The judgmental attitudes of Christians repel people. A friend recently and unexpectedly lost a dear relative, and a Christian in her life was quick to point out to her that, unless this relative had asked for forgiveness, he was now most likely in hell. That is appalling. I apologized that this had been said to her.
Unfortunately, people think that such condemning attitudes are representative of Christianity. I think there is an assumption that, since Christianity must be about being a righteous person, then self-righteousness is just part of the package. But being self-righteous is not reflective of Christianity. It’s reflective of being a sinful human being, and we can all relate to it in some form. Self-righteousness is evil, unchristian.
Christianity says that Jesus paid for our judgmental attitudes—and every other sin—with his very life. He died on the Cross, suffering the judgment that our judgmentalism deserves, the Truly Righteous for the self-righteous. Christianity is not about being a righteous person, but about trusting that the life, death, and resurrection of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ, counts for us in God’s sight. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), not because we don’t deserve condemnation. In and of ourselves, that’s all we deserve! Christianity says, though, that we are not “in and of ourselves,” but that by faith we are “in Christ Jesus,” and that is why there is no condemnation for us. In his body on the Cross he intercepted and absorbed the condemnation that was rightfully coming our way for our self-righteousness.
The one who realizes that Jesus was judged in his place has no room to be judgmental of others. There is no condemnation for us, so we have no condemnation for others. Let us be a people of “no condemnation.”
