The Right To Judge Others

FairMind

Yesterday our visiting elder-public speaker, cautioned against judging others. He made allowance though for elders to judge or analyze the non-elders in the congregation. I have always felt that distinctions based on position in the congregation are wrong. If it is OK for an elder to analyze the sheep then it should be OK for the sheep to analyze him. This is also in harmony with the thought of listening to counsel only if the person giving it will listen to counsel from you.

Golden Girl

I always hated it when after you gave a talk they would tell you what you did wrong in front of everyone..how humiliating!

I really didn't care what they said tho..I was just glad to be off that friggen platform!

And trust me..the sisters can be worse. They always have their 2 cents to give you after a "Presentation" also...

I really didn't care what they said either!..I was just glad to be off that friggen platform!..

Aint's life grand? Some people are just not cut out to speak in public and couldn't care less!..

As a seasoned banker they would often call on me to do trainer videos for new bankers...I didn't like that either..but had to do it. Part of my job...but now I'm retired!

Ain't life grand...

Snoozy...

jaffacake

Thats so right. For all are sinners.... there is no difference. Where did I read in the Bible, confess to each other...

... anyone aspiring to an earthly paradise is worldly...and materialistic...they are right, the new testament ie the new covenant are not for them, they have rejected the free gift...and put humans and the visible above the spiritual and invisible. Oops, sorry, I think I am judging. I take it all back.

LyinEyes

You are so right Ian. I remember the scripture talking about..." trying to remove the straw from your brother's eye, while you have a rafter in yours", something like that.

When it comes to sin, we all sin , but JW's want to get to the nitty gritty and see who's sin is worse than theirs, guess it makes them feel better. At the KH you are judged by your clothing, your field service time, if you underlined your magazine with an ink pen, or went all out with a yellow highlighter and post notes. No wonder it was so exhausting.

greendawn

That's the problem with the JWs they have always been extremely judgemental as well as dogmatic and could not understand that an obsession with judging others is very anti christian "Don't judge so as not to be judged"

Tigerman

JW elders, thinking that they have ' right' to judge others, is one of the root problems of the Witnesses.

However, in my opinion, it's one of the best ( ? ) strangleholds they have for controlling the thinking of the flock.

Flash

It's a matter of degree. Judging is normal, we all do it, it is not sinfull. We judge each other ALL the time. Now 'condeming' is a differant story. That authority belongs only to God and His Son. IMO, the command not to judge has been misapplied, in that, it has been expanded to mean 'don't judge on any level' rather than mean, 'don't judge someone to the point of condeming him or her as worthy of destruction.'

Honesty

... anyone aspiring to an earthly paradise is worldly...and materialistic...they are right, the new testament ie the new covenant are not for them, they have rejected the free gift...and put humans and the visible above the spiritual and invisible.

I consider that statement as truth instead of judging, Ian.

doofdaddy

Doesn't the wtbts encourage people to mark individuals who you judge to be bad associates?

luna2

Like everything that comes from the WTS it's contradictory. One week you'll have a talk or a WT lesson on not judging others and showing love, yada, yada, yada. The next week it will be on bad association, which is really saying that you should make judgements on people, even fellow JW's, in order to not socialize with them if they don't meet whatever standards you've decided are essential. Sometimes the contradictions would be right in the same article...on the one hand, don't judge others, buuutttt, on the other hand, don't hang out with those who aren't up to snuff (which requires analyzing, judging and condeming).

I never pinpointed this while I was in. All I knew is that it seemed like you were always wrong somehow and that those who had strong personalities would try to shove their personal opinions onto everybody else. It could get incredibly petty...like the time a group of sisters were going to book hotel rooms up at a District Assembly. One sister wanted to get her own room and not share. There was this huge uproar about how terribly selfish and unloving she was because there were pioneers or others who didn't have the money to pay for their own room and needed a roommate. The poor sis had trouble with snoring and knew she'd either disturb the sleep of whoever she shared a room with...or she'd be the one up all night trying not to make any noise. She stuck firm to her decision and was ostracized for a good long while by some of the "loving" sisters for it.

As a person who was always trying to make everybody happy, I finally couldn't take it anymore. I decided not to go back until I was strong enough to define and live my own code of ethics and not be affected by whatever that week's Watchtower position was or by those in the congregation, be it elders, visiting speakers, CO's, pioneers or just buttinsky publishers at large. Of course, once you decide to think for yourself, there isn't a lot of incentive to wade back into the WTS mindset again.

The Right To Judge Others

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