Let's Digress

Judging: Bank Robbers and Baby Sitters

“Judging is bad.” “Judging other people is sinful.” Those are two phrases I’ve heard quite a bit over the past few weeks, along with this picture.

None of it makes sense to me; the only thing that does make sense to me is that the people saying those things have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.

My comment to this poorly thought out picture is: Well, yes and no. We all judge all the time; judging is simply forming an opinion based on facts presented to us and what we observe.
So, in a sense, how we judge defines who we are (what we do and don’t stand for, what we view as right and wrong, etc)…

…but it also defines who the other person is.

If we witness a man rob a bank (he’s wearing the black clothes, gloves, ski mask, carrying the sack with the clichéd dollar sign on it, and he has a knife that would make Rambo proud), we literally watch him point the knife in the teller’s face and demand the money, the teller gives him the money, and then we watch him leave the building and run away with it.

What would we call him? A bank robber.

But, in order for us to be able to call him a “bank robber,” we would’ve had to judge his behaviors, appearance, actions, etcetera.

How can we determine if he’s a bank robber or not without judging?

Better question: Two hours later, would you let this man babysit your hypothetical 4 year old child? Of course not; the man just robbed a bank at knifepoint.

But if you live by the philosophy of “not judging” anyone, and if he happened to offer to babysit for you, you would have to let him.

Telling him no because he robbed a bank would make you a person who judges, and we just can’t have that…

However, if you did let him babysit, then you would be doing something called “child endangerment” and you would be judged and labeled as an unqualified parent by other people.

So, judging (by the correct standard) is a good thing, right?

For a more expanded look on this “judging” thing, click this delightful link or this extra delightful link.

….or if you really wanna have your boat rocked about a completely unrelated topic, click this link. Brace yourself though, it’s a doozy.

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