CATHOLICISM - FAMOUS FOR JUDGING
Many Christians say we must not judge other people’s motives. The idea is that we speak for God by saying that certain actions are wrong but this does not mean we are judging the person for that is God's job. All we are doing is passing on what God says about certain actions.
Few buy that.
Against those who say that judging a person is not
necessarily hating them, the Church seems to disagree. Why else is there
so much effort made to look like the person is never rejected but only
behaviours are identified as being unacceptable before God.
The Bible gives an example in the Book of Job where Satan
judges Job's motives. He thought Job was only serving God for what benefits he
could get out of it. God alone knows man’s secret motives. “Therefore judge
nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the
hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts:
and then shall every man have praise of God” (I Cor. 4:5).
The problem with that view is that it means our love for
others is not real. It's just provisional. "I love and trust you not because I
really know you for I cannot. I love and trust you because I have to assume the
best until I get further light."
Many Catholics lie that Jesus said in the Matthew gospel
not to judge. They do not tell you the rest of it. He said look at
yourself first and then you will be able to judge clearly. It is alarming
that faith in Jesus so easily leads to people abandoning the moral compass like
that. Jesus in the John gospel summarises this by saying you must judge
others fairly.
Catholicism teaches that sin is an offence against the
moral law of God. It is entitled to intolerance in the form of disapproval and
condemnation and punishment. The Christian may tolerate sin only in the sense
that he is not in a position to judge exactly how intolerable it is. But if the
Christian knew, the threat of punishment would be used to stop sin. A law that
does not punish breaches adequately is only a half-law. Calling somebody a
sinner means, "I know you should be hurt for your sin - breaking a law demands
that punishment be administered to you whether you like it or not." That proves
the utter hypocrisy of saying that one must love the sinner and hate the sin. If
a person is a sinner then it is your will that they be hurt.
The teaching that we must hate the bad behaviour of
people and hate the contempt with which they view the ways of God but love them
is a strange one. People always say, "Free yourself from those who hurt you by
forgiving them so that you may enjoy peace." That attitude contradicts the
alleged obligation to hate evil and disobedience to God. How? It urges us to be
free from hating others and holding grudges but urges us to suffer a great
stress and dislike over our sins and those of others.
If you do wrong but without knowing it or against your
will that is not sin. If you hate evil, it will upset you gravely to see
somebody doing wrong. If you love the evildoer, you will have the added burden
of detesting the suffering they bring on themselves. They could be in danger of
going to the Catholic hell which burns for all eternity. It is a mistake to
think the Church teaches that we should enjoy seeing somebody punished. God does
it but only because it is right and he does not like doing it.
To judge means to wish punishment on someone or to
determine that they deserve it. It involves imputing guilt to them. Even if you
don’t like to see them punished you have to approve of it if it happens and
disapprove if it doesn’t. Approval and liking are different things. Approval is
a mind thing. Liking is a heart thing.
You receive somebody's gospel. You make that message your
own message. It becomes all yours then. You might have got it from somebody
else but now that you have made the message your own you might as well have
created it yourself. There is no difference in what it is like - how you got the
message makes no difference. It does not matter any more if it was invented by
you or the other person.
With that in mind, we cannot believe Christians who go,
"You feel we judge your sin. It is not us but the Bible that judges." They are
covering up their true attitude.
Most of us admit we identify ourselves with our sins. We
say we are sinners. Those who do not admit it do know that sin if it exists
shows what kind of person you are. So the sin and the person are one and the
same. A sinner strictly speaking is a person with at least partly ungodly
character not a person who commits sin.
Gay people do not believe Christian opponents of
homosexuality when they say they love the gay people but hate their sin. To say
you love the sinner and hate the sin is only a source of offence to people who
identify themselves with their sin or so-called sin. And we all do that for we
know that to love the sinner is to love the sins they commit as well.
Church moral teaching does judge people. Here is an
example. The Church says that you do not treat somebody you love in a lustful
way. Lust is empty of love and seeks only pleasure. It doesn’t care about the
person but the pleasure. The Church sees sexual union outside of marriage as
lust. This is judging.
To say that only God can judge is to say, “I would judge
you if I knew and judge you as fit for Hell.” It sounds like, "I love you
but..." Yet Christians who claim that saying God judges not them use this claim
as proof that they actually love sinners! Keep your barbed love thanks very much
guys!
To say, “The word of God given in the Bible and the
declarations of the Church judge you as bad news and fit for everlasting torture
in Hell”, is worse than saying, “I judge you as bad news and fit for everlasting
torture in Hell.” At least if you judge you know you are fallible. You are doing
it on your own frail and fallible authority. But to invoke an infallible God and
to do it on his authority is horrendous. It's a stronger judgement.
Catholicism both as a people and as a religion harshly
condemns many actions that are incorrect. It severely says that robbing a bank
is a sin that will take you to Hell forever if you fail to repent. It condemns a
little sexual act between members of the same sex as deserving this punishment.
Here we see an example of how it condemns something harmless so viciously.
Suppose you wish to influence somebody or guide them to a better way of life. If you put God first, you will naturally have to tell them how you feel they are defying his will. But people don’t want to hear about how their lives offend God or are against his law. They will get angry if you try to tell them. But if you appeal to their self-love and try to inspire them to do better and show how it is better for them they will grant you a respectful hearing. All that is a violation of the teaching that God's rights matter and man's doesn't in comparison.
The Catholics who teach that we must judge the sin and
not the sinner are stating something so hypocritical that it is unworthy of
refutation.
The sinner is the sin. Therefore to hate the sin and love
the sinner cannot mean the same thing. You either do one or the other.
We know by instinct that anybody who say they judge the sin you commit but not you is lying. We know by instinct that anybody who says they are against your sin but are not against you at all is lying.
The Church teaches that certain sins such as masturbation
are mortal sins meaning they kill your relationship with God. Even if there is
no God and we can freely do wrong, mortal sin is possible in so far as we intend
to commit it. The Church corrupts the human heart.
The Church says that if a person is really trying to avoid mortal sin God gives
him enough grace to succeed. So the person has no excuse for failing. This
teaching contradicts the fact that you need proof before you can accuse people.
There is no proof that God exists and no proof that he really gives us grace
-grace means he changes our hearts in ways we cannot do by ourselves. If he can
do that then why didn't he make us good in the first place?
Mortal sin severs you from God completely. You become your sin. Then there is no
room for love the sinner and hate the sin. If love the sin and hate the sin is
possible it can only be possible for venial sin.
To accuse a mortal sinner of having completely removed themselves from God is an act of hate. For the sinner to do that to himself is an act of self-hate and if you can do that to yourself what would you do to others?
If you say you love the sinner for the sinner is not all
bad and hate the sin, that implies that if you met a person who has hardly any
good qualities at all you would have to hate that person. It is saying you
condone and encourage that. Even if you think no such person exists, the fact
remains you hold hate in your heart. You would hate them if they did exist.
It may be wrong to respond in a hateful way to a person
who hates you. But to be vindictive against a system is different. If religion
has hateful attitudes to certain wrongs then it has to admit that secularists
have the right to hate its masses, its holy statues, its Bible, its teachings
and to try and turn people against them.
Therapists claim, "Telling a person they are responsible
is about helping them. Blame is about wanting to hurt the person by at least
making them feel bad and guilty."
Blame involves assuming a person meant to do something
hateful and bad. We need to blame things too. If the car won't start we may kick
it and blame it for ruining our day. We don't know the cause so we assume
personal intent. The less we know of the person we blame the more we are
assuming their blameworthiness.
Suppose a woman without compulsion stays with a husband
that beats her up. Therapists say that she is responsible for her life but add
that this is not the same as blaming (judging) her. They allege that taking
responsibility for what happens to you when you can walk away does not mean
taking the blame or part of the blame. Again this is more hypocritical tripe.
Catholic theologians know that but they try to distinguish between blame and
responsibility to fool those who see that you cannot love the sinner and hate
the sin.
The Church blames us for sinning all the time for it says we are all sinners.
Blaming people all the time would be seen as egotism. The egotist who robs a
bank will say that the banks are not secure enough or honest enough so they
deserved to be robbed. Christian morality implies we should blame all the time
for nobody's life is perfect. And if there is a perfect God to please it gets
worse! Nobody will ever love him enough or pray enough or serve him well enough!
Society has a perception of the Catholic Church as being judgemental. That is a huge part of the reason for the rancour towards the Church that the media has. That perception is correct.
