How do explain the contradiction in the Bible, like how we are to judge but not judge, Some choose to focus on judging other over focusing on there own own sins, and some focus on God has a loving Father who knows what it is to be a human being living in this world. You sound like you know more than God.
You see contradiction in the Bible between, as you say, how are we to judge others, yet at the same time be commanded
not to judge others. The mistake is that you are considering both of these verbs to be identical and used in the same way.
When we are told to admonish the sinner, to correct the mistakes of our brothers and sisters in Christ, so on and so forth, that means that we are to 1) inform them that their actions are sinful, based on our own knowledge handed down through the Church, and 2) to encourage them, like Jesus did, to sin no more. Indeed we are
not at any point told to judge our neighbors. No one here has claimed that we should. Nor would they, as that is not part of Church teaching.
We
are given the impetus to judge
sins. Not sinners mind you. Sins. Objective actions that are contrary to God’s will. Murder is a sin. Murder is a sin because it is not within our rights or our authority to determine the life span of another human being. That power is God’s alone. We, as equals in our humanity, have no right to take the life of another human.
Thus, for one to willingly choose to murder another human would incur the stain of mortal sin on that person’s soul, given that they 1) committed a grave sin (murder), 2) possessed full knowledge that such an action was indeed a grave sin, and 3) committed that action with completely free will on their part (not being forced under pain of death, not acting in self defense in trying to protect their own life from an attacker, not under the effects of a drastically mind-altering substance, etc.). Essentially premeditated murder. That is essentially, from an objective standpoint, always a mortal sin, barring for example a psychological condition that would result in reduced culpability.
However, the fact that murder is a sin is not determined by the potential exceptions, but rather, that for a normally functioning human in a normal situation, murder is contrary to God’s will. Thus we may, should, and do
judge that murder is sinful, murder is wrong, murder is unacceptable and merits consequences. However, for a person who has committed murder, it is not within our authority to say that they are in a state of mortal sin and are for certain going to Hell.
That would be judging the person, not the sin.
That is what we are
not supposed to do. We cannot judge another person’s heart. However, we can and should judge their
actions. Telling a murderer that murder is wrong, and that they were wrong to commit murder is not judging them. Telling them that because they committed a murder, they are going to Hell,
is wrong, because it is not our place to judge that.
TL;DR: We are obligated to judge actions on their sinfulness, as that is how one is able to keep to the Commandments. We do not have the authority to judge another person’s sinfulness, as we cannot know the hearts of our fellow humans. We have the imperative to (charitably) inform others of the objective sinfulness of their
actions, because in doing so, we are helping them to grow closer to God. Likewise, they ought to do the same for us, so that we in turn can work with God on fixing our
own imperfections.
Some do indeed choose to focus on judging others over working to fix their own sins. Likewise, there are also many who attempt to inform their brother and sisters in Christ when they are in error or committing sin. The second category of people are not judging others at all.
Amandil literally just quoted the Catechism and you’re claiming it’s his opinion? It’s the document that outlines, with pretty specific wording, the doctrinal beliefs of the Catholic Church. The Catechism isn’t something you can dismiss.
I’m kind of concerned the more I think about it. What, exactly, in this post that I wrote previously, communicates that I sound like I know more than God, or even that I think I do? Please point it out to me, because I’m not seeing it at all.
Amandil quoted the CCC. You claimed it was his opinion. I reacted incredulously because the Catechism is the Vatican document that specifically outlines doctrinal beliefs of the Catholic Church. It is not an outline of Amandil’s opinions. It is the document that explains, in detail, what Catholics believe and what being Catholic entails. This is simply a description of what the Catechism is. And in claiming it isn’t something you can dismiss, I mean that the Catechism is not a document that you can claim to be someone’s opinion, as it is not their opinion. It is a detailed description of Catholic beliefs as defined by the Catholic Church itself.
How is Hell a washing machine?
