There is clear teaching here on not judging others, yet this teaching is one the most misapplied in Christianity. It is used as a pretext for not saying that anything anyone does is wrong. It is used as an excuse for saying it is OK to have sex before marriage, that homosexuality is OK etc. This is not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying is that we should not judge someone else to be a worse person than ourselves.
Let's take an example. In the early 1990's some of the Serbs in Bosnia committed terrible atrocities against Muslims. Now we are absolutely right to say that there actions were wrong, indeed it would be morally reprehensible not to do so. What we cannot do is say that we are better people than they were. If I had been brought up a Serbian in their environment how would I have acted? In their situation would I have committed the same atrocities? I sincerely hope not, but I cannot say for sure, only God knows.
You see, we use other people's wrong doing as a reason to do them down, and to "prove" that we are better than they are. This is what Jesus is teaching against. If we have a judgemental attitude, then we ourselves will be judged and will certainly be found wanting. The kingdom is a kingdom of forgiveness and we must have an attitude of forgiveness. Now forgiveness does not mean ignoring wrongs or pretending that they did not happen. On the cross Jesus did not pretend that our sin does not matter, but died for the very reason that our sin most certainly does matter.
So instead of looking for faults in other people, we should focus on sorting out our own lives first. Then we will be in a far better position to truly help others.
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