In order to make the "don't judge" mantra work, one has to leave out a lot of scripture.
The Bible does not tell us not to judge. God said not to judge someone for a sin that we are doing also. The Bible is full of admonition to evaluate our companions and to discern false prophets. We are to be careful not to have ungodly companions, we have to judge to be able to obey God.
Matthew 7
Judging Others
7 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."
"and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
In this passage, the one everyone uses to say we should not judge they seem to completely ignore "the way you judge will be measured back to you." In other words, if we judge someone for overeating and we overeat ourselves we are violating this scripture.
The gist of the scripture is the "not judge" phrase but judging rashly about others when we are doing what they do that we judge.
Then the passage clearly says to go and judge the person after we have cleansed ourselves of the very same sin. So many people miss the part that says "then go to your brother." Perhaps they read only a part of the command and ignore the rest.
1 Corinthians 15:33 " 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”"
In order to know who is evil company, we have to know the Word of God, walk in the Spirit, and judge that. We make judgments every single day about everything, if we do not we will be like a fool who believes everything we are told.
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
Matthew 7:17-19…17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.…"
1 Corinthians 5:11-13 "…11 But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those insides? 13 God will judge those outsides. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”…"
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 "…14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.…"
Of course, it is wrong to judge a person's actions when you did not see those actions for yourself. It is also sin to judge a person's activities when you were never around to see those activities. OR, even worse to judge someone based on what you wish to believe about them without seeing anything merely by listening to gossip.
It's one thing for a friend to tell you things about others based on their personal encounters, it's quite another to pass those confidences on to others. Usually, they are never the same after the second repeat.
Listening to the woes of a friend and their encounters is helpful to your friend. Repeating what they say to you to others is gossip that should not be shared with others.
I know of a woman who was shunned by her entire family because of one gossip who heard the ordeal and repeated it with her own spin.
This sort of gossip is like a story I heard once. The story goes like this; someone took a feather pillow to a high mountain on a windy day, slit it open, and shook the feathers to fly to the four winds. Once the feathers have blown many miles to many places there was no way one could gather them all up again and put them back in the pillow slip.
Once a reputation has been ruined by family gossip there is no way to restore all the broken relationships that occur because of it. No one who heard the gossip would come to the victim of it to see if it was true, therefore it remains unresolved forever. One side is told and the other side is never heard. Seems deeply unfair does it not?
We must judge but we must judge righteously according to God's Word.
John 7:24
"24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Only a fool refuses to judge at all, however, I find it interesting how many people will judge evil people as good and get angry when others judge those evil people. If we are not to judge according to their logic wouldn't it follow that we should not judge someone as good either?
If anyone's mantra is "don't judge" then they had better not judge someone in a good way either.
Just saying!!!!
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