correction/teaching vs judging
            QUESTION from Claire on May 28, 2004

Hello Bro. Ignatius, I am a little confused by what some of our religious are teaching about "judging" others. I have found that many people (laymen and religious) confuse the act of teaching and correcting sinful behaviour as judging others. They quote Matt. 7:1-5,"Stop judging that you may not be judged...You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." My Bible note states about 7:1 "This is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, which would be hardly compatible with vv 5 and 6, but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults. And the note on 7:5 "Hypocrite: the designation previoulsy given to the scribes and Pahrisees is here given to the Christian disciple who is concerned with faults of another and ignores his own more serious offenses." They also quote from Rms 2:1-2 and 1 Cor 4:5 that as you judge others so shall you be judged and only God can judge since He alone knows what is in our hearts. I don't disagree with this of course. No one can know if a person will go to Heaven or Hell - that judgement is Our Lord's alone. However, God did give us the intelligence to recognize sinful behaviour and to know that if one continues with a grave sin, it could lead one to eternal death instead of eternal life. To me that is not judging. Just teaching/correcting. From what I read in the scriptures, and the Catechism, we are called as fellow Christians to teach and correct (in a gentle and loving manner) a "brother who sins" so as to save that one. (Gal 1:6; Gal 6:6-8; Matt 18: 15-17; 1 Tim 5:20; James 5:19-20) In the Catechism #1868 it says: "Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them: --by participating directly and voluntarily in them; --by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them; --by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so; --by protecting evil-doers. So, what is a Christian supposed to do, when on the one hand, the written substance guides us to correct a fellow Christian and teach them right behaviour from wrong behaviour, (for if we don't we then "cooperate" in the "sins committed by others when we" don't "disclose or hinder them when we have an obligation to do so", yet some religious and laymen say by doing so we are "judging" and that is wrong? How is that judging? No one is judging anyone when one is just teaching and correcting in a loving and gentle manner. For myself, I do not say "You are going to hell because..." First of all, how would I know that? Secondly, only God can determine that. And it is not like I am just out here looking for sins, and pointing out the faults of those all around me. We all have faults and commit sins, yet when we see someone we love, and is considered either family or friend, committing grave sin, aren't we supposed to try to inform that person(s)? Then if they choose to ignore the teacings and refuse to correct their behaviour, at least we have done our part and won't be guilty of the sin of ommission. I wouldn't want anyone to end up in hell because we chose to turn a blind eye and "minded our own business" as seems to be the politically proper thing to do these days. Doesn't God use people to correct and teach others so that people can understand the gravity of the sin(s) they commit and/or practice and thus have a chance to repent? Where would we all be if no one taught us right from wrong and we all just worried about ourselves and our own sins? I have heard this similar comment from a few people: I'm too busy worrying about my own sins/faults to worry about others' sins. To me that just seems somewhat uncaring (and perhaps selfish?). What about in Ezk 33 (The Watchman) where God says to the appointed watchman that if he doesn't warn others of their sins then God will hold that person responsible for that person's death.(Spiritual death) Yet if he does warn them, and they refuse to listen and repent, then the "watchman" is not held accountable and will then save himself. And no, I'm not talking about constantly "nagging" another about some particular sin. Just a "are you aware that what you are doing is against God's and the Church's teaching..." And then pointing them to the written teachings, so then, of course, the choice is still theirs but at least they have some knowledge. So in light of all this, what is one to do? I wouldn't want to stand before God one day and have Him say, perhaps, something like, "Why didn't you try to help save your fellow Christian from spiritual death. You had the opportunity to teach them and help them yet because you refused they continued in their grave sin, and died unrepentent." To me that would be awful. It makes me sad. Thank you and God bless you, from Claire