Who Are You to Judge?: Learning to Distinguish Between Truths, Half-Truths, and Lies

On the whole this book is very good and worth one's time. However, I was bothered by some things Lutzer says, especially in the chapters on False Prophets and Miracles. I realize Lutzer is trying to protect people from the false, and that is good, but he has some biases of his own that are more traditional and anti-supernatural than they should be. I was bothered that Lutzer said that "Jesus came to show us how to suffer", which is partly true, but if that's all He came to do He wasted His time in performing miracles, raising the dead, rising from the dead Himself, and telling his followers to do the same every time they went out (not just in the sometimes disputed passage of Mark 16)!Lutzer follows the traditional interpretation of 2 Corinthians 12:7 that Paul had a sickness, "thorn in the flesh" that God refused to heal (implying we cannot expect God to heal us either). But "thorn in the flesh" was never used of sickness, only of the Canaanites who opposed God. Paul himself identifies his thorn as a "messenger of Satan",and messenger is always used of a personality, whether human or angelic. So Paul was not being buffeted by a sickness, but either an actual demonic spirit, or thru the many people who opposed him and the message of Christ thru him. This is what God refused to remove, and you can see in Paul's life God never did--Paul was continually opposed, and imprisioned again even in his last letter to Timothy, and was killed shortly thereafter.Granted one might think Paul meant a sickness, because right after he speaks of the thorn in the flesh he speaks of "glorying in my infirimities", which can mean sickness. But the same word, asthenea, is also used in Romans 8:26 where it says "The Spirit also helps in our infirmities, for we know not how we should pray...". Here it means "weakness", weakness of spirit and character, etc. So Paul need not have been talking about being sick, he could also have been talking about his personal weaknesses. This is very likely the case because Paul speaks of glorying in his infirmities just previous to this passage in 2 Corinthians 11:30, where he has just listed a whole bunch of things he has gone through--hard work, numerous beatings, being stoned, being shipwrecked three times, in constant peril from robbers, from his own countrymen, among false brethren everywhere he went, in weariness, sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, nakedness--all on top of his concern for the churches. But among all this Paul does not mention a chronic disease, just the normal things one would expect from a tough life and persecution.If dear Dr.Lutzer wants to emphasize Paul's thorn in the flesh, why does he not balance it with the descriptions of the many miraclous healings Paul did also? Yes, Paul "left Trophimus sick", but there is no reason given for that. It could have been a number of reasons other than Paul was supposedly unable to heal him. That is nothing but conjecture.Lutzer agrees with the traditional interpretation that miracles ceased after the completion of the New Testament. Was that because God willed it, or was it that so many heresies came flooding in after the first Apostles died that they could not take take place? I did not like how the dear Dr. emphaisized how many people suffered for Christ and were poor, which though true, also left out how God blessed people like Abraham and made him very rich, how God made Job very rich. There is something unbalanced here.Lutzer's research about the Word of Faith movement is also shallow and negatively biased. Yes, there are some scumballs among them, but the leaders of the movement, the late Kenneth E.Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Jesse DuPlantis that I am aware of, have pointed out these rats and condemned what they were doing long before Dr.Lutzer got there. (See Kenneth Hagin's book "The Midas Touch, A Balanced Approach To Biblical Prosperity". ) To smear a whole movement because of a few bad apples is hardly fair. These people are also very careful about finances and refuse to go into debt for their big ministries; they emphasize walking in trust of God's Word and not by one's feelings; they emphasize that you must have a personal relationship with God if you want anything from Him and if you want heaven and a wise life now; and they emphasize walking in love and forgiveness toward others if you want anything from God. If Dr. Lutzer had read their publications and a book or two for even a few months instead of taking what other people have said about them without checking them out,I guarantee he would come out with a different attitude. Are they perfect? No. But they do get a lot of results that many of our mainline denominational brothers are ignoring in favor of telling people just to suffer and live with it as "God's Will"- a fatalism that can turn people against God, and even kill any hope they may have for improvement from Him. I know this from bitter experience. If I wanted that, I might as well become a Muslim and their "all is Allah's will."Well, I don't want to trash the book too much, but one had best be careful about some of it.

If they did AND applied it, maybe the American church would be more Christlike thereby doing the real work of Jesus, which is, call Sin, sinful and the need for s Savior!!!

Excellent work by Lutzer on how to "judge" a number of different topics. He also makes fairly clear that there are multiple definitions of "judging" in the bible (discernment, condemnation, etc.) and puts them into context! CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT! As with anything in the Bible, do not take the phrase "Judge not lest ye be judged" out of context! The Church is very confused these days about judgement, and it need not be. We are not to judge a person's motivations or salvation but clearly in scripture we are to "judge" certain acts and behaviors among those in the body of believers.

Lutzer's book points us back to the pages of the Bible, where we are told to live our faith, not just believe it. With many examples and detailed references to the Word, we are admonished to stand up for God's Word against the apathy, and now the nation's intolerance, of the absolutes that have been given us by the Creator. He reminds us also of the judgments that will be given to those who don't stand up for their faith, and aren't willing to defend the Word of God in the face of changing society. It's a great call to step out of your box and open your mouth to do something about what's going on in our homes and in our culture, instead of just watching it happen.

Excellent book, true exegesis of the scriptures. Only issue: I am Spirit filled, and Lutzer thinks that passed away after Acts. But even so, he is kind and I believe very balanced in his teaching. Highly recommend if like me, you want to rightly divide the Word of Gord.

This book challenges us, as Christians, to reflect on how we live and if our living is in accordance with God's Word. Pastor Lutzer uses a pretty direct language when describing the most prominent problems we face today in Christianity, but at the same time his language in not confrontational. There are many lessons we could learn from it. Sometimes we "miss" or "skip" messages when reading the Bible, and this can be troublesome for us. This is, certainly, a must read for all Christians. I will buy a Portuguese version of this book to lend to Christian friends who do not understand English because the mesage in it is very powerful.

Buy this book. Read it. Pray upon it. Delve deeper into Scripture and leave the world influence saturating today's professed Christian churches. Buy and read this book. Tell others about it. Yes, it's that good and that important in the times in which we live.

great book, used it to study for teaching purposes.

The "politically correct" word of our day is tolerance. By pushing this idea to it's logical end, we become wit-less. If we abandon our ability to analyze, evaluate, and conclude, what are we become?This book not only reminds us that we should be responsible in a world of fluctuating values, but also provides a number of thought-provoking issues to consider.To all readers who still will to think personally and act independently, this book is food for thought. And because you are that kind of reader, you are not obliged to agree with everything.

Good book. I find Erwin Lutzer very clear and straight-shooter regarding his books, easy to understand, no beating around the bush

It is good for all to read with what is going on now