Are you a caring guy, or a guy with candor? Is it possible to have both in one person?

Absolutely! Just follow the writings of St. Paul of Tarsus. Many Believers think he just goes too far at times; “Throw him out of the church” and “I’ve turned him over to Satan so he might afflict him for a while.” Who gives him the right to judge members of a church?

Other times you see him incredibly nurturing, kind, and patient, honoring to a simple person who did something faithfully (Epaphroditus). He prays, suffers, and fasts for his churches, and for his apprentices, and co-workers. Often he weeps for them. Is that the way Jesus would do it? Yes, again.

Read Christ’s words. See Him trash-talking the money-changers and priests in the temple–all the while beating them with a whip He made with his own hands!
Then there are the 2 bar’ ish brawls he started–not by grabbing a stool, but by flipping over tables!
He rebukes the Pharisees and Sadducees in some of the most vulgar, “unpolite” and humiliating ways. Even with Peter, a man who was close to being his best friend, He lashes out at when He told him, “Get away from me, Satan–get behind me!”
We see him crouched down low to the ground, risking his own life for the woman caught in bed with another woman’s husband. Then we jump to another story in the Bible, where He places loving hands and arms around some little kids–even as the Disciples were trying to shoo them away.

It is hard to admit, but any issue we may have with a judging Jesus, with His “candor-like,” blunt, and unfiltered straight-talking–even caustic behavior, is OUR problem not His.

Maybe we have been brainwashed that God is always NICE–gentle, meek, and mild. That may be true with some people’s chosen view of God, but it is more of a most

maternal view of a  love that has gone limp and spineless. Any form of motherly love, or otherkinds of love, as strong as it may feel, is far below the high standard of agape-God’s entirely self-less love.

                                                                  You and I are judging all of the time.”

If the ‘Nice God-view” is more of your thing, it totally flies in the face of reality. It may be a symptom that either:

  1. You don’t spend the first part of your day studying under God’s Word, and bringing it into your heart and life
  2. Or you are listening to lazy preachers who are self-medicating by spending too much time in the New Testament.
  3. You have made your own construct of a God that does not exist to support your false belief that GRACE is everything.

If any one or all of these are true for you then you, will need to seek the Lord and the whole Bible with all of your heart and make soem serious changes (Repent) as you do.

“Well, Arthur, I am not comfortable with the God of the Old Terstament–I’m more of a New Testament Believer.

Let’s take a look at 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul’s oft-quoted, and vitally important statement validating that “All Scripture is God-breathed and able to teach us righteous living (with fruits of good works).

What passages in our Bible was Paul thinking about and validating, when he wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed?” In truth, there was NO New Testament writing that anyone had even thought to call “Scripture”. Paul must have been talking of the writings of the Old Covenant exclusively! The great apostle lived and breathed Old Testament Scripture only. Everything else, at the time–including his many letters– were considered anointed teachings from their “modern” days–never was it in the category of Scripture. That did not happen until late in the 4th Century AD.

This “never judge anyone” is pure nonsense. You and I are judging all of the time. Like when the idiot takes your space in the parking lot or blocks you in because of inconsiderate, clueless, self-centeredness. Heck you are judging someone by classifying them–often with anger in your heart–as judgemental! In fact we pick our closest friends through a high-level processes of judging. Are they trustworthy? do they like the things I like and dislike the things I dislike? Do they dress and act appropriately (in line with my styling prejudice) ? If I associate with them, how will others judge my judgement skills by association? The very act of deciding if I want to go to that person party or charity event, or someones else’s is classic judgmentalism.

Paul actually rebukes the Corinthian church for NOT judging righteously. He intimates that we need to learn how to judge the right way, because, he says, “Don’t you know that all of you will have to judge the Angels?”

In closing, judge others well–without being judgemental–cultivate discernment between evil and good, and right and wrong. Speak the truth to one another (a command), not limp flattery to get you popularity points, or influence–or because you don’t want to offend them. What if their offensive behavior is leading them straight to Hell. Will your niceness, bereft of a courageous warning or intervention, be responsible for someone being sucked down into Hell? Many times we are nice because we are full of fear, not “niceness.”

There is little or no risk in acting nice. Jesu–and his disciple, Paul, are two excellent guides. They both walked in the loving-kindness, yet with courageous candor, and they bid us do likewise with one another.