Blog All

_{by Trent - from June 2006}

Judgments always backfire.

The person that judges only reveals themselves, rather then the person they are trying to expose. That attempt at exposure is not always derogatory. However, judgmentalism is always a violation of decency.

A judgment is simply a stated determination (whether good or bad) of an other person's hidden intentions or perceived purpose/attitude. I make a judgment when I say, "They didn't mean any harm." I don't KNOW whether they meant any harm or not, but I assert my determination as fact. What does that really reveal? Such an assertion reveals only MY heart. What I am really saying is "I wouldn't have meant any harm in that circumstance." ... because I can only really know my heart, even though they may have really meant harm. The same is true if I say "When he looks at her that way, then he wants sex." I am really revealing my desires when I look at someone in the same way. Meanwhile, the reality of that other person's heart remains a mystery. How many other reasons could there be for their actions? Yet, I have only projected MY reason to that other person's actions.

When someone's judgments are always trusting, who should you trust? When someone's judgments are always hopeful, where can you go to find hope? But all too often, those that are judgmental are extremely critical. They project and presume the derogatory things behind your action what they are blinded from seeing about themselves. They do not even know what their judgments are really revealing.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged." [Matthew 7:1]

Recently, a person judged me by saying that when I say, "Of course!" that I am actually lying and trying to deceive. So, how honest do you think that person is when they say, "Of course!"? Did his remarks reveal me, or him?

The same person made many judgments: "you intentionally deceive," he said, "you are purposefully trying to cause discord," "your intention is to divide, period!" Probably, the best example came when someone in the same thread told me that I avoid answering questions. I asked them to show me a single question unanswered, and at the same time found 12 blatant examples of HIS avoiding MY questions ... some of them clearly marked as "(non-rhetorical)!" Do you think that they were able to find an example where I did what they were accusing me? Doesn't judgmentalism always backfire?

If I acted as those examples describe then I would be trying to overwhelm and put someone on the defensive. (notice that this one sentence is of me judging me, not me judging them.)

Romans 2
1You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

I can hardly remember a time that I chose not to assume and regretted it later.