Judging and being judged

     Along with a fascination about how the human brain works, I have had an interest in near death experiences. I have read a few books, including recently "Glimpses Beyond Death's Doors". I have been pondering, for the umpteenth time, judging. I looked back through my old posts and found one from October 2013 entitled "Who's the judge?" so I know I have thought about this before. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 4 and 5, talks quite a bit about judging. He mentions that we will ultimately be judged of the Lord but also that we are not to fellowship sinners. Obviously, in order to determine who we should be fellowshipping or following, we must make some kind of judgment. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Cor 3:17)
     During most near-death experiences, people report having a "life review" which is like the saying about seeing your life flash before your eyes when in a life-threatening situation. I have not actually read the book myself but within the book I just read, the authors frequently quote from an eighteenth century Swedish scientist named Emmanuel Swedenborg:
     There were people who denied crimes and disgraceful things they had committed in the world. So lest people believe them innocent, all things were uncovered and reviewed out of their memory, in sequence, from their earliest age to the end. Foremost were matters of adultery and whoredom.
     There were some people who had taken others in by evil devices and who had stolen. Their wiles and thefts were recounted one after another- many of them things hardly anyone in the world had known other than the thieves themselves. They admitted them, too (since they were made clear as daylight), together with every thought, intent, pleasure, and fear which had then combined to agitate their spirits......
     There was one person who thought nothing of disparaging others. I heard his disparaging remarks repeated in their sequence, his defamations as well, in the actual words- whom they were about, whom they were addressed to. All these elements were set forth and presented together in wholly life-like fashion; yet the details had been studiously covered up by him while he had lived in the world...
     Let no one then believe that there is anything a person has thought within himself or done in secret that remains hidden after death. Let him rather believe that each and everything will then be visible as in broad daylight. (Heaven and Hell)
     Another book, Reflections on Life After Life by Raymond Moody, is often quoted:
     However, in the moments around the time of death all such masks are necessarily dropped. Suddenly the person finds his every thought and dded portrayed in a three-dimensional, full-color panorama. If he meets other beings he reports that they know his every thought and vice-versa.
     This situation can be regarded as being most unpleasant indeed, and it is no wonder that quite frequently people may come back from this feeling that they need to make a change in their lives.
     There is SOOO much more about this subject but I'm always concerned about making blogs so long that people don't want to read them. Let it suffice that, although we will truly undergo a final judgment only by God, there will be a recognition/judgement of all we have thought and done prior to that. We cannot seek to hide, justify, excuse, or avoid any sin- which could be defined as anything that widens the distance between us and the perfection of God, which is certainly a LOT! On the other hand, included in these near-death experiences is a feeling of total love and acceptance. God is not judging us at the time we leave mortality. God, as a good, loving parent, knew before we came to earth that we would mess up a lot. He gave us the freedom to choose, even knowing we would make mistakes. THAT IS WHY WE NEED the atonement of Jesus Christ. But it will only work for us if we accept it. We must repent of our sins, admit our need to be redeemed, and gratefully accept the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ as ordained by our Heavenly Father on our behalf. So we need to start judging ourselves and what we think and do right now. This life is the time to prepare to meet God. We can avoid some of the heartache if we do prepare so we don't have to fear.