I'm back from a long rest... been busy during my holidays. I've been catching up with old friends and buying stuff, and now that Christmas is over I cannot believe that everything is going past so fast! Even today I was at a supermarket (I won't mention the branch) and I was shocked because the supermarket was embellished with a Chinese New Year theme and they aired the 'Gong Xi Fa Cai' song. I can't believe it! hahaha!
Ok, back to business. Over the last few weeks I noticed a trend of us humans that caught my attention. I will not be doing a military analysis this round but rather I would like to blog about Judging.
We humans tend to judge swiftly and ruthlessly. This materialistic world that we live in today exacerbates the natural tenacity of us mankind to judge quickly whether positively or negatively, but mostly, negatively.
I personally witness a couple of incidents that led me to this conclusion. In fact, there is a psychological factor on why we judge others quickly. It has a similar linkage to the idea of forming pre-conceived ideas or the idea of forming stereotypes of groups of people. It is essentially: to make our complex world easier for us to understand. We subconsciously do it, but
even though it is subconsciously done, we can stop ourselves.
We must remember, that it is not for us to judge people in the end. Only God is the perfect candidate to judge, and there is a very good example from the Holy Bible that talks about judging others. It is from Chapter 8 of the book of John from the New Testament, and I shall quote it from the King James Version:
Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he
sat down, and taught them.
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
John 8:1-11, KJV.
This excerpt from the Bible is an extremely good example about judging. When I read this reading I was inspired not only by how great Jesus was in handling the situation but also by how accurately it showed the darkest of human depravity. In fact, I am also partly motivated by Pastor Seet's message on the 7th of December 'Who Should Cast the First Stone?' and the scripture test he used for his message was this particular reading from the Book of John.
I will now explain this particular reading. Basically, the scribes and the Pharisees are a group of Jewish people (in Jesus' time in Israel) that felt threatened and were offended by Jesus and they sought to harm him. This same group of people will later be the ones who delivered Jesus to the Roman authorities to be crucified. But this excerpt tells us of one of earlier occasions whereby they failed to harm Jesus.
Basically, the tradition of the Jews was that whosoever broke any of their laws must be stoned. However, during the time of Jesus, Israel was ruled by the Romans (era of Augustus) and was a tributary land under the Roman Empire. The Roman authorities banned the Jews from stoning anybody. With that being the case, whoever who encouraged or spur this very practice of stone throwing would be handed over to the Roman authorities to get dealt with according to Roman law. And that is what the scribes and Pharisees wanted to do to Jesus.
So they brought a woman (we do not know whether she really committed adultery, but we can assume she did or did not) to Jesus, who was preaching in the temple. Their plan was to put Jesus into a situation of dilemna. They would ask Jesus on how to deal with this woman, and they would question him into a state of dilemna. "Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" - John 8:5
If Jesus told them to stone her, then the scribes and the Pharisees would have to excuse to deliver Jesus to the Roman authorities because Jesus would have broken the Roman law. However, if Jesus were to do nothing, then the scribes and Pharisees would discredit Jesus in front of all the people who believed Jesus because if Jesus do not do anything then simply the message sent out to the masses was that he encouraged adultery. And if that happens, it would be easier for the scribes and Pharisees to capture Jesus.
However, Jesus knew of their plan and ill-intentions. The scribes and Pharisees changed their attitude towards him. Earlier in the book of John, they called him blasphemer and devil, but now they called him: Master. Jesus looking down on the ground and tracing the floor with his finger is just another way of saying: I don't have to talk to you.
Jesus simply responded by saying: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Knowing that he has conscience as his ally, his message was simple. The scribes and Pharisees realised that they had sinned and with that being the case, they felt guilty to stone the woman before Jesus, and all of them left.
This account from the Gospel goes a long way to tell us about judging. Whether you are Christian or non-Christian is not the issue. Only God is the perfect and righteous judge before men. We are not perfect and we simply have the habit to judge others. But the message is simple: Do not judge others because you would be judged as well.
I will be back with another entry and this time it would probably be a campaign commentary! :)
Take care and til then,
Godspeed
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