Of all the Christian myths out there, this one is surely among the big kahunas.

One might even argue it’s the biggest — at the very top of a top-ten list of Christian myths. In fact, if we can’t see its un-Biblical basis, we may not see the un-Biblical basis of anything.

The Bible has 774,746 words. This error comes from just two, ripped screaming from context.

Ye have heard that it was said …

The Bible says: “Judge not”!

AKA: The Bible says not to judge.

AKA: Christians are so judgmental.

Figure A:

A ranting fundie street preacher¹ is hollering in a secular university’s free-speech area. He catches the attention of some, the derision of most. One girl passing by think she’ll try a little drive-by shot. “The Bible says not to judge!” she blurts, and then goes on, very satisfied with her deep knowledge of Scripture.

Figure B:

Some Christian-spirituality book author, or sermon preacher, decries the image Christians have in the world. We’re too often seen as being judgmental, the leader proclaims. We need to be more loving. We need to win people with love. The Bible says, “Judge not.”

Figure C:

Christians: Since the bible says NOT to judge, why are you always judging Pagans?²

From Yahoo Answers, mid-October 2009 ³

What’s the truth in this?

Judging someone for being guilty of a sin must be done with care for at least three reasons:

1. Those who practice the same sins for which they condemn others risk God’s judgment; He is the ultimate judge (Romans 2: 1-2). That counts for sins against Him, and sins against each other — true judgment and repayment of personal wrongs is up to God, not us (Romans 12:19).
2. Sharing truth must be done with a spirit of humility and love (even if it’s tough love). All Christians have been guilty of the same kinds of evils as everyone else. The only difference is that God has saved His people from those consequences (1 Corinthians 6: 9-11).
3. Judgment should be done more in the Church than in the world, the Apostle Paul says strongly (1 Corinthians 5: 12-13). This is done to protect the boundaries of the Church, where immorality would defame the Name of Christ and must not be tolerated. To an extent, outsiders are expected to have immoral behavior. Still, that does not mean we must never point that out.

What’s the lie in this?

1. No judging allowed never ever is nowhere near what Scripture says. The whole Scripture and hundreds of separate passages assume the idea that judging is necessary. More on this below.
2. No judging allowed never ever is rarely people’s real meaning anyway. Few in practice truly mean Never judge anyone for any belief or action. Rather, it’s a card played for personal use: Don’t judge me, at least not what I’m saying now. Logically, that backfires and utterly fails.

But we needn’t even delve into all those other passages yet. Matthew 7 itself rebuts the wrong.

What’s the Word?

Two words: “Judge not”? Try reading the other 103: Christians must evaluate their own hearts before pointing out sins in others. Going from point A to point B without taking out the plank in your own eye makes little sense (note how Jesus’ hyperbole still translates to the present day). But Jesus never says always avoid point B, removing someone else’s speck. Instead, work on yourself first. “Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

If somehow Jesus really had meant never to judge someone, by his actions or character, these verses would make no sense. To avoid giving holy things to mangy dogs or pearls to uncaring pigs, you must judge what/who is a dog or pig. Watching for false prophets requires judging.

Elsewhere, Christ Himself and epistle writers go into detail about how that looks.

Further in

The Bible is clear that Christians can and should make spiritual judgments for three reasons: to love their fellow believers and guard the glory of God; to prevent lies and their resulting evils from infesting the Church; and to emulate Jesus Himself, Who loved both grace and truth.

1. Right judgment is loving and guards God’s glory.

Too often no-judging critics treat Christian criticism of them as if it’s always about merely personal wrongs. But for matters of morality and Law, God sets the standard. If a Christian talks about the standard, he’s just the messenger.

If you saw someone trespassing on government property, it would be wrong and unloving for you not to warn him he will be shot by snipers or electrocuted if he goes further ⁴. Similarly, Christians who don’t act as if they do believe practicing sin will condemn a person to God’s “wrath and fury” (Romans 2: 3-5) would be hypocritical, anti-God and unloving.

For this reason, Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 judges all over the place. A man is shacking up with his stepmother and not being called on it, acting as though this is normal for a claimed Christian. Danger! Following the right process and throwing him out is necessary to protect the reputation of a local church and preserve the holiness of Christ’s Name. The idea is not just punishment — it is tough love. Maybe he will stop having his sin enabled, and come back and repent.

2. Not judging sins allows lies and hypocrisy to infest the Church.

One wonders if non-Christians who use the don’t-judge-ever canard take the time to think: if taken to its logical conclusion, actual tolerance (that is, peaceful coexistence with different beliefs) will go down. The hypocrisy in the church you claim you hate will skyrocket.

Failure to judge implies to the world Christians aren’t serious about sin — either in their own congregations, or in the sight of the Creator/Savior they claim to represent.

If you overcorrect for hypocritical standards or judging toward having no standards or judging at all, sure, you may allow for greater belief-diversity among “Christians.” But what you also allow is behavior like lies, backstabbing, verbal abuse, actual dangerous intolerance and thumbed noses at God’s real rules. What would keep a “Christian” from shacking up with his stepmother or a pastor with a secretary? Or a deacon from downloading child porn? Judge not.

Jesus judged people all the time — not just the Pharisees. He also encouraged His people to judge with righteous judgment, but only after first ensuring they are not guilty of the same sin.

Paul and other epistle writers did the same. Christians have the Spirit, the mind of Christ, which helps them make spiritual judgments (1 Corinthians 2: 12-16). At many points they refer to the bad guys by their very names, right there in public, such as in 1 Timothy 2:20 or Paul’s criticism of Peter himself in Galatians 2: 11-24.⁵ After all, public error sometimes needs a public correction. If you sweep public error under the rug and don’t deal with it openly, people won’t see justice done right — when they need to. Even worse, if someone is called down for sin or error and goes on to repent, no one will see that either.

And that gives quite the lie to false Christian teachers who, when confronted with public criticism, whine about how the critic didn’t come to them personally first before taking it public.⁶ If the offense were personal, there are Biblical ways of dealing with that (Matthew 18: 15-20). But for more-serious offenses against God and His truth, taking it public has Biblical precedent.

3. We must follow Christ Himself, Who brings both grace and truth.

Christ was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). His message was not just “Believe and follow Me,” but first “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). If we as Christians want to avoid the truth parts (you are a sinner) and show only grace (Christ can forgive you) that grace is worthless. Who cares for forgiveness for sins he doesn’t know about? By acting this way, we fail to show all of God’s nature to people. He is not only kind and loving, He is holy and hates sin.

Says author Randy Alcorn:

Some people hate truth. Others hate grace. Jesus loves both. We can’t undercut either without undercutting Him.

So we have to make a choice. Are we going to spend our lives trying to please the grace-haters or the truth-haters? Or are we going to seek to please the only One whose judgment seat we’ll stand before: Jesus, who is full of grace and truth? ⁷

So, for the sake of God’s glory and loving others, the purity of His people’s beliefs and holiness, and to emulate the example of Christ Himself …

Make sure you’re not judging hypocritically. Daily do spiritual surgery on your own eye-planks. But don’t blind yourself to others’ specks — either by your own sin, or by some “spiritual” notion of I Mustn’t Judge. See the evil in the world for what it is and be grieved by it. God will punish sin. And sin comes from false beliefs. What would be truly unloving is never to share those truths with others, because we’re selfishly fearful of being seen as the unloving bad guys.

On the flip side, anger against sin can come from God-given repulsion to anything He also hates, but pity for people must accompany that anger. Christians have all been guilty of the same sins and all deserve His wrath. It’s only due to His grace that we have been saved from anything!