"Judge not..." means what, exactly?

[CplFerro]

If I judiciously "judge not" do I make myself look better in the prisoner's dock before the Heavenly Supreme Court? What's the deal with this commandment?

Matthew
7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
--skepticsannotatedbible.com

[GodMark2]

If I judiciously "judge not" do I make myself look better in the prisoner's dock before the Heavenly Supreme Court? What's the deal with this commandment?

Matthew
7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
--skepticsannotatedbible.com

No need to go to the Heavenly Supreme Court, this can be analyzed easily enough at the 'boys in the hood' level.

It's giving the advise that the measures you use to determine other peoples worth can just as easily be used to measure your worth. So don't use measures that you can't live up to.

Say there's this guy named Bill. He cheats on his wife. He lies about it to her.

This other guy, George, comes buy and calls Bill a wife cheater and a liar, and claims that both are Very Bad Things (tm), and therefore Bill deserves to be stoned to death.

Well, now George had better not ever cheat on his wife or lie, because he's now voiced his support for stoning liars and phillanderers.

It's just advice on how to be a good member of society.

[CplFerro]

No need to go to the Heavenly Supreme Court, this can be analyzed easily enough at the 'boys in the hood' level.

It's giving the advise that the measures you use to determine other peoples worth can just as easily be used to measure your worth. So don't use measures that you can't live up to.

Say there's this guy named Bill. He cheats on his wife. He lies about it to her.

This other guy, George, comes buy and calls Bill a wife cheater and a liar, and claims that both are Very Bad Things (tm), and therefore Bill deserves to be stoned to death.

Well, now George had better not ever cheat on his wife or lie, because he's now voiced his support for stoning liars and phillanderers.

It's just advice on how to be a good member of society.

Dear GM2,

So to speak, "duh." Why was this put in the New Testament knowing that it would be misinterpreted as being somehow relevant to the salvation game? Why does God's Servant have to give advice on avoiding going "D'oh!" when involved in the animal politics of the day?

Cpl Ferro

[gnome]

I have always taken it to mean (and this fits into the context of other things said in the Sermon on the Mount)... that it is not up to us to decide what is evil in others... only instead to be virtuous ourselves and spread virtue by example.

Don't seek and confront the evil people, it says, it's God's job to sort them out in the next life.

I can't say I agree with that, but the context seems clear.

In my own life I tend to follow what's already been said.

[Angus McPresley]

But it DOES say that you will be judged on the criteria by which you judge others.

In other words, only judge people on matters where you think yourself pretty righteous. I can see why this might appeal to many Christians. :)

[clarsct]

Seems like a silly notion, to some degree.

We ALL judge. Having not had an avatar for nearly 5000 posts, I have noticed that people with avatars get noticed more often.

They are judged.

We begin judging the moment we first meet someone...it's instinctual.

I like the idea that it is a social construct....only judge on things you're worthy of which to be a judge.

However, life seldom works that way. Nice sentiment, but fairly useless.
We judge anyway. Can't help ourselves, really.

[ksbluesfan]

I think that's taken out of context a little. I don't have a Bible handy, but isn't Jesus telling his disciples not to be hypocrites? He wants them to be without sin because they will look like hypocrites if they aren't and they go about judging others. I could be wrong though.

[Bellatrix]

The issue with that particular verse, and the new testament as a whole is that Jesus preached the law of love. He wanted people to be kinder to one another. The verse is saying that we should try to be less judgmental and if we fail it’s okay because in theory your peers will try not to judge you on it.

[RationalReverend]

Why was this put in the New Testament knowing that it would be misinterpreted as being somehow relevant to the salvation game?

*chuckles*

*shakes head*

*doesn't bother*

[SezMe]

If I judiciously "judge not" do I make myself look better in the prisoner's dock before the Heavenly Supreme Court? What's the deal with this commandment?

Matthew
7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
--skepticsannotatedbible.com
Oh, Jesus (so to speak), stop with the incessant literal reading of the bible.