casting the first stone

In light of Lance Armstrong's statement yesterday, in which he conceded his seven Tour de France medals and all of his winnings, this post is for those for whom jumping to conclusions and spreading gossip rules your life. So many of us listen to hearsay and make our own judgments based on...what? Were you there? Do you know that of which you speak? Did you know that to spread this gossip does more to hurt another than any words could ever repair the damage that your essentially "big mouth" has caused? Yes, I am speaking to you! This next Heavenletter is also speaking to all of us. Please read on:

God said:

Judgment is opposed to love. That's the whole story of judgment. Until you go beyond judgment, you are no more than a gossip. "So and so did this. So and so did that. Can you believe it? How could he? How could he?" And so you cackle, and so you feel superior to the one who did whatever it was.
When Christ said that he who is without error should cast the first stone, no one could respond. He who is without flaw, let him cast the first stone. Let him stop and think that he is throwing a stone at a child of Mine.
The world is harder for some people than it is for others. In every case of judgment, the judger is forgetting about his responsibility to care for his neighbor.
Whatever someone has done, a bigger error yet, perhaps the biggest error of all, is judgment. Judgment comes from the wrong premise. Judgment's partner is a hardened heart. Judgment and unforgiveness are both hardened hearts.
When human beings judge, they have hardened their hearts. They made assumptions. They presumed an apparition, and they found it really really unforgivable.
An example might be a speeding driver cutting through red lights, a driver having no regard for other drivers, a careless driver you could only hold in low esteem until you, who were tut-tutting realized that the driver was rushing his young son to the emergency room of the hospital. The boy had had an accident. The father was saving his young son's life. Now that you know the circumstances, where is your judgment? You have compassion instead. You have compassion instead of anger. Once you understand, you have compassion instead of judgment. Under the same circumstances, you might well do the same. And you would want others to understand you rather than judge.
Understand rather than judge. This is not making excuses. You simply don't know what's going on. You don't know the whole story. In every case of judgment, you forsake another, and you are mistaken. When you are in error, would it serve you or anyone to start throwing stones at you?
Cast not a first stone because casting stones is opposite to loving. Casting stones is madness. Instead, cast away your judgment and its cousin anger. Is there anger without judgment? Can there be anger without judgment? Anger and judgment condemn.
There is no need for you to stand above another. If you must stand above, then stand above your lower self that seeks to depose another. Yes, beloveds, stand above yourself.
Judgment is not fair-minded. When was it ever? Judgment is overbearing. It is isolating. It is sacrificing another for your own comfort. Do you crave a pecking order? How about no pecking order. Join something else.
Christ's question was: Who are you to judge? Who are you to set yourself above another?
Better you lift another in your arms. Uplift another. If you must condemn, condemn your judgment, for your judgment does harm to the one you judge, and it does harm to you.

Neither Christ nor Buddha nor Mohammed nor Moses ever said: "Judge one another." Definitely not. Their message was to love one another. Judging is smallness, beloveds. Loving is Vastness. It takes a big heart to love under all circumstances. Not judging is a good way to rise to love. As a balloon rises, so will your heart of love. It is not possible to love and judge at the same time. If you must judge, judge everyone as worthy of being loved.