What does the Bible say about judging others?

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Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

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The last verse above, John 7:24, reminds me of this interesting story that I received by email:

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JUDGING OTHERS. . .
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly
without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in
Cambridge.

"We want to see the president," the man said softly.
"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew
frustrated and finally decided to disturb! the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him.

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was
accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't touched.... He was shocked.

"Madam," he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a
cemetery." "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the
physical buildings here at Harvard." For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded.

The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.!

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing.

A TRUE STORY ----- by Malcolm Forbes

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Have we ever been guilty of judging a person by their appearance as the person in this true story was?

What else does the Bible say about judging others?

One of the most contentious Christian aspects is the lack or duty of judging others. Jesus says in
John 7:24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
What is righteous judgment? Is that discernment? Is that knowing that which is right or wrong? If a new Christian sits near me in the pew and smells of smoke or has makeup and jewelry on or doesn't have the 'appropiate dress' etc etc is it my duty to 'instruct' the babe in whats right?
No, I don't think I have a 'right' to dictate such things. But if a mature Christian did suck things - who knew the difference with what is right and wrong, will I then be able to judge?

going on... One of the biggest human weaknesses is judging another, by appearance. One of the hardest things is to judge a person with righteous judgment. Unless you can put it in perspective. If a person runs a red light are they wrong? If you answered you have judged righteously because you know the difference between right and wrong and applied it. Now if a man kills or steals can we judge him? Or do humans weigh the law differently than God?
Jesus says John 5:30 As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. - Can we do the same. Pray for this.

I think the old adage: "Don't judge a book by it's cover," certainly applies here.

I once looked at a fellow in church who had a really wrinkled up suit on; and I thought of several negative conclusions regarding this man.

The only conclusion that I missed, was the fact that this poor man with the wrinkled clothes had sat in a chair, at the bedside of his dying wife, all night long; and that's why his suit was so wrinkled.

Using this story as an example; what Biblical principle must we incorporate BEFORE we "judge righteous judgement?"

Paul says in I Cor. ii:15 that "The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:" and also in I Cor. v:12, 13 we are told to judge those inside the church, but not those outside. "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."

Just a thought.

We are to judge 'sin'. But it is left to God to judge the sinner.

By the way, the Stanford story told above is false. Check out the following links:

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/stanford.asp

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/stanford.htm

How often do we believe something before we verify the facts? And, even if we learn the truth about the facts are we at liberty to "judge" the person? Yes, of course we are. "By their fruits ye shall know them." How are we supposed to follow the chain of command Jesus established in Matthew 18 if we refuse to form a conclusion regarding the person?

The Bible condemns falsely accusing people; it does not condemn correctly deducing the truth about them, and then acting upon on it in a loving, responsible, Christlike way.

2 Thessalonians
3:14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
3:15 Yet count [him] not as an enemy, but admonish [him] as a brother.