One of the commonest characteristics of the so-called human mind is a lack of precision. This vagueness may be traced to the common tendency to accept prevalent beliefs and suggestions rather than to take the trouble to search for the underlying truth, and it is most in evidence where the sensuous beliefs of life and intelligence in matter hold sway. It is probably under such influences as these that a large number of words have apparently lost their original meaning and to the average man have come to have an entirely different sense. Of course there are always those who get beneath this shallow covering, but so far as the man in the street is concerned, and this term includes the majority of human beings, the prevailing belief is accepted without question.
The word "criticism," which is derived from a Greek word meaning "to judge, discern," is a case in point. From this definition it is readily seen that the faculty of true criticism is indispensable to progress, but the popular meaning of the word includes little more than mere faultfinding and destructive censure.
One sometimes hears remarks to the effect that statements in the Bible are contradictory, and even the admonitions of Jesus are occasionally subjected to such comment. A careful study of the context will remove the ambiguity in most cases, as for instance the statements of our Master, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," and, "Judge righteous judgment." On the former occasion it is clear that Jesus was administering a rebuke to the common tendency of picking out and magnifying what appears to be wrong in others and at the same time making no effort to overcome what seem one's own errors. In the latter case he was urging his hearers to "judge not according to the appearance;" in other words, he was pointing out how essential it is to separate error from truth, and thus be able intelligently to reject the former and accept the latter, thereby exercising the true function of criticism.
