(Introduction)(Dial.1)(Dial.2)(Dial.3)(Dial.4)(Dial.5)(Dial.6)(Dial.7)(Dial.8)(Dial.9)(Dial.10)

(Dial.11)DIALOGUE 12(Dial.13)(Dial.14)(Dial.15)(Dial.16)(Dial.17)(Dial.18)(Dial.19)(Dial.20)

JUDGING

DIRTY_C: Why is it so difficult for us to go about without sin?

CLEAN_C: It happens for many reasons. It would be like asking why you can’t be dry inside a swimming pool. But, if you get out of the swimming pool you shall have the answer to your question.

DIRTY_C: How so?

CLEAN_C: You cannot ask how you can be dry by staying inside the water. Paul said he was crucified to the world and the world to him. And it was a real crucifixion. He was outside the world and the world was outside him. It did not live in his heart anymore. John said, addressing the Children of God, they did not belong to the world any longer. It means they were outside the pool of sin. Outside the water, we will wonder why we do not become wet, instead. If you come out of sin and abandon its domain to live in Jesus exclusively, you can’t possibly sin. That is the promise of God. It seems hard to believe, but the Bible is full of such promises. It is only by remaining in the world and the world in your heart that you shall wonder if it is ever possible to stop sinning. John says that, “Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God”, 1 John 3:9; 5:18.

DIRTY_C: I have seen many people becoming fanatics against worldliness and they still carry on sinning. However, many seem unaware of the fact that they are sinning. Why would that happen then? It would seem (from their words) they have abandoned worldliness! Most of them proclaim a kind of holiness they aren’t living. It seems their mind is living in a dream world and absorbs their perception of reality completely. It is easy to see they are liars. Yet, they are the ones who proclaim a certain kind of holiness most aggressively.

CLEAN_C: It is true. It can happen for many reasons. It is easy to explain why that happens to them. Someone said that a fanatic is a person who would love to reach the ends without going through the means. I believe it happens mainly because they refuse to admit they still have a worldly heart in them. They haven’t cleansed their past and present sins in the blood of Jesus. When we have worldliness inside us, we will either become fanatical or will approve sin to be able to excuse, justify or explain our behaviour. Those who refuse to admit their heart has not been changed are often impatient and angry people. Most of them run away with bits of truth with which they try to be content. They are often troublesome and preach to everyone, but seldom to themselves. Those are the ones who often try being or appearing holy instead of becoming holy for real, from inside. They try it the hard way. There is a huge difference between using the means to reach the ends and trying to reach the ends directly to avoid going through the means. They have a heart which makes them think of sin constantly which, by turn, causes them to judge sin. By judging it, they believe they are safe and holy. Unfortunately, they judge others about the sins they are aware of.

DIRTY_C: What you are saying makes sense.

CLEAN_C: They often look back to sin as well. Loth’s wife thought she was fit to be with God and died by looking back to what she had been leaving behind. We may never look back to the things God despises. One of the reasons why their heart has never been fully changed is that they have not confessed or put in the light each of their sins; or, perhaps, they confessed only some of them. It drives them to many traps. The most common ones are: judging others because they are too aware of sin; and looking back because their life is not blessed and seems to take them nowhere. All it takes to make one’s heart bitter and judgmental is one sin left behind, hidden in the dark. We must put them all in the light, even our motives behind good deeds must be looked at. If we refuse to have a thorough cleansing of our soul, we shall not have enough light to see ahead of us and will be driven to and fro; we shall, also, have many strange attitudes and doctrines in our minds which are not born out of light. It happened to the Corinthian church. Many of them gave themselves over to strange doctrines which are not important for a holy life. They discussed a lot about whether women could cut their hair or not; whether they could eat meat or not; and many other things which are not able to work righteousness in our hearts. Then, they find those who oppose them inside their own community to keep the discussion alive. They search out for those who would gladly oppose them to confront them and to keep them discussing the wrong tracks they have chosen for themselves. Under such circumstances, no one will ever become aware of the risen Lord and Him only. We are made holy by beholding Him full-time. This is why Paul mentions those who, “having swerved, have turned aside to foolish talking, desiring to be teachers of the law, neither understanding what they say nor that which they affirm”, 1Tim.1:6-7. Discussions will keep them busy enough to cause them to avoid being fully cleansed in the blood of the Lord.

DIRTY_C: Why would people do such a thing?

CLEAN_C: You might be doing it yourself! It often happens especially because people are not clean and spotless before God and people. They can’t be led out of themselves, out of feigning habits and out of the attitudes they have learned from the world. They can’t find their way ahead of them because they want things to be more acceptable and more pleasant to the flesh. They can’t reach the end of the way because they have not been faithful and practical to the means of known truth. Truth is acknowledged, yet, its means are rejected, despised or neglected. They are not thoroughly clean. As Paul says, “Therefore if anyone purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work”, 2 Tim.2:21. We must become useful to the Lord. We need to be faithful in the least things so we can receive the greater virtues from the Lord. We need to use all the means to the full so we may be fit and able to reach the end God purposed for us. “But, the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, from which some, having swerved, have turned aside to foolish talking, desiring to be teachers of the law, neither understanding what they say nor that which they affirm”, 1Tim.1:5-7. Each sin you do not forsake and put in the light now, will be the main reason why you stumble in the future. Justice about every own misdeed has to be fulfilled and accomplished right now and we are the ones called to apply it. We need to judge ourselves thoroughly.

DIRTY_C: I see.

CLEAN_C: Most of the time, such people who try to walk the way of God unclean, don’t know over what they stumble. They are simply not aware of it. Many can’t figure out why they have stumbled. Only those who commune with God in a real way and share in His light shall be able to know over what they can possibly stumble. “The priest and the prophet have sinned… they err in vision, they stumble in judgment”. “We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in deserted places like dead men”, Is.59:10. It is very strange to see people preaching the right way and everyone around sees they are still groping the walls as blind men do. Even if the sun shines brightly, the blind wouldn’t be able to see anything at all. If there is light and people can’t see, it means they must be blinded and hardened by sin! That is the only explanation there is!

DIRTY_C: What you are saying makes sense to me. But, what I asked you was how does one stop sinning? It is easy to preach about it, but I have seen it does not work out with me. What I experience in daily life is different from what it is supposed to be.

CLEAN_C: Jesus opens the eyes of the blind. I am not saying it is easy to keep crying out to Jesus as the blind men did in Jericho while people around say Jesus won’t listen to your pleading (Lk.18:35-40). Thank God it is possible, though. If your eyes are not opened when Jesus or truth is passing by, it means you don’t really desire to see. You need to search for holiness as men seek for gold.

DIRTY_C: Are you judging me again by saying I don’t wish to see?

CLEAN_C: No, I am not judging you at all. I am only diagnosing your true state of heart. A doctor needs to have good discernment to diagnose what is wrong with people. Isn’t that so? You cannot say a doctor is judging you when he is diagnosing your heart.

DIRTY_C: You are surprising me. Every word you use is always sharp and makes defense impossible. My pastor often preaches against judging others. But, I can’t figure out if this is your way to judge others in a very subtle way or if you are just trying to help me.

CLEAN_C: I am not judging you, I believe.

DIRTY_C: What you say and the way you say it is so different from what I am used to hear. My pastor doesn’t teach us that way.

CLEAN_C: You haven’t been speaking about your pastor for a long time to justify your actions. I have almost forgotten you had a pastor or a church!

DIRTY_C: There are things he taught us that makes sense. There are some others which don’t make sense to me, though. I loved the way he preached against judging others. Ever since, I try not to judge others.

CLEAN_C: Sin is an illusion. Every sinner loves to be deluded and deceived about something. Sin, however, always builds some barriers and defense walls against truth invaders. Truth is considered an intruder and an invader. If sin hates truth, it must be only because it is some kind of illusion. One of those self-defensive walls it has built along the time is the wrong notion about judging. Of course judging is wrong if its intention is not to bring holiness, healing and peace into the heart. There are places in the Bible, however, where we read that God loves judgment (Is.61:8). “Do you not judge those who are inside?” 1Cor.5:12.

DIRTY_C: And why would Jesus say we shall be judged if we judge others?

CLEAN_C: Jesus said that, yes. However, he did not say that all those who judged would be condemned, but rather judged according with the same measure. All of us will be judged, whether we judge others or not. What Jesus means is that those who judge shall be judged and condemned by the sins they see in others because such people use judging to escape being judged themselves. The Bible says that, if we judge ourselves, however, we won’t be judged. But, we choose rather to judge others. As I said, a doctor is not judging when he is diagnosing a sickness and its origin faithfully. What Jesus meant is that you can’t think that you can escape the judgment of God by judging others. People who judge others often seek support for themselves in those who listen to them and agree with them. Many even yell when they judge so they will be heard far off and supported.

DIRTY_C: I can’t understand what you are saying. Please, explain some more to me.

CLEAN_C: When people judge instead of showing the way of mercy, it means they want to cover up the sins they are conscious of. Many times, people who are judged don’t even have those sins they are judged about. The one who judges has them and sees them in others because he is conscious of them. For example, if you wish to remain unclean for some reason and don’t wish to expose your deeds completely, you shall judge me of being judgmental and mean. It just shows how much you are defending yourself against the way of light where every deed must be voluntary shown and revealed.

DIRTY_C: It makes sense. So, you mean it is not always wrong to judge? How can judging be right?

CLEAN_C: Judging is right when you judge yourself according to the light you receive from the Lord. You cannot judge yourself according to your best wishes and aiming to those things you wish to have. Many people judge themselves only because they wish to be seen as good and holy. They believe self-pity will be able to attract grace towards them. It attracts the attention of people. But, you can judge yourself the wrong way or for the wrong motives. And just as you can judge yourself through sin, you can judge others using the darkness your heart is dumped into. That is what Jesus strongly warned us against. Jesus is not against the loving attitude which leads us to take the splinter out of our brother’s eye. It must be displeasing to your brother to have something hurting his eyes and love will surely reach out to him. However, very few people allow anyone you to touch their eyes. One needs to be careful and caring to do so. Jesus is not against such an act of pure love. He can’t be. He is against the attitude which refuses to see the beam in one's own eye. One ought to judge oneself.

DIRTY_C: How so?

CLEAN_C: Helping a brother and crying out for his holiness when you are holy yourself, can never be considered as an attempt or attitude to excuse your own sin. It just can’t be! The judging Jesus stands against is of the kind that sees own sins in other people’s actions, whether those people have those sins or not. The awareness of sin and the consciousness of it is what cause people to be judgmental and evil. Just try cleansing your own sins and you will see how less your brother is sinful in your own eyes! The sins of your brothers reduce quickly every time you cleanse your life thoroughly from all sin. You could try it and prove it yourself! It is the best way to cease to have the wrong kind of judging in you. Accusations have become the best means to cover up own guilt. “God shall wound the head and the hairy crown of him who walks on in his guilt”, Ps.68:21. Own sin in the heart is what makes people to be drastic and mean against others, whether others really have the sin they see in them or not.

DIRTY_C: You mean we may judge?

CLEAN_C: You cannot judge people. You can judge sin, but not people. You can diagnose the illness of a person and be precise about it in order to exterminate the illness to save the person. You cannot afford to misinterpret the diagnosis light makes available or you will mislead people around and fool yourself.

DIRTY_C: You mean there is a wrong way to judge which we should not approve and there is a right way to judge things which God loves and which is according to light? Is that what you mean?

CLEAN_C: Yes, that is what I mean. Whoever judges people harshly often mentions the sins his own heart is conscious about. Were that sin not in the heart, the whole attitude would be different. The approach on people would change as well. It is easy to see our own sins in others and judge them away from us. When people judge and are harsh on the sins they see in others (even when others don’t have them), it shows they have much experience-knowledge about those sins they see. The bitterness, the harshness, the haste and the temperamental way they judge it just shows how much they are stung themselves by the sins they judge. Unless people had those sins, they wouldn’t judge the way they do. And the quicker they judge, the more dearly they hold on to those sins and the more they refuse to exterminate them from their own lives.

DIRTY_C: Could you give me a clear example?

CLEAN_C: Let us use an example from the Bible then.

DIRTY_C: That will be good.

CLEAN_C: You know about the woman who had the flow of blood and worked hard to touch the garment of Jesus.

DIRTY_C: I remember. I know the story.

CLEAN_C: Imagine how she must have lived at home. She must have had a bad odour and I suppose very few people would sit around her.

DIRTY_C: I guess I wouldn’t sit near her either. I think I would feel uncomfortable.

CLEAN_C: However, Jesus would sit around her because the only thing that stinks to Him is the stench of sin and hypocrisy. Now, let’s suppose that woman had a woman neighbour with the same problem. Let’s suppose further, no one knew about the neighbour’s problem. We know all women with such problems were banned from the society of Israel until they healed, just as happened to lepers. We have reason to believe most of those women would never wish to let their problem become known. They would hide their problem from as many people as they could.

DIRTY_C: I can imagine that. It must have been awful.

CLEAN_C: Let’s suppose the first woman had a loving family who supported her and had been divided between telling the priest about it and taking care of her. Perhaps, there were little children at home who needed her cares. Suppose further that the neighbour woman hated her. So, the neighbour woman might use the other one’s problem to hide her own. To hide it from others she must only start judging her. Suppose a doctor comes to see the first woman and gives her some advices on how to heal herself. The mean neighbour would be very unwilling to talk to the doctor herself to try to be healed because she wouldn’t wish to have people know she had a similar problem. She judges the other one and tells everyone around about her neighbour’s sickness and people would automatically assume she has not the problem she judges the other woman about. Judging helps her covering herself up. The mean woman also feels bitter because she knows she has a serious problem in a part of her body she is ashamed of and that kind of bitterness drives her into being mean towards the other one. Jesus taught us to take our cares and heaviness to Him instead of trying to have it satisfied and fed at the expense of others. We shouldn’t try to find lightness by throwing at others the heavy stones we carry within us.

DIRTY_C: I understand what you mean. It must be awful to be judged that way, knowing what the accuser says is not a lie. It makes people defenseless before a mean slaughterer.

CLEAN_C: It is surely bad. Here, in this example, we have many people feeling a different way about someone’s problem. We have the caring family which is divided between the Law of Moses and the love they have towards the woman; and we have a mean woman who wishes distance between her and her neighbour for personal reasons.

DIRTY_C: Please, carry on.

CLEAN_C: Now, let’s suppose the doctor tells the first woman something like this: “You have a bad smell on you. We need to treat your problem as fast as we can”. The mean woman might also say, “You have a bad smell on you! You must treat yourself”. She might use the same words the doctor uses. The same words are used in a different context driven through different motives. The doctor says what he says to help the poor woman while her neighbour uses the same words to despise her and to hide her own problem.

DIRTY_C: I understand. You mean it is not wrong for the doctor to tell her she has a bad odour on her. Yet, for her neighbour it is wrong because her motives are evil and abstract.

CLEAN_C: Yes, that is what I mean. We could never say the doctor had been judging her, since the doctor’s motives are pure, responsible and, perhaps, loving. It would be absurd to accuse the doctor of judging, right?

DIRTY_C: Yes, it would. I agree.

CLEAN_C: Now, let’s suppose further the mean neighbour comes by and the doctor smells what seems to him like a similar problem on her. The nose of a doctor is good in detecting certain things. So, the doctor asks her if she wishes to be treated as well. How, do you think, would that mean neighbour react being exposed that way? She had invested a lot in hiding and now she couldn’t hide any longer!

DIRTY_C: I believe she would feel caught and she wouldn't expect to hear that because she worked hard on hiding it. Everyone would have many things to say about the way she had judged her neighbour as well! I suppose she would start hating the doctor. She would hate him for life!

CLEAN_C: That is precisely what would happen, isn’t it? The mean woman would feel exposed and judged because she had been judgmental all the time. Her heart would resent being exposed that way. However, it is clear that sooner or later her problem would be discovered out and people would know about it. Hiding it was useless. The same will happen with all sorts of sin: it shall eventually be exposed! No one should attempt to hide it now. It is useless to hide it now. Sin’s stench will soon be in the air and everyone will know about what we have done. Very few people can hide sin for long. But, even if they could, it will eventually be exposed in the light. The best way to deal with it is to expose it ourselves right away.

DIRTY_C: It is true. I understand. The mean woman you are talking about will also be suspicious about everyone around, because she will think someone must have told the doctor about her problem. Her judging would bring many sins to life.

CLEAN_C: It is true. Now, tell me: why are you always saying I am judging you? Can’t you see there are different ways to approach sinners and sinfulness? No everyone has a need to be bitter about others’ sins. Not everyone is criticizing you, even if most would do so easily.

DIRTY_C: I understood that.

CLEAN_C: Did you? Will you say again I am judging you?

DIRTY_C: I hope I will not. It feels, sometimes, you are always pointing your guns at me!

CLEAN_C: It is good that you understand this. Now we can start solving your problem. We need to get your heart find peace, at last. And remember that every person who does not clean His whole soul and conscience will sooner or later forget about what he has learned. 

DIRTY_C: Why would they forget about it?

CLEAN_C: Because their heart has many tribulations which consume their whole attention. Thorns and cares will keep them busy. They are taken away from a sound, quiet mind by thousands of bitter thoughts and it shall hinder them to think about what they have learned of truth. Their tribulations will take over and their mind won’t be settled in truth. They have many things to think about, even though only one thing is required of them.

DIRTY_C: I understand. When we have many inner unsolved problems we cannot think about anything else. I understand.

CLEAN_C: Yes, that’s right. Every problem in a heart where Jesus does not reign is a natural consumer of the mind. It tires people out completely. However, different people will react differently towards problems. Some will be bitter; some will drink and smoke; some will seek fun and worldliness; some others might even kill themselves and find out dying has made it much worse for them. There is no peace in hell. However, it is good to remember every bit of truth we have come across during our lifetime. Cleansed people are the only ones who can do it.

DIRTY_C: I understand. I think every person shows what he is really made of under such circumstances. Trials reveal the genuine heart of people, isn’t it?

CLEAN_C: Yes, it is true. “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, Behold, this One is set for … a sign spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”, Lk.2:34-35. It is good that our hearts change for sure. Trials will always reveal our true being. They will be responsible for its visibility, as well. To start well and end well, we need to cleanse our lives at first. Only then can Jesus take us further and further into what needs to be done in the light of eternity, peace and love.

DIRTY_C: So, you agree that trials are there to reveal our hearts to us?

CLEAN_C: Yes, I agree. However, it is not the only reason why trials come our way. Trials are also instrumental in fixing the heart from deep within. Jesus is able to use many ways to save us from ourselves. However, there are problems which are direct consequences of sin which people misinterpret or mistake for trials.

(Introduction)(Dial.1)(Dial.2)(Dial.3)(Dial.4)(Dial.5)(Dial.6)(Dial.7)(Dial.8)(Dial.9)(Dial.10)

(Dial.11)DIALOGUE 12(Dial.13)(Dial.14)(Dial.15)(Dial.16)(Dial.17)(Dial.18)(Dial.19)(Dial.20)