And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost, 1916

Bible: Let Us Read

Should We Judge Others?

Rebekah Josepha Coover -age 12 - -2/2002

    Should we judge others? My friends, we ought to know. To start with, what is judging? When you pass a man on the street, one whose nose is up in the air, who is wearing one of those ties that you saw marked at a ridiculously high price, a gold chair is around his neck, a gold watch on his wrist, a gold ring on each finger, etc. etc., I am sure us "common people" would judge him as something like "haughtily wealthy". That is judging. For a less extreme example, when you see a young lady wearing a flowing white dress, with her hair modestly pinned up in the back, and a gentle smile on her face, you might think, "She looks wholesome." That is judging.

    Not to give "Nave's Topical Bible" a bad name or anything (It is a very helpful resource.), but when I looked up "Judging" in it, it referred me to "Uncharitableness". I thought I'd put off my "Should We Judge?" study until later, but Yahweh changed my mind. I went ahead and looked up "Uncharitableness". Here are some of the verses I found.

    Familiar with the scripture that condemns judging the mote (speck, particle) in your brother's eye when you've got a beam (plank) in your own eye? (Matthew 7:1-5) But we certainly aren't supposed to leave that beam in there. No. What does verse 5 say? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye: and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. So what are we supposed to do? We are to make sure that our own lives are at in a clean state, and then... then we are to judge others also.

    How about John 7:24. It says, Judge not. O-K, let's stop there. No! Let's read the whole verse. Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement.

    Let's read James 4:11-12. Speak not evil one of another (brethren:) he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the Law, and judgeth the Law: but if thou judge the Law, thou art not a doer of the Law, but a judge. There is one LawGiver, who is able to save, and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? What is this saying, my brethren and sisters? Friends, this is saying, "Don't make up a false story about your brother, and judge him as wrong, according to that story." It cannot mean that we can't judge others! Look at this letter that James is writing. It is a letter of exhortation and judgement. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17) What is this but judgement?

    My friends, I cannot tell you whether or not you should be judging others. I do not know your heart condition. I do not know what state your spirit is in, and how Yahweh looks at you. But let me tell you one thing: judgement should begin as "self judgement". First of all, we should judge our own selves. (Matt. 7:5) David, King of Israel, prayed this prayer: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ....... Hide Thy face from my sins; and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O Yahweh; and renew a right spirit within me. (See Psalm 51) But what does he say a few verses down in the chapter, after praying for cleansing? He says, Then will I teach transgressors Thy Ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. May we have "deep cleaning" from Yahweh, and may we share the joy and peace that comes from having a clean heart, with others.

"In The Hebrew Tongue"

 Love One Another part II

Snoring Problems and Sleeping Parties

by Mama (Amy K.) Coover

    It's been quite a while since I told you part 1 of this story so let me begin by refreshing your memory up until this point. In part 1, the Klondike family was happily preparing to go and bring their beloved Aunt Tipsy home with them to live permanently with them, as her husband had died. Luke and Loretta were just sure that it would be the ideal thing having Aunt Tipsy live with them. Since their uncle had died, Aunt Tipsy was lonely and they thought she needed them as much as they KNEW that they needed her. So they brought her home. In part 1, two little things happened that began to make the children think that perhaps everything wouldn't be as ideal as they had thought. Do you remember what those two LITTLE things were? Well, the first one was that it was a whole lot more crowded on the back seat with Aunt Tipsy between the two children than the children had ever imagined. Now that's really no big thing at all, but the children were learning to be flexible and adapt to a new situation. Sometimes that SEEMS to be very difficult, when really it's just a part of life that we all must grow into if we're going to be happy. And the second thing that happened on the car ride home, was that Luke blurted out that he smelled something TERRIBLE! That terrible smell turned out to be either Aunt Tipsy's Bengay cream , her nasal spray or her nasal infection. But this, too, they overcame when they arrived home and "aired Aunt Tipsy out" before taking her in the house. "Airing her out" was little Luke's suggestion, to which the whole family, including their Aunt, had a good laugh. Do you remember what they made together for supper that first night? It had been their Uncle's favorite dish. It was candied licorice-spice dandelion greens! And after a sweet evening of fellowship over supper, reminiscing over old times, part 1 closed with Luke and Loretta saying their prayers and asking Yahweh to forgive them for complaining about the little things and doubting his will in this new move. And they also thanked him for being so good to allow their Aunt to come live with them. So that was part 1. And now begins part 2.

    The children had no sooner finished their prayers than they drifted off quickly to sleep. But they didn't stay asleep very long before they were awakened by a very loud snoring sound. They both popped out of bed and came out in the hallway where they met their Mother and Father who had been awakened by the same sound.

    "What is that awful noise, Mother?", asked Loretta.

    "Oh, it's just your Aunt....snoring, dear. She doesn't realize she's doing it. I really don't know what to do about it, either, dears."

    "Well, let's just go back to bed and try our best to get some sleep," offered their Daddy. "We don't want to be selfish and disturb Tipsy's sleep. I'm quite certain that this was a very big day for her and that she needs her rest. I'm sure we'll all get used to it in time.....at least I HOPE we do." And with that Mother and Daddy kissed the children goodnight, and went back to bed.

    "You know, Daddy's right," said Loretta encouragingly, "And besides, I think it actually sounds kind of.....cute."

    Luke's tired little face looked up at Loretta's doubtingly. "I don't know, Loretta," is all he said before turning around and going back to his bed.

                            *******************************************************

    Morning dawned bright and cheerful in the Klondike home. Despite the little snoring episode, everyone got an excellent night's rest, and by the time everyone got to the kitchen table for breakfast, the incident was almost totally forgotten. That is, it WAS almost forgotten until Aunt Tipsy sprung her suggestion on the family.

    "I have a lovely idea for us all!", she exclaimed. "This evening, as you know, the weekly Sabbath comes in. Wouldn't it be lovely to get the ordinary preparation work done and then do a little more preparing to have an evening campfire and.....well, I was thinking at first of a camp-out, but it's been awful chilly the past few nights....I'd hate to have that dreaded sinus infection act up again. So, what do you all say if we have a camp-IN, a slumber party of sorts. We could all get sleeping bags and camp-in on the family room floor together. We could share favorite scripture verses with one another and tell Sabbath stories like we used to do when your Uncle Harold was still with us. He always loved that. So....what do you all think???"

    The same thought ran common through all of their brains. How would they EVER get ANY sleep if they were to TRY sleeping in the SAME ROOM with somebody who snored so loudly? But of course, they all knew that the campfire, scripture sharing and Sabbath stories WOULD BE GREAT FUN. So, since more seemed positive than negative, they all responded in unison, "Great idea, Aunt Tipsy!" And the preparations began.

    That morning and afternoon went by exceptionally fast, and before they knew it, they were all sitting around the campfire roasting expensive Kosher marshmallows over the open fire. Since the price of clean marshmallows had gone up, it had to be a very special occasion to roast them over a campfire. And a special occasion it was indeed!

    Following the campfire, they enjoyed scripture sharing and Sabbath stories, and when the evening came to a close, would you believe that not one of them remembered a thing about Aunt Tipsy's snoring and they all fell fast asleep and slept peacefully through the night undisturbed.......not because there was no snoring in the house, because the fact was, unbeknownst to them all, dear old Aunt Tipsy snored like a freight train ALL NIGHT LONG. Could it be that Daddy's HOPE had become REALITY in so short a time? The answer is a definite "YES" because they never minded their Aunt's cute snoring again from that evening forward.

    Well, that concludes Part 2. In the next issue, we'll meet up with the Klondike family again and see how they're getting along. Doesn't it almost make you wish that YOU had an Aunt Tipsy to come live in your family?