Judging

[Holly3278]

Hey everyone. I am sure there are other threads out there about this particular subject but I wanted to start a new thread to see if my beliefs on judging are correct.

My belief on judging is that it is a sin to judge other people, especially the state of their soul. However, it is not a sin to judge actions. Are my beliefs orthodox and in line with what the Catechism teaches? I really have no idea where to look in the Catechism to find out.

 

[bzkoss236]

I find the online catechism on the USCCB website to be nice with its search function, not to mention it is a bit more visually appealing than the one on the Vatican website.

In terms of your original question, “Love the sinner, hate the sin” pretty much sums up what you said, and is something that I’m sure most, if not all, Christians will agree with. However, I do feel that sometimes it is necessary to judge someone based on their actions depending on the circumstances, but I’m not sure if you would necessarily consider this the same kind of judging you are talking about. For example, if you are in a bank or store and you see someone over by the checkout or clerk-desk start to take out a gun, it is safe to ‘judge’ that the person has bad intentions of what he/she intends to do with it, even though you can be wrong (which is a reason not to judge someone), in a situation like this it is safer to assume negatively. But judging this person as a “bad” person, may still be wrong because you do not know their motives, whether it be a mental instability/disability, fighting for survival (needs money for food or kids), or something actually bad like for greed.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[thistle]

Hey everyone. I am sure there are other threads out there about this particular subject but I wanted to start a new thread to see if my beliefs on judging are correct.

My belief on judging is that it is a sin to judge other people, especially the state of their soul. However, it is not a sin to judge actions. Are my beliefs orthodox and in line with what the Catechism teaches? I really have no idea where to look in the Catechism to find out.

CCC 1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

 

[Holly3278]

I find the online catechism on the USCCB website to be nice with its search function, not to mention it is a bit more visually appealing than the one on the Vatican website.

In terms of your original question, “Love the sinner, hate the sin” pretty much sums up what you said, and is something that I’m sure most, if not all, Christians will agree with. However, I do feel that sometimes it is necessary to judge someone based on their actions depending on the circumstances, but I’m not sure if you would necessarily consider this the same kind of judging you are talking about. For example, if you are in a bank or store and you see someone over by the checkout or clerk-desk start to take out a gun, it is safe to ‘judge’ that the person has bad intentions of what he/she intends to do with it, even though you can be wrong (which is a reason not to judge someone), in a situation like this it is safer to assume negatively. But judging this person as a “bad” person, may still be wrong because you do not know their motives, whether it be a mental instability/disability, fighting for survival (needs money for food or kids), or something actually bad like for greed.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks!

CCC 1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

Thanks Thistle! That is pretty much what I thought.

 

[Holly3278]

I wanted to ask a followup question. I know that we can judge actions but not people but what should one do if one’s friend is committing a sinful act? Should we tell them not to do it? I think we are supposed to tell them not to do it but how do we do that without them feeling like we are judging them?

 

[Crescentinus]

If we cannot judge sins, it can be construed that we are enabling those sins.
Also, Michael Coren’s thoughts on this are plain awesome.
youtube.com/watch?v=8gi2z0LAvGc

 

[Marocchino]

Judgementalism is something I have struggled with in my spiritual life. I think your OP is orthodox. Something I would add is, even in judging the actions or words of another, try to give the benefit of the doubt. For more on judging others, you can refer to The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

 

[dailey]

I struggle with this often. I feel like I am “sinning” when I get disgusted with so many people who blatantly and joyfully go against God’ law.

Thanks for posting this link! Never heard of M. Coren…

If we cannot judge sins, it can be construed that we are enabling those sins.
Also, Michael Coren’s thoughts on this are plain awesome.
youtube.com/watch?v=8gi2z0LAvGc

 

[Crescentinus]

I struggle with this often. I feel like I am “sinning” when I get disgusted with so many people who blatantly and joyfully go against God’s law.

Thanks for posting this link! Never heard of M. Coren…

Same here. o:
Personally, I prefer actually being judgmental at the right time. Asides from it being politically incorrect, it also lets me call out evil as it is.

 

[michelleds]

I wanted to ask a followup question. I know that we can judge actions but not people but what should one do if one’s friend is committing a sinful act? Should we tell them not to do it? I think we are supposed to tell them not to do it but how do we do that without them feeling like we are judging them?

I think it depends on the situation and the relationship. Co-workers, friends, best friends, acquaintances. Assuming a close friendship, it can be extremely difficult, especially if you know that they won’t agree with you that the behavior is wrong/sinful. But if they feel free enough to tell you about the behavior, it seems that we should feel free to express our beliefs as well, assuming we can do so with love. easier said than done.

of course, given a close friendship, it’s unlikely that the friend doesn’t already know what you’ll think of the behavior.