The most mis-quoted and misunderstood scripture by defensive christians – Matthew 7:13

Hmmmmn if I had a penny for every time this scripture was misquoted, I surely would be a billionaire by now! It is the ‘get out of jail card’ used by all defensive Christians who choose not to be accountable for their actions or who choose to wish to languish in sin without being told off!

History has shown that whenever truth be told or a christian is being told off by another christian for their wrongdoing, they automatically quote this scripture. What they are essentially saying is “back off; let me carry on with my sinful ways and do not question my behaviour”. 

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Is it any wonder that even non-christians or atheists also now quote this scripture and say “I thought you were a christian and you are not supposed to judge”

I love the Amplified version as it drives the point home and goes further than the King James Version in explaining what that scripture actually meant or at least, the message it was trying to pass across (convey).

The KJV says “Judge not, that ye be not judged” whilst the AMP version says “Do not judge and criticise and condemn [others unfairly with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge], so that you will not be judged [unfairly]. 

All scripture must be read in context – oh did I mention something defensive christians also love to do? They only quote the first part of a scripture and ignore the rest of the sentence. If we bothered to read scripture in its entirety it would be clear that what this passage appears to target is hypocrites – those who do not apply the same standard to themselves. 

So this relates to hypocrites who judge others for sin committed (such as murder, adultery, fornication, theft etc) however they themselves commit that same sin… I too am guilty of that!

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I so easily condemn fornicators and adulterers yet when I see good looking well built gentleman I go all crazy and I’m crying within me “sweet Jesus take me home; he is fineeeeee”; I’m a sucker for muscles you see. Scripture actually says that because I have lusted after such men, I have already committed adultery in my heart.

It is clear from this that Jesus does not forbid judging; instead he forbids judging hypocritically or harshly. Also the Bible is the standard by which anything or anyone should be judged and not one’s own standard.

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We then have a different kettle of fish of defensive Christians who have placed christian leaders on such a high pedestal and they vehemently oppose anyone who challenges spiritual authority (pastors, preachers, priests) for whatever reason. They choose not to listen to anyone who attempts to reprimand them.

You have cases of some christian/church leaders embezzling church funds for their personal gains; living an extravagant/expensive lifestyle (when their income doesn’t match with their lifestyle), sleeping with vulnerable church members etc. A typical response is that we don’t judge them or bother ourselves with such matters but instead leave them to be dealt with by God. People do you know how many times Jesus told off and rebuked the Pharisees, scribes Sadducees?

Should we continue to suppress the truth? Is it not high time we called a spade a spade?