In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. Amen. Today, you have another illustration of the great improvement of the new so called new translation over what was called the old. Can you imagine using the word in sensible English, a plank in your eye? You think of a six by four.
It's how they got these translations. I suppose the only thing to say is, the Lord knows, because he knows everything. Even this silly nonsense. But you can't miss what our Lord is saying. I didn't have a chance to look up the original.
But he's telling us that before you judge others Now, notice, he's talking about judging other human beings. Please notice that. Our Lord never said anything about not making value judgments which you hear all over the world today. The worst thing you can say to somebody, my friend, that's a value judgment. I mean, that's like damning them to hell.
The worst thing, of course, you say, well, that's just a matter of semantics. Of course, that's even worse. I don't know where you go for that. That's that's the subterranean of hell. These are the cliches of the time.
We mustn't have value judgments. We must judge facts. Our Lord never After all, whatever you may say about Christ, he was not guilty of that kind of an absurdity. Because if you can't pass a value judgment, then how do you have any theory or any words you want to use of value? And are we are we to live a life without value?
Of course, that's being tried today. Remember, when they say that the public school system is neutral, that's absurd. It's completely absurd. How can something be neutral when it excludes any kind of a system of morality? I'm not condemning because I don't know how you can put a system morality in a pluralistic society which has a public school system.
I don't know how to do it. So, I'm not I'm just staying here. I'm just passing a judgment of fact. But please notice, our Lord's not saying a word here against value judgments. What our Lord is saying very emphatically, even when we have an English mistranslation of plank in your eye, is that do not judge persons.
And there are so many good reasons for that simple statement. One of them being is you don't know enough ever to judge a person. Secondly, very seldom in life, unless you're a judge on the bench, are you called upon to judge persons. And even there, you're supposed to be ruled by objective evidence. What our Lord is saying is, don't go around judging people.
Be as kind to them as you are to yourself. Because we're pretty kind to ourselves in many ways, but certainly not in all ways. Because when Often when I hear that love your neighbor as yourself, I say, Ye gods. How do we love ourselves? Look look what we do to ourselves.
Here's a person takes a pack of cigarettes. It's written plainly on their cigarettes are dangerous or something like that to your health. And he takes them, puts it in his or her mouth, and smokes it. And that's being That's loving yourself? But anyway, what our Lord is telling us here is do not judge persons.
He never said a word about judging actions. I mean condemning it. Not a word. Quite the contrary. The whole thrust of our Lord's life is this is that that you must do good and you must avoid evil.
You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, with your whole mind, with everything you are. And you have to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Fine and dandy. What does it mean in fact? What does it mean to my wife or my husband across the breakfast table?
What does it mean to my kids, to the people I work with? What does this actually mean? In fact, what is being good to my neighbor? What is being good to your children? Giving them everything they want?
Not giving them anything they want? What? What? How can you possibly interpret that first and second commandment, the two of which take precedence over everything? How can you interpret it, put it into action without a value judgment about this action being good and that action being evil?
If there is such a thing as good and evil in the world, which of course is not at all accepted and admitted by everybody today in the year of our Lord 1986. More than once in the recent past, I have heard people say, don't talk about good and evil. All you can talk about is a great period area in between. This is the world we're living in. We aren't supposed to pass value judgment.
We're not supposed to say people living together without the benefit of holy matrimony that that is adultery or fornication. No. That's a value judgment. You mustn't do that. And, of course, it's very disruptive.
It's very disruptive. I just read, just read a periodical that I've never seen. It's really first great propaganda from Great Britain about England. It's a beautifully done piece of work. Magnificent.
Comes out of several times a year. It was sent to me. And there was an article in there on Chesterton, and that's why it came to me. And at the end of the article, which is an excellent article, magnificent pictures, tells about Chesterton becoming a Catholic. I mean, it mentions it.
At the end, it says that Chesterton sort of represents the advance that people are making. This is not a quotation. I can't give it to you literally. But that the day is coming that we will not have all of these different religious sects like Catholicism and Episcopalianism and Lutheranism and so forth. But we will have pure Christianity.
Would someone kindly tell me what pure Christianity is? When you have one Christian saying, Jesus Christ, the son of Mary is God. And you have another Christian saying that Jesus Christ, the son of Mary never existed. Or Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, was a very good man? Which one of them is right?
They can't all be right if there's such a thing as truth. But, of course, that is. Is there such a thing as truth? There are plenty of people today who say no. They don't speak of truth, they speak of the norm, which means counting numbers.
So, when we come back to this, let's not run scared. Let us not be afraid of putting the mark of good and bad, virtue and vice, good and evil. Don't be afraid of putting that mark on conduct, which traditionally, and by the word and the law of God and of his church down the centuries, have declared certain kinds of conduct evil, very evil. Don't be afraid. Value judgments?
Of course. Supreme Court's making them all the time. Don't run afraid. Don't be afraid of being a follower of Jesus Christ. In the name of the father, and of the son, and holy of spirit.
Amen.