I try not judge others, and, candidly, I do not attempt to use the gift of the Holy Ghost for this purpose, nor do I intend to. I really do my very best to leave the process of judgment to the Savior, who knows and understands us best.

1. Weird abuse of ALLCAPS takes place repeatedly — and increasingly — in your comments;
2. Your whole point is self-justification of judging the righteousness of other participants in the conversation;
3. Your comments basically say that if someone disagrees with you they need to involve the Spirit (implying they haven’t); and
4. You conclude your comments with “amen”.

I pray that if you disagree with me, you involve the Spirit, because I am pretty sure he’ll tell you that you’re going off the deep end a little and need to stop commenting.

I agree Antonio that the comment you refer to COULD be read that way, but I assure you that isn’t what I meant. What I had in mind was a day when the Lord reigns and peace and love and harmony are the order of the times because He can only dwell with among those who are like Him. (in other words-their hearts would have been judged by HIM and found pure) It was late and my brain was already half asleep. I should have been more clear.

But what you said in your reply prompts me to share something that I have come to know to be true through scripture and the direct revelation to which all of us are entitled. There is no directive to avoid judging others completely, as in never-ever do it. The directive is to avoid judging others unrighteously in any way that has not been prescribed by the Lord.

Moroni 7-verse 15 in particular:
“For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.”

GIVEN to us-TO judge. And the way to judge IS PLAIN.

The author of post #137 wants to believe that we as human beings “cannot know anything with certainty”, but such a statement is directly opposed to the teachings of the Savior. The Lord states over and over in person and through His prophets that He has GIVEN “every living soul” the ability to KNOW right from wrong, good from evil. We wouldn’t be accountable otherwise.

2 Nephi 2:5 agrees by saying:”And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men.”

Of course in Moroni 7:18 he reminds us that we need to use that light righteously, because in the same manner that we judge others, we ourselves will be judged. And that laws includes forgiving others completely, in order for our own sins to be forgiven.

But those who have God’s laws have never been commanded to refrain from judging at all. Being able to choose light over darkness and good over evil REQUIRES the ability to discern between them.

Paul chastises the Saints in 1 Corinthians harshly for refusing to judge each other within the Church according to the laws of God. Instead they were taking every issue to the civil courts. He reminds them that “the Saints will judge the world”, and if they are expected to do something so huge, surely they can judge easily in smaller matters.

The JST retranslates Matthew 7:1-2 as:
Now these are the words which Jesus taught his disciples that they should say unto the people. Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment.

D&C 11:12 tells us
And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

Judging righteously WITH the Spirit is not only proper and correct, God has told us to do it. When Saints are filled with that Spirit, they know when they “lack understanding” (as George Q. Canon alluded to) and they seek understanding. If they have done that due diligence and find themselves in disagreement with any another member, which includes the brethren, they will be prompted BY that Spirit to resolve the disagreement justly in the manner established in God’s law. (because as I understand the doctrine, the Spirit cannot/will not “prompt” us to do something contrary to the revealed word of God.)

That said, allow me to carefully put this out there.
As Saints, we have been commanded to gain our own personal testimonies of the truth. Suppose an LDS person has gained a testimony that the Light of Christ literally enables us to know good from evil and that Christ Himself taught us that the way to know/discern/detect a wolf hiding behind the appearance of a sheep, or a “good tree” from a “corrupt tree” is to examine their fruits-their acts-what they do and say.

In such a case, isn’t that person obligated to USE the light and knowledge they had been given in order not to lose it? And wouldn’t having that knowledge and keeping it active make it virtually impossible NOT to know when other saints are acting upon the Spirit and when they are not?

This concept, when applied honestly to scripture and prophetic counsel has been the key to many doors for me.
I have no wish to debate about something that I “know” to be true, and I only spoke as I felt prompted to. I pray that if you disagree with me, that you involve the Spirit in making that decision and judge my words and intentions righteously, for both our sakes. Amen.

I am glad you are here to encourage the boundaries of orthodoxy.

I hope that disagreement with you is not itself an example of failing to sustain leaders (i.e., I hope you are not one of the Brethren in disguise).

FWIW, I know some one who contributed $10,000 to the Church’s campaign, and who told me privately that he thought Elder Oaks analogy to the civil rights campaign in the 1960s may have been a mistake because it diverted attention from the more fundamental points Elder Oaks was trying to make. Shall I inform him that he is on the high road to apostasy?

re: Your last paragraph in 154 seems to require you to exercise judgment about the hearts of fellow Saints in a manner that may very well be more far reaching and invasive than the questioning by Latter-Day Saints of the correctness of utterances of Church leaders, the latter of which has received some very strong admonitions from you in this thread. The directive to avoid judging others applies not just to vertical relationships, but to horizontal ones, as well.

The need for caution abounds. God bless us, everyone.

Dan, I’m still chuckling over the incredibly vivid picture you painted in your guest post. Everything from the terror ride down the hill to the tree attacking your mom-I can picture clearly.