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Podcast
Judging One Another
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Transcript
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt and today I want to talk about the subject of judging one another.
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There's an old joke about a hundred-year-old man who had a physical exam and the doctor
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told him he was in excellent health.
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Doctor asked him, to what do you attribute your good health?
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The old man said, I'm never judgmental with idiots.
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I always agree with an idiot.
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The doctor said, that's ridiculous, your social relations can't possibly explain your
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good health.
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The old man said, you're probably right.
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This podcast is not about corporate judgment such as that carried out by civil government
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or religious institutions.
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Rather, I shall attempt to give a biblical answer to the question, should an individual
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person judge another individual person?
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But that focus brings up other questions.
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Did Jesus tell us to not judge one another?
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Should Christians judge other Christians who are unrepentantly living in sin?
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Should Christians judge people who claim they cannot help being what they are, LGBTQ and
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so on?
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Is judging one another inevitable?
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I suggest the Bible describes two very different kinds of judgment, punishment and discernment.
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First let's talk about punishment judgment.
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Punishment is where a penalty is imposed on someone to ensure justice.
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Here's some passages with my interpretive comments.
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First I'll read the passage and then I'll put my comments in.
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This is Matthew 7, 1 and 2.
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Do not judge lest you be judged, for in the way you judge you will be judged, and by the
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standard of measure it will be measured to you.
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With my comments, do not judge, deal out punishment, lest you be judged, punished by God.
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For in the way you judge, punish others.
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You will be judged, punished by God.
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And by your standard of measure it will be measured to you.
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Here's Romans chapter 2 verse 1.
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Therefore you are without excuse every man who passes judgment, for in that you judge
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another and you condemn yourself.
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For you do judge practice the same things.
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With my comments, therefore you are without excuse every man who passes judgment, punishes
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people.
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For in that you judge, deal out punishment, to another, you condemn yourself as deserving
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punishment.
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For you judge practice the same thing, commit sins worthy of punishment.
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Here's James 4, 11.
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Do not speak against one another, brethren.
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He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges
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the law.
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With my comment, do not speak against one another, brethren.
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Do not try to verbally punish a brother as with gossip and accusations.
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And that's kind of how we usually do it.
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He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges
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the law.
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Here's Romans 12, 19.
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Never take your own revengeance, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God.
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For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I'll repay, says the Lord.
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With my comment, never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God.
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Because the wrong done against you is not sin against you, it's sin against God.
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For it's written, Vengeance is mine, I'll repay, says the Lord.
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Concerning the wheat and tares, Jesus said, allow both to grow together until the harvest.
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And in the time of the harvest, I'll say to the reapers, first gather up the tares
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and bind them in bundles and burn them, representing the punishment, judgment of God.
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But gather the wheat into barns, representing the mercy, judgment of God.
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Reason number one, we should never judge in the sense of punishment.
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A corollary to that is, punishment judgment is not discipline.
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Proverbs 12, 1 says, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof
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is stupid.
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Discipline of your children or anyone is about getting them back on the right path, not dealing
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out justice for their sin.
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In some cases, discipline may involve the same action as punishment, but the objective
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should never be punishment.
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Punishment judgment is always and only of God.
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The second corollary, punishment judgment should not be used against personal attacks.
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Jesus said, you heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, but I say
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to you, do not resist an evil person.
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But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn him the other also.
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Jesus and the apostles strongly, clearly, and logically defended the truth against attacks
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from Pharisees, Sadducees, false apostles, and false teachers, but they did not attempt
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to deal out physical punishment to those who attacked them.
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Now let's talk about discernment judgment.
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Discernment is a person's perception which allows them to make a distinction with wisdom
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and understanding.
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Here's some passages, again, with my interpretive comments.
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First of all, Malachi 3, 15 and 16, and those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and
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the Lord gave attention and heard it and took a remembrance and it was written before him
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for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name.
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Now that verse with my comments.
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Then those who fear the Lord, and that fear came from discernment, spoke to one another
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because they had discernment and the Lord gave attention and heard it and a book of
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remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and esteem his name.
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Those are the two basic requirements for discernment judgment.
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Luke 12, 57, why do you not even judge it with your own initiative?
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My comment, discernment, what is right?
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Here's John 7, 24, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
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My comments, do not judge, discern according to appearance, but judge, discern with righteous
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judgment, discernment.
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There are also many verses that imply the use of judgment as discernment.
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For example, do not give what's holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine.
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That requires a discernment to know which ones are dog and which are swine.
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Conclusion number two, we should embrace the fact that we continually judge in the sense
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of discernment.
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Corollary one, discernment judgment comes from those who are spiritual beings.
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Unlike animals, human beings cannot help but judge one another.
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Like animals, humans have morality, a conscience, a sense of judgment, purpose, and destiny.
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This means that humans cannot help but judge their surroundings with a moral framework.
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To therefore say we should not be judgmental is asking us to act like animals.
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That's not only absurd, it's impossible.
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Corollary B, discernment judgment should never be about motives.
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Only God can judge motives.
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Paul wrote, God will judge the secrets of men's hearts through Jesus Christ.
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Do not even examine myself.
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The Lord will bring to light the things hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men's heart.
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And then each man's praise will come from God.
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That's from 1 Corinthians 4, 3 to 5.
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The third corollary, discernment judgment should not measure others by our application of Scripture.
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Therefore no one is to act as your judge, Paul says, in regard to food or drink in respect
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to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, that from Colossians 2.16.
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Being judgment is not about conjuring up a set of rules to live by from God, like when
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I grew up it was don't drink, smoke, and chew, and go with girls that do.
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Why is it important to be judgmental?
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Being judgmental is making judgments which are mental.
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When mental judgments lead to punishment, it's moved into an area which belongs to God.
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But being judgmental is also about using the mind, and that's morally essential.
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Here's why.
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Number one, being judgmental increases awareness.
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We have a conscience, and the Bible tells us what's right and wrong.
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If we do not use our conscience and the Bible to judge one another in the sense of pointing
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out sin, we become dull, unsalty, lukewarm, drift away.
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Every passage of the Bible calls upon believers to be judgmental in the sense of discernment.
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Two, seeking peace with unrepentant sinners instead of judging them by a discernment dulls
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our knowledge of right and wrong.
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It's not Christ, but the Antichrist that seeks to bring peace to an unrepentant world.
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In Zechariah 1, 11, and 15, we read,
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So they answered the angel of the Lord, who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said,
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We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet.
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He that is God said, I am very angry with the nations who are at ease.
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God never brings peace to an unrepentant world because it would compromise his holy character.
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Three, judging evil improves discernment.
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Tolerating evil impairs discernment.
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Joseph's being judgmental about Potiphar's wife kept him from adultery.
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Aaron's not being judgmental allowed him to build an idolatrous golden calf.
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Four, being judgmental helps people be less naive.
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Solomon stated the purpose of the book of Proverbs like this,
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To receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity,
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to give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discernment.
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Later he wrote, evil men do not understand justice,
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but those who seek the Lord understand all things.
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Jesus said, Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
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The apostles told the church to be sensitive to false prophets, false apostles, false brethren,
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false wonders, false teachers.
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Being judgmental is essential for spiritual growth.
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The author of Hebrews told us that solid food is for the mature,
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who because of practice have their senses to discern good and evil.
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Five, being judgmental helps keep one another from the judgment of God.
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James wrote, My brethren, if any one of you
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strays from the truth and one turns him back,
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let him know that he's turned a sinner from the error of his ways.
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He will save the soul from death and will cover a multitude of sin.
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James 5, 19 and 20. Judging one another is
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a way in which we bear one another's burden and love one another.
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First John 4, 17 to 21.
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Conclusion. The satanic world system wants us to blur
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the difference between punishment and discernment.
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If the world can get us to eliminate discernment
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using the word judgment, then morality goes away.
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In the progressive world, we can all act like animals.
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Sin becomes malevolence. A sinner is a sociopath
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and there is no abominations to God because we humans
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have evolved into being the gods of the planet.
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By contrast, the Bible says being judgmental
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in the sense of discernment is an essential part of spiritual growth.
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It increases our sensitivity to sin, sharpens our sense of right and wrong,
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preempts compromise with the world, and increases wisdom.
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Discernment, judgment, makes us the salt of the earth
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and the light of the world.
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Conclusion. We should never judge in the sense of punishment.
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That's up to God. We should continually judge in the sense of discernment.
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That's our assignment from God. Thank you for listening.
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A longer paper on this subject with footnotes for the quotes is available
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on our website relationalconcepts.org.
