Obviously, to decide whether or not someone is actually a prophet, we are going to have to evaluate and judge them, but we are judging only that, and not whether or not they will be “saved.” That is God’s job, not ours. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? ![]() One example Elder Oaks uses is found in Matthew 7: 15-16:ġ5 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.ġ6 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Jesus did make these types of judgments during His mortal life, setting the example for us. These are intermediate decisions and concern only a specific situation. However, there are times when we can and even should make decisions about people. This means it is not up to us to decide if someone can be forgiven by God or not or to make comments about how God will handle their judgment. The Lord’s way of final judgment will be to apply His perfect knowledge of the law a person has received and to judge on the basis of that person’s circumstances, motives, and actions throughout his or her entire life (see Luke 12:47–48 John 15:22 2 Ne. The world’s way is to judge competitively between winners and losers. “Thus, we must refrain from making final judgments on people because we lack the knowledge and the wisdom to do so. In addition, we don’t know the whole story. It is very possible this woman did decide to repent. We do not know how things will change in the future. By allowing her to live, He gave her time to repent if she chose to do so.Īnd this is why we can’t make final judgment. He instructed her to stop sinning, but He did not pass judgment on her and said so. The men were prepared to kill her, making final judgment on her. Elder Oaks uses as an example the woman who was found guilty of adultery. Even Jesus, during his time on earth, refused to make final judgments on people. ( Romans 14:10)įinal judgment belongs to God and to Jesus Christ and will not be made until after our mortal lives are over. We can make this type of judgment, but we must make it righteously.įinal judgment refers to the judgment that occurs after we die and Jesus is judging us:īut why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. This is the source of the commandment to avoid judging. The first is final judgment, which God does not allow us to make. ![]() It is particularly interesting to note, given the topic of the talk, that prior to becoming a Mormon apostle, Elder Oaks was a judge, even serving on a state Supreme Court.Įlder Oaks explains the conflict is the result of having two types of judgment. His title within the Church is Elder Oaks. ![]() His talk is called, “” Judge Not” and Judging.” He is an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often called Mormons. Oaks spoke to college students at Brigham Young University on this topic. What is a person supposed to do if he wants to obey all the commandments? The Bible tells us we must not judge others unless we ourselves want to be judged, but it also offers a variety of situations in which we’re told to make judgments. One such situation concerns the topic of judgment. There are times when the Bible can seem confusing because it appears to give conflicting advice.
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