Judge Righteous Judgments

In this regard—this call for compassion and loyalty to
the commandments—there is sometimes a chance for
a misunderstanding, especially among young people
who may think we are not supposed to judge anything,
that we are never to make a value assessment of any
kind. We have to help each other with that because the
Savior makes it clear that in some situations we have to
judge, we are under obligation to judge—as when He
said, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine.” 17 That sounds like a
judgment to me. The alternative is to surrender to the
moral relativism of a deconstructionist, postmodern
world which, pushed far enough, posits that ultimately
nothing is eternally true or especially sacred and,
therefore, no one position on any given issue matters
more than any other. And that simply is not true.
34. In this process of evaluation, we are not called on
to condemn others, but we are called upon to make
decisions every day that reflect judgment—we hope
good judgment. Elder Dallin H. Oaks once referred to
these kinds of decisions as “intermediate judgments,”
which we often have to make for our own safety or
for the safety of others, as opposed to what he called
“final judgments,” which can only be made by God,
who knows all the facts. 18 (Remember, in the scripture
quoted earlier, that the Savior said these are to be
“righteous judgments,” not self-righteous judgments,
which is a very different thing.)

For example, parents have to exercise good judgment
regarding the safety and welfare of their children every
day. No one would fault a parent who says children
must eat their vegetables or who restricts a child from
running into a street roaring with traffic. So why should
a parent be faulted who cares, at a little later age, what
time those children come home at night, or what the
moral and behavioral standards of their friends are, or at
what age they date, or whether or not they experiment
with drugs or pornography or engage in sexual
transgression? No, we are making decisions and taking
stands and reaffirming our values—in short, making
“intermediate judgments”—all the time, or at least we

When we face such situations in complex social issues
in a democratic society, it can be very challenging and,
to some, confusing. Young people may ask about this
position taken or that policy made by the Church,
saying: “Well, we don’t believe we should live or behave
in such and such a way, but why do we have to make
other people do the same? Don’t they have their free
agency? Aren’t we being self-righteous and judgmental,

The Eternal Family Reading Packet Unit 6
forcing our beliefs on others, demanding that they act in
a certain way?” In those situations you are going to have
to explain sensitively why some principles are defended
and some sins opposed wherever they are found because
the issues and the laws involved are not just social or
political but eternal in their consequence. And while not
wishing to offend those who believe differently from us,
we are even more anxious not to offend God, or as the
scripture says, “not offend him who is your lawgiver”
19 —and I am speaking here of serious moral laws.
should be.

But to make the point, let me use the example of a lesser
law. It is a little like a teenager saying, “Now that I can
drive, I know I am supposed to stop at a red light, but do
we really have to be judgmental and try to get everyone
else to stop at red lights? Does everyone have to do
what we do? Don’t others have their agency? Must they
behave as we do?” You then have to explain why, yes, we
do hope all will stop at a red light. And you have to do
this without demeaning those who transgress or who
believe differently than we believe because, yes, they do
have their moral agency.

My young friends, there is a wide variety of beliefs in
this world, and there is moral agency for all, but no
one is entitled to act as if God is mute on these subjects
or as if commandments only matter if there is public
agreement over them. In the 21st century we cannot
flee any longer. We are going to have to fight for laws
and circumstances and environments that allow the free
exercise of religion and our franchise in it. That is one
way we can tolerate being in Babylon but not of it.

Elder Holland