Can Christians make moral judgments about public behavior?

After hearing that Ozzy Osbourne had died — though it turns out reports of his death were, at least for now, greatly exaggerated — I posted a statement I believed to be utterly uncontroversial for any Christian: Unless he placed his faith in Christ, he is not at peace or at rest.

The reaction was, shall we say, instructive.

First came the Satanists, who responded with a level of online eloquence that cannot be quoted in this publication. Their basic message, once the profanity is removed, was: “How dare you say that. This is why we hate religion.” Now, this was puzzling. One might expect Satanists to agree. After all, if Osbourne rejected Christ, wouldn’t that — according to their own worldview — be a cause for celebration? “He’s with Crowley now,” or some other tribute to the horned rebellion. But no. Even Satanists, apparently, want Christianity to be warm, affirming, and vaguely pluralistic. Hell is fine — just don’t say anyone might actually go there.

Then came the New Agers, armed with fragments of Scripture. “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” they offered with a mix of condescension and floral emojis and promises to heal my aura. I had to double-check to make sure they hadn’t also quoted Buddha, Rumi, and a Celtic fertility goddess for good measure.

But let’s pause here. Because beneath the amusing absurdities of “stop judging you meannie” lies something serious: the creeping moral confusion not merely among spiritualists looking to travel the astral plane, but among professing Christians.

What was I being accused of? Judgment. As if that were itself a sin. But let’s remember that my original post was a conditional: “Unless he placed his faith in Christ…” I didn’t presume to know the secrets of Osbourne’s soul or the precise content of his final breath. I simply articulated the biblical truth that salvation is found in no other name but Christ’s. If that offends, it is the gospel that offends, not the one repeating it.

More importantly, Matthew 7:1 (“Judge not”) does not prohibit all judgment. If it did, Christ would contradict himself in John 7:24: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment.” And that’s why it is so humorous and ironic when New Agers judge others for judging. The point of Matthew 7 is not to suspend all moral discernment — it is to warn against hypocrisy and superficiality. The Christian is not to be a smug moralist with a plank in his eye. But neither is he to be a passive observer who cannot recognize sin even when it struts on stage in a sequined cape invoking Aleister Crowley. You both will be judged by the same law of God so you better learn it and live by it.

In fact, Hebrews 5:14 teaches us that “solid food is for the mature, who by constant practice have trained their powers of discernment to distinguish good from evil.” The mature Christian is not less judgmental; he is more accurate. He has learned to evaluate public behavior by the standard of God’s Word, not by the prevailing emotional weather on social media.

Which brings us back to the deathbed conversion objection. The idea seems to be that since we cannot know with certainty what happens in a person’s final moments, we must suspend all moral evaluation of their life. But that’s not what Scripture teaches.

Deathbed conversions are real, but they don’t nullify our ability to assess if a life was well-lived or wicked. That’s the whole purpose of physical death. God instituted death as a reminder of the wages of sin. It is a physical sign of our spiritual condition. It is a summons to repent — not a loophole for the morally procrastinating. As the seriousness of impending physical death weighs on the mind of the sinner, it should push him to repent and call out for Christ. But that doesn’t change the moral, or immoral, quality of his public behavior or make Dionysian revelries a good idea.

So yes, we may hope for a last-minute change of heart, but our hope makes sense only if we affirm the seriousness of sin that requires such a change. If sin doesn’t matter, then neither does conversion — at the deathbed or otherwise.

What’s truly dangerous is the New Age spirit that’s infected the church: a spirit that refuses to name evil, that cannot say when a thing is wrong, and that sees moral clarity as judgmentalism rather than maturity. But to refrain from speaking plainly about sin, especially public sin, is not grace — it is cowardice disguised as compassion. It limits Christians from speaking the Gospel to a world in desperate need.

And make no mistake: Osbourne’s career of invoking satanic imagery is not an ambiguous matter. Whatever his motives — money, rebellion, or misguided theater — it is not righteousness. And Christians have a responsibility to say so. Not with cruelty. Not with arrogance. But with righteous judgment and the free offer of salvation in Christ.

Because the purpose of such moral clarity is not to condemn, but to call to repentance. As Paul says in Romans 2:4, “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

The irony of the social media reaction to my simple statement is that it reveals just how allergic our culture has become to the very concept of repentance and the Gospel. The new rule seems to be: everyone is saved unless you say otherwise and of course Ozzy is in heaven singing Crazy Train. To suggest that someone might not be at peace apart from Christ is now the only remaining heresy–and the New Agers give you free license to judge it.

But let us be clear: public sin invites public response. Christians must not be silenced by the sneers of those who neither know Scripture nor fear God. We are called to love the truth, speak the truth, and — when needed — judge with righteous judgment. Sin leads to death.

Because if Christians will not speak clearly about sin and the Gospel, who will?