Answering Our Culture #7: Christians Are Judgemental, Intolerant, & Hypocri Series

Answering Our Culture

#7 – Christians are Judgmental and Intolerant; There Are Too Many Hypocrites.”

Various Scriptures

September 8, 2002

Introduction

This is the seventh message in our series outlining the Top 10 Reasons to not be a Christian.

We have looked at such things as the ideas that the Bible cannot be trusted, that there is no absolute truth, and that Jesus was not the only path to God.

We examined each of these claims and I offered what I think are reasonable and reasoned responses to each of these.

Today we look at some of the complaints made against Christians in our society. These complaints are that Christians are judgmental, intolerant, and hypocritical.

And as much as I hate to admit it, I have to be honest and say that there are cases where Bible-believing Christians are guilty of all three of these, and maybe more.

But overgeneralization is dangerous. To say that all Christians exhibit these is as ridiculous as claiming that all atheists and agnostics are satanic, and hate Christians, and I can tell you from personal experience that that’s just not true.

Most of the agnostics I know are kind and considerate people, who joke with me about all sorts of stuff, and would be there to help me if I needed it, and I would be there for them.

Today I want to discuss three accusations made against Christians and the Christian faith, and I want to take a few moments to answer them.

I. Christians are Judgmental.

Years ago, the most quoted verse in the world was John 3:16 -

JN 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In recent years, however, the most quoted verse is Matthew 7:1 –

MT 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

The implication is that all judgments are bad. What is really meant by that statement in the world of tolerance is that you Christians have no right to judge, because Jesus said not to.

I deal with this issue in more detail in one of the previous messages, but let me just say here that Jesus did not say to make no judgements, but later said that we are to make judgments in light of His Word.

Also, Jesus Himself made some rather harsh judgments, and not in a very politically correct manner, as we shall see when we look at the issue of hypocrisy.

One of the biggest areas where the issue of judgmentalism plays a part is in the issue of how to get to heaven.

The Christian says that only those who have been born again will get to heaven, because that’s what Jesus said in John 3.

But if you don’t like that, you can claim that you deserve heaven because you haven’t been bad enough to go to hell.

“I’ve never stolen anything or murdered anybody. It’s not like I cooked the books at Enron or WordCom. I haven’t cheated the IRS.” Whatever.

This may be very true for you. In fact, I hope it is! But there is a problem with that logic, and that is that the standard for morality is not other people, it is God.

God’s standard is perfection, and by that standard, no one will get to heaven.

In fact, that is the point of the crucifixion of Jesus. Only His blood can make us perfect in the sight of God. And only those who come to God through Christ will find forgiveness and heaven.

Because you see, the issue is not how bad we are. The fact is that we are all sinners. Sin is not what we do, it’s who we are. The Bible says that if we break just one command of Scripture, we’ve broken them all.

But here’s the bottom line here. Christians are not the ones being judgmental, when it comes right down to it. The job of Christians is not to be judges, but rather to communicate God’s judgments that are outlined in His Word.

Unfortunately, the attitude of many Christians goes beyond this, and they think that because they have discovered the forgiveness of sins, they have it all together, and have the right to be haughty, smug, and rude in how they treat those who do not agree.

And if that is bothersome to you, I stand with you in total agreement.

Because if you truly appreciate what God has done for you in Christ, you will be humble in how you discuss it with other people, remembering that before you gave your life to Christ, you were in the same boat, headed toward an eternity in hell.

God does not smile on that type of arrogance, believe me.