Posted on Tuesday,

A Quick Response To The “Who Are You To Judge?” Objection

Raise your hand if you want to be seen as judgmental. Any takers? Me neither.

But how many times have you been shut down by this little slogan–“Who Are You To Judge?” After all, didn’t Jesus say “Do not judge so that you will not be judged?” Hmmmm….that does sound like something from the Bible…

Yes, Jesus did say that. But most people have misunderstood the point that Jesus was trying to make there.

And if you’re able to master the context of this oft quoted but frequently misapplied passage then you will be ready to help your friends and family think more clearly about important spiritual and moral truths. And every step towards the truth is a really big deal!

Move Over John 3:16…

Many people today may know John 3:16 is in the Bible and has something to do with Jesus, but Matthew 7:1 has surpassed it as the most quoted Bible verse in our increasingly secular culture.

Let’s take a closer look at this famous passage found in Matthew 7. For the full context, we will examine verses 1-6:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “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? 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? 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. “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Is Jesus’ point here that we are not to say that what someone else is doing may be morally wrong or spiritually misguided? The short answer is clearly and unequivocally no. How do we know that? Because if so, then Jesus disobeyed his own command within only a paragraph!
Look at verse 5. Jesus calls people hypocrites. Gasp! Jesus was judgmental too? Actually, lets be more specific. Given this group’s behavior, he makes the informed judgment that they are hypocrites.

And in the next verse he makes another judgement that dogs don’t deserve what is sacred and pigs aren’t worthy of pearls. By the way, dogs and pigs represent people and their attitudes towards what is truly valuable–ouch.

So what is Jesus against?
Being self-righteous…

thinking that you are morally or spiritually superior to someone else or earning God’s special favor by obeying the rules.

Jesus both assumes and illustrates in his life and teachings that making judgements is not only unavoidable but completely necessary and appropriate.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line: Jesus is for making judgments between good and evil, what is morally right and wrong, and what is true and what is false. What he was completely against was people using knowledge of the truth to beat people up with, belittle, or make themselves appear morally superior.

Once we look at the context of this passage, it becomes obvious that we need to grow in our ability to make judgments. But we need to be aware of our hearts ability to become self righteous. There is no room for arrogance in the Christian life.

The psalmist’s prayer is a good reminder to check our hearts:

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” – Psalm 139:23-24

But we also need the moral courage to stand for truth in the midst of these common slogans and not buckle under the pressure of those who think God’s revealed truth is outdated.

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy How to Respond to the “That’s Just Your Interpretation” Objection

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Posted on Tuesday,

One Question That Will Remind A Moral Relativist Of What They Already Know

In a culture that is caught in the riptide of relativism, how do you help people come to their moral senses?

Ask them a question.

In love, let them wrestle–and if need be squirm–as they process real world scenarios. Why? Because relativism flourishes in the abstract but evaporates in our everyday experience.

Help Your Relativist Friends Gain Moral Clarity By Asking A Question

Let’s imagine a typical conversation. Here’s how this might play out:

YOU: If I understand your view, are you are saying that what is right or wrong or good or evil depends on the individual or culture?

FRIEND: Yes. What is morally good for you may be different than what is morally good for me.

Here is the question…

YOU: That’s an interesting way to think about things. Can I ask you a question? Are you really saying that there is no moral difference between Mother Theresa and Adolf Hitler?

FRIEND: ummm….

YOU: It seems to me that moral relativism would leave us in the frustrating position of not being able to say that there is a moral difference between Adolph Hitler and Mother Teresa. But that is obviously false. The only way to do so would be to appeal to an external standard of morality beyond individual preferences or cultural agreement. Yet, this is precisely what moral relativism denies. But surely you would agree that such a conclusion is absurd? After all, Mother Teresa lived to save lives; Hitler lived to destroy them.

Pause.

At this point, the conversation could go several different ways (which I will leave for another post). Regardless of which way it goes however, you have accomplished something VERY important. You have taken the relativist out of the comfortable rarified air of the abstract and helped him or her grapple with real life.

That’s the power of asking good questions.

A well placed question helps remind people of what they already know (cf. Romans 1-2).

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy Moral Relativism and the Reformer’s Dilemma and How to Respond to the “That’s Just Your Interpretation” Objection

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Posted on Wednesday,

How to Respond to the Violent Old Testament God Objection in 10 Minutes [Podcast]

Is the God of the Old Testament violent and bloodthirsty? Did God really command genocide? Why did Israel attack the Canaanites? These are just a few of the tough questions I tackle in this episode of the think Christianly podcast. Learn how to respond to one of the most challenging and emotional objections to Christianity in under 10 minutes.

Check out my other podcasts – Subscribe with iTunes I RSS

Do you want more confidence in defending the reliability and authority of the Bible? – CLICK HERE

Is the Bible Sexist, Racist, Homophobic, and Genocidal? (Get on Kindle for only .99 cents)

Faith Crashers: Why Does God Kill People in the Old Testament? (Read the Christian Post article I was interviewed for)

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Follow me on Twitter @Jonathan_Morrow

Posted on Tuesday,

Is It Ok To Admit That Christianity Could Be False?

It surprises people when I admit that Christianity could be false. Doesn’t this admission show a monumental lack of faith? Actually, just the opposite. Stay with me for a minute.

If Christianity does not rise to the level of being true or false, then it has been completely removed from the cognitive realm. To put it bluntly, if something can’t be false, then it can’t be true either. We are no longer talking about something real and rational investigation becomes impossible.

Please don’t mishear me, I think there are very good reasons to believe Christianity is actually true and best explains reality. But Christianity is the kind of thing that could be false. It’s at this point in my talk when people tend to get nervous (along with those who invited me in to speak!).

Let the Best Ideas Win

My point is simply this: In a culture that relativizes (everybody has their own truth) and then privatizes (my spiritual truth is personal and therefore off-limits) religious belief, we must reintroduce Christianity to our culture with its very public truth claims and let the best ideas win.

To use a football analogy, we have to take the red practice jersey off of Christianity so it can take some hits. But don’t just take my word for it, listen to the Apostle Paul:

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” – 1 Cor. 15:13-17

Christianity is unique among all the world’s religions because it is testable.

Even If Christianity Doesn’t Make You Feel Better…

Nancy Pearcey puts her finger on the problem: “When Christians are willing to reduce religion to non-cognitive categories, unconnected to questions of truth or evidence, then we have already lost the battle.” When it comes to Christianity, the most important question we need to help people ask is not will it work for them or help them feel better, but rather is it true?

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy “Why Does Truth Matter?”

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Posted on Tuesday,

Did the Gospel Writers Intend to Write Accurate History?

In a post-Christian culture that no longer “speaks Bible,” one of the first objectives in any conversation is to stake out some common ground wherever possible. To do this I recommend starting with history.

Most people–unless they have been educated out of it–still believe that you can know some things about the past. In other words, we can discover important historical truths about people like Plato, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar (and I would argue Jesus of Nazareth…but that’s another post).