How are we judged?

[Monica4316]

Hi

there’s something I’ve been thinking about today, and I feel confused and can’t figure it out… I was wondering if any of you have any thoughts or know the Church teaching

In Scripture, it says that we shouldn’t judge others or we’ll be judged… and it says that we’ll be judged in the way that we judge others.

I know this sounds obvious, and I agree that we shouldn’t be judgemental… and be concerned mostly with our own sins, and show mercy to others because God is merciful to us.

But I don’t really understand the part about us being judged in the way we judge others… there are two things that are unclear to me…

1. does it imply that we are judged by our own standards, rather than God’s law? I read somewhere that God doesn’t judge us, we are condemned by our own conscience… is that true? I think that makes sense for invinsible ignorance, but does this mean there’s no objective morality? (we know there is…) i’m really confused about this!
2. let’s say there’s a person who doesn’t judge anyone cause they have very little sense of sin and they think everything is permissible… according to this verse, does it mean that they’ll be judged less severely than someone who cared greatly about overcoming sin, but were more tempted to judging others because they did have a very definite view of good and evil? what kind of view should we have? or should we just be hard on ourselves and try to repent of all our sins (so our conscience wouldn’t condemn us before God ) - but not look at any other person’s sins, and not evaluate them in this way?

what do you think? I keep on wondering about this and can’t figure it out…

thanks!

 

[EmeraldWings]

that is not the judgment God is referring to,
we are told not to judge the state of someones soul, and not to judge after their death that they have gone to hell,
but to judge the sins of another is not a sin, provided it is done in and out of charity,
because we are commanded to admonish sinners and instruct the ignorant, so in order to do that we must make a judgment in regards to the sin we are speaking to them about,

to judge simply means to form an opinion about something,
we have been told almost non-stop that it is a sin to judge, but we have been told that without any real catholic explanation, and that is why there is now so much confusion on the matter,

basically the judgment we will receive based on the judgment we give, has to do with condemning others, we must not say that someone has gone to hell, or that they are going to go there,
to warn someone, however, of the danger of going to hell for committing certain sins, as long as it’s done in love and gentleness, is a good and charitable thing.

does that make sense? if you are still unsure i can try to explain it further.

ok, hope this helps, take care.

 

[MtnDwellar]

Hi
In Scripture, it says that we shouldn’t judge others or we’ll be judged… and it says that we’ll be judged in the way that we judge others.

Hi Monica

I never spent too much time on these passages. I simply thought that it was telling us not to judge people. That’s God’s job. Furthermore, if we are compassionate toward others, God will show us compassion, and if we are critical of others, God will be critical with us. It is one of those reaping what we sow things!

 

[Monica4316]

thanks for the replies

how do we explain verses like “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”. ?

 

[fhansen]

Hi

there’s something I’ve been thinking about today, and I feel confused and can’t figure it out… I was wondering if any of you have any thoughts or know the Church teaching

In Scripture, it says that we shouldn’t judge others or we’ll be judged… and it says that we’ll be judged in the way that we judge others.

I know this sounds obvious, and I agree that we shouldn’t be judgemental… and be concerned mostly with our own sins, and show mercy to others because God is merciful to us.

But I don’t really understand the part about us being judged in the way we judge others… there are two things that are unclear to me…

1. does it imply that we are judged by our own standards, rather than God’s law? I read somewhere that God doesn’t judge us, we are condemned by our own conscience… is that true? I think that makes sense for invinsible ignorance, but does this mean there’s no objective morality? (we know there is…) i’m really confused about this!
2. let’s say there’s a person who doesn’t judge anyone cause they have very little sense of sin and they think everything is permissible… according to this verse, does it mean that they’ll be judged less severely than someone who cared greatly about overcoming sin, but were more tempted to judging others because they did have a very definite view of good and evil? what kind of view should we have? or should we just be hard on ourselves and try to repent of all our sins (so our conscience wouldn’t condemn us before God ) - but not look at any other person’s sins, and not evaluate them in this way?

what do you think? I keep on wondering about this and can’t figure it out…

thanks!

We’re not to condemn-only God has that right and power-and yet He’s mercy itself!
Jesus isn’t expecting us to turn off our brains. Here’s another quote about judgment:

Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." John 7:24

There’s a time and a place, a right way and a wrong way to do it. In any case Jesus and the Church He established have provided us a yardstick with which to judge-and be judged-rightly. St John of the Cross put it this way:

"At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love"

 

[MtnDwellar]

Reading further in Mathew:

1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

My take on this is that we are being told to judge ourselves and to be compassionate toward others. We must take care of our side of the street before we can look at others, or even help others. I don’t think that this passage is about relativism. The “measure” is not a unique set of criteria. Rather, the “measure” is the degree in which we apply God’s word to situations. The more love and compassion that we use, the more that we receive.

 

[Monica4316]

Thanks!