{"id":27672,"date":"2011-06-02T20:32:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T01:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=27672"},"modified":"2024-02-04T20:54:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T02:54:02","slug":"who-are-you-to-judge-catholics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-you-to-judge-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are you to judge Catholics?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I read your page about\u00a0Catholics<\/a>; who are you to judge? I think if your heart is into preaching this much maybe you should reach for the lost or non-believers or even possibly people that attend church regularly but believe they are saved for that mere fact.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

A classic response:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In telling me not to make judgments about Catholicism, you make a judgment. By your rationale, it would be improper for you to make such judgments about me. Thus, you ended up going against your own stated belief. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you<\/em>” (Matthew 7:1-2).<\/li>\n
  2. Though you are not a preacher and are not religious, yet you feel it is your duty to tell a Christian and a preacher how he ought to follow his religious beliefs and who he may teach. “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables<\/em>” (II Timothy 4:1-4). Like you, my boss and not my “clients” define the scope of my job.<\/li>\n
  3. You suggest teaching those who are deceived into believing they are saved, when in fact they are not. Since Roman Catholicism is a belief system that follows the teachings of Jesus in name only, but in reality claims the right to modify those teachings to suit their purposes, then by your own standard I should be teaching such people.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Preaching the gospel means reasoning with people about whether their current beliefs match up with the teachings of Christ. That some don’t want to hear that they might be wrong is not a reason to be quiet. “And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus<\/em>” (Acts 19:8-9). Just because someone claims to be a Christian, doesn’t make it so. To put another’s claim to the test of truth is only reasonable. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world<\/em>” (I John 4:1).<\/p>\n

    So in answer to your question of who am I: I am a Christian and a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ<\/em>” (II Corinthians 10:4-5).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Question: I read your page about\u00a0Catholics; who are you to judge? I think if your heart is into preaching this much maybe you should reach for the lost or non-believers or even possibly people that attend church regularly but believe they are saved for that mere fact. Answer: A classic response: In telling me not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[713,1599],"class_list":["post-27672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-judging-others","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-christians-experience-temporal-judgments\/","url_meta":{"origin":27672,"position":0},"title":"Do Christians experience temporal judgments?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you feel Christians experience \"temporal judgments\" here on this earth right now? In other words, if a born again believer is not walking according to what the Scriptures teach, do they experience temporary judgments in order to get them to come around to the Lord\u2019s way before it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14585,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-think-you-have-the-right-to-judge-your-fellow-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":27672,"position":1},"title":"You think you have the right to judge your fellow man","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was raised in the Church of the Nazarene, but my husband was raised in the Church of Christ.\u00a0 I cannot believe that you continue to perpetuate the untruths, misconceptions and basic misinterpretations of the Bible.\u00a0 The Church of Christ does not believe in the forgiveness of sin and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/judging-with-righteous-judgment\/","url_meta":{"origin":27672,"position":2},"title":"Judging with Righteous Judgment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steven Harper The world's favorite Bible passage must surely be\u00a0Matthew 7:1, where Jesus said, \"Judge not, that you be not judged.\" This verse is most often cited when someone points out a sin in the life of another and the accused one is then quick to reveal the depths\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1490,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-removes-an-elder-from-office\/","url_meta":{"origin":27672,"position":3},"title":"Who removes an elder from office?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Answer: If an elder sins, who removes him from office? Answer: Paul told Timothy, \"Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. I charge you before God and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3330,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-catholics-go-to-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":27672,"position":4},"title":"Will Catholics go to hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will Catholics go to hell? Answer: \"Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-both-god-and-jesus-judge-us-on-judgment-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":27672,"position":5},"title":"Will both God and Jesus judge us on judgment day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will both God and Jesus judge us on judgment day? Answer: \"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom\" (II Timothy 4:1). \"In the day when God will judge the secrets of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}