Category: Judging

Stop judging according to outward appearances

~ wzippler

listen and learn, 3D rendering, a yellow road sign

         We are told in the Bible to

John 7:24 King James Version (KJV)
 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Yet how many of us have interrupted someone and started shooting off at the mouth before they were done saying what needed to be said? How many of us have seen posts being shared on social media and commented on them based off the title alone, only guessing what is in it?  I know that I am guilty, but I now realize the depth of my error.
I posted a video on Facebook yesterday featuring two Christians, and a man who recently renounced his faith. After watching the video, I believe that deep down inside that he is really a troubled Christian rather than an atheist, after all, he still WANTS CHRISTIANITY TO BE TRUE. But this particular person wasn’t really the reason that I shared the video, many people have endured a crisis of faith where they needed someone that understood the issues to talk to. The two guys that he was talking to did. I felt that everyone could learn to allot from their conversation.  Instead, they spent their time judging the state of this guy’s heart.
This made me so cranky I almost deleted my Facebook account (a lot of other things were happening too.) I turned snappy so the people in question may have had their day ruined too. If they didn’t want to watch the video they should have just scrolled on passed without judging something that they know nothing about.  It may mean a considerable reduction in how much we post, and how much we respond to, but I highly suggest we spend less time sharing and more time making sure we know what we are sharing, instead of guessing about the content.

This is the video that I shared.

 

Give Up Your Stereotypes, Not Your Christian Convictions – Stand to Reason Blog

~ wzippler

It never ceases to amaze me, how many people treat sinners as non-people. We are all sinners! We can and should believe that there are things that are absolutely wrong, but to forget that we are all made in the image of God is yet another sin.
Treat all people with love and kindness,  but just because a person is generally nice, doesn’t mean that they are right about everything.

Give Up Your Stereotypes, Not Your Christian Convictions – Stand to Reason Blog.

Smart Christian associated with Amazon.com

In righteousness shall you judge your neighbor

~ wzippler ~ 1 Comment

Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Please visit my bookstore for book recommendations.

What is evil, and where does it come from?

~ wzippler

Who decides what is evil?

Is it the individual?

If it were for the individual to decide what is evil, then I could decide to do anything that was good for me, was good.
But if I were to decide to steal your Ipad I think we all know it would be wrong, even if it is good for me.
Moral relativist say we make up our own rules, but they all complain when someone cuts them off in traffic.

Is it societies that get to decide what is good and evil?
In 1933  Hitler’s Germany decided that it was OK to do a lot of do a lot of different things that shook the world to it’s core, including committing  mass murder. If societies get to decide what is good and evil and they decided that mass murder was OK then we could not say that Hitler was wrong. All we could say is we did not like what he did. But sane people all agree that what Hitler did was PURE EVIL. If a society could be that wrong about what is good, and what is evil then clearly societies do not decide what good and evil are.

Does evolution decide what is good and what is evil?

The core of evolution is about survival of the fittest reproducer. Evolution does not care about animals that are to far away to mate with. It is all about you and your pack.  If morality came from evolution it would be wrong to give up your resources, to help someone in a far off place who could not aid in your survival in the least little bit.

If evolution were the cause of morals then morals are all in the gene.
If that is the case then Hitler and Mother Theresa are different in the same way brown eyes , and blue eyes are different. We do not hold people accountable for things that are accidents of birth, but deep down in our souls we know that when someone shoots up a movie theater that person should be held accountable for their actions.
If anyone has ever done anything so evil that we know that person should be punished, then in can not be evolution that is responsible for morality.

The way I see it good and evil can only exist is if it is something that is discovered and not created.

Science can not account for most parts of it’s existence. But yet it is very real.I believe the best way to

account for the existence evil, is the absence or perversion of the good. And the best explanation for good is

God.

Our lives begin to end…

~ wzippler

     People, especially Christians are way to silent now days. Please don’t use this post as an excuse to act like the  Westboro Baptist , I would never advocate acting like them, but we should not whitewash sin either! God forgives us our sins if we ask, but here on earth we are still subject to natural laws. When we sin we hurt people. Driving drunk gets people killed. Divorce without kids breaks hearts, divorce with kids tear apart lives. Kids from broken homes are more likely to suffer abuse, abuse drugs, live in poverty….. The list of earthly consequences for sin goes on and on.
While Matthew 7:1 which is about hypocritical judging is often taken out of context to make it about all judging. I will tell you what you won’t find in the Bible, any verse that commands us not to help people. When we refuse to judge sin we by our silence are endorsing the earthly consequences that occur because of the sin. Would it not be better to talk a person into joining AA, then to stay silent until the alcoholic ends up killing someone by driving drunk and going to jail ?  Is it not better to talk someone into going to a marriage councilor then to see a family split apart and a kids who feel alone in the world because they feel like one of their parents abandon them?  WE MUST NOT BE SILENT!