Righteous Anger or an Excuse for Judging

I have lots of righteous anger against injustices and harm done to people by some the people of the church, some who are Christians, some “religiosity,” some are neither. These are the people who judge harshly by appearances, by any perceived differences, lie and spread rumors behind people’s backs, can’t answer questions that are asked and too proud to say “I don’t know,” all with the end result being people running from Jesus because of how they or their loved ones were treated.

Yes, even the most devout Christian is imperfect and makes mistakes. I should know. I am definitely not perfect.

So, back to the people’s actions that I have righteous anger against. Yes. It is okay to have righteous anger against actions.

The problem, and my problem with my comment, is too often we take our justifiable righteous anger for actions and turn it into judging the doers of the action. Yes, it is a fine line. But there is a line.

In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus says

Matthew 7:1–5 (NIV)

1-“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2-For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3-“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4-How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

5-You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

3 Things stick out from this passage.

1- When we judge others, we are judged with the same measure that we judge. This should scare/shame anyone who has ever judged another person.

2-We so easily see the sins (speck of sawdust) in another person’s life while overlooking our sins (plank) in our own lives. And we too easily point other’s shortcomings to them, often while we have huge sins in our own lives.

3-HYPOCRISY. When we behave this way, we are hypocrites. I hate this word because it is branded against anyone who’s views we are against. But it is something we should be cognizant of and continually look at our lives to see if we are guilty.

For me, having been judged unfairly for years, and often harshly, I try very hard not to judge. And seem not to judge anyone but am very judgmental against those who judge others.

I was looking and harshly judging the people who’s actions caused people I love to leave the church and Christianity turning to atheism. Yes their actions were/are very wrong. But it isn’t my job to judge, especially someone who does not claim to be a Christian. Christians may hold other Christians accountable, but only other Christians and it should always be done in love and grace and mercy and not in a judgmental way.