January 30, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Judgment Days” on Joe Dallas’s website: “I remember hearing Pastor Chuck Smith, years ago, admit (from the pulpit no less!) ‘You should be glad I wasn’t God yesterday, cause if I was, I’d have sent everyone to hell!’ How I loved it – a great and godly man admitted he had lousy days when he could barely tolerate people. And while that doesn’t give me permission to wish hell on folks, it comforts me to know I’m not alone when I do.” …

“When I devalue someone’s general worth or character because of one sin in their life, I’ve judged them, wrongly and unfairly. Wrongly because I don’t know the state of their soul so I can’t say how good or bad they really are, and unfairly because I inaccurately paint them with too broad a brush. Just because one sin in their life pushes my buttons, it hardly negates all other good qualities they may, and probably do, possess.” …

“I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat myself: I’m worried about a growing lack of necessary judgment in the Church today; a laxity in discernment masquerading as love or virtue. Too little doctrinal and moral clarity; too much mush. But I should be even more worried about the unnecessary judgment that can grow in me. Lots of people have let me down, so boo-hoo. I know you can say the same. And when we hear their names, or recall their sins against us, it’s easy to write them off or, worse yet, to envision pulling the Straight to Hell lever Pastor Chuck mentioned. That’s when the command not to judge, along with the warning that to the extent I wrongfully judge others I’ll get a dose of the same, slaps me awake, reminding me I need a softened heart towards those who’ve sinned against me, a harder heart towards my own sins against God and others, and a godlier perspective on people in general.”