Page 733 … judgment & Judgment
Your major misconception here (“There are those like yourself that have judged others for judging”) has to do once again with the difference between the “judgments” we make against who others are (i.e. the judgments prohibited by Jesus in Matthew 7:1-5 – like what you & yours are doing to homosexuals in this thread) and the “righteous judgments” we make against what others are doing that is causing third parties physical &/or emotional harm (i.e. the judgments encouraged by Jesus in John 7:24 – like what Vanessa & I are doing for you & yours to get you to stop publicly – and incorrectly, and unjustly – denigrating homosexuals) … Accordingly, the actual Hebrew word I found for “judgment” in the Old Testament is mishphat (Strong’s #4941) – a term which actually meant “justice”, not “condemnation” or “correction”.
Of course, far more important for the discussion at hand, krsis was the Greek word (Strong’s #2920) that has been translated in English versions of the New Testament as “judgment”. And this word (which does indeed imply the passing of a sentence upon another) and its derivatives are the ones used in both Matthew 7:1-2 and John 7:24. And most importantly of all – especially for our particular discussion, this “judgment” in John 7:24 is modified by the Greek word dikaios – a term which means “just” or “impartial” or “correct” more than its more common translation of “righteous”. And this is where the disctinction lies – for you & yours are not passing “correct judgment” on homosexuals at all. Instead, you are hypocritically opening your mouths to publicly condemn a state of being (homosexuality) that is not even a sin! As such, your denigrations of gays is actually an unrighteous judgment, Dan, and therefore a direct violation of BOTH Matthew 7:1-2 & John 7:24!
To give you yet another example of this very important distinction – one that you & yours can certainly comprehend, it was wrong of Hitler to use the Bible to justify his version of “God’s work” by judging the Jews as a whole to be sinful and worthy of extermination (a rather obvious Matthew 7:1-2 violation), and it was very right for his opponents all over the world to call out his bigotry and ultimately stop him from doing so (a clear John 7:24 “righteous judgment”). Similarly, it is quite improper of you & yours to use a handful of passages from the Bible’s 33,000+ verses to justify openly labeling homosexuals to be “mortal sinners” who are unworthy of entrance into Heaven and worthy of eternal damnation (also an obvious Mathew 7:1-2 violation), and it is fully correct for Vanessa & I (and all others – Christian & non-Christian alike – who are interested in furthering justice for the persecuted) to call out your bigotry against this entire subset of humanity and try to encourage you to cease harming them thereby (also a quite clear John 7:24 “righteous judgment”).
Dan, your “judgment” of homosexuals has very real emotional victims, my Friend, and harms its innocent victims to boot. Vanessa & my “correct judgment” of your judgment, on the other hand, attempts to defend those victims from that persecution.
So, my dear Friend – now do you understand the difference?
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