Judging Judiciously

As I was writing a previous post on hypocritical judgment, it dawned upon my that there is a often an unhealthy extreme in the other direction, which is the failure to speak prophetically in warning to those who a erring in their ways.

In the South Carolina governor Mark Sanford's admission that he had an extramarital affair, he was skewered in the media, and appropriately so - to commit adultery is both sin and still considered a violation of a social norm. Liberal-leaning columnists were particularly vicious in their treatment of Sanford, citing that his championing of family-values stood in contrast to his misdeed. For example, Karen Heller, a columnist from the Philadelphia Inquirer blasted as Sanford as a hypocrite, and then turned her guns towards the Republican Party:

Finally, it's time to concede that organized politics and religion are seriously flawed bedfellows. The Republican Party is in free fall partially for trying to stake impossibly high moral ground, then falling far below it, whether in an airport bathroom or on a hike on the Argentine love trail.

Certainly Sanford's affair is inconsistent with the family-values that he champions politically, and yes, there's hypocrisy there. What I find a little troubling is the implication that people, including politicians, shouldn't call people and broader society to high moral standards which we all acknowledge are hard to achieve. Or put another way, some columnists would argue that unless you can live a sinless life, you're in no position to encourage larger society to live free from sin. Or put another way, "I'm okay, you're okay, and nobody should impose their moral standards on anyone else."

People, ironically non-religious types, often cite the Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, lest ye be judged" as a weapon against moralists, especially evangelical Christians to "stop telling other people how to live their lives". But that's a gross misinterpretation of the verse. The rest of the passage appeals us to take the plank out of our own eye so that we can remove the speck out of others'. The passage doesn't say "everyone is okay, so leave them alone." The passage acknowledges, yes, there's actually dirt (sin) in one's eye (life) and we need to get that out. It's just much more effective if we do our best to remove our sin as well. This bears true practically as well - when confronted about sin, I've taken it much better from one who acknowledges their own struggles and failings than one who confronts self-righteously.

It's much more of a call towards humble love in discipline, not a judgment-free society.