Book Review

Who Are You to Judge?

by Dave Swavely

When I saw the title, Who Are You to Judge, I was hoping that I was about to read a good, balanced examination of the distinct difference between judging and discernment, but that is sadly not what I encountered. I have no doubt that today’s Church is going to love this book, but then again many Christians enjoy living the way they want to without anyone “judging” them.

Now, to be fair, the author does say that there are times “when we should judge others,” that “the Bible does teach that we should judge right from wrong, and discern truth from error.” His point then is that “the answer to these apparent contradictions must lie in the issue being judged” (pp. 20-21) and that we must never judge motives (p.24f).

My biggest problem with this book, however, lies in some of the author’s illustrations of common “judgmental” and “legalistic” statements. On page 2 he lists sixteen examples, all of which he discusses later in the book. Five I had trouble with are: “A church that does not serve weekly communion is dishonoring the Lord;” “Any woman who works a full-time job is neglecting her children;” “Modern alcoholic drinks are more potent than the wine of Jesus’ day;” “God is sickened by the singing of simplistic praise choruses that repeat the same words over and over;” and “Birth control robs God of His sovereignty and rebelliously refuses His blessings.” I must assume that he is saying, “The Bible is silent on these” (which in my view flirts with the denial of biblical sufficiency)

In every one of those cases, in fact, there are solid Bible teachers who make a strong biblical case for each statement. I’ll not do so with all of them here, of course, but as a brief example, particularly troubling is the author’s defense of the Christian using alcohol. Now, while he is absolutely correct that the Bible “never says that it is a sin to drink,” he then adds that it’s okay “as long as we do not become inebriated to the point where we are no longer ‘filled with the Spirit’ (Eph. 5:18)” (p. 22). But in today’s American culture, that is a very disturbing position to teach because of the implications. In the town where I pastor, for example, there is an evangelical Southern Baptist church whose youth leader, with the full sanction of the pastor, teaches teenagers that Christians are at liberty to drink alcohol! Is that the message you want your teenagers to hear? The author also adds that the teaching “that the wine that Jesus and other Christians drank in Bible times was watered down” is “questionable historically” (p. 23), but that’s simply not so; that fact is easily demonstrated by several historical sources. While he does mention that we should not offend a brother with our liberty (1 Cor. 4-13), he barely mentions the principle that “all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient” (10:23-9; pp. 121-22), so I found his discussions on both extremely weak.

In short, while the author says some very good things about the dangers of legalism, and while I think the book is certainly worth reading, I am troubled by the clear implication that the Bible is insufficient in not giving definite guidance on behavior and that the book at times seems to condone behavior that biblically is not “expedient.” In a day when discernment is virtually non-existent in the Church, this book could have been much better with a more balanced presentation of judging verses discernment.

Dr. J. D. Watson

Pastor-Teacher

Grace Bible Church

Meeker, CO

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