The Most Abused Bible Verse Today? - Matthew 7:1

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged."  A verse that is used extremely often to justify any action (even unbiblical ones) on the grounds that it should be left up to - not the final judge - but no judge at all.  Clearly this is not the intent of the verse.  Let's think about what the intent may be.

Obviously only God can judge a man's final destination.  Because even if a man is as lost as can be, God can save him at any point.  So mankind clearly lacks both the ability and authority to condemn the soul of one of their own.  And I do think this verse warns against attempting to judge a man in such a manner.

I also think the verse warns against judging too harshly.  A man should treat others fairly in order that he can attempt to justify that he himself should be treated fairly.  But this is where the verse starts to get abused.  Fair gets twisted into soft.  And as the evaluation softens, the standards soften too.  We start judging even the hardest crimes with the softest consequence.  I do not believe the verse ever intended such a result.  

Low standards are not a good way to live.  Particularly since the standards of Jesus were quite high.  Loving your neighbor is a very high standard.  But if you twist this verse enough, you can get the depraved thought that harming your neighbor should not be judged harshly at all, in case we decide to cause some harm to our neighbors as well and are now accountable to a harsh result.  Why should we not reap a harsh result for harsh behavior?  I cannot find a Bible verse anywhere that states a person who commits a harsh crime does not deserve a harsh consequence.  Just because God grants a sinner grace does not mean the sinner is entitled to it.  

Matthew 7:1 was never intended in any way to be carte blanche to do as you please without fearing any kind of condemnation from your fellow man or from the scriptures.  A primary purpose of the scriptures is to judge and condemn sin, so that conviction will lead to confession and ultimately repentance.  In citing the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus taught us to pray, we ask for our sins to be forgiven.  We do NOT ask that the sins we engage in never get judged as sinful.

So I believe we are to avoid the judgment of souls entirely, to judge current character only when prudent and then only very carefully, and to judge actions according to how Biblical doctrine specifies those actions.  If scripture calls it sin, we need to call it sin as well.