Judging one another, in scripture and in general

From about Message 117 of the thread "The Christian View of Life." to #128 or so, we got off topic onto the familiar idea that we are not to judge one another -- and I was being judged for judging others. I maintain that the familiar view of judging one another is not scriptural, though it is often preached with a great deal of heat, and that in fact what Jesus meant by His exhortation against judging others was simply that we are not to condemn others for their sins. There is plenty in scripture otherwise to both exhort us and demonstrate that a Christian IS to judge questions of doctrine or truth, and that's what I was doing.There is a related typical misunderstanding of scripture to the effect that we are supposedly not to judge the human heart because that's God's job. The fact is that scripture shows the apostles judging others' hearts and makes it clear that it's not that we're not supposed to, or unable to. If anything it may imply that we may judge wrongly while God sees the heart and always judges rightly, but I'm not sure even this much is implied. I see no exhortation whatever in scripture against humans judging other's hearts. There is also some implication that we are wrong when we judge others strictly or what is thought to be harshly, because God supposedly sees good intentions in the heart that people don't see. Scripture actually more often demonstrates the opposite, that God sees sin and deceit in the heart.If you want, I'll try to get back to this to lay out some scriptures in support of this contention.I want the topic to be broad enough to include anybody's thoughts on judging or judgment in general rather than strictly on a scriptural basis, though obviously the reason it is a big issue is because of scripture.I suppose this belongs in Faith and Belief.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

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