Two Meanings of “Judgment”

Judgment can refer simply to perceiving what is plainly before us. It can involve little more than noting how the characteristics of one thing are the same as or different from the characteristics of something else. Such judgments are basic to living. Without them we would not survive. We must learn that hot stoves burn, that red traffic lights mean stop, and so on.

Many Christians demean themselves for being judgmental when, in fact, they are simply being intelligent. God does not want us to wear blinders. What, after all, is religious insight and discernment if it is not clear vision into the nature of things? (See Ephesians 1.)

There is a sense, then, in which God wants us to judge. Good decisions hinge on good perceptions. “Test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil” ( I Thess. 5:21-22). And, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I John 4:1).

Condemnatory judgment is a very different sort of thing. To condemn others is arrogantly to grant ourselves the right to hold them fully responsible. We do not want to hear about extenuating circumstances. We want only to prosecute.

To the connoisseur of condemnation, it matters not a bit that a man may have stolen a loaf of bread to feed his hungry child. All such a person knows or wants to know is that the bread was stolen and the man “should be punished.”

Condemnation as value affirmation

One reason we tend to condemn those who do wrong is so we can reinforce our own values. The sociologist Emile Durkheim pointed out many years ago that criminals perform an important social function. In breaking society’s norms, they give the rest of us an opportunity to reassert these norms.

People who violate our standards of conduct give us something to push against. They provide us with convenient contrasts between right and wrong and, in so doing, allow us once again to clarify our ethical positions.

There is nothing wrong, of course with society meting out rewards and punishments in order to preserve the social order. Sometimes, however, people develop a passion for the punishment of offenders that’s difficult to understand simply as the affirmation of a value. They become intense, driven, and fanatical about separating the good guys from the bad guys.

Condemnation as aggressive discharge

A second reason why people engage in condemnatory judgment is that it gives them a chance to ventilate their hidden angers and resentments. As a consequence of painful life experiences, some people carry inside them large reservoirs of buried rage. Under certain circumstances, such as riots, these otherwise civilized people can become human demons.