#1. Every cult member and his dog knows this old chestnut: Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself.
#2. That verse does NOT apply to Christians; it only protects infidels, lest you look down your nose at them.
God will judge those outside the church, but you are to judge those inside the church.
#3. That instruction, to judge other christians, finds support in 4 more verses:
3a) "One day you will judge the angels"; implying that you should learn to practise good judgement, using the local 'brood of vipers' He provided you with, as your test subjects.
3b) The last of the 6 foundations is Eternal Judgement. So the notion of "lest ye be judged" gets (for us) replaced with "you are getting judged", so be ready for that, try to understand how good judgement works.
3c) Solomon threatened to cut a baby in half; but only as a clever ploy, to find out which women was the evil baby snatcher. He was very rich and successful (like Trump); he understood that God is a Just Judge; that it's a form of love, to discern evil and root it out; so the good that remains can truly thrive.
3d) "The Saints will Judge the World". If you have the heart of God, then 'Judge not' doesnt apply for you at all; its more just for noobs.
#4. This one is very problematic: "a teacher (eg a pastor) must be held to a higher standard." He did specifically say to not give yourself those special titles, saying "I am your only Teacher, only Father" (Matt 23); but since you went and did that anyway, even collecting a paycheck from the punters, then you must wear the albatross of personal accountability that comes with it.
4a) If I have a dispute with a pastor, we both look bad, prompting 2 trials; but accusations against him must be heard first, more public, and he must be punished more severely than me, for the same sin.
4b) Pastors don't see it that way of course. They simply reject those verses, as if they know better than God himself. Satanic god complex, bad fruit of idolatory; insecure, defensive.
4c) In the general sense, all who weild power over others, be they a parent, teacher, cop, voter or politician, all invite judgement, in proportion to their influence, on matters that relate to that sphere of influence.
#5. Hostility towards being judged was a defining characteristic of Sodom; implying we should be the opposite, ie. welcome it.
Angels came to rescue Lot; locals demanded angel gay sex; Lot did something bad, offered his daughters to the mob, trying to help angels.
God used it for good, exposed something: gay pride, they took offense, at a very generous offer; insecure, saw only a suggestion that gay sex was the problem, forgetting the more obvious gang rape aspect.
Who are you to judge us? Your punishment will be the most severe; that's our weak spot, what we all fear most. Truth-phobic.
#6. "With the same yardstick that you use to judge others, you yourself will be measured."
6a) This speaks of having a fair process, which can be very expensive. Design a process, a court system, one that is fair enough to judge you too; yet cheap enough that you can afford it. It's hard work to do it well; you need the help of legal experts, and subject matter experts.
You need to hear both sides of the story (too much work for most); consider physical evidence (long emails, phone records, eyewitness accounts); and then to interpret the law, to the best of anyones knowledge, as it applies to that situation. Some laws take precidence over others. Everyone has bias.
6b) Some responses open the way for Grace to be administered; or for harsher punishment. Things said, things not said. First offense; plead guilty; concern for victim, remorse, willingness and ability to fix it, have learned? Mitigating factors; and did he open his defense with a victim card?
6c) Christian judgement doesn't write people off, it's a helpful correction; a civilised exploring or stating of facts; which might result in a loss of job, or an increase in supervision and support; or failed as not fit enough by a Gideon.
Our judgements are imperfect, but good enough. His judgements are better, but everyone dies horribly. Jesus paid the price, will let some in, we don't know who, but are encouraged to speculate.
6d) Our work is rewarded according to our potential; scaled by what we started with; adjusted by what help we had, based on our education, opportunities. If the motive was wrong, then its not gold; wood and straw gets burned away.
#7. Gossip is the extreme opposite of good judgement. More often than not, it's a direct response to a home truth. An insecure person, who is guilty, is highly motivated to bury that truth. Gossip is the technique used, but it requires others to cooperate, to agree, and ultimately to share the burden of that persons guilt.
7a) The bible says that if you have a problem with someone, talk to them directly. If you talk to anyone else about it, in a situation where they have no ability to defend themself, correct any mistakes, or give context by telling their side, then its gossip. The information is cursed; the storyteller is cursed, and the person who listened, who tried to be the hero, they are also cursed, they share the guilt.
7b) The bible doesn't say this once or twice, try 20x or more! God really hates gossips, quite passionately, they are liars, reputation thieves, who delude themselves into thinking they did something good. Their lying insecure friend now feels validated, because you agreed with her lies (it's mostly a chick thing, in the same way that porn is mostly a guy thing). Feels like you did good.
7c) Enablers lose sight of the fact that the truth, however inconvenient, will set her free, will help her. A parent knows that true love will cost them something: either be a parent, encourage her to grow up, to face facts; or take the easy road, just be a friend, an insecure needy friend, agree with lies, more problem than solution.
#8. The gossip verse is part of a 4 step protocol.
Step #2: involve just one other person, nice and discrete, not a gang. Pastors simply tell me to screw off, they disagree with that verse.
Step #3 is to make it public, bring it before the church. I just use Facebook, since pastors don't like this step either. I'm interpreting 'church' in the broadest sense, visible to many experts, an open forum.
#Step 4, the final step, is what the catholics do to us: no communion; they treat us the same as muslims and gays: you guys are so not christians, just imposters that make us look bad.
"The spirit of the lord came upon him, so that he became Israel's judge, and went to war"
"Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to the judges, but prostituted themselves to other Gods"
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"He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience"
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"Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge, and saved them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt..."
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One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
With a donkeys jawbone, I have made donkeys of them.
I merely did to them what they did to me.
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Shamgar killed 600 with an oxgoad.
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“Stand at the door of the tent,” he told her. “If anybody comes and asks you if there is anyone here, say no.”
But when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg in her hand.
Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died.
Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.”
As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.
Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.
Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
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Early the next morning, as the people of the town began to stir, someone discovered that the altar of Baal had been broken down and that the Asherah pole beside it had been cut down. In their place a new altar had been built, and on it were the remains of the bull that had been sacrificed. The people said to each other, “Who did this?” And after asking around and making a careful search, they learned that it was Gideon, the son of Joash.
No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baal.
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What do you mean, ‘What’s the matter?’” Micah replied. “You’ve taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!”
The men of Dan said, “Watch what you say! There are some short-tempered men around here who might get angry and kill you and your family.”
So the men of Dan continued on their way. When Micah saw that there were too many of them for him to attack, he turned around and went home.
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But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.
The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.
Lord, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?
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