Christian Myth #2: Thou Shalt Not Judge

“Eminem is my God”

This is the statement I passed in the office late Friday which inspired me to create this entire post. When I wrote on Christian Myth #1, I was not really going for a series of Christian myth posts or anything. I was just going for number one as in the most perpetuated, not the first in a list; but then Friday happened.

It was late in the day; almost everyone had left except myself and a couple of other guys. As usual my laptop was blaring out loud hip hop, and then Eminem’s’Rap God’ began playing. As four out of the seven track playlist was Eminem tracks, one of the guys asked if I was a big Eminem fan.

Seeing as how I am the biggest one I know, and that I consider him the ‘Rap God’, I passed the statement that opened this piece. Cue the look Christians almost exclusively reserve for anyone who passes any comment they deem remotely blasphemous.

It’s a look that is simultaneously easily recognisable and hard to describe. It is a mixture of loathing, pity, utmost condescension and final judgement on your soul. It gets on my nerves every, single, time…

So we come to Christian myth #2: Thou shalt not judge. The relevant scripture is Luke 6: 37: and the little bible on my phone tells me it reads “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven”

Unfortunately, most Christians do nothing but judge others. They judge each other and they judge people of other religions: but most of all they judge people who question their beliefs. People who have the temerity to question the existence of God or to deny it altogether: people who make statements like the one I made which totally challenges their world view and makes them uncomfortable because they do not want to have to think too deeply about their faith.

Christians reading this article have already judged me, probably right at the moment they read that opening line. My boss Chris-Vincent has been at the receiving end of that judgement several times, every time he writes one of those articles where he decides to take on God or his vast religion based on contradictions. The comment section of this piece would probably be filled with more of those judgements.

I realise the contradiction in judging Christians myself when I am complaining about them judging others, but I make no claim to live by any creed that requires me not to judge others. So I can probably go ahead and judge Christians all I want, but immediately they judge me back they are going against the tenets of the holiest book they have.

But then again they do fail to heed more pressing instructions from the bible, some of which are the holiest such as the Ten Commandments. A minor passage from Luke should not hold the same prominence as the major bedrock of Judeo-Christian beliefs.

I feel like I should give more examples I’ve come across of this judgements I’m talking about, and I could, but I feel if everyone is honest enough they probably wouldn’t have to dig deep to come up with the last time they perpetuated this myth.

I guess sometimes you cannot blame them though; in cases such as the comment I passed and this article I’m writing there is a lot of not so subtle provocation involved, and sometimes one cannot help themselves but immediately pass judgement; verbally or non-verbally and consciously or unconsciously

Going to sign off with something one of my friends told him when I narrated my encounter to him. The Christian God is called Jehovah or Yahweh, the Muslim God is called Allah, and the Rap God is called Eminem. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive; I could be a follower of any two of these.

I’m not, but I could be; so the statement I made technically does not condemn me to the depths of hell. You probably think it does, but it does not.

Besides those scared that I could get there are not much better off than I am; because of Christian Myth #2.