To judge or not to judge!?

Question

Mostly christians and anti-christians often debate about judging the people. I am just curious and wants to know, why some people says that we should not judge. I mean, the moment you see a person or you speak to the person, we tend to judge them, its natural to me. But, to make some serious decision about the person I definitely would try to make more investigate. But, I will have to judge, atleast regarding that aspect with which I am related to the said person. Why do people and specifically christians says that we should not judge even for worldly matters. I know that final judgement will be of God.
A curious muslim.

Practically speaking if you don't judge you can't decide. Say, if you are searching for a spouse, you have to accept or reject the proposal and to accept or reject you have to judge. how can you make a decision without judging?

John the Seeker: John I agree with you, but most of the chrsitians does not seem to understand different levels of judgement. They just generalize it.

Answer 1

It seems that you need to appreciate that there are different levels of judging, basically three. There is a practical level, as you rightly say, that is necessary in everday life, such as judging whether a person is going to step of the pavement in front of your car or not, and making a decision accordingly.

Judging whether somebody would make a good spouse or not, it a question of opinion and you are entitled to that. What would be wrong is communicating that judgement to somone else, ie making it public. They would not make a good spouse because they are lazy, stupid, childish, whatever. That is making a public judgement. If someone asked you why you did not accept her, you should reply something like I chose not to, or whatever, but do not give reasons

So is saying he is a good man. No one but God can truly know whats in the heart of another person. Many well respected and highly thought of people have turned out to be very much otherwise, both in Religion and Politics.

Worst of all is a global judgement because that incites hatred, persuction and all sorts of undesirable things. I will give two examples from what is commonly said here.

"All atheists will go to Hell". That is not necessarily true, because only God decides that and in any case can you prove Hell exists?.

"All Christians are idiots because they believe in fairy tales". They are clearly not all idiots and it is not necessarily true that what they believe is a fairy tale.

Global judgements of that kind are definitely out In Gods eyes and for that you will indeed be judged!

Answer 2

It is alway`s the right thing to judge a wrong doing in any society the problem is that we tend to judge the person rather than the offense,or at least we make it apparent by our anxiety that we are judging the person,it only takes a little common sense and tact to know the difference.

Answer 3

The most "popular" scripture from the Bible used to be
John 3:16 (For God so loved the world that He gave His
only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but
have eternal life). Most people (Christian and non-christian)
knew that one be heart.

Now, since secular society has been preaching "tolerance"
a different scripture is most often quoted - "Judge not lest you be judged". The idea of tolerance and not being
judgmental is a SECULAR idea, not a Christian idea.
It is essentially about sinning without consequences.

The Bible says we should make good judgments, yet not be
hypocritical in our judgments. The greatest command
is to love God, the second greatest command is to love others. The secular society is saying the greatest command
is to tolerate, and that is not the truth. To tolerate and to
love are two different things. To love also means to correct
in a loving way! The world is SO confused! They even say
to not tolerate is to hate, but that is certainly not the truth!
It even amounts to them calling love hate and hate love!

Answer 4

It would be more peaceful, to live without those judgments You mention. The internal ones. You're right; we can't escape them. What we CAN do is refrain from saying out loud anything that insults another person or group of persons, and rebuke anyone who speaks out that way, with the reminder, "Judge not, lest ye be judged."

Answer 5

It was Jesus Who told us: "Judge not that ye be not judged" (Matthew 6:1). I believe that Muslims regard Jesus as a prophet, so would presumably accept the truth of this advice. He went on to say that in judging others, we are setting the standard for judging ourselves in due course. In other words, if we are harsh in judging others, then we must be prepared to be equally harshly judged ourselves. Human nature is such that we tend to be more lenient with ourselves, to make excuses for our own behaviour, while being critical of others, of whose motivation and problems we know so little. We also tend to attribute our own faults to other people. That is why we try to avoid judging others.
This does not mean that we must be naive when it comes to realising that certain people are dangerous, dishonest or otherwise a threat. We are also, after all, taught to be "as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves"! (Matthew 10:16)

Answer 6

I think what a person does or is or seems to be on the outside is a very good indication of what they are on the inside, but you are right, the final decision rest with the almighty.

Answer 7

Of course we all judge, it's human nature. But what we should not do is condemn. weather it be a religion or a lifestyle choice. Just because I don't believe it to be right or moral does not make it wrong, it's just not my choice. Live and let live. I was not put on this earth to condemn anyones choice, everyone has a right to their own believes and as long as it is not endangering me than more power to them.

Answer 8

Who among us is worthy to judge another? John 8, Romans 3:23, etc...

Answer 9

To judge or not to judge are relative terms. We all judge according to what we know. Admit it or not. To judge is only a small perspective to the whole truth. Absolute truth only lies with God (or Allah) therefore our judgment can only be based on what we know. Those who judge to pass judgment are in error.

Answer 10

Human judgement is often wrong for one thing. The messy guy in jeans can have a PhD..You should use discernment to keep yourself and family safe. You don't have to invite the guy with the gun into your home, that is common sense. To say "you believe in ......., so you must be bad". is wrong, and intolerant.