Too judgmental? Maybe not judgmental enough!

One of my concerns with putting The Baby War: Defenders and Defectors out there is not that secular, worldly people would attack it and call it hopelessly ridiculous. In fact, I think that would be pretty awesome if this film gained enough exposure in order for that to happen. 

One of the main concerns I have is that Christian people would say that the film is "too judgmental."

There are several common phrases and even Scripture passages that are used when the "too judgmental" card is played. They usually involve "judge not, lest you be judged"(Matthew 7:1). This verse is a favorite in the wider culture, because it is exactly what the world wants to hear. 

But what does Jesus mean when he says these words? Look at the whole passage in it's context:

7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.⁶ “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

The large majority who quote Matthew 7:1 never make it to Matthew 7:2. Jesus doesn't just say, "don't judge." He says "don't judge, because that judgment is going to come back on you in the same way you are judging others." So the point is that we are not allowed by Jesus Christ to judge others self-righteously.  We need to first take the log out of our own eyes before we start trying to remove the speck from someone else's eye.

So, to say that this passage means that we shouldn't "complain" about things as I heard one preacher put it, simply misses the point. 

In fact the Bible says that we are indeed to cast judgment on others. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 is a tough passage: 

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? ¹³ God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

We are to judge those inside the church by looking at their actions and comparing them to the standards of the Word of God. So how exactly do we do that without being self-righteous? I mean, who among us haven't at some point been "guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler?" 

The key to this judgment is best explained in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6:

³ For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶ being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

We are specifically to do two things:

1. To destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.
2. To take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ. 

In other words, we judge thoughts and ideas, and bring those ideas kicking and screaming to the judgment seat of Christ. Now this may be the most culturally unpopular thing that a person could do living in 21st century America, because in our culture, the absolute worst thing that could be done is to say that another person's thoughts and ideas are wrong. 

Many Christians have bought into this, and even many churches now stay away from the confronting cultural lies, because it hovers too closely to the edge of sounding "judgmental."

So, in essence, we don't proclaim truth (God's ideas) and live in truth (God's ideas) because we are fearful of being thought as "judgmental." But there is a real problem with doing that. I think it was Ravi Zecharias who said something to the effect of "In the marketplace of ideas, some stalls smell better than others."

Some ideas are bad, ungodly, worldly ideas that, according to the ultimate standard and judge of ideas, smell pretty awful. The problem is that we are too afraid of sounding "judgmental" and we go ahead and step into the stinky idea and walk around just trying to ignore the fact that we are carrying the stink with us where ever we go. 

There is only one way for us to "judge" and that is in accordance with God's law. We don't have the right or authority to judge by our own standard because our standard is changing and flexible. Culture is always moving and changing and our standards of righteousness remain in a constant flux. So, Jesus says, to judge someone else by your own standard is to invite that same judgment back on yourself. 

Thoughts and ideas can only truly be "judged" by us finite, changing people, by submitting those ideas to the judgment seat of Christ. We do that by comparing our ideas to God's ideas in His Word.  

So, if this is done properly, the "person" is judged by comparing the thoughts, ideas, and even the actions of the person to the Word of God. We must begin that judgment with ourselves. We remove the log from our own eye before we help others remove the speck. 

Ideas have consequences. 

This is why we need to teach people constantly to evaluate their own lives in light of Biblical truth. 

When it comes to the topic addressed in The Baby War:Defenders and Defectors, I hope that the film causes people to ask this question: is the church's teaching on marriage and procreation in line with all the previous centuries of Biblical interpretation, or is it in line with some other standard? 

I have met very few people who have not struggled with this issue personally and have not been "kicking and screaming" as they brought their own ideas to the judgment seat of Christ. I myself can attest to this mightily, and I may share much more of that story in the follow up film.

If anyone says, this film is too "judgmental," I would say that yes, the film unashamedly judges ideas. The Church for too long has not been judgmental enough of those ideas. The baby war is a war of ideas: our ideas vs. God's ideas about babies. 

Who will win the war? In the wider world, the ideas that get the most "air time" will win, because when we hear it often enough we believe it. But in the hearts and minds of the Bible believing Christian married couple, the war of ideas will be won by God as the Holy Spirit convicts them through His Word and the testimony of Christian witnesses throughout history.

The reason this film is needed is because someone needs to shake up the modern church's silent acceptance of the world's ideas about what marriage is to be.