Judgmentalism

Confession...

I am judgemental of judgmental people.

I find myself having very little patience for people who have a "holier-than-thou" attitude.  I loathe a divisive spirit. When I see people putting themselves up on a pedestal because they feel more righteous than others, and therefore look down on them and treat them like they are bad human beings just for being human beings, it fills me with such anger. 

I recall reading in the Bible about how Jesus referred to the Pharisees as vipers. He called them whitewashed sepulchres, which are beautiful tombs on the outside but inside, contain dead bones.  So, I know he did not like a judgemental spirit, either.  He made it pretty clear.

Please note: I am not talking about having good/bad judgement, or discerning fruits. What I am talking about is "judgmentalism", if that is even a word.   Here is a hypothetical analogy/example.  I am blessed to go to a church where this is not the norm, and our congregation is populated by people who refuse to judge, but instead, embrace all:
Sally is a beautiful woman who goes to church every Sunday, has a good job and is a leader in her community. People look up to Sally because she appears to be so perfect, holy, whatever.  But when Sally goes to work at her sales job, she regularly tells lies to meet her sales quota.  She also gossips at work, regularly.  Sally has a friend named Joe, who struggles in his life with an addiction.  Joe only makes it to church once every few months, and whenever he does, Sally looks down her nose at him.  She can smell the alcohol on his breath when he goes to greet her after church. She can see that he hasn't washed his hair in days. The whole encounter only last a few moments each time he does make it to church, and she quickly concludes the transaction between them by telling him she will pray for him (which she rarely, if ever, does).  Soon, Joe becomes disheartened.  He is depressed, and tired of feeling judged.  He stops attending church, and turns his back on Christianity. Sally never even took the time to sit with him and talk to him in depth about his feelings or his past, or the reasons "why" behind the addiction. She simply looked at the action, thanked God that she did not have the same weaknesses, and placed herself up on a spiritual pedestal.  She is somehow able to justify her own lies, but is unable to be unconditionally loving, humble and kind.  Who is more wrong in this scenario?

But here is the point of this post....

Should I even be concerned with who is more wrong? Is my anger at Sally simply being judgemental, myself?  Or is it how I handle my feelings around this that determines whether or not I am being judgemental?  Shouldn't I be patient with those who are judgemental? Or should I call them out on it like Jesus did?  Where do we draw the line?  I feel that judgemental people are spiritual bullies.  And I really struggle with these feelings.

These are things I am praying about, sincerely. I am open to any and all input on this matter. I truly want to grow, and that starts with owning my own weaknesses.

Judgmentalism makes me crazy! 😜  You know what I think? I think being judgeMENTAL is mental!  It is all bad, and is rooted in Pride.  I think I would rather grow in LOVE.  I am praying that God shows me how to do this better.