"For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"
James 2:2-4
The Joseph Smith Translation for verse 4 says "Are ye not then in yourselves partial judges, and become evil in your thoughts?" ... I think that clarifies it nicely. Too often we judge people by superficial things: Grooming, smell, clothing... etc. We tend to dismiss people who don't fit into our "class" or our sphere of experience. We might think this person is dirty, so he or she isn't like us, or this person is rich and isn't like us, or this person is ... whatever. And it doesn't really matter what it is that makes us think of that person as OTHER, or unlike ourselves... in that instant we have judged them and excluded them from our circle in some way. I think we all do it to a certain extent. If we don't include them in our circle because they are married or because they are single, or because they smell of cigarettes, or because they wore jeans to church, or because are poor, or because they are rich... we're not even giving people a chance. If we treat people differently before we even have a chance to know them, then we really have "become evil" in our thoughts. I need to work on this. At church, at work, and just wherever I go during the day, there are definitely people that I consider more like myself and less like myself, and I think I do treat them differently to a certain extent. I'm going to work on that this week, and I invite you to do the same.
And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"
James 2:2-4
The Joseph Smith Translation for verse 4 says "Are ye not then in yourselves partial judges, and become evil in your thoughts?" ... I think that clarifies it nicely. Too often we judge people by superficial things: Grooming, smell, clothing... etc. We tend to dismiss people who don't fit into our "class" or our sphere of experience. We might think this person is dirty, so he or she isn't like us, or this person is rich and isn't like us, or this person is ... whatever. And it doesn't really matter what it is that makes us think of that person as OTHER, or unlike ourselves... in that instant we have judged them and excluded them from our circle in some way. I think we all do it to a certain extent. If we don't include them in our circle because they are married or because they are single, or because they smell of cigarettes, or because they wore jeans to church, or because are poor, or because they are rich... we're not even giving people a chance. If we treat people differently before we even have a chance to know them, then we really have "become evil" in our thoughts. I need to work on this. At church, at work, and just wherever I go during the day, there are definitely people that I consider more like myself and less like myself, and I think I do treat them differently to a certain extent. I'm going to work on that this week, and I invite you to do the same.
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