{"id":54121,"date":"2026-07-20T14:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=54121"},"modified":"2026-07-22T15:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:34:34","slug":"judge-not-in-church-or-anywhere-or-what-did-church-lead-you-to-think-about-yesterday-7-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/judge-not-in-church-or-anywhere-or-what-did-church-lead-you-to-think-about-yesterday-7-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Not in Church\u2014or anywhere (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 7\/12"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201dJudge Not\u201d is a kind of clich\u00e9 \u2014 and often a weapon we wield when someone says something we disagree with, or makes an incorrect judgment. Meanwhile, we hypocritically are judging them for what they said. We usually aren\u2019t too concerned with the judgment itself. In addition, Joseph Smith\u2019s translation of the Bible doesn\u2019t help with this, changing the phrase to \u201cjudge not unrighteously\u201d, as if the issue was judging wrong instead of the fact that we\u2019re judging at all.<\/p>\n

Should we really not judge?<\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s another problem with judging that we\u2019ve passed over. It\u2019s the same problem that happens when we name something \u2014 when we name we are reducing the thing, simplifying it to a core set of descriptions. Calling that flying animal a \u201cbird\u201d brings with it a core set of assumptions about the animal (it flys, it has feathers, it lays eggs, etc.), that can not only be wrong (for example, not all birds fly), but also leaves out things about that bird (as a representative of a species or group, and as an individual) that are important for what it is. In a very real sense when we have named something, we are generally no longer curious about it \u2014 we don\u2019t need to investigate further.<\/p>\n

Judging is similar. We\u2019ve reduced the person or thing or action to one (and it\u2019s usually one) aspect, and eliminated all others. When we call a talk in Church a \u201cbad\u201d talk, we allow ourselves to dismiss its details, to forget it, to mentally say it has no value. Even if the speaker said one thing that was true or good or beautiful, or that would have led os to think of something true or good or beautiful, we have judged it and forgotten it. We have objectified it, reduced it to one thing. In my opinion, this is NOT righteous judgment.<\/p>\n

If you have been reading these posts in the past, you will not be surprised when I blame this on our culture, which tends to seek judgment over everything. It labels actions as either \u201cgreat\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d and tells us to value the \u201cgoat\u201d, the best, the most of whatever characteristic it thinks is important that day. It compares, and when it compares, it judges. And, as with almost all judgment, it reduces the person or thing or action to one aspect. That is, it objectifies it.<\/p>\n

Is that really useful? Do we want to be objectified that way? Do we want to be reduced to one thing? Can we instead focus on finding useful and nuanced ways of reacting, ways that allow us to expand on what was said and see the complexity of the person or thing, point or purpose, action or expression? Why reduce things when we can\u00a0change our ways of thinking to something better?<\/p>\n

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So, how do you participate in Church? Are you engaged in what happens?<\/p>\n

In these posts I am trying to suggest that each of us can have better experiences at Church if we take responsibility for our experiences, and if we are open to learning from what happens by pondering it \u2014 by thinking about it in many different ways. We can choose to learn and benefit from what happens regardless of whether it fits our perception of what is \u201cgood.\u201d Thinking about our reactions and what we understand allows for revelation and for better understanding.<\/p>\n

In this vein, I like the statement that President Hugh B. Brown made in a 1969 BYU devotional, President Hugh B. Brown declared that the Church is \u201cnot so much concerned with whether your thoughts are orthodox or heterodox as we are that you shall have thoughts.\u201d We should be carefully considering what we hear at Church, regardless of whether what we heard is right or wrong, orthodox or heterodox.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of our thought depends on how we look at it. It is not different from what many artists figure out\u2014they understand that how you see the \u00a0world before you is more important than what you see. You might call it \u2018active listening\u2019 or shifting perspective. It just means that you see differently. And seeing differently reveals a different world.<\/p>\n

In my case, I tend to focus narrowly, thinking about groups of words or sentences, sometimes taking them out of context and thinking about what they say, even if the speaker didn\u2019t intend what I heard. It\u2019s not at all like what we\u2019re taught in school, where the focus is on understanding accurately and completely what the speaker or text says. Its about pulling out useful or inspiring thoughts in spite of what was said.<\/p>\n

So, if you aren\u2019t thinking this way, maybe try it next Sunday, or the next time you are in a class or meeting. If you have already thoughts inspired by what happened at church, what are they? How did you react to what happened in Church yesterday? What did you notice? Did you end up thinking differently? Do you think your reactions were what they should be? Were they looking for what God had to tell you? Did your reactions make things better?<\/p>\n

This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, continuing a series of weekly posts that started with my post<\/a> on September 25th about how we receive what happens in Church meetings\u2014sermons, lessons and anything else\u2014and enter a conversation with them, magnifying what was said or adding what we think. In these posts I\u2019m asking us all to think about how we listen and receive what happens at Church. If we only listen for mistakes, or things that bother us, what does that say about us? Is it most important to criticize others? Or to try to change ourselves?<\/p>\n

The point here is that no matter how poorly prepared the speaker or teacher is, or no matter how what happens triggers us, or is objectively or doctrinally wrong, we can still find elements in what is said and what happens that inspires and edifies us. Even if church meetings aren\u2019t conducted in a way that reaches us, we can take responsibility and find a way to feel the spirit.<\/p>\n

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So please, write down reactions and thoughts to what happened in Church. You might keep your own \u2018spiritual journal\u2019, or, if you like, you can post your reactions below. I\u2019m adding my own reactions and thoughts as a comment to this post \u2014 instead of as a part of this post, because my reactions aren\u2019t any better than anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Let me emphasize that this is NOT a place to criticize what is wrong with church or your fellow congregants. The point is to post what you learned because of what happened at Church or how that led you to think. It\u2019s about the good things we can get out of Church, not the negative things that disturbed or upset us. It doesn\u2019t have to be orthodox, traditional or even on topic.<\/p>\n

If you like, make your response in the format, \u201cThey said or did this, and I said or thought that.\u201d Even the things you dislike the most can be turned into lessons for what the gospel teaches we should do.<\/p>\n

My hope is that these reactions serve as an example of a better way to treat what happens at Church instead of the perennial complaints about speaker or teacher preparation or ability, or complaints that the Church should do things differently.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201dJudge Not\u201d is a kind of clich\u00e9 \u2014 and often a weapon we wield when someone says something we disagree with, or makes an incorrect judgment. Meanwhile, we hypocritically are judging them for what they said. We usually aren\u2019t too concerned with the judgment itself. In addition, Joseph Smith\u2019s translation of the Bible doesn\u2019t help with this, changing the phrase to \u201cjudge not unrighteously\u201d, as if the issue was judging wrong instead of the fact that we\u2019re judging at all. Should we really not judge? I think there\u2019s another problem with judging that we\u2019ve passed over. It\u2019s the same problem that happens when we name something \u2014 when we name we are reducing the thing, simplifying it to a core set of descriptions. Calling that flying animal a \u201cbird\u201d brings with it a core set of assumptions about the animal (it flys, it has feathers, it lays eggs, etc.), that can not only be wrong (for example, not all birds fly), but also leaves out things about that bird (as a representative of a species or group, and as an individual) that are important for what it is. In a very real sense when we have named something, we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":54136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latter-day-saint-thought"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_3819.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54121"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54139,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54121\/revisions\/54139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}