JUDGE NOT

Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) But Joseph Smith was inspired to amend that statement to :
"Judge not unrighteously . . ."

So how do I tell if my judgment is a righteous one?

I have finally learned (after years of blundering) that I cannot judge another human being. I can only judge a situation. In fact, sometimes I must judge a situation. If someone is acting in ways that are harmful or foolish, I may have a moral duty to take some action. This is different from passing judgment on that person.

When I judge a situation, I am evaluating the rightness or wrongness of a behavior. When I judge a person I come perilously close to deciding something about their intrinsic worth. A behavior may be bad or dumb or worthless, but a person never is. Even our system of laws and courts should only be used to determine the wrongness of a behavior and the appropriate consequence. It should never be used to determine whether someone is good or evil.

Only God can make a perfect judgment about anyone. I keep this quote nearby to remind me of that:

"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is
illuminating. By judging we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are."
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer