Answering LGBT Proponents Arguments (Part 1) “Do not Judge!”
It is often the case that proponents of the LGBT lifestyle will quote Matthew 7:1, which says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” They will argue, “You do not have the right to judge us! The Bible says, ‘judge not.’ These are the words that Jesus spoke!” Is this a legitimate argument? What does the Bible actually teach about judging? How should we respond when this argument is used to defend the LGBT lifestyle?
First off, when people try to use Matthew 7:1 to defend this lifestyle, we must realize that this verse is taken completely out of context. In the context of that chapter, Jesus did not teach His followers never to judge anyone at any time; rather, He taught them not to judge hypocritically!
How can we know this? Well, let us just read Matthew 7:1-5 and see what Jesus said. In these verses, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
So, here at the beginning of Matthew 7, we can see that Jesus did not condemn all judging. He condemned hypocritical judging. Key in on verse 5 again. Jesus said, “First remove the plank from your own eye,” and then what did He say to do after a person does that? He said, “then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
What would helping your brother remove the speck from his eye include? Think about it? It would include making them aware that they have a speck in their eye by telling them they have sin in their life, which would be what? Judging them! So, what did Jesus really condemn here in Matthew 7? He condemned hypocritical judgment, not righteous judgment! Furthermore, in John 7:24, we read that Jesus explicitly commanded His followers to judge others! What kind of judgment did He command His followers to make? Let us read what He said. In John 7:24, Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” How do we judge with righteous judgment? We do that by making judgments based on the truth. What is the truth? God’s word is the truth! (John 17:17)
So, in the context of the beginning of Matthew 7, Jesus commanded that if we have sin in our life, then we need to get that sin out of our own lives first before helping a brother with the sin that they have in their life. He commanded that we are to help each other to recognize and overcome sin together through obeying the Father’s will, not that we are never right to make a judgment!
Do you know what else is interesting in Matthew 7? It is that in verses 16-20, Jesus expressed that His followers would know false prophets “by their fruits” two different times. What point was He getting across to His followers in those verses? He was telling them that based on their fruits (based on the actions of these individuals), they would be able to make a judgment as to whether they were false prophets or not! What kind of judgment would this have been? A righteous judgment! It would be one that God approves of and commands His followers to make!
Do you want to know something ironic regarding the statement, “You do not have a right to judge me?” That very statement is a judgment, is it not? Yes, it is a judgment! So, in essence, those who support the LGBT lifestyle can make a judgment based upon their own fallible emotions that Christians have no right to judge the LGBT lifestyle as sinful or wrong, but they claim that we Christians who make righteous judgments based on the perfect word of God have no right to do that!
That right there is hypocritical! It is sad and aggravating to me that those in the LGBT community cry out and demand tolerance from Christians, yet as a whole, they are not very tolerant themselves! Many of these people will say, “You are forcing religion on us! Stop it!” Would we as Christians not be right by replying, “You are forcing the exposure and acceptance of sin not only on us but also on our children! You need to stop it!” You see, folks, it goes both ways!
Furthermore, this idea of Christians forcing religion on them is not what they make it out to be! We are not going around holding a gun up to the heads of those in the LGBT community, trying to force them to repent and submit their lives to Jesus! God would not approve of that whatsoever, and that is not what faithful Christians are doing! But… You better believe that faithful Christians, with God’s approval, have the right to, should be, and are warning sinners that their sin will cause them to go to Hell for eternity if they do not change their lives around and get their sins washed by the blood of Jesus Christ!
Another thing that some of those who are living a sinful lifestyle shoot back at those of us who are Christians when we point out sin and encourage repentance from sin are these statements, “Well, you sin too! So, stop pointing out my sin!” One thing I want to point out from such statements is that it is an admission that their sin is actually sin, is it not? But here is something I do want to say about that statement… There is some truth to that statement! What I mean is this… I would completely agree that it is wrong for a Christian who is committing adultery with a person of the opposite sex to preach that homosexuality is wrong to a gay person while they are practicing adultery! That is a Biblical view, and such a Christian would be acting hypocritically! Such a Christian would have no right to call out the sin that someone else is trapped in while they are trapped in sin themselves!
They would be violating what Jesus actually condemned at the beginning of Matthew 7, which is hypocritical judgment! Such a Christian would need to repent of their sins! With all of that being said, this argument really is a diversion tactic away from the issue! Here is the point… Both sins are wrong! Adultery is a sin, and homosexuality is a sin! That is the point! All sin is wrong! True and faithful Christians do their best not to sin and also do their best to preach against all sins! This does not mean that faithful Christians never fall short and sin, rather that they are not ruled by sin or, in other words, living a lifestyle of sin!
As I wrap up addressing this argument in favor of the LGBT lifestyle, I want to make this point clear… True love warns others of the consequences of sin! Romans 6:23 reveals to us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Christians warn people of the consequences of sin because those consequences are severe and endless unless they are washed away by the blood of Jesus! The beginning of 2 Corinthians 5:11 plainly explains why Christians preach against sin and why they encourage sinners to come to Jesus. In this verse, the apostle Paul said, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” If you want to read a section in the Bible that reveals what true love is, I would suggest you going and reading the first half of Ezekiel 33. In this chapter, you read about how the watchman was required to sound the warning to others when he saw the sword coming. If he did not sound the warning, it was not only unloving, but that watchman would be held accountable for not sounding the warning!
Parents, grandparents, and those of you who are around kids often, when you see your child or a young child about to do something that can physically hurt them… Such as touching the burner on the stove that you just cooked on, do you warn them of the danger, or do you sit there and watch them hurt or burn themselves? Do you say to yourself, “I cannot warn them because that would be judging! I cannot warn them or intervene because it is unloving and mean to warn them of their imminent danger?” No! You absolutely do not do that, and if you do, that right there would be unloving! If you were close enough to them and you saw a child about to touch a burning stove, you would lovingly grab their arm to prevent them from getting burned or shout at them to warn them of their imminent danger! To every proponent of the LGBT lifestyle and to my brethren, this same principle applies in the spiritual realm too!
By: Jake A. Burris
Except where noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
