Category Archives: For the Bride

August is one of the months that I cease posting and take a break from writing.  “For the Bride” will resume on September 11th.

Today, I end my comments on the practice of non-judgment.  Like the earlier posts on the principle of love, I am sure there is much more that could be said about this important topic, but I will let what I … Continue reading →

The early Christians recognized they were stewards of a great Mystery–the Mystery that had within it power to give life or to deal death.  Whether the Mystery did one or the other depended on how they used the Law. In … Continue reading →

Douglas Burton-Christie calls the early Christians’ refusal to be judgmental  a “hermeneutical act” (The Word in the Desert, p. 280).  He means that the early Christians took Matthew 7:1 with utter seriousness.  To refrain from judgment was to trust the … Continue reading →

Jesus lamented that too many people had eyes to see, but did not see (Mark 8:18).  The early Christians believed that one manifestation of spiritual blindness was judgmentalism. When healed by grace, restored spiritual eyesight would see possibilities in other … Continue reading →

In his book, The Word in the Desert, Douglas Burton-Christie notes that the early Christians realized how easily they could deceive themselves into thinking they could know the condition of another person’s heart, and thus accurately pass judgment on them. … Continue reading →

The church’s perrennial call to repentance is rooted in our belief in God’s willingness and ability to forgive sin.  Judgmentalism was, however, eschewed by the early Christians because they believed it was a diminishment of that belief. One of the … Continue reading →