Judge or Judge Not

Pictured above is a portion of the dozens of boxes containing hundreds of classified documents found in the Florida home of former President Donald Trump. On June 8, 2023, a 38-count indictment was initiated for co-defendants Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta. Mr. Trump is indicted for 31 counts of unauthorized possession of, access to, and control over documents relating to national defense. Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta are indicted together for the following five counts: Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice; Withholding a Document or Record; Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record; Concealing a Document in a Federal Investigation; and Scheme to Conceal. Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta are each indicted for one count of False Statements and Representations.

A recent ABC/Ipsos poll conducted after the shocking indictment found that 48% of Americans think Trump was rightfully charged in the classified documents case, while 35% do not think he should have been indicted. About 17% reported feeling unsure about whether the former president should have been indicted the second time. This poll indicates approximately half the people asked are for the indictment and approximately half are against it. This is not surprising because of the polarization of our nation anything political will be approximately equally divided between Democratic and Republican support, regardless of the facts of the case.

Scripture gives us strict guidance on making judgements. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”(Mathew 7:1,2) Notice that Jesus’ words are not telling us that we should not judge. God has equipped us with a brain and the ability to reason through the issues of life as we encounter them. We must make judgements every day concerning a myriad of issues: safety, health, and economics to name a few. Also, we must make judgements concerning relationships every day regarding trust, truthfulness, sincerity and the welfare of children to give a few examples. What Jesus is saying is that when we judge, make sure our judgements are done carefully because the same process we use to judge something or someone will be used in judgements made against us. In other words, make our judgements after careful weighing of evidence and the facts as we know them, testing all possible premises before we make them. We would not like judgements being made against us that were based on limited information or with a disregard for the facts. Therefore we should not make any judgement without considering all the facts as we know them.

I would suggest that everyone read the forty-nine-page indictment against Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta (available online) before we make any judgement on this subject. I believe if more people in our nation did we would not be so polarized over this particular political issue. I believe the facts of this case speak for themselves. You be the judge.

Politics is a besetting issue in our nation as well as most nations of the world. It is an emotional subject and should be taken seriously but I do not think, for the most part, political judgments destroy relationships, at least they shouldn’t. But judging each other’s character and behavior may seriously damage any relationship. We should be careful and selective to announce any judgement we may have in any type of relationship. Let me give you a recent example in my life.

Pictured above is a friend of mine that recently passed away. We met in little league baseball and remained close friends through college until our careers led us to live on opposite coasts of our country. He went to the west coast and I stayed on the east coast. We reconciled our relationship when my wife and I moved to the eastern shore of Maryland six years ago only a few miles from where my friend was living. We began routine visits consisting of dinner, cards, board games or an occasional movie.

He was an Orioles fan and we being Nationals fans took turns going to games in Washington and Baltimore. No matter how hard we tried we could not persuade each other to change loyalties. The last game we attended together my friend treated us to box seats right behind home plate in Orioles Park. We were literally a few feet away from Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon. Then they all were Washington Nationals but now are currently starring on other major league teams. It was a thrill we will not forget.

As in all close friendships, we had disagreements. The older one gets the more settled we become in our ways and our opinions. It is only natural. Recently I became offended because my friend decided not to show up to an outing we had planned with another childhood buddy of ours that was visiting the area. An evening of pizza and cards had been scheduled after a day of golfing. When repeated calls and texts went unanswered we began to worry. After considerable debate, my visiting buddy and I decided to give our mutual friend his privacy. The next day after another round of golf I was driving my visiting friend to the airport, I noticed our missing-in-action buddy had called my phone but left no message. At that point we knew he was ok and left it at that.

Weeks later when my local friend called I took him to task for not calling when our mutual friend was visiting. He assured me he was too sick that night to get together. I admonished him for not calling or leaving a message because we were worried about him. I asked him if he considered us to be good friends and he replied he considered us “best friends”. I then stated “Good friends don’t treat each other like that” and I ended the phone call. It was the last time we spoke.

My friend did not take my correction well and I am left with the terrible experience of it being our last communication. I trust when we next meet on the other side of life all this nonsense will be forgotten. In the meantime, I must live with the decision to express my judgment of his behavior as our last communication. That is why Jesus’ words about making judgments are so provocative. We must choose wisely when to announce our judgments. They can affect relationships for a lifetime.

So what is one to do when we face issues in life that we believe are wrong and need correction? Are we to be silent, not express what we know to be true in our own experience? I can’t answer that question for anyone but myself. As I thought about my last conversation with my dear friend what came to mind was the scripture “…. but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Romans 5: 20) At that same moment I heard that gentle rebuke deep in my soul that I had the choice to either judge my friend’s behavior with my correction or to be gracious and accepting of it. I chose to judge and correct – and I deeply regret that decision now. Does that mean my correction was false? No. Does that mean my judgment was not justified? No. But was it necessary? No. Did my friend need to hear grace and acceptance from his friend in those last days? Yes.

At that moment I made a promise to God to actively replace judgement with grace in my vocabulary. Does that mean I will stop making judgments? Of course not. I just will not take pride in announcing them through a correction in my relationships when I feel offended. I do not think that helps anyone. Including myself. Instead, I purpose to go forward in grace. I finally get Jesus’ words about judging. Sometimes it takes a lifetime for some of us to learn these truths.