Why do you and I judge?

Why do we judge something that we are not even a part of? It is hard enough to judge even if you are involved or if you are charged with the responsibility to judge. 

All of us have this tendency to judge or form an opinion about who was right or wrong just by what we see in the news or read or hear from others. The only thing we do when we voice our opinions is to contribute to the unrest and fuel the hate.

To give you an example of how our judgements can be faulty; have you ever watched a football game and thought a referee made a wrong call. From the angle of view that you saw on TV, there was no way that he was right. But as you saw the many different angles from other cameras, you came to agree with him; he judged correctly.  

What I am referring to right now is what’s going on between black people and white cops and our judicial system. I live in Texas and the big news right now is about what happened to Sandra Bland, a black woman, and a white cop who threw her in jail. Yes, I can not understand how anyone could get pulled over for failing to put on their turn signal while changing lanes and then get thrown into jail. I don’t understand it but I was not there and I don’t read minds.

I want to tell you a true story about myself. I was involved in an accident last year up in Tyler Texas which totaled both our vehicles. A young white man broadsided me in an intersection. By the letter of the law, it was my fault because I did not yield right of way to oncoming traffic when I made the left turn. I felt sorry for the young man for a number of reasons. He did not have insurance; the license sticker on his car was from another vehicle, which the cop noticed right away; and he was just starting a new job. Like I said, I took full responsibility however, we were both ticketed.

I want to tell you about the things that happened leading up to the accident. 

I was staying in Tyler with my brother because our mother was dying of cancer. I was on the way to pick up some things for mom. The highway I was traveling on was two lanes both ways with a center lane used for turning. I was in the inside lane anticipating the left turn I needed to make in about a mile. There was a vehicle slightly ahead of me on the outside lane. I must have been in their blind spot because they came directly into my lane. To keep from getting hit I slowed and moved into the center lane. There was a highway patrolman following some distance behind who saw this. He sped up, came around me on my right and positioned himself between me and the car that almost hit me. All three of us stopped in the left turn lane waiting for the light to turn green. The lights turned green, the car that almost hit me turned left. The highway patrolman started flashing his lights and followed the car turning left. I thought it was OK and I followed. I got almost all the way through the intersection when the young man who was traveling in his outside lane of oncoming traffic, broadsided me just in front of the right rear wheel. I didn’t even realize that it was my fault until, while waiting for a wrecker, I studied the lights and saw the yield sign. There was a protected left turn arrow but it came on at the end of the cycle and not at the beginning. With all the green lights, our mom in hospice care, and two cars just in front of me turning left, I just assumed it was OK for me to turn too.

Now let me get back to the Sandra Bland incident. Did something similar happen here? Did Sandra almost hit someone when changing lanes? What was going through Sandra’s mind leading up to this incident? What happened in the cop’s life leading up to pulling Sandra over. Sandra's attitude may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back, as the saying goes and contributed to the cop making a bad decision. We just don’t know. God is the only one who completely knows the truth.

Now it is up to the judicial system to make a decision by the evidence presented to them. I feel for the judge and jury who will have to decide. With all the unrest, there are going to be a lot of people who will not be happy no matter what the findings are.

The Bible says that we are not to judge at all but if you do chose to judge something or someone; God will judge you the same way as you judge. I believe that the way He does this is by allowing us to see something we’ve done, maybe like the one we judged, which will lead to shame, guilt, and sorrow.

Matthew 7:1-5 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

7 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. ² For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you. ³ Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye!

Each one of us has a story already written and recorded in books. God knew everything about us even before we were conceived. God doesn’t just leave us to the bad choices we make. He has a plan for each one of us.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
¹² Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
¹³ And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.