We live in a culture where the thing that is most offensive is not doing something wrong, but telling someone else that they are doing something wrong.

Bad behavior gets a pass.  Calling it bad behavior does not.

Of course, this cultural trend should not be surprising. We are told in Scripture that depraved cultures “call evil good and good evil” (Is 5:20).

But, living in a culture like this has had its effect on Christians. We have been conditioned to never condemn certain kinds of behavior lest we are chastened by an avalanche of social media accusing us of being legalistic and judgmental.

Thus, even in Christian circles we often hear the claim, “It’s not my place to judge someone else.”

This popular phrase is the next installment in the “Taking Back Christianese” series. Our purpose in this post (as in all the posts in this series) is simply to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this phrase.  We will do this by asking three questions:  (1) Why do people use this phrase?  (2) What is correct or helpful about this phrase?  and (3) What is problematic about this phrase? [Read more…]