don't judge me

The other day I was buying a sports top for my wife at Dick's and I asked the checker chick, "Do you think this will look good on me?" With good intention, she facetiously replied, "I'm not going to judge you, so you can get it if you'd like."

Would telling me that it's not a good idea to wear a female sports top be judging me?

I'm not sure where it originated, but why is it that people mistake suggesting correction with judging? I really do think that this has a lot to do with why people think that it's not okay to tell someone--even school kids--that what they're doing is wrong. It's the same people who would say, "We 'should' no longer use the word 'should' because no one 'should' tell anyone else what they 'should' do."

Judging wasn't originally judging. Jesus used to get on people for judging, but that was because they would not only condemn someone's actions, but also condemn them. They hated the sin and, therefore, the sinner. And if hatred or condemnation wasn't flowing from their mouths, it was at least brewing in their hearts.

How did judging evolve from that to this? I'd venture to say that it's because of the lack of both believers and non-believers to hate the sin and love the sinner. So does that mean that people, in effort to love everyone, should decry nothing to make everyone more lovable? It reminds me of the part in Romans when Paul says, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" Except it's more like, "Shall we go on accepting everything so that perfection may increase (while grace decreases)?"

"By no means!"

Imagine where you would be if no one in your life ever "judged" (corrected) you. Imagine what this world will be when people stop "judging" (correcting).