Condemnation Quote by Dallas Willard

This hit especially close to home, as it is election time and the world is full with what’s wrong with everyone else’s views:

From Dallas Willard’s “The Divine Conspiracy” (chapter 7)

“The result of condemning and blaming is sure to be a counterattack in the very same terms.  The parents who have reproached a child for using drugs, for example, soon find themselves condemned for coffee, tobacco, or alcohol use.  This is a well-known case of exactly what Jesus said: “Don’t condemn or you will be condemned. As you have meted out condemnation to others, so they will mete out condemnation to you” (Matt. 7:1-2).”

“…This reciprocity explains why condemnation as a strategy for correcting or “helping” those near and dear to us will almost always fail.  It is extremely rare that anyone who is condemned will respond by changing in the desired way.  And those who can so respond are most likely to be spiritual giants already. “Rebuke a wise man,” the proverb says, “and he will love you for it” (Prov. 9:8).  Yes, but in most cases where we condemn we are not dealing with wise people.  We are dealing with people, even very young people, who will simply be deeply injured, become angry, and repay us in kind.

“…Jesus shows us how to proceed in another way, a better way, to help the ones we care about.  He says, “Why do you concentrate on the little speck in your brother’s eye, but do not take into consideration the board in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘let me get that little speck out of your eye,’ when you are standing there with a board covering your own eye?” (Matt 7:3-4).

“…Condemnation is the board in our eye.  He knows that the mere fact that we are condemning someone shows our heart does not have the kingdom rightness he has been talking about.  Condemnation, especially with its usual accompaniments of anger and contempt and self-righteousness, blinds us to the reality of the other person.  We cannot “see clearly” how to assist our brother, because we cannot see our brother.  And we wil never know how to truly help him until we have grown into the kind of person who does not condemn.  Period.”