\u201cDo not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus Christ (John 7:24)<\/p>\n
We often hear from both atheists and Christians that the Bible says that we are never supposed to judge others.\u00a0 To put it as nicely as possible, that\u2019s baloney.\u00a0 We all know deep down that it\u2019s not true.\u00a0 If we catch someone\u00a0stealing a television, we\u2019ll yell\u00a0at\u00a0the thief, \u201cPut that back!\u00a0 Stealing is wrong!\u201d\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t cross our minds that we\u2019re doing something wrong by saying that.<\/p>\n
But we all know the atheist\u2019s three favorite verses in the Bible: \u00a0\u201cJudge not lest you be judged\u201d (Matthew 7:1), \u201cHe who is without sin cast the first stone\u201d (John 8:7), and \u201cGod is love\u201d (1 John 4:8). \u00a0Why are these his favorites? \u00a0Because they allow the atheist to escape accountability to God. \u00a0He is guilty before God and doesn\u2019t like to hear about it \u00a0\u2013 just like the thief would like people to stop judging him and saying that stealing is wrong, especially the cops, judges, and lawmakers (until the thief becomes the victim of theft). But there\u2019s bad news for the atheist.\u00a0 These verses don\u2019t say what they think they say.\u00a0 The Bible commands us to judge, and these verses are fully consistent with the rest of the Bible.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at them one at a time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cJudge not lest you be judged\u201d (Matthew 7:1)<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is the full quote of what Jesus said:<\/p>\n Judge not, that you be not judged.\u00a0 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.\u00a0 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother\u2019s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?\u00a0 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother\u2019s eye.\u00a0 (Matthew 7:1-5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The problem with interpreting this passage to support non-judgmentalism is that Jesus says to judge in the last line \u2013 \u201ctake the speck out of your brother\u2019s eye.\u201d\u00a0 He is commenting on how <\/em>to judge, not forbidding it.\u00a0 He is condemning hypocritical judgment, in which the person judging does a poor job making judgments about his own life, but thinks that he is an expert at solving the same problems in other people\u2019s lives. \u00a0It\u2019s like a person who is constantly in financial trouble confidently telling another person how to make financial decisions.\u00a0 Jesus warns that such a person is inviting scrutiny in his own life on the same issue:\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re in a financial mess!\u00a0 Why should I listen to you?\u201d \u00a0Jesus says that once a person is able to make judgments about his own life, then he is competent to take the speck out of someone else\u2019s eye.\u00a0 A person who learns from his financial mistakes and becomes a success is then in a good position to give financial advice to others.\u00a0 Or as in the AA program, alcoholics that kick the habit are able to help others with the same problem.<\/p>\n The Pharisees thought that they were experts in the law of God, but Jesus pointed out that they were really substituting human traditions for the law of God.\u00a0 For example, they would dedicate money to the temple in the name of their parents, and claimed that by this they had fulfilled the command to honor their father and their mother (Matt. 15:1-9).\u00a0 Mishandling the application of God\u2019s law to their own life so badly, they were in no position to give advice to others on how to be faithful to the law of God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe who is without sin cast the first stone\u201d (John 8:7)<\/strong><\/p>\n The popular interpretation of this passage is that only someone who never sins can declare that someone else has sinned.\u00a0 But the issue before them, adultery, was a criminal act under the law of Moses.\u00a0 Given this context, the popular interpretation would require us to conclude that Jesus was demanding that the State be abolished<\/em> because it would mean that nothing could be called a crime.\u00a0 All judges in court systems are sinners, all legislators who make the laws are sinners, and all executives who enforce the laws created by the legislators are sinners.\u00a0 So the popular interpretation is absurd.\u00a0 Jesus was not an anarchist.\u00a0 He recognized the authority of Caesar (Matt. 22:21).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an alternative interpretation that makes sense:\u00a0 \u201cwithout sin\u201d refers to the particular sin under discussion, adultery, not absolute sinlessness.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Jesus was expressing the rule that a person who should be prosecuted for committing a particular crime is not a legitimate witness against someone else for that same crime.\u00a0 If these men were guilty of adultery, they should be the “stonees,” not the “stoners.” \u00a0How did these men know how to find the woman \u201cin the very act of adultery\u201d (John 8:4)? \u00a0Probably because they had visited that location to engage in adultery themselves. That\u2019s why they left, leaving no witnesses against the accused. \u00a0The law of Moses required at least two witnesses, and those witnesses had to be the first ones to cast stones to execute the criminal:<\/p>\n On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. (Deut. 17:6-7)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If the witnesses refused to initiate the execution, no execution could take place. \u00a0Jesus is not saying anything against the law of Moses; He is upholding it.\u00a0 He is not saying that stones should never be cast.\u00a0 \u201cHe who is without [this<\/em>] sin cast the first stone\u201d means, \u201cIf you can do it lawfully, go ahead and stone her.\u201d\u00a0 Shocking, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 But this is the real Jesus, not the Sunday School Jesus, meek and mild.<\/p>\n The Pharisees thought that they had trapped Jesus.\u00a0 As one who claimed to be the Messiah, the Pharisees knew that Jesus would have to uphold the law of God.\u00a0 Yet the Roman government had taken the authority to execute criminals away from the Jews.\u00a0 Only a Roman court could execute a criminal (which is why they had to deliver Jesus to the Roman authorities to have Him put to death).\u00a0 Jesus avoided the horns of the dilemma by endorsing the Mosaic law, but showing the Pharisees that the requirements of the Mosaic law had not been met in order to carry out a judgment against the woman.<\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 last words to the adulteress release her from liability before the impromptu court, but He still judges her for her sin of adultery:\u00a0 \u201cGo and sin no more.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s like a judge who tells an accused when charges are dropped because of tainted evidence, \u201cThe police didn\u2019t get the goods on you this time, but don\u2019t let me see you back here again.\u00a0 Stay out of trouble.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s no support for non-judgmentalism here.<\/p>\n Lastly, there is good reason to believe that this passage doesn\u2019t belong in the Bible.\u00a0 There is probably a note to that effect in the margins of your Bible.\u00a0 The passage is not found in the oldest extant manuscripts.\u00a0 So this is hardly a good passage for non-judgmentalists to stake their case on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGod is love\u201d (1 John 4:8)<\/strong><\/p>\n God is<\/em> love.\u00a0 That\u2019s His fundamental nature.\u00a0 So the liberal thinks that he can ignore all the harsh stuff in the Old Testament.\u00a0 That was just because humanity was less evolved, but the New Testament expresses a higher view of God\u2019s nature when it teaches the \u201cnew commandment\u201d of love.\u00a0 But once again, the liberal is pouring his own ideas into the Biblical text.\u00a0 When Jesus said, \u201cA new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:\u00a0 just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another\u201d (John 13:34), He was quoting the Old Testament.\u00a0Leviticus 19:18 says, \u201cyou shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u201d\u00a0 So the Old Testament teaches the same ethic here.\u00a0 Since the Old Testament is no less God\u2019s word than the New, and God\u2019s fundamental nature is eternal, you would expect the Old Testament to express God\u2019s nature of love as much as the New.\u00a0 If the Old Testament God does not seem loving, then you need to change your definition of love to conform to God\u2019s.<\/p>\n The newness that Jesus mentioned was\u00a01) in having the new example<\/em> of perfect love to follow, Jesus Christ (\u201cjust as I have loved you\u201d),\u00a0 and 2) in a new expansion<\/em> of the practice of the commandment to love others with the expansion of the \u201clight\u201d of Christianity as Christian belief spreads throughout the world.\u00a0 As John says about the commandment to love one another:<\/p>\n Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.\u00a0 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. \u00a0(1 John 2:7-8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Furthermore, harsh punishment to the enemies of God is not something left behind in the Old Testament era.\u00a0 Jesus talked more about Hell for those that refused to believe in Him than He talked about heaven.\u00a0 Eternity in Hell is a penalty far more severe than the capital punishment meted out against God\u2019s enemies so many times in the Old Testament.<\/p>\n And also, while God is<\/em> love, the New Testament also says that \u201cGod is a consuming fire\u201d (Heb. 12:29).\u00a0 God\u2019s just wrath against those who rebel against Him is also a part of God\u2019s eternal nature.\u00a0 The expressions of God\u2019s mercy outweigh the expressions of His wrath, but the wrath is still there, as Numbers 14:18 says, \u201cThe LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.\u201d<\/p>\n In the immediate context of John\u2019s quote, non-judgmentalism is indefensible.\u00a0 John defines what he means by love:\u00a0 \u201cFor this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments\u201d (1 John 5:3).\u00a0 The details of Biblical law are what define Biblical love.\u00a0 But modern liberalism, both secular and religious, wants to set law and love in opposition to each other, especially the law of God in the Bible, with its condemnation of adultery, homosexuality, and high taxes (1 Sam. 8).\u00a0 1 John is not on their side.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus judged<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus told the Pharisees, \u201cYou serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?\u201d\u00a0 (Matt. 23:23)\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty severe judgment.\u00a0 Examples of Jesus making severe judgments could be listed for pages.\u00a0 The whole Sermon on the Mount is a series of condemnations of the evil teachings and practices of the Pharisees.\u00a0 \u00a0Jesus told the Pharisees that they should judge, but with a different standard than what they had been using:\u00a0 \u201cHas not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. . . .\u00a0 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.\u201d\u00a0 (John 7:19, 24)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John the Baptist judged<\/strong><\/p>\n The one who prepared the way of the Lord, John the Baptist, publicly rebuked King Herod for marrying his brother\u2019s wife contrary to the law of God.\u00a0 (Matt. 14:3-4)\u00a0 He was beheaded for it. Jesus said of him, \u201cTruly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist\u201d (Matt. 11:11)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Apostles judged<\/strong><\/p>\n The apostle Paul said, \u201cOr do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?\u00a0 Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God\u201d (1 Cor. 6:9-10).\u00a0 Homosexuals are going to hell \u2013 not very politically correct, is it?<\/p>\n The apostle Peter launched into a denunciation of false teachers similar to Jesus\u2019 condemnation of the Pharisees.\u00a0 He calls them \u201cwaterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. \u00a0For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. \u00a0They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.\u00a0 For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.\u201d (2 Peter 2:17-19)<\/p>\n The apostle John coined the term \u201cantichrist\u201d to describe anyone who \u201cwho denies that Jesus is the Christ\u201d (1 John 2:22). Contrary to the doctrine of the antichrists, “No one who denies the Son has the Father” (1 John 2:23). As part of denying the Son, antichrists refuse to confess that \u201cJesus Christ has come in the flesh\u201d (1 John 4:2). That would include most liberals, both in the church and outside it. They teach that someone can come to God the Father apart from His Son, and they claim that Jesus’ physical life, death and resurrection either did not happen or are irrelevant to the “spiritual” message of Christ.<\/p>\n James, the brother of Jesus, was a fire and brimstone preacher, telling his audience to repent, resist the devil, and turn from their lusts:<\/p>\n You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?\u00a0 . . . \u00a0Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.\u00a0 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your<\/em> hands, you<\/em> sinners; and purify your<\/em> hearts, you<\/em> double minded. \u00a0<\/sup>Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your<\/em> joy to heaviness. \u00a0<\/sup>Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:4-10)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n We are commanded to judge<\/strong><\/p>\n Not only did Jesus and the Apostles judge, they told us to judge.\u00a0 We already saw where Jesus said take the speck out of our brother\u2019s eye after we have learned to examine our own life by the same standard (Matt. 7:5).\u00a0 In Luke 17:3 He commanded us to rebuke a trespassing brother: \u201cIf your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.\u201d\u00a0 Likewise Paul said to rebuke sin.\u00a0 In 1 Timothy 5:20 he says, \u201cThose who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.\u201d \u00a0In Titus 2:15 he tells Titus, \u201cThese things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.\u00a0 Let no one disregard you.\u201d\u00a0 In 2 Tim. 4:2 he tells Timothy to \u201creprove, rebuke, exhort.\u201d\u00a0 In 1 Thess. 5:14 he says to \u201cadmonish the unruly.\u201d\u00a0 In Rom. 15:14 he tells the Roman church that they are \u201cable to admonish one another.\u201d\u00a0 In Eph. 5:11 he tells the church, \u201cDo not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Paul tells the Corinthians to establish church courts to judge disputes between believers:<\/p>\n Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? \u00a0Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! \u00a0So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? \u00a0I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? (1 Cor. 6:2-6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jesus and Paul commanded the church to excommunicate church members who have been rebuked but remain unrepentant for their sins.\u00a0 Jesus says that if a brother that has sinned against you will not repent after being confronted privately, and then will not repent when confronted by two or three witnesses, then \u201ctell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. \u00a0Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 (Matt. 18:17-18)\u00a0 If the church\u2019s judgment is accurate in excommunicating a member, Jesus says that God Himself will remove the person from the kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n Paul says,<\/p>\n It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father\u2019s wife.\u00a0\u00a0And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.\u00a0\u00a0When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Cor. 5:1-5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Paul expresses the hope that the one cast from the kingdom of God into the kingdom of Satan will learn his lesson and eventually be saved. \u00a0But the idea of excommunication is cruel and unusual punishment to a lot of American churches because of the influence of Roger Williams, who rejected the idea of a church body having special divine authority and claimed that the church was merely an association of people with no more authority than any other voluntary assembly of people, like the Lions Club or the Red Hat Society.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 But for anyone who calls himself a Christian, the teaching of Scripture should trump the teaching of the Roger Williams tradition.<\/p>\n The Bible teaches that to give a godly rebuke is an act of kindness and to be considered a blessing to the one who receives it. \u00a0A person who wants to live a life pleasing to God should be grateful that someone shows him where he has veered off the path. \u00a0In Psalm 141:4-5 David says,<\/p>\n Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.\u00a0 Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; it is oil upon the head; do not let my head refuse it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In Prov. 25:12 Solomon says that a godly rebuke should be valued like fine jewelry:\u00a0 \u201cLike an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reproof to a listening ear.\u201d\u00a0 A godly rebuke should be gladly excepted, as\u00a0 Prov. 10:17 says, \u201cHe is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who forsakes reproof goes astray.\u201d\u00a0 Prov. 12:1 says, \u201cHe who loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.\u201d\u00a0 Prov. 15:5 says, \u201cA fool rejects his father\u2019s discipline, but he who regards reproof is prudent.\u201d\u00a0 Prov. 29:1 says, \u201cA man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.\u201d\u00a0 Eccl. 7:5 says, \u201cIt is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man than for one to listen to the song of fools.\u201d\u00a0 Finally, Heb. 12:5 says, \u201cMy son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him\u201d.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t judge\u201d\u2014in certain ways<\/strong><\/p>\n All judging is not godly reproof however.\u00a0 The Bible condemns certain ways of judging.<\/p>\n Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.\u00a0 For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:19-20)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, \u201cWhy do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?\u00a0 For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.\u201d\u00a0 But He answered and said to them, \u201cWhy do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?\u00a0 For God commanded, saying, \u2018Honor your father and your mother\u201d; and \u2018He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death.\u2019\u00a0 But you say, \u2018Whoever says to his father or mother, \u201cWhatever you would gain from me, it is a gift to God\u201d\u2019; and in no way he honors his father or his mother.\u00a0 And you voided the commandment of God by your tradition.\u00a0 Hypocrites!\u00a0 Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying, \u2018This people draws near to Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.\u00a0 But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Matt. 15:1-9.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Some Christians are under the impression that the Pharisees strictly followed the law of Moses, but we see here that it was the oral traditions of the elders that they followed rather than the written word of God.\u00a0 At another time Jesus told them, \u201cHas not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. . . .\u00a0 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.\u201d\u00a0(John 7:19, 24)\u00a0 As we have seen, Biblical love is defined by God\u2019s law.\u00a0 John says, \u201cFor this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments\u201d (1 John 5:3).<\/p>\n Four problems with non-judgmentalism:<\/strong><\/p>\n It should be noted that the self-refuting amoralism of non-judgmentalism has found its way into interpretations of American Constitutional law through the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. \u00a0This clause is often said to prohibit “discrimination.” \u00a0But there is no ethics without discriminating between right and wrong. \u00a0The distinction between right and wrong can be incorrectly defined in particular cases, but that makes the issue one of bad ethical discrimination versus good ethical discrimination, not an issue of discrimination versus non-discrimination. \u00a0Whether a particular ethical distinction is valid or not depends on which ethical system one appeals to. \u00a0It’s not worldview-neutral. \u00a0Most people at the present point in history would agree that a person’s skin color has no ethical significance, therefore discrimination based on skin color is illegitimate. \u00a0But some want to say that homosexuality is a class of people that are discriminated against by sodomy laws and laws that define a family. \u00a0They often talk as if merely defining homosexuals as a class and pointing out that the class is being treated differently is enough to prove that anti-homosexuality laws violate the equal protection clause. \u00a0But thieves would like to do the same thing\u00a0–\u00a0have the State stop discriminating against them by making laws against their behavior. \u00a0To treat everybody “equally” without regard to an ethical system would mean\u00a0making all behavior equally blameless in the eyes of the law; in other words, all laws would have to be abolished. \u00a0Laws against homosexual behavior are illegitimate discrimination\u00a0only if it\u00a0can be proven that homosexuality is like skin color and genetically determined. \u00a0But even here the issue of worldviews comes up. \u00a0All facts are interpreted facts, and from the Christian perspective, no matter how many facts the scientists have studied and not matter how smart they are, they do not know more than God and are not smarter than God. \u00a0The Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, and engaging in homosexual relations is punishable by the state. \u00a0Therefore it is not genetically determined and laws against it are not illegitimately discriminatory.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, Who are you to judge?\u00a0 You know you will be asked that, and you may have already asked it to yourself.\u00a0 You are an ambassador for Christ (Eph. 6:20), that\u2019s who!\u00a0 Revelation 1:5 says that Jesus Christ is \u201cRuler of the kings of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 You are an ambassador of the King of the universe, the King of kings.\u00a0 It\u2019s not your word that you bring.\u00a0 It\u2019s God\u2019s word.\u00a0 And no one can escape the judgment of God.\u00a0 And there is no other way of salvation than that which is given in God\u2019s word.\u00a0 Those who say you shouldn\u2019t judge will judge nonetheless.\u00a0 They ask \u201cwho are you to judge?\u201d only to substitute the word of man for the word of God as the ultimate authority.\u00a0 But whether they\u00a0like it or not, you have a duty<\/em> to proclaim God\u2019s word.\u00a0 As Paul says, it will be the savor of death to those who are perishing, but the savor of life to those who are being saved (2 Cor. 2:16-17).<\/p>\n [1]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Greg Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics<\/em> (Phillipsburg, NJ:\u00a0 Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1977) p.230-32.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 He says that no person or group of people have the authority to form a church unless they were personally commissioned by Christ:\u00a0 \u201cI desired to have been dilligent and Constant Observer, and have been my selfe many ways engaged in City, in Countrey, in Court, in Schools, in Universities, in Churches, in Old and New-England, and yet cannot in the holy presence of God bring in the Result of a satisfying discovery, that either the Begetting Ministry of the Apostles or Messengers to the Nations, or Feeding and Nourishing Ministry of Pastors and Teachers, according to the first Institution of the Lord Jesus, are yet restored and extant\u201d (The Complete Writing of Roger Williams<\/em>, vol. III, 160).<\/p>\n [3]<\/a>\u00a0 Greg Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics<\/em>, p.478.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a>\u00a0 See \u201cChristian Civilization is the Only Civilization \u2013 In a Sense of Course,\u201d Part I, at http:\/\/www.christianciv.com\/ChristCivEssay.htm#Dialectic_Tension<\/a>.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 See the section \u201cEthics\u201d in \u201cChristian Civilization is the Only Civilization \u2013 In a Sense of Course,\u201d Part II, at http:\/\/www.christianciv.com\/ChristCivEssay_Pt2.htm#Ethics<\/a>.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 See “Homosexuality: \u00a0Rhetoric and Reality” at http:\/\/www.christianciv.com\/Homosexuality___Rhetoric_and_Reality.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cDo not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.\u201d Jesus Christ (John 7:24) We often hear from both atheists and Christians that the Bible says that we are never supposed to judge others.\u00a0 To put it as nicely as … Continue reading \n
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\nWe will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us,
\nThe prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
\nHis rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure;
\nOne little word shall fell him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n