Is Disagreeing the Same as Judging?

If you’re alive in the 21st century, you know it’s open season on framing Christians as judgmental, bigoted, and homophobic because of their positions on hot-button issues. And it's not just a gentle disagreement; it's an all-out vitriol of demonization.

So is it true? Is disagreeing the same as judging?

The other day, I saw someone toss a fast-food bag from a moving car and immediately thought, “That’s wrong.” And while I didn’t like it, its wrongness had nothing to do with me; it was a violation of section 403.413 of the Florida Statutes. My “judgment” came from agreeing with a code I had nothing to do with creating.

Standards of right and wrong are nearly always set by authorities higher than ourselves. While we may not always like them, most agree that it's the state's responsibility to make and enforce laws within its jurisdiction.

Christians live with an understanding that God created the world and handed down the ground rules in the Bible; His sandbox, His jurisdiction. While we may or may not always like or even agree with them, we had nothing to do with their creation and are simply standing with the higher authority that did.

In our country's judicial system, there are two parts to a criminal trial: litigation and sentencing. Litigation is about determining if a law has been broken, and sentencing is about deciding the penalty for the violation. While litigation involves the human opinions of lawyers and a jury of peers, sentencing does not. Only a representative of the state, the judge, can do that. The jury can “judge” if something is wrong, but only the higher authority can impose a penalty for that wrong.

When my wife and I were parenting our five young children, we found ourselves having to be both jury and judge. We litigated to determine if a wrong had been committed, and then imposed the sentence for that wrong. But as grandparents, our role has changed. While we see wrong in our grandchildren and, at times, call it out, the penalty phase belongs to their parents. Our job is just to keep loving them through the annoyance and inconvenience. The pressure is off.

God calls each of us to live as “grandparents” in His world. While we stand with Him in His determining of right and wrong, the penalty phase belongs to Him alone. We can and should fight against destructive ideologies in the marketplace of ideas and at the ballot box, but never impose the sentence of hate, slander, rudeness, or the withholding of love.

We can and should stand with our Father in interactions with those who oppose God and His ways, but never with an air of superiority or disrespect. Someday, He will sit as judge over HIs creation and have the last word. But today is not that day.

In the meantime, let’s work with Him in His heart to redeem and save rather than sentence and execute. If we do, we'll discover it's a way more effective and enjoyable way to live.