Don't Judge Me! No, Wait—I Need Your Judgment!

We, the twenty-first centurists, have become quite adept at tolerance, quick to keep our judgments to ourselves. We wouldn't dare offend anyone.

I'm just like you. I hate judging others. The plank of wood in my own eye is so big that I'm astounded I can still see other people's mistakes. But as I've been thinking about judgment lately, I've wanted to examine it a bit deeper. I actually believe we all secretly, and maybe subconsciously, enjoy being judged.

It seems to me that most of us love validation. I know I do. We feel affirmed and proud after passing a class, getting hired for a new job, completing a project at home, seeing our child succeed, or being praised for a job well done. Isn't this validation all based on judgment? Don't we secretly yearn for the praises of our peers?

I realize that, as a Christian, judgment is a hot-button topic. My point here isn't to give a thorough exegesis on the contradictory voices in the New Testament that both condemn the throwing of stones while approving the removal of evil ones among the flock. Paul's instructions to the church at Corinth about chasing away "any of your own people who are evil" leaves me bewildered and disturbed every time I read it. All I want is to simply ponder the irony that we all live in. We get angry when someone "judges" us, yet we always seem to need the validation of other people. 


I'd love to think that I find my total worth in God and in that faith, but let's be honest. I always seem to crave that proverbial 'pat on the back.' Most of us do. Though I still strongly believe that considerable care needs to be heeded whenever we make a judgment call on someone's character, I also find it funny that only critical judgments are found to be offensive. It's all right for us to judge someone approvingly, but when that judgment takes the form of criticism or disapproval, then we suddenly become a hypocrite. Really?


I'm still not sure on this issue. It seems to me Jesus could have easily approved throwing stones at 'certain' people—those that claim to be Christians but aren't living what they claim to believe. Jesus didn't give any of those specifics, though. He simply taught that we are to take a long, hard look in the mirror before we cast any judgment—and what he really meant is that by looking in that mirror, we'll see that we are sinners, too, and have no room to pass judgment.

Still, we yearn for validation...and someone's gotta make a judgment of us before they validate us. It's a funny conundrum—'you can only judge me if you're going to say something that doesn't challenge my comfort zone!' Well, at least it makes sense to me now...sort of.