“I wish to urge upon the Saints … to understand men and women as they are, and not understand them as you are.”6“How often it is said—‘Such a person has done wrong, and he cannot be a Saint.’ … We hear some swear and lie … [or] break the Sabbath. … Do not judge such persons, for you do not know the design of the Lord concerning them. … [Rather,] bear with them.
[6.Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 8:37, and in Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe (1954), 278 as edited and quoted in the Sunday Afternoon October General Conference).
Can any one of you imagine our Savior letting you and your burdens go
unnoticed by Him? The Savior looked upon the Samaritan, the adulterer, the tax collector, the leper, the mentally ill, and the sinner with the same eyes.
All were children of His Father.
All were redeemable.Can you imagine Him turning away from someone with doubts about their place in God’s kingdom or from anyone afflicted in any manner?8 I cannot. In the eyes of Christ, each soul is of infinite worth. No one is preordained to fail. Eternal life is possible for all.
Elder Robert C. Gay, Of the Presidency of the Seventy, Sunday Afternoon October General Conference.
The context of the quotes is that of Elder Gay talking about the experience of being severely rebuked by the Spirit of God for judging his sister.
Elder Gay took the experience of being rebuked, and the quotes, to ask the question of how do we take upon ourselves the name of Christ — and to expand upon seeing others as God sees them, with love and care and then by serving them in kindness and humility – by “ministering to all regardless of where or how they stand.”
In addition to talking about ministering to all, regardless of what are petty things in the eyes of God compared to their eternal worth as God’s children, Elder Gay called on us to trust God.
I found it interesting that other than tell us to have the perspective and understanding knowing that God values and loves others who are not like us and we should do to cherish them, there was little in his talk about knowing and a good deal about loving, acting and serving.
Since taking upon ourselves the name of Christ is so important, I have some questions for our readers:·
- How do you think we should take upon us the name of Christ?·
- Whom should we reject and whom should we accept?·
- How much does God want of our knowledge vs. our trust?·
- How important is acting to care for others over having the right thoughts?·
- How is “be kind” a good summation of seeing others as Christ sees them, serving as he served and trusting in Christ?·
- Do love and trust make you grateful?
- What other question should I have asked?
Wheat & Tares 
Accepting and not judging was a part of his message. God rebuked him severely for judging his sister and he took that to heart instead of doubling down on his unrighteousness.
Goes well with the recent LDS Living advice to attend the marriage of a child in a same sex relationship and to cherish their partner instead of judging them.
They don’t need your judgement. They are your child and they need your love.
Taking upon us the name of Christ is a two-part deal–
– I make a personal decision to follow Him; and
– I make a public statement to stand with and sustain others (the Church).
Not judging others includes not judging those whom we perceive as judging others.
Nicely said.
I have long believed three verbs define Christian ministering or better described by the metaphor of feeding sheep. All have to be present in some proportion and a deficiency of one is like pulling a cart with crooked wheels.
The three verbs are love, know and serve.
If you leave out know, your efforts will be misguided and possibly insensitive. At best they will be random.
At times the best service can be a kick in the pants . But that will never work unless is is coupled with a strong bond of love that is felt by both and thorough knowledge. I am always surprised by how much strict discipline I can get away with inflicting upon my rascal boy scouts when they know I really care about them. But as I grow older it is more difficult to really know them and understand them which decreases bonds of compassion and limits what I can do.
I think that correctly knowing right from wrong and knowing what people do results in judging them . But what you do about it, if done with enough love, is feeding sheep. It might be forgiving them, having patience, joking and teasing. But at times you have to be bluntly honest.
When you really don’t care about a person, and have very little more than superficial or biased knowledge about them, then just about anything you do is not going to work. Even if you think you are right. But doing nothing is all that is necessary for evil to triumph. None of us can ever do enough but we can try, with knowledge and compassion.
Stephen, I agree with Ben on the first part, but I disagree with the second part. I have no interest in becoming a monk.