we need Jesus to be our Savior.
So, we are all on the same playing field, whether we have been walking with the Lord for 20 years or 20 hours. We all know when we have done what is wrong or what is sin. We don't really need anyone to point it out for us. And the fact that someone doesn't dress like me or talk like me doesn't give me the right to think less of them or treat them like a lower class person. Someone's economic status doesn't give me the right to treat them differently from anyone else. We are all God's children.
Jesus came to be our Light. He came to save us and not judge us, and for that I'm truly grateful. I'm grateful because this pastor's wife has not received what she deserves. She's received God's grace instead! So I can freely show everyone who comes my way that same grace. I encourage you to do the same.
Much love to you all! |
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JessIAm |
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December 20, 2007 at 2:12pm |
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I love this verse, Romans 2:4
Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God's will)? |
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R |
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December 21, 2007 at 5:25am |
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Hey Suzette, I'd like to comment to you in private, but see only signed up friends can do that? Why? Isn't it more honorable and Biblical to try and talk with a person in private rather than in public, especially when you disgaree with something that they've shared? By placing the restriction on the private messages, (to me) that's like putting up a sign on the Pastor's door that says, "only certain people allowed." Which to me is judging. Did Jesus say let all the children come unto Me... or just the ones who have signed on as my friends? R... |
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JessIAm |
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December 21, 2007 at 9:39am |
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| Wow, R, that's a very manipulative approach to take. Aren't we here as guests? Your response treats Suzette as though she is subordinate to you. |
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JessIAm |
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December 21, 2007 at 11:21am |
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Suzette, please delete any of my responses you feel is inappropriate. |
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R |
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December 22, 2007 at 4:52am |
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Hey Jess,
Since you mention this in public, I guess I'll ask you in public back. If we are living sacrifices, why do we place these restrictions on people? Yes, in my opinion it is the more honorable thing to do, if I disagree with you or anyone else on these forums, to first try and take up the matter in private. Most Pastors that I know reccomend we do this because disagreements in public sometimes have negative effects. And oftentimes the disagreement can't be fully addressed in public because of our consideration to others. But Jess, you have the right to call it manipulative, but I think it is our Christian mandate to talk over these things in private. ~ my two cents, R... |
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Christy |
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December 24, 2007 at 12:27pm |
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What a ridiculous argument to be having!
When a pastors page has "friend restrictions", it is because they are held much more accountable to what other people see. They have to make sure that every "friend" that some one may click on, has appropriate things for all to see (no cussing, no inappropriate conversations or pictures etc.). It is nothing personal or judgemental- it's meant for the safety of all that may pass through their site.
Get a grip and don't be so easily offended!
:) |
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JessIAm |
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December 24, 2007 at 12:52pm |
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| I totally agree, Christy. |
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Suzette |
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December 27, 2007 at 7:28pm |
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| Well, hello everyone. I've got to say that I never expected any heated discussions in the comments to this blog. Thanks for backing me up Christy! You're a great friend. Ya'll might think I'm a dummy, but I don't think I ever did anything with the settings to my profile. I believe that the whole issue of only being able to talk privately with your friends is a mychurch.org setting. I know that the same goes for myspace.com. You simply can't email anyone who isn't on your friends list. Take it up with mychurch.org! Love ya'll. |
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R |
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December 28, 2007 at 5:01am |
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Hey Suzette, I believe you (when you say), you did not restrict it. But for your info, most people on mychurch can be commented to in private message from their home page. You cannot be commented to, so I wondered why. ...and hey Christy, first I see that you and Suzette are signed on as friends, so maybe you haven't had this problem yet? Maybe you never comment privately to other people's blogs, or feel you need to? But as far as your reasons as to why a person might restrict others, I suppose they could do that for those reasons, but I've always thought this mychurch sharing is pretty safe. So, if Suzette didn't place the restriction on her home page, and I ask her why she has, is that wrong of me or useful? For me, I have no restrictions toward anyone regarding private messages. All comments are welcome to my wife and I. But signed on friends?, that's another issue. You might check my home page, I have NO friends intentionally. Why?, because soon after I joined, I got alot of signed on friends, only for them to start sending me a bunch of unwanted materials. So my wife and I decided to delete all friends so that people couldn't send special invites and bulletins (unwanted materials -as Christy mentions above). So actually the friend thing backfired for us, and that made everyone a suspect... so we deleted everyone. Afterall we are already brothers and sisters in Christ, and to have a select few faces on our home page seems a bit off anyways since all of them we have never met face to face. People we know call this forums and blogs, faux friends, not real friends. Your thoughts? |
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R |
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December 28, 2007 at 5:19am |
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P.S. Hey Suzette, Since I believe this is very important, but didn't want to question what your husband might teach in public. I tried to comment in private. Since that is not an option. Here is a link to our Pastor's article on the theme that you share: http://kgov.com/writings/judge_rightly_is_not_some_guys_name Please read it and then let us know why you don't think he's right. Many espouse to the idea that Christians shouldn't judge, but is that what the Bible teaches? We don't think so. R... |
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Suzette -- you can verify your settings by going to Settings, then look under !Privacy. See if Contact Display items are checked. That will determine whether or not you receive private messages.
Thanks for the blog. Often kind, loving, Christian people will condemn those whose actions before becoming Christians stick with them. For most of us, our disobediance to God is not as evident and we appear more 'acceptable.' Thank God Himself that He sees our hearts, not outward appearances. |
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| Thanks Grammy Blick for the instructions. I took a look at my privacy settings for the first time today. Anyone should be able to make comments to me. None of the settings have been selected, quite frankly. So I'm not sure why anyone isn't able to email or comment to me privately. |
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R |
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January 13, 2008 at 5:15am |
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Hey Suzette, You are not alone. This site sometimes has a mind of it's own. I appreciate all the site peoples hard work, don't get me wrong... but there are some glitches at times (as with everything). The other day for instance, a friend did a search for me on here. They put in R in the search for people box, what came back was thousands of pages of people who had nothing of the letter R in their names? In fact, I tried it and I still do not know what page I am on in that search. Grammy, do you know anything about this? How can I improve my odds of being found? Thanks, R... P.S. I did write the question to the site people (if it actually submitted), but haven't received any word about it back yet (2 maybe 3 weeks). |
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