Tania addresses the balance between loving people and charitably helping them with their flaws. When is it ok to judge? What kind of judgement is helpful? Through a simple personal experience, she offers a starting place for these questions. -Editor.
I came up with an analogy the other day. While scrounging for dinner in a forgotten cupboard, I uncovered a can of corned beef hash. Never having had hash before, on opening it, I discovered that it not only very closely resembled dog food, but smelled just like it too. And yet hash is something edible. That got me thinking; good and evil aren’t always clearly distinguishable, and sometimes evil very closely resembles things that sustain us. While absurd in its origins, this analogy sparked some thoughts that I had been mulling over for some time.
Sometimes the right thing just looks unappealing. It looks like hash, more closely resembling dog food than something we would willingly consume. How do we know if it’s right? In this world filled with confused morality and a strong opposition to “being judgy,” I often struggle with the correct balance. One the one hand, I want to love others, faults and poor decisions included (after all, doesn’t the Lord love us all, regardless of our evil?). On the other hand, shouldn’t we sometimes say, well, no, actually that pattern of behavior is wrong, and I do not want to associate with it. So if we’re going to stick our necks out like that, if we’re going to be willing to say something is objectively wrong, well, we’d have to be pretty sure about that, right? How do we know what is right? How do we know the stuff in the can is corned beef, and not dog food?
As someone said to me in response to my debate on whether hash was edible: it’s the label. It says “Corned Beef Hash” on the can, and so you know that it’s not dog food.
Do we have such clear labels for moral actions? The short answer is, no, it is not clear cut, because when you’re dealing with people, intentions matter too. However, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as we sometimes make it. We have the Word, we have the 10 Commandments; these are labels, they tell us which behaviors are harmful to ourselves and to others. Acting from this authority, we are allowed, even supposed to, say; ug, that’s dog food, why would you eat that? No, stop; don’t do something that will be so harmful to your life?
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)
This famously quoted passage is, I think, one of the most misunderstood biblical passages. In full context, the simple message is: work on your own evils before you worry about others. That is great, I’m in full support. But, contrary to frequent interpretation, the section I’ve quoted here is NOT saying that we cannot tell others that what they are doing is wrong. This passage is saying that with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. If you see only others faults, you are feeding only evil in yourself, and so are responsible for that evil, with which you ultimately judge yourself.
But being judged with the same measure I use? I think I’m ok with that. If I saw a friend about to take a big bite of dog food, I would be sure to tell them that it did indeed say “dog food” on the label. I would hope they would do the same for me.
Tania is nearly finished college and looking forward to the possibilities of life outside school. She finds peace in drawing, music, friendships, and discussing loving truths from the Word.