UNDERSTANDING JUDGING, LOVE, HATE, FAVORITISM AND PARTIALITY
Just as religious people think they understand Godly love because they understand human love, they also think they understand biblical hate and fear. They are wrong about this also.

Love and hate are often thought to be opposite concepts. This is also true in the bible but there is a twist to the meaning of hate that is critical to understand. In human terms, hate is absolute. It is the opposite of love. It does not allow room for any measure of respect, esteem, affection or redemptive value. This definition contrasts with God’s idea of hate which is an expression of relative human value – not absolute value. In God’s eyes we hate someone when the following are true:

• We detest (i.e. hold a low opinion of) people because we judge them to be deficient in some way (e.g. intelligence, beauty, education, ethnicity, morality, religious beliefs, etc.)
• We love them less than we love ourselves.
• We esteem them less than we esteem ourselves and others whom we hold in high regard.

To summarize, God says we hate anyone whom we don’t regard as our equal in all respects. This definition sets a very high threshold for love and a low threshold for hate.

We express Godly love when we do not show favoritism or partiality to anyone for any standard by which humans habitually rank (i.e. judge, value) people. We cross the threshold for hate whenever we show even the slightest measure of favoritism or partiality for ourselves, for members of our preferred religious/political communities, and for people who look like us, think like us, and act like us. This threshold is very easy to cross — especially because our religions and cultures teach from an early age to make these kinds of judgments.

We make judgments about others when we observe external differences (e.g. skin color, gender, language, economic status, etc.) between ourselves and others. The apparent legitimacy of these judgments is confirmed by people we trust (i.e. parents, religious leaders, politicians, friends, neighbors, etc.) who confidently share judgments that we find credible. Our trust in the opinions/judgments of other increases when they confirm our own opinions/judgments. The environment in which opinions/judgments circulate and are reinforced with every retelling is called an echo chamber. Echo chambers can be positive if the opinions are based on verifiable facts and righteous judgments. Echo chambers are negative if opinions are based on hearsay and unrighteous judgments. Positive echo chambers make the world better and negative echo chambers make the world worse.

The imagined veracity of negative echo chamber judgments/opinions becomes embedded in our hearts and minds every time we listen or speak. It becomes impossible, therefore, to change our negative/preferential, hateful feelings about others:

• We detest (i.e. hold a low opinion of) people because we judge them to be deficient in some way (e.g. intelligence, beauty, education, ethnicity, morality, religious beliefs, etc.)
• We love them less than we love ourselves.
• We esteem them less than we esteem ourselves and others whom we hold in high regard.

When this is how we think about ourselves compared to others, we commit the sin of partiality and favoritism. Thinking of others in these ways is perfectly legal in all cultures, but not in the Kingdom of God.

The bible reports the following commandments that inform us about how God judges:

• 1Samuel 16:7  But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
• John 7:24  “Do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
• Leviticus 19:15  ‘You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor nor give preference to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
• Isaiah 11:3  And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
• Luke 16:15  And He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of people, but God knows your hearts; because that which is highly esteemed among people is detestable in the sight of God.
• John 8:15-16  “You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. 16 “But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.
• Acts 1:24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen
• 2Corinthians 5:16  Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.
• Proverbs 21:2 Every person’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD examines the hearts.
• 2Chronicles 6:30 then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know–for You alone know the hearts of the sons of mankind
• 1Chronicles 28:9  “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of every thought.

There are five fundamental lessons in these scriptures:

1. Do not judge (i.e. form opinions) others based on what you see or hear (i.e. according to the flesh.)
2. Making judgments about people based on what you see or hear is injustice and sin in God’s eyes.
3. God does not judge people based on external, physical, observable evidence.
4. God judges everyone (both religious and nonreligious) according to the condition of their hearts.
5. People are not able to judge anyone because the do not know the hearts of others.

For all these reasons and more, God warns people not to judge others. Consider these facts:

• Even Jesus did not judge people because the right to judge belongs only to God.
• Only God can judge righteously because only God knows the conditions of hearts.
• Anyone who presumes to judge another judges unjustly because they make presumptions about heart conditions based on external evidence.
• Anyone who presumes to judge another puts himself/herself in the place of God.

God feels so strongly about judging that he equates it with murder which is a sin. If people would think of judging the same way they think about physical murder, the world would be a better place. In other words, when God says “do not murder” he means “do not judge unjustly/unfairly.”

God’s judgments are righteous, just and fair because he judges hearts. Human judgments are unrighteous, unjust and unfair because they are based on what people see and hear. This understanding helps us to appreciate why God gave the commandment to love your neighbor and to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This command can be applied as a general principle about relationships but it has a special application with respect to judging that can be stated like this: Judge others the way you would have them judge you.

This interpretation has this special meaning only for people who understand that God only judges hearts. The dynamics of human judging always involves observations of words and behaviors. Because people do not know the condition of their hearts, they like to believe that their hearts are clean and pure. Therefore, when they are judged by someone, especially someone whom they have otherwise judged to have hearts that are unclean and impure, they will object to a judgment they believe to be unfair and inaccurate. Their one and only defense to unfair, inaccurate judgments is to say “Who are you to judge me, and what about the evil things you have done? This response will cause almost anyone to retreat in shame with their mouths closed. End of story. Both parties have learned the risks of judging others. Personal experience has taught them that judging others will very likely lead to condemnation which they want to avoid. This is how it works in the world but these scenarios do not satisfy God’s commands about judging righteously.

Most of us like to think that we are good people with good hearts and expect — or at least hope — that we will be treated like we are good people — even if we make mistakes Therefore, when someone is angry with us for something we have said or done or judges us to be deficient in one way or another, we take offense because the one who makes judgements about us has based their judgment on external appearances – or actions, or words – not on the condition of our heart which we like to believe is good.

We may disagree about politics, literature, art and other topics that engage the mind, but anger and judging the heart are not easily tolerated because they touch deep into who we are. Anger and judgment brings into doubt our integrity, self-worth and respect. We don’t like to be challenged about these matter of the heart — even if we know, or suspect, that we are flawed people. We might know that we are flawed but we don’t want anyone to bring our flaws to public attention. Judging hurts deeply. That is why God equates judging with murder. When someone judges our hearts, or is even angry at us, we experience pain that has the potential to kill our spirit. That is murder. We don’t bleed externally but we bleed internally. Most cultures have civil laws that forbid physical murder and punish murderers. God’s laws about judging are his way of dealing with murder of the heart.

There are many ways to show others that we are internally hurt by anger and judgments/opinions of our hearts, but forgiveness is the only response that makes the world better and relieves the pain.  That is why forgiveness is a feature of love. Unless we forgive our enemies, all of our responses to the heart pain we experience when we are judged unfairly will make the world worse for us and others..

When we judge others based on external appearances, our judgment is interpreted as a heart defect. This is an unrighteous judgment because it is based on external evidence –not on understanding of the heart. God calls this injustice. That is not what love does. Love assumes the best –not the worst — about someone. This is what we would hope for in the attitudes of others about us because we would never want anyone to judge our hearts as bad/deficient/unloving. Even if we know we are guilty, pride prevents us from accepting unrighteous judgments made by others. Attitudes that show respect and care for our bodies, feelings and hearts make us feel loved, respected and valued. These simple attitudes make the world a better place. These are the attitudes that God mentions in his commands about how to relate to one another. In biblical terms, it can be said that we love someone when we value them as our equals in all respects (e.g. skin color, ethnicity, educations, education, politics, religions, etc.) Conversely, we hate them when when we do not value them as our equals in one or more respects.

The bible says that we hate others when we esteem them less and love them less than we esteem/love ourselves. This comparison explains how Jesus could say that we should hate our family and our own bodies if we want to be his disciple. If we love ourselves and people who are like us but hate anyone who is not like us, we are not Jesus’ disciples. When we judge (i.e. measure, compare, evaluate) everyone against our personal, human, religious, cultural standards (e.g. intellect, education, skin color, education, financial assets, religion, politics, etc.) and we find that they are not equal to us, we make ourselves the standard of righteousness and effectively hate them. This is not what Jesus taught. God alone sets the standard of righteousness. Loving God and your neighbor as you love yourself are the two great commandments upon which righteousness is based. People who show favoritism for themselves and people like them contradict God’s standard of righteousness. God calls it sin when we love/esteem others less than we love/esteem ourselves. This is a very low standard for the definition of sin. 

Our cultural training is to love, respect, honor, accept and care for people who are like us in terms of ethnicity, skin color, religion, politics, education, gender and other factors specific to our culture  .Accordingly, each culture trains its people to dismiss, despise, devalue, reject and ignore — and occasionally murder — people who are not members of our personal social, economic, educational, ethnic, racial or religious culture. Cultures do this to secure the integrity of the culture. While having these attitudes is perfectly normal and permissible in all cultures, God calls the formation and nurturing of these attitudes judging which he also calls sin because they involve making conscious judgments of partiality and favoritism that elevate people like us and devalue people who are not like us instead of building them up.

 All cultures have laws against murder, but judging others and having hate in your heart are not crimes – except in God’s eyes. This narrow definition of murder is what Jesus was trying to communicate when he corrected the Jews’ understanding of murder to include all thoughts, words and actions (including all kinds of abuse). This definition of murder is broad enough to include attitudes about the following kinds of people:

politicians,	poor people
rich people	educated people
uneducated people	people with different religious beliefs
people of a different color	people of a different ethnicity and/or speak a different language
people who dress different	people of a different sex or sexual orientation
people who use drugs and/or alcohol	people who are not pretty or handsome

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This is only a short list of attitudes about people that qualify as murder in God’s eyes. It is also a short list of human characteristics that people use to judge others.

Judging is not an intellectual assessment of facts people make about other people. Judging is a spiritual activity that originates in evil hearts of murderers. See this link for understanding of evil.

Of course humans don’t consider judging to be evil or criminal because everyone does it and no one is ever arrested for judging. Even in Judaism and Christianity, judging is permissible and encouraged. Some might call it racism, sexism, classism, ableism, anti-Semitism, ageism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, and political partisanship, but these are all permissible attitudes in most cultures. God, however, calls it judging, favoritism, and partiality. He also calls it evil and sin. That should be a wakeup call for everyone.

Some religious people might admit to discrimination, but they do not see that as sin. God calls discrimination and partiality sin because these judgments favor people like us while excluding people who are not like us.  Furthermore, we tend to believe that judging is God’s job – not our job.

Judging others by outward appearances is a very low threshold for sin that is very easy to trip over. We don’t think of our attitudes toward others who are not like us as hate, and surely not as sin, but what we think does not matter to God.

When we judge people to not be our equals, God calls our judging habits hate and sin. We say, in effect, that we are good/righteous/smart/pretty/rich etcetera, and they do not possess any of those qualities. In our prideful, arrogant view of our personal goodness/righteousness/intellect/beauty, we say, in effect, that God finds us to be more perfect than they are. In God’s eyes, we hate people who are not equal to us. 

Man’s habit in judging is to look at external characteristics, but God judges people by looking at the condition of their hearts. People who love their neighbors with Godly love judge and honor them all as their equals or superiors because they know that they are not qualified to judge the condition of human hearts. They understand why God warns us not to judge our neighbors.

People who hate their neighbors make judgments based on superficial, external characteristics (e.g. skin color, gender, religion, ethnicity, education, politics, etc.) that they can see with their eyes  They do this because they have never been taught that God judges the hearts of people – not their external characteristics. Nevertheless, ignorance of God’s laws about judging, favoritism and partiality is not an excuse for breaking the law. That is the bad news about judging. The good news is that people who now know the truth can apply it personally and share it with their neighbors as an act of love. 

Sharing the truth about how to love your neighbors has the potential to change entrenched habits about judging and how to love your neighbor in even the hardest, most evil hearts. When people love their neighbors with Godly love, God’s plan for achieving diversity, equity and inclusion (i.e. equality, oneness and unity) can be accomplished.

Anyone who understands Godly love knows that America’s claim to be one indivisible nation under God with liberty and justice for all is not, and never was, true. Communal recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, singing the National Anthem, praying the Lord’s prayer, starting legislative sessions with prayer, and posting the Ten Commandments in public places do not satisfy God’s commands for loving God or your neighbor. These are all displays of empty, religious, pseudo-patriotism. Outward displays of religious piety do not satisfy God’s commands about how to love God or your neighbor.

Division happens when people disobey God’s command to love your neighbor as you love yourself. The corollary to this command (stop judging/hating those whom you find deficient in some way) is found throughout the bible in God’s commands about how to relate to others. 

Hate for others is the distinguishing characteristic of Christian Nationalists. Americans need a remedial course on Godly love that has never been preached in churches, practiced in homes, practiced in political campaigns or practiced in legislative bodies. How to Make the World Better: Love Your Neighbor is the syllabus for that course.