Church and believers are not to judge, God and Christ will judge.

[DFT_Dave]

I found the following on a church's statement of faith: "Christ commands His followers to rebuke and to judge with righteous judgment and to forgive those who repent. One day God will resurrect the dead, punish the unbelievers and reward those whom He has justified with the life of the world to come."

Many believe there is a distinction between judgment and to judge. "Judgment (noun) is the cognitive process of forming an opinion, discernment, or the result of a decision, often based on facts and critical thinking. To judge (verb) is the act of condemning" [verbally not just to punish] and I would add rebuking and possibly shaming. Given these definitions, would you affirm or oppose the given statement of faith? Do you believe it is the role of the church to judge (verb) or not? I will argue the church is not to judge and that the statement of faith is flawed.

 

[Right Divider]

I found the following on a church's statement of faith: "Christ commands His followers to rebuke and to judge with righteous judgment and to forgive those who repent. One day God will resurrect the dead, punish the unbelievers and reward those whom He has justified with the life of the world to come."

Many believe there is a distinction between judgment and to judge. "Judgment (noun) is the cognitive process of forming an opinion, discernment, or the result of a decision, often based on facts and critical thinking. To judge (verb) is the act of condemning" [verbally not just to punish] and I would add rebuking and possibly shaming. Given these definitions, would you affirm or oppose the given statement of faith? Do you believe it is the role of the church to judge (verb) or not? I will argue the church is not to judge and that the statement of faith is flawed.

This church sounds typical of Churchianity today. They do not rightly divide and therefore confuse instructions for Israel with instructions for the body of Christ.

1Co 6:3 (KJV) Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

 

[DFT_Dave]

Hi, how are you? I've decided to come back and do some more debating. Now that I'm finally fully retired I will have more time to be here, between naps. : )

Good chapter to start with. The goal as you see is an attempt to distinguish between judgment that God and Christ will do and what we can, or cannot do, through the church. As you see it, what are things we can judge and not judge from I Corinthians 6, and by judge can we as a church impose a penalty or not?

--Dave