Do not judge one another

Do not judge one another.

 

126. Do not judge one another. The writings of God are clear on this, we are not to judge one another. We are all created by God and only He knows what is in our hearts and what we are really spiritually capable of, so we cannot judge each other as to our true spiritual capacitythe greatest name 8 pixBAHA’I FAITH: “The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him. Let none, therefore, consider the largeness or smallness of the receptacle. The portion of some might lie in the palm of a man’s hand, the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even a gallon-measure.” We are unable to know the true measure of another man, this only God knows, so we are unable to judge others.

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 8)

The shrine-17pix BABI RELIGION: “Say, this earthly life shall come to an end, and everyone shall expire and return unto my Lord God Who will reward with the choicest gifts the deeds of those who endure with patience. Verily thy God assigneth the measure of all created things as He willeth, by virtue of His behest; and those who conform to the good-pleasure of your Lord, they are indeed among the blissful.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 160)

As a Bahá’í we learn that only God can judge another man and only God knows that man’s or woman’s true spiritual station and destiny. Christianity and the other God fearing religions tell us the same thing: the cross-5pix CHRISTIANITYEphesians: 4:7 “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift (given to us and found within us).” 1 Corinthians: 6:5 Lo, “there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?Romans: 2:1 “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.” Romans: 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” James: 4:12 “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” It is because of this lack of spiritual knowledge about the spiritual condition of another soul that makes it impossible for us to judge or even guess at the state of another soul. Matthew: 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Matthew: 7:2 “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew: 7:3 “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?Matthew: 7:4 “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?Matthew: 7:5 “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Jewish symbols star-8pix JUDAISM:  Judith: 8:14 For ye cannot find the depth of the heart of man, neither can ye perceive the things that he thinketh: then how can ye search out God, that hath made all these things, and know His mind or comprehend His purpose?” (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha) Psalms: 62:3 “How long will ye imagine mischief (and wicked judgment) against a man? They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.” 62:12 “Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for Thou renderest to every man according to his work.” “Ye, shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.” Job: 9:21 “Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul:” Ezekiel: 33:20 “Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.” the cross-5pix CHRISTIANITY: Romans: 14:12 “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans: 14:13 “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” Ephesians: 4:7 For, “unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” 1 Corinthians: 4:3 “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.” 1 Corinthians: 4:4 “For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is The Lord.” Luke: 6:37 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” 6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

The shrine-17pix BABI RELIGION: “In the Bayan God hath forbidden everyone to pronounce judgement against any soul, lest he may pass sentence upon God, his Lord, while regarding himself to be of the righteous, inasmuch as no one knoweth how the Cause of God will begin or end.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 143)

the cross-25pix CHRISTIANITY: Matthew 7:1 “Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And, why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” and, 13:23 “he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Jewish symbols star-8pix JUDAISM: 1 Samuel: 16:7 “The LORD seeth not as man seeth;” God looks beyond this mortal realm of ours into the very heart of reality. When we look at the mechanisms of existence we question; we ask how and why. God already knows the answers to these simple questions. His omniscience is all encompassing. Isaiah: 29:20 “For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner (that judgeth) is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity (in others) are cut off: 29:21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught.

Islamic symbol-10 pix ISLAM: “You must not try to go in search of those weaknesses which are hidden from you (in others), leave them to Allah (God), and about those weaknesses which come to your notice, you must try to teach them how to over come them. Try not to expose the weaknesses of the people and Allah will conceal your own weaknesses which you do not want anybody to know.” Judge not one another.

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islamic symbol-5pix 263. “Kind words and the covering of faults are better than charity followed by injuries.” 159. “It is part of the mercy of Allah that thou dost deal gently with them. So, pass over (ignore, judge not their faults), and ask for (Allah’s) forgiveness for them; and consult them in affairs (at hand). Then, put thy trust in Allah. For, Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him).

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 2 and 3) 

Islamic symbol-5pix 85. “We created not the heavens, the earth, and all between them, but for just ends. And the Hour is surely coming when this will be manifest, so overlook (any human faults) with gracious forgiveness.” Judge not one another, for with that which ye judge, ye shall be judged. 86. “For verily it is thy Lord Who is the Master-Creator, knowing all things (found within man).” “Not one of us, but has a place appointed (but unbeknownst to him); we are verily ranged in ranks (of service, of which, only Allan knows the true merit).”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 15 and 37)

Islamic symbol-5pix 19. “And to all are (assigned) degrees according to the deeds which they (have done), and in order that (Allah) may recompense their deeds, and no injustice be done to them.” 163. “They are in varying grades in the sight of Allah; and Allah sees well all that they do.”

        (The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 3 and 46)

Islamic symbol-5pix “Allah asketh naught of any soul save that which He hath given it. Allah will vouchsafe, after hardship, ease.”

         (The Qur’an (Pickthall tr), Sura  65 – The Divorce)

Zoroastrian symbol-12pix ZOROASTRIANISM: “The man of right words is no regarder,” (of faults of others) “Think good only,” “O thou, my perishable body, think good thoughts with thy mind!

(The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 49, 68 and Fragments)

Ahura Mazda symbol-8pix Denkard. Zoroaster, “No sooner does one behold him, with a good eye, than one is exceedingly delighted with him, and loves him like a brother born of the same parents.” “One (is) not to look into the defects of others; and one (is) to trust in God.” Judge not others. “We are to ignore all that is bad in anybody, all that perverts the manifestation of Mazda (God), and only remember that Mazda is all the same latent in him.” Mazda is found in all of us, and our soul all have different capacities and allotments, and this is something that needs to be remembered. (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 811)

Hindu symbol-10pix HINDUISM: “Uprightness, heed to injure naught which lives, Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind That lightly letteth go what others prize; And equanimity, and charity Which spieth no man’s faults;” and judgeth not others.

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 16)

Hindu symbol 5-pix 2. “Whatever actions are blameless, those should be regarded, not others. Whatever good works have been performed by us, those should be observed by thee,” “With man’s measure He metes out; man is commensurate,” for we are all of different measures before our Creator.

(Hindu, Upanishads vol. 2, Taittiriyaka-Upanishad and Vedas, Yajur Veda – Kanda V)

Buddhist wheel symbol-10 pix BUDDHISM: 4. “It is not the shortcomings of others, nor what others have done or not done that one should think about, but what one has done or not done oneself.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

Dharma wheel Buddhist symbols-5pix 4. “As the bee collects nectar and departs without harming the flower or its color or scent, so let the sage live in a village. Not the faults of others nor their errors of commission or omission, but one’s own errors and omissions should the sage consider.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

Dharma wheel Buddhist symbols-5pix 4. “Pay no attention to the faults of others, Things done or left undone by others. Consider only what by oneself Is done or left undone.” Judge not one another, for ye know not what is in another, “their merit cannot be measured by anyone,” only by Brahma/Vishnu/God etc…

 (Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 and 3 (tr. J. Richards))

Mandaean symbol-15pix SABEANISM: “Judge us not after the fashion of earthly courts of law; despise us not for our follies and associate us not with the false rites practiced by the worlds and generations” “Behold him who standeth before thee and condemn him not.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 35 and 71)

Mandaean symbol1 “Health, victory and forgiving of sins be there for me, Adam, who have prayed this prayer and (these) Devotions. Forgiving of sins be there for a man whose eyes wait upon his Father and whose thought is directed to The Life and whose mind doth not stray from Knowledge-of-Life (God),” who spieth no mans faults and attempteth not to judge the unknown depths of his neighbour’s heart. (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 410)

The shrine-17pix BABI RELIGION: “That every Bábí recognizes or observes these precepts would be a foolish assertion; but let a prophet, if his gospel be in question, be Judged by his own preaching.” “It is He (God) Who setteth the measure assigned to each and every thing and revealeth His goodly gifts and blessings in His sacred Book for the benefit of those who offer gratitude for His Cause.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 600 and Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 160)

the greatest name-12pixBAHA’I FAITH: “Night and day endeavor to attain perfect harmony; be thoughtful concerning your own spiritual developments and close your eyes to the shortcomings of one another.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 365)

the greatest name 8 pix“Who are we that we should judge? How shall we know who, in the sight of God, is the most upright man? Gods thoughts are not like our thoughts! How many men who have seemed saint-like to their friends have fallen into the greatest humiliation.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 147)

the greatest name 8 pix“The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him. Let none, therefore, consider the largeness or smallness of the receptacle. The portion of some might lie in the palm of a man’s hand, the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even a gallon-measure.”

(Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 8)