Please Don't Judge Me! Why Judging Is Natural

We often hear the phrase "Don't judge me!" used by people especially when it involves Christians or the church as a whole.  Most of the time the phrase is followed by "Only God can judge me."  How valid is this statement?  It is interesting to see that a good majority of Christians are completely unaware of what the Bible says or they lack a good understanding of what scripture is actually saying.  It seems that the Bible has been turned into a document that is subjective.  Christians as a whole tend to accept things they have heard others say a fact without doing due diligence to see if what they believe is based on fact.  One example is the quote, "God only helps those who help themselves."  This quote is not found anywhere in the Bible nor is it even alluded to.  This phrase actually originated in ancient Greece and can be found in Aesop's Fables but yet has made it into mainstream Christianity and is considered to be the truth.

So where did the "Don't Judge Me" come from?  It is actually based on Matthew 7:1  "Judge not, that ye be not judged."   So yes this is a biblical verse and it is true but left by itself one can draw the conclusion that we are not to judge others so that we ourselves will not be judged.  But if you look at that passage in its entirety it takes on a different meaning.

International Standard Version
Mat 7:1  "Stop judging, so that you won't be judged,
Mat 7:2  because the way that you judge others will be the way that you will be judged, and you will be evaluated by the standard with which you evaluate others.
Mat 7:3  "Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
Mat 7:4  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when the beam is in your own eye?
Mat 7:5  You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

So basically it does not mean that we cannot judge others but the passage is saying that if you are judging others to higher degree than you would judge yourself then God will in turn use that same standard you used on others on you.  I often say that it is easier to find the devil in others but it is difficult to find him in ourselves.  Judging in and of itself is totally natural.  We use judgement on what types of items we buy, who we choose to call friends, what job to take amongst other things.  If we didn't judge or in other words use our best judgement we would constantly find ourselves in undesirable  situations.  One problem our society has is the lack of good and wise judgement.

So what does it mean when people actually say "Don't Judge Me?"  They are actually saying I don't care if what I am doing is wrong or questionable, etc. just don't say anything to me about it.  People don't want to be criticism about what to do.  On one hand this is understandable because people in the church actually will be harsh, demean others and be outright cruel in their judgement.  This often turns people away and creates wounded souls which in turns means a lost opportunity to share the love of God.  Based on the scripture above once you take the beam out of your own eye you will be gentle in removing it from your brother or sister's eye because you know how much it hurts and gives you the authority to speak to others.