Judging, Conan, and Haiti

Many of you know that I also contribute reviews to The Christian Manifesto on occasion, and I keep up with the site almost daily. My friend Calvin Moore, the proprietor of said site, recently got into a "Tweet Off," as he put it, with author Jackson Pierce after Calvin made a comment about the excessive nature of the pay-offs to Conan O'Brien and his staff as well as the cost of some of the jokes he did during the last week in light of the devastation in Haiti. Pierce jumped on him with the "Christians shouldn't judge people" line, and some interesting back and forth ensued.

I actually made a comment about the jokes Conan was doing myself, basically just saying it came off crass in light of what was happening in Haiti. I think Conan seems like a really good guy, and he did a lot during the last week to encourage people to give to Haiti. That doesn't mean those expensive jokes weren't a bad idea, though. Was I judging Conan? Is that actually a bad thing?

Calvin wrote a post over at TCM discussing these issues. I was reminded of value of judgment and the danger of it as well. I was encouraged and challenged. I found it a very solid piece and thought I would share. Here's a quick sample:

Ms. Pearce took issue with the judgmental tone my tweets took. “Aren’t you supposed to judge not?” was the initial question posed to me. From here, it spiraled into questions of excess versus poverty, luxury versus contentment, the nature of hypocrisy, and relative wealth. This is not the first time I have been called judgmental. And, to be honest, sometimes I have been pharisaical in how I go about dispensing grace (as if it were mine to dispense). That cannot be denied. My human frailty often puts me on the wrong side of judgment. So, I would like to thank Ms. Pearce for the reminder that I am an agent of grace, not condemnation.

Be that as it may, there is something troubling about the world we find ourselves in as Christians when it comes to the practice of judgment. Ms. Pearce’s response and many others like hers beg the question: Are Christians called to judge? What does it mean to judge? If I look at the situation and say, “That’s wrong on a fundamental level,” is that judgment, or it is something else?

Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2, ESV) This is the verse that is often alluded to in order to bolster the argument for Christians not standing in a place of judgment over others. And rightly so. This is a great warning against Christians pronouncing other people guilty before God. Approaching other people’s lives and actions with a judgmental and harsh attitude results in God judging us in the same manner. But, it is not a proscription against judging altogether. Quite the contrary. Matthew 7:1-2 is the opening of Christ’s statements of how Christians are called to judge rightly.

Head over to TCM to read the whole thing. And check out the other content on the site (book, music, and movie reviews, blog posts, entertainment news, etc). It's good stuff.