“In order to judge a friend favorably, one must consider the totality of the person and his situation. Even if the friend is remiss in his spiritual obligations or suffers from some flaw of character, he certainly possesses other redeeming qualities which compensates for his deficiencies.” (Ethics of the Fathers)
Even if one seems to have no redeeming qualities, search further. Your search will certainly uncover some bit of good which justifies the persons existence. (Ethics of the Fathers) both are from Mishnah 6 “judge everyone favorably”
Funny that my reading of this should coincide with my Torah study of Ballam the Gentile prophet who was asked by Balak to come and curse the Jewish people. The long and short of the story is that ultimately Ballam could not curse them but only bless them.
It is interesting to know that even if our intentions are to curse God can stop that and make you bless another person. And honestly it all comes down to perspective and the way we see people. One of the things that caught my eye is when Balak asked Ballam to come to a different mountain to see the “people of Israel” immediately I said to myself, he doesn’t like the way he’s seeing these people let me change his perspective. Ultimately it backfired but think about that, the perspective on how you look upon someone may totally change your view on them. What he meant for harm ultimately was for the blessing of the people of Israel.
So I think about this I regards to my first two statements. How do I see people? Do I judge them favorably or just pass judgment on them without considering the whole picture?
This is defiantly a tough one to swallow today as it puts in perspective my inability to continue to be in Gods will and especially when it comes to judging another person.
What do you think? How do you relate to this? I really want to know and hear from you all.
God bless
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