Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
—Matthew 7:1
There are two reasons we should take a pass on judging others.
First, we don’t know enough to judge. Unless we have all the facts (which we never do), and the ability to flawlessly analyze those facts (which we don’t), we are not qualified to pass judgment.
Second, we are not good enough to judge. Only the faultless is competent to find fault.
When we judge others we’re on perilous ground: “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matt. 7:2).
“By judging others,” wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
Judgment belongs to God—he didn’t equip humans with a robe and a gavel.
Passing judgment is only a symptom
of the disease: the disease is arrogance.