Don't Judge Too Quickly

Probably, the best known of the scriptures on not judging is "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (3 Nephi 14:1, Matthew 7:1). We must hold back from making final judgments on people, because we don't have the knowledge and the wisdom to do so. We would even apply the wrong standards by which to judge people. Unfortunately, in this day and age, the way of the world is to make comparisons between winners and losers. The Lord's way of final judgment will be to evaluate us with his perfect knowledge of the law a person has received and to judge us on the basis of our our own circumstances, motives, and actions throughout our whole life (see Luke 12:47­48, John 15:22, 2 Nephi 9:25). My mission president's daughter spoke frequently at BYU devotionals. Her husband Rex Lee, was the president. She once said: "The Lord does not grade on a curve." He will judge us in terms of "qualities," not "quotas" (in Janet G. Lee, "The Lord Doesn't Grade on a Curve," BYU 1994­95 Devotional and Fireside Speeches [Provo: Brigham Young University, 1995], pp. 91, 93).

Look at each of the following video clips and notice everyday examples of how people judge innocently but how the people they are judging did not do anything wrong:












In the June 1991, Ensign, I remember a story about not judging shared by a BYU profess, Arthur R. Bassett. He stated that while teaching an institute class, “I was troubled when one person whispered to another all through the opening prayer. The guilty parties were not hard to spot because they continued whispering all through the class. I kept glaring at them, hoping that they would take the hint, but they didn’t seem to notice. Several times during the hour, I was tempted to ask them to take their conversation outside if they felt it was so urgent—but fortunately something kept me from giving vent to my feelings.

“After the class, one of them came to me and apologized that she hadn’t explained to me before class that her friend was deaf. The friend could read lips, but since I was discussing—as I often do—with my back to the class, writing at the chalkboard and talking over my shoulder, my student had been ‘translating’ for her friend, telling her what I was saying. To this day I am thankful that both of us were spared the embarrassment that might have occurred had I given vent to a judgment made without knowing the facts” (“Floods, Winds, and the Gates of Hell,” Ensign, June 1991, 8).

In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin cautions us about judging without knowing all the facts:

Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just--

But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. . . .

And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance. [Mosiah 4:17,­18,22]

Activity:

Discuss ways we can not be quick to judge.
Evaluate each of the video clips and recommend how the observer could learn not to judge.
Learn out to always assume the best of people. Remember this French saying: "it is a very thin crepe that does not have two sides." Discuss the meaning of this quote.