Don’t Judge Me Judging You: Our Country’s Present Day Logic

I dislike inconsistency with thoughts. I dislike it because it isn’t particularly logical and it’s always emotional. This makes for bad conversations. In fact, it makes for no conversation at all. To be sure, I’ve had my fair share of inconsistent thought processes in my life. I’m sure I will till the end. Why? Well, we are emotional creatures and we cling to what feels best. We don’t like feeling uncomfortable about things, so often times this leads to inconsistent thoughts. Another reason I don’t like them is that I only want the truth. Truth; even if what I hear is not pleasant. Truth; even if it is painful. There is no wisdom or truth in inconsistency. Therefore, I don’t like it.

Jenner. He’s everywhere we turn. In all honesty, I really wanted to read my book “Odd Thomas” tonight, but here I am adding my blog to the thousands of blogs on him. It won’t make a difference and I’m quite certain I’ll be written off as the bigoted Christian, but I guess that’s just how it’s gonna have to be.

Let’s lay it out there. As I’m sure you can assume, I don’t agree with what Bruce Jenner has done or is doing. Do I hate him? Not at all. In fact, I feel a lot of sympathy for him. This obviously is a struggle for him and I can’t imagine what he is going through. But, I also can’t sit here and tell you that I think it’s fine. Just because I don’t agree with something that someone has done, doesn’t mean that I hate them or wish Hell upon them. This is often the popular idea: Christians disagree with sex changes, therefore they hate people who get sex changes. This is a false dichotomy. But, it’s used to silence and dissuade debate. And when that is the case, I have to wonder what the accuser is afraid of. Having to defend the argument? Being presented with painful truths?

All over Facebook and social media, I see people barking out that “Christians are judgmental” and “Christians shouldn’t judge.”  It’s literally everywhere I turn.  Everyone is on their soapbox shouting down that no one has the right to judge.  Yet…

Within the very sentence that tells us that no one is allowed to judge, they call Christians self-righteous, bigots, hateful, and arrogant. Inconsistent. You cannot, on the one hand, chastise people for judging and then turn around yourself and do that very thing. That is what we call hypocrisy: You can’t do it, but I can.

All of us, every one of us, judges each other every. single. day. We have to in some fashion. I judge my kids’ behavior. If it’s inappropriate or wrong, I correct. As a criminologist, I can make judgments on people’s criminal behavior. As a parent, I make judgments based on people’s actions as to whether I want my kids around them. This is normal. This is natural.  We all do it. If we aren’t supposed to judge AT ALL, then you are telling me that I can’t EVER tell my kids that they have done something wrong. You are saying that we should get rid of all police officers, judges, courts, and jails because judging behavior is wrong. This is nonsense and any person would agree that we have to judge. We have to use common sense, reason, and experience and make judgments.

But, when it comes to certain things, Christians are totally barred from having any say. We are told to be more loving, more tolerant, less judgmental, and to just shut up. Then we get Scripture thrown at us (usually by atheists) and told to check our hateful, bigoted opinions at the door. We are told that any idea or opinion that is contrary to the popular culture is hateful. But, we throw this word around so much that it has become meaningless. If I tell you that I don’t agree with Jenner’s sex change operation, that isn’t hateful. I didn’t call him ugly names, I didn’t wish him death, I didn’t tell him to go kill himself, I didn’t say anything that could be contrived as hateful. But, we are so sensitive these days that anyone who has a different opinion than us is conceived as hateful.

If you wanna say that Westboro Baptist members are hateful, then I will agree wholeheartedly. But, that’s because there is a difference between their vile words of “God hates _____” (pick your group) and “I don’t think that Jenner’s decision is a healthy one or one based in reality.” We have to be mature enough to see the difference. If everything a Christian says is at the far end of the spectrum, then nothing is. You’re being inconsistent.

We are also told to be more loving. Some would say that it’s loving to accept Jenner and tolerate his actions. But love doesn’t mean we just go along with everything. That’s not what it means at all. By this logic, I should never reprimand my children, I should let them stay up till whenever, I should let them eat candy for every meal, I should let them backtalk to adults, cause, hey, that’s what they want to do. No, it’s because I love them that I bring them up to be good citizens, give them a bedtime because they need sleep, make them eat healthy food, and teach them to respect their elders.  I’m not loving them at all if I give them no boundaries. In fact, I’m being negligent and hurtful.

I believe it is unloving to let a man play out a fantasy world where he thinks he has become a woman. This is not reality, yet we are allowing him to play there. I’m not saying his struggle isn’t real, but the reality is, is that he is a man. If you drew his blood today, even with all his changes, scientists would still tell you that his DNA shows he is a man. That’s just reality.  Even though we have the technology to do something, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. And this obviously isn’t a healthy decision, because 41% of people that get sex changes commit suicide. And, many regret their decision.  But, we aren’t allowed to have this discussion. Why? Why can’t we talk about this? You may disagree with me, but at least let’s play all the cards on the table. It’s disingenuous to pretend that everyone that has this operation skips off down the yellow brick road with a twinkle in their eye and all life’s problems solved.

This will be unpopular, I know. I’m ready for that. But, I am tired of being told that I can’t judge anything AT ALL. You would be correct in saying that I can’t judge a person to Heaven or Hell, that is God’s domain. But, to say that we can never pass judgment on anything is ridiculous. As Christians, we are to help each other in this earthly realm and sometimes that means lovingly pointing out when a behavior is self-destructive, hurtful, and unhealthy.