Thanks for the comments.
No, it is not
just hermeneutics or differences in interpretation. Sometimes it is simply a false claim that can be demonstrated to be so. One example (unfortunately the interchange is now gone although I have my response archived):
Manny claimed that he has a biblical responsibility and mandate to judge other people, which provides him justification for his attacks, his slander, and his harsh rhetoric. Since I don't think he reads Greek, he depended almost exclusively on
an article by Yomi Adegboye, "Judge Not?" , duplicated on
Manny's blog. I can find nothing on the credentials or qualifications of Yomi Adegboye beyond his website, which is a "contend for the Faith" apologetics/discernment site. He appears to be African (Nigeria?) and views the Church as almost totally apostate.
In this article, Mr. Adegboye tries to make the argument that Christians are called to judge other Christians, even to using harsh words. He challenges Jesus' teaching in Matt 7:1-5 and says, "He was not commanding us not to judge." He then proceeds to collect together a whole range of texts that he offers as proof of his position, without doing any exegetical or contextual work on the passages. He also throws in Greek words trying to show how the Greek supports his position. He supplements that by topical interpretation of other passages. He takes any biblical passage that he thinks relates to the topic and applies it to his own version of what the Christian Faith ought to look like, claiming that it is only the truth. It is easy to see why Manny likes that approach since that is basically what he has been doing.
I responded to Manny with a detailed examination of the primary Greek words used in the New Testament for judging, and pointed out that none of them mean what they are claiming they mean. There are significant differences in the ranges of meaning of the Greek words that range from "judge" (which is what God does, therefore human beings are not to do) to judicious evaluation and examination, which is considerably different than what either Manny or Tim Wirth are doing. I pointed out that neither the Greek words nor the passages as a whole would support the claims that either Mr. Adegboye or Manny are making.
Manny never responded to that set of evidence, never engaged the possibility that he had used resources that were mistaken, still has the article "Judge Not?" on his blog, and still attacks other Christians using its "biblical" rationale.
Grace and Peace,
Dennis B.
Originally Posted by Dan Ross
