"Judge Righteous Judgements"

I like a good sea story, and a number of years ago I came across the following:

On board a four-pipe destroyer proceeding through the quiet waters of the Caribbean, the executive officer was not convinced that the engine room was giving him the precise speed he ordered, and so set about measuring the ship's actual speed. He would throw a chip of wood into the water from the bow, start his stopwatch, run the length of the ship, and stop his watch when the ship's stern passed the chip in the water. Knowing how long it had taken the 341-foot ship to pass the stationary chip, he could calculate her speed.

The only problem was that every time the exec started his dash aft, he ran into various crew members, and never made it to the stern in time to see the chip pass. A particular bottleneck was the galley passageway, where all traffic had to funnel through a narrow aisle on one side of the ship.

The skipper watched this operation with growing irritation, until finally he told the exec that he would run interference for him. So off they went, the skipper in the lead, with the exec holding his stopwatch aloft as they headed for the stern at full speed.

As this strange procession reached the galley passageway, the skipper began to shout, "Look out for the Exec! Look out for the Exec!" in order to clear out any approaching traffic. The ship's baker, busily baking pies in the galley and unaware of the circumstances, looked up from his work, took the situation at face value, and did his duty as he saw it. He waited for the skipper to pass, who obviously was being threatened by the beserk exec pursuing him, and laid out the exec with a single blow of his rolling pin.

Things are not always as they seem -- they might only rarely be what they seem, in fact -- so taking things at face value can be risky.  We often judge people based on first impressions, but sometimes we find out later that our first impression of them was ill informed.  In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior warned us about judging: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

In the footnotes, we read that in his translation this passage, Joseph Smith rendered it this way: "Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged; but judge righteous judgement."  In a March 1998 address at BYU, Elder Dallin H. Oaks talked about the difference between final judgements and intermediate judgements:

"I have been puzzled that some scriptures command us not to judge and others instruct us that we should judge and even tell us how to do it. But as I have studied these passages I have become convinced that these seemingly contradictory directions are consistent when we view them with the perspective of eternity. The key is to understand that there are two kinds of judging: final judgments, which we are forbidden to make, and intermediate judgments, which we are directed to make, but upon righteous principles."

Elder Oaks added that, "We must, of course, make judgments every day in the exercise of our moral agency, but we must be careful that our judgments of people are intermediate and not final."  The question, then, is how do we make righteous, intermediate judgements?  Elder Oaks gave some guidelines in his talk:

"First, a righteous judgment must, by definition, be intermediate. It will refrain from declaring that a person has been assured of exaltation or from dismissing a person as being irrevocably bound for hellfire. It will refrain from declaring that a person has forfeited all opportunity for exaltation or even all opportunity for a useful role in the work of the Lord. The gospel is a gospel of hope, and none of us is authorized to deny the power of the Atonement to bring about a cleansing of individual sins, forgiveness, and a reformation of life on appropriate conditions.

"Second, a righteous judgment will be guided by the Spirit of the Lord, not by anger, revenge, jealousy, or self-interest. The Book of Mormon teaches: “For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain … as the daylight is from the dark night.

“For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moro. 7:15–16). . . .

"Third, to be righteous, an intermediate judgment must be within our stewardship. We should not presume to exercise and act upon judgments that are outside our personal responsibilities. . . .

"Fourth, we should, if possible, refrain from judging until we have adequate knowledge of the facts."

Elder Oaks quoted William George Jordan as saying:

“We do not need to judge nearly so much as we think we do. This is the age of snap judgments. … [We need] the courage to say, ‘I don’t know. I am waiting further evidence. I must hear both sides of the question.’ It is this suspended judgment that is the supreme form of charity.”

The ship's baker in the sea story above made a snap judgement without possessing all of the facts.  BYU professor Arthur R. Bassett related in the June 1991 issue of the Ensign the following experience in which he did not have all the facts in a class he was teaching:

“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”

Elder Oaks offered another guideline for making intermediate judgements as he acknowledged that there are circumstances where we have to make at least a preliminary judgement while waiting to gather more information:

"A fifth principle of a righteous intermediate judgment is that whenever possible we will refrain from judging people and only judge situations. This is essential whenever we attempt to act upon different standards than others with whom we must associate—at home, at work, or in the community. We can set and act upon high standards for ourselves or our homes without condemning those who do otherwise."

There are two more guidelines for making righteous intermediate judgements:

"Sixth, forgiveness is a companion principle to the commandment that in final judgments we judge not and in intermediate judgments we judge righteously. The Savior taught, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). In modern revelation the Lord has declared, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10). . . .

"Seventh, a final ingredient or principle of a righteous judgment is that it will apply righteous standards. If we apply unrighteous standards, our judgment will be unrighteous. By falling short of righteous standards, we place ourselves in jeopardy of being judged by incorrect or unrighteous standards ourselves."

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of love; the Savior commanded us to love God with all our heart, mind, might, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22:37-40); he taught us to "love one another; as I have love you" (John 13:34).


"May God bless us that we may have that love," concluded Elder Oaks, "and that we may show it in refraining from making final judgments of our fellowman. In those intermediate judgments we are responsible to make, may we judge righteously and with love. . . . May we be examples of His love and His gospel."


Sources:

Jamison, J. P. (1998) "Look Out for the Exec." Proceedings, September 1998.

Oaks, D. H. (1999). "'Judge Not' and Judging." Ensign, August 1999. Accessed November 11, 2014 at LDS.org: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1999/08/judge-not-and-judging?lang=eng