My brother and I have an ongoing talk of taxing terms that are misused or overused. We’d like to charge people a nominal fee for saying these terms. Not to get rich or force people to pay us, but to get them to either stop using the terms, or use them correctly. Epic is one of personal peeves. There are too many things being called epic for them all to be epic. Give it a break. We both agree on one term in particular, “stop judging me.”

If our taxation system were in place, “stop judging me,” would be one of the costliest terms to misuse. Nearly every time I hear this said, it comes from someone who knows what they are doing is wrong, but do not want to be corrected. If I had a teacher tell me that 2+2 does not equal 11, they are not judging me. This is information that I need to know. It is to my benefit to heed their correction. If I tell someone that they need to stop lying, it means just that, stop lying. I am not telling them that I am better than they are, but that what they are doing is wrong.

One of the most common verses that comes into play is, “judge not, lest you be judged.” (mangled KJV) First off, this does not mean that you get to sin and not be told to stop. It never has meant that, and doesn’t mean that now. Using that for a defense would subject you to a doubled tax rate,

I won’t get into every aspect of this concept, at least not in this post, but there is one that I do want to mention. There is a matter of heart and attitude that goes with all of this. When I tell someone that they need to stop sinning, it is because they need to. It isn’t my rules they are breaking, but God’s. Of course, I must be confronting them in love, not malice. If I try to hold my “righteousness” over them, I am sinning just like they are. The point is to get the both of us to stop any sinning we might be doing.

So, if I tell you that what you are doing is a sin, and you tell me not to judge you, that won’t change the truth. And, if you should try paying the tax, that won’t change the truth either. Sin is sin, and I am obligated to confront those I love. The fact that I confront you should be a comfort when viewed in that light.