Charlie Kirk and the Question of Judgment

I’ve been mulling over, penning down some of my thoughts on judgment so this will be quick and direct, less essay-ish since I am still processing this and I know enough of you do not like when I wax too philosophical. So let’s get it.

A lot of people I know feel antagonized by the very concept of judgment. Some are irritated by Christianity in principle because of it. They will point to what they think is Christianity condemning them, and then they will flip the script and use Christianity against itself: “See, your Bible says, judge not, lest ye be judged.”

And of course, right now we are seeing everyone judge and condemn each other over the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Social media is full of verdicts, finger pointing, and moral outrage. Everyone is declaring who is guilty, who is complicit, who deserves what. And in the middle of it, I cannot help but notice the same folks who throw “judge not” around like a shield are also passing judgment just as quickly as anyone else.

Part of it is that we want to have our cake and eat it too. We want to call people out for how they mess up but make sure no one can say anything about our own foibles. We rail against racism, we call people fascists, and then we whinge and complain that folks cannot judge us. It is self serving and dishonest.

Judgment itself is not the problem. We cannot escape it. Every day we judge what is wise and what is foolish, what is good and what is harmful. Parents judge what is safe for their children. Communities judge what laws to live by. Friends judge what kind of behavior they will tolerate. To live an ethical life requires judgment. Without it, everything falls apart.

Jesus himself judged. He called out hypocrisy, he named evil, he warned of destructive paths. So clearly “judge not” cannot mean “stop discerning, stop caring about right and wrong.”

What Jesus warns us about is condemnation. Condemnation is different. Condemnation says the case is closed. It is the final word that someone is beyond hope, irredeemable, finished. Judgment can still leave the door open to change. Condemnation slams it shut.

That is the distinction we have to recover. We need judgment to live truthfully. But when judgment becomes condemnation, we step into God’s place. We pretend we can see the whole story, that we can write the final chapter of someone’s life. And that is not ours to do.

So the real problem is not that people judge. It is that we judge dishonestly. We denounce others while protecting ourselves. We want a moral vocabulary sharp enough to cut down our enemies but soft enough never to cut us. That is not integrity, it is hypocrisy.

If we are going to talk about judgment, let us at least be honest. We all do it. We all need to do it. Life without judgment is not freedom, it is chaos. The question is not whether we will judge, but whether we will judge with humility, and whether we can resist the temptation to condemn.