I had a pretty interesting conversation with an acquaintance about interracial relationships and homosexual prejudices.  I think people do judge other people too much.  I read this article in Discipleship Journal that speaks directly to what is Judgment according to the Bible.  And if you say you go by the Bible then this is so very relevant.

First I'd like to point out that the word "Judge" has a few meanings on its own.  Notwithstanding, this same one word in the English language stands in the place of words from the Greek and Hebrew language that originally were used.  So though you may read 'judge blah and blah' in the Bible, you have to realize that there is more than one meaning.  It is up to you to find out which actual meaning was proposed.  Our English language uses the same words to explain a variety of things...in other words, words like "love", "judge" and "book" depends on it's content for the real meaning.  Just using the word "judge" since that is the topic, we find that it means:

*a person...who impartially hears and decides unsettled questions weighing the evidence (as in a case in a law court)
*a person...who is entrusted to administrator laws
*a person...who decides the winner in a competition
*an action...that displays oneself as one of the above persons, rendering oneself superior (belittling or condemning others)
*a guess...about something or someone (a determination of a persons age for example: I could not judge her age)

Also looking at "judgment" we could add:
*A decision
*An opinion
*A point of view
*Discernment

Ok so that's out the way.  You can see that this one word "judge" could mean so many things.  Even within the above definitions, no one reading this can ever say they have never judged.  Also looking, could anyone rightly say that we should never judge?  We should never form opinions or make decisions?  Never weigh the evidence?  Would we then not be at fault for making foolish mistakes and repeating them at each turn? 

The article that I read, entitled "When your friend says, "I'm Gay"" by Randy Newman", was about how one guy found out that his friend was gay, had been gay and just never told him for fear of condemnation.  The author questioned his friend, but never pushed him away.  However, he admits he perhaps went wrong by immediately pointing his friend to Exodus (a network of Christian ministries "that help people who struggle with homosexuality").  This phrase of "struggle" turned his friend off to whatever else Newman had to say.  This friend was a Christian and at that moment chose to quote Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."  Many people use this verse to try to cover up what is NOT ok at all.  Any part of the Bible has to be taken in context.  Would you take a piece of someone's conversation and use it for your own profit?  Well this was only a piece of what Jesus' conversation entailed.  If you really want to follow Jesus and quote Him, why not quote the whole thing so people get the greatest understanding? 

Yes Jesus says do not judge, but look at what He also says in the same breath:

"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck out of your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye.  Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  Matthew 7:1-6

Obviously Jesus is NOT saying that no one should ever say anyone is wrong about anything.  That would mean that God doesn't want us to make evaluations about individuals that reveal the sin in their lives!  Even Jesus - the one who kicked the moneychangers out of the temple and called religious leaders blind fools - made the determination of what was sin in another person and showed that sin to that person.  Then we turn around and see that we are to imitate Him! 

God doesn't want His children to walk around blind.  How can we be a light (Mt 5:14-16) if we cannot see ourselves?  Does not Jesus say in Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39: "And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch"??  Jesus was speaking about the Pharisees, the so-called teachers who talked the talk but didn't walk the walk; they did more condemning than making godly, impartial discernments.  This is the same thing that He is speaking to us about judgment!  God is telling us that He doesn't want us to speak condemnation upon people, damning them to Hell because of their faults.  But He DOES want us to make wise discernment and not walk blindly.  Jesus tells us "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." Matthew 7:6 How else would we know what not to give "to the dogs" and how else could we identify "swine" so not to cast our pearls to?  Therefore He is telling us to be discerning...

Newman says, "You can rightly identify sin or express your concern without condemning or demeaning-though this may not prevent your friend, (co-worker, whomever) from -feeling- judged.  Particularly in an area as deeply felt and conflicted as homosexuality."  Some people just have a hard time hearing something negative about themselves, or something not directed to themselves (yet they openly know it's a sin in their own life), without getting defensive.