Breakpoint.
In her book Live Your Truth and Other Lies: Exposing Popular
apologist Alisa Childers breaks down widespread mantras of
culture and their consequences. One of these is a
misunderstanding of Jesus’ words so common that, for many,
it may be the eleventh commandment that supplants the other
ten: “You shouldn’t judge.”
have become more tolerant of alternative sexual lifestyles,
non-traditional beliefs about God, and certain political
identifications, such as Communism. According to the
and LifeWay Research, some 56% of self-described evangelicals
believe that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.” Upon closer examination,
areas than about gaining tolerance.
In fact, accepting the “do not judge ethos” has been a primary
corrosive agent to those convictions, and this is what Childers
addresses in her new book. In addition to identifying the obvious
contradiction in saying “it is wrong to judge,” which is itself a
judgment, she reminds Christians what Jesus’ words mean in context.
[J]ust after saying, “Judge not,” Jesus lets his audience know
that when they judge, they should be very careful to make
sure their judgment isn’t hypocritical. “First take the log out of
your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck
out of your brother’s eye,” Jesus instructs in verse 5. In other
words, don’t point out a sin in your brother’s or sister’s life
before you confront the bigger sin in your own. But the whole
point is to help your brother or sister take the speck out of their
own eye, which requires you to judge that it’s there. … If there
is still any confusion, just a few verses later, Jesus tells us to
recognize wolves, or false teachers, by their fruit (verses 15-16).
Again, this requires us to judge whether these teachers are
speaking truth or deception. Then, in John 7:24, Jesus couldn’t say
it more plainly. He directs his listeners to “not judge by appearances,
but judge with right judgment.”
The point of these verses, she concludes, is not to prevent moral
discernment, but to help believers instead judge “carefully, rightly,
humbly, and without hypocrisy.” Childers then offers a powerful
illustration from her time with ZOEgirl, when her struggle with body
image eventually led to a secret eating disorder of binging and purging.
On some tour in some town somewhere, I shared a hotel room with
one of my bandmates. She is a sweetheart—gentle, deeply intelligent,
and thoughtful. … She was also a natural peacemaker, and confrontation
did not come easily to her. So when she worked up every last bit of courage
to ask me what I was doing in the bathroom, it surprised me. And it also
made me angry. To put it lightly, the conversation didn’t go well. I not so
politely invited her to stop “judging” me and back all the way off.
That didn’t stop her. …
Looking back, am I thankful that my bandmate “judged” me? That she
dared confront me about the self-harm I was guilty of? Absolutely! She
was the catalyst that first brought the darkness into the light. To this day
my eyes mist with tears when I think about how much she loved me to do
such a difficult thing.
Childers’ example not only calls Christians to do similarly difficult but right
things, it reveals the consequences of relativism when lived in the real world.
What begins as a desire to not judge others turns into the narcissistic demand
that no one, under any circumstances, judge us. But that also renders healing
and forgiveness impossible. After all, with no way to say that we’ve been
wronged, neither is there means or reason to forgive those who harm us.
Any culture that rejects objective morality lacks any way to counter evil.
Alisa Childers’ book reclaims truth from the empty slogans that dominate our
culture and our thinking. This August, for a gift of any amount to the Colson
Center, we’ll send you a copy of Live Your Truth and Other Lies. Just go to breakpoint.org/give to learn more.
This Breakpoint was co-authored by Kasey Leander. For more resources
