On Making Moral Judgments

Salome and the head of John the Baptist.

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

The quote from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, has given us the common saying, “even the Devil can cite scripture for his purpose.” It is profoundly true—the Pharisees quote scripture against Jesus in the Bible itself. Every bad person has a few handy Biblical quotes they can use to bludgeon good people.

Chief among them are “turn the other cheek,” and “judge not, lest ye be judged.” They are useful for telling good people to shut up and let bad people go about their business.

But they only work their diabolical magic if taken out of context.

“Judge not, lest ye be judged.” If this is a commandment not to judge others, Jesus himself clearly and regularly breaks it. He accuses the scribes and Pharisees of sinfulness repeatedly. At the end of time, he will come again and judge everyone, the living and the dead.

Ah, you might say, but that is for God alone. God knows; we ought not to so presume.

Very well; consider then John the Baptist. He similarly loudly condemns the sinfulness of the Sadducees and Pharisees, and does so in Jesus’s presence.

“But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?’” (Matthew 3)

He is beheaded for persistently accusing Herod and Herodias of sin.

Rather than condemn him for this behaviour, Jesus declares him the greatest of men.

“Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).

In this, the Baptist was simply fulfilling the standard role of the prophets: calling out the people and the government for sins. Deny the legitimacy of doing so, and you deny the legitimacy of half the Bible.

On assuming the throne, Solomon prayed:

“Give your servant … an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil.”

And God responded:

“Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you. I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days. If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

It very much sounds as though God approved of his choice. He wants us to exercise judgement, and to judge right and wrong. It is what we are here for; it is why we are given free will.

Now let’s look again at the original quote, in its full context:

“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7; WEB)

It ends with Jesus recommending that you judge. And that to do so is a kindness, like removing a speck from your brother’s eye.

Sin is a spiritual illness, that if untreated leads to spiritual death. In plain terms, you go to hell. You morally owe it to another to point out their sin. It would be callous or insane not to.

The warning is specifically against hypocrisy, against judging others by a harsher standard than yourself.

This is indeed a common failing. Bad people think they can absolve themselves of sins by accusing others of them.

For example, look no further than the present Democratic convention. Bill Clinton a couple of nights ago accused Donald Trump specifically of not behaving with the proper decorum in the Oval Office. Clinton had sex with interns in that office. Last night, Obama launched an attack on Trump with “I did expect Donald Trump to show some interest in taking the job seriously … for close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work."

This is probably the most common accusation against Obama: that he did not seem to take the job seriously, seemed disengaged.

"Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job," Obama continued.

This sounds ironic from a younger man of an older man.

Finally, making the pitch for Biden and Harris over Trump and Pence, he opines “They understand that political opponents aren't unAmerican just because they disagree with you.” He actually blames the right for identity politics and “cancel culture.”

Of course, it is also always the sort who tells others to “judge not” who are first to hurl such accusations, as likely as not unfounded.