That Ye Be Not Judged

¹"Judge not, that ye be not judged." (Matthew 7:1). When I began law school, one of the facts that really surprised me was that out of all of the millions of lawsuits that are filed each year, only a vanishingly small percentage of them ever make it to trial. Almost all of them are either dismissed or settled out of court. In other words, only very rarely does a matter go before a judge. When it comes to the judgement that we all must face at the conclusion of our mortal lives, Christ would very much prefer to settle things out of court. The demands of Justice are strict and unyielding, but Jesus has put up an infinite and eternal sacrifice to ensure that the demands of Justice are met in full. As long as we abide by the terms of the settlement - repent promptly and fully, strive to keep the commandments and our covenants, love God with all of our heart and our neighbors as ourselves, follow and try to be like Jesus in all that we do and say - then according to the terms of the settlement, our debts are considered paid in full and there is no need for us to go to trial and be judged. However, when we choose to judge either ourselves or others, then, against the advice of counsel, we reject the settlement agreement and we must then face the full weight of justice and be judged according to the strictest standards imaginable. That is a court case we will not win. The great and eternal Judge will not have the option to be lenient with us because we rejected the unbelievable settlement agreement that was on the table. And even if we weren't jeopardizing our one chance at salvation by rejecting the settlement agreement and forcing ourselves to be judged just because we feel the need to pass judgments of our own, what makes us think that we are remotely qualified to pass judgement? We have not been sworn in as judges. We don't have full access to the laws by which judgement must be passed, nor do we have access to any judicial proceedings like discovery or witnesses or an impartial jury. I think a lot of us understand that we are unable to stand in the place of Divine Mercy and dispense forgiveness for our own or others’ sins and mistakes. Part of the reason that we are so eager to pass judgement on ourselves and to beat ourselves up is because we know that we are facing consequences that we are powerless to change or erase? But if we can't take the place of Divine Mercy, why would we ever think we can take the place of Divine Justice? We can no more judge than we can forgive. We can't fix broken things so we should not feel at liberty to attempt to condemn broken people. Look, if our settlement agreement says that we can't try to judge anyone, including ourselves, then we just have to stop doing that, because we do not want to go to trial. Moroni talks about a pleasing bar of the great Jehovah: “And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.” (Moroni 10:34). The Bar is pleasing for the quick, for those who chose not to judge and thus are appearing before the Eternal Judge in a quick acknowledgement of the agreement that was made. But for those who insisted on having a full trial, it will be neither pleasing, nor quick. I hope that we all choose not to judge so that we ourselves will not have to face Eternal Judgement.