How the Most Misquoted Verse in the Bible
Is Destroying America

Tolerance mongers seem to have found
the one absolute truth
they are willing to live by.
How many times have you heard someone say,
"Judge not lest you be judged"?
The statement has become
the great American open-mindedness mantra
when anyone has the courage
to declare that someone else's belief,
actions or lifestyle is morally amiss.



Another form of the same non-judgmental judgment
is "that may be true for you,
but it's not true for me."
The logic behind the statement
goes something like this:
"Your truth is your truth and my truth
is my truth. We are both right,
and I hold to my opinion of truth."
The last time I checked, it was impossible
for two chairs to occupy the same space
around my dining room table, but evidently
such rules of time, space and logic
don't apply to tolerance philosophy.


Postmodernism's live-and-let-live concept
of truth argues that even two opposite
and wholly contradictory claims can both be true.
This is as stupid as saying that black and white
are the same color. Yet, it clarifies
the absurdity of the postmodernism
we are all supposed to blithely accept
as the fundamental principle by which we respond
to each other's ideas-the "please and thank-you"
of philosophical respect.


So beware. If you dare claim
that another person's truth is not,
in fact, truth but is, in fact, wrong,
you are not only being intolerant
but you are also being-Mantra forbid!-judgmental.



In his book, True for You, But Not for Me,
Paul Copan describes the fallacy in this
all too common thinking:


It has been said
that the most frequently quoted Bible verse
is no longer John 3:16
but Matthew 7:1: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

We cannot glibly quote this, though,
without understanding what Jesus meant.
When Jesus condemned judging,
he wasn't at all implying we should never
make judgments about anyone. After all,
a few verses later, Jesus himself
calls certain people "pigs" and "dogs" (Matt 7:6)
and "wolves in sheep's clothing" (7:15). …

What Jesus condemns is a critical
and judgmental spirit, an unholy sense of superiority.
Jesus commanded us to examine ourselves first
for the problems we so easily see in others.
Only then can we help remove the speck
in another's eye-which, incidentally,
assumes that a problem exists and must be confronted.



Those that tell you not to judge,
quoting Matthew 7:1 grossly out of context,
are often some of the most mean-spirited,
judgmental souls you could ever meet.
It's not, of course,
that they don't want anyone to judge anything
because they want very much to judge
and condemn your commitment to lovingly speak
and practice your Christian worldview.
You see how these tolerance rules work?
We must tolerate them,
but they don't have to tolerate us.
The logic is consistent, anyway.



Today's postmodern culture of adults and students
is so consumed by non-judgmentalism
that there are some who say
we should not even call wrong or evil
the terrorists that attacked America
on September 11, 2001.
In a Time magazine essay entitled
"God Is Not on My Side. Or Yours,"
Roger Rosenblatt offers the philosophical
underpinnings of the live-and-let-live rule
for global terrorism:



One would like to think that God
is on our side against the terrorists,
because the terrorists are wrong and
we are in the right, and any deity worth his salt
would be able to discern that objective truth.
But this is simply good-hearted arrogance
cloaked in morality-the same kind of thinking
that makes people decide that God created humans
in his own image. The God worth worshipping
is the one who pays us the compliment
of self-regulation, and we might return it
by minding our own business.



At least the "arrogance" of recognizing
the difference between right and wrong
is "good-hearted," even if the reactions to it
aren't. Alison Hornstein, for instance,
is a student at Yale University who observed
the disconnect between tolerance and reality.
Writing on "The Question That We Should Be Asking-
Is Terrorism Wrong?" in the December 17, 2001 issue
of Newsweek, Alison noted, "My generation
may be culturally sensitive, but we hesitate
to make moral judgments." While that might
be putting it mildly, she goes on to say:

Student reactions expressed in the daily newspaper
and in class pointed to the differences
between our life circumstances and those
of the [9/11] perpetrators, suggesting
that these differences had caused
the previous day's events. Noticeably absent
was a general outcry of indignation
at what had been the most successful terrorist attack
of our lifetime. These reactions and similar ones
on other campuses have made it apparent
that my generation is uncomfortable assessing,
or even asking whether a moral wrong has taken place.


Hornstein further describes how on September 12th-
one day after Islamic extremists
murdered more than 3,000 people on American soil-
one of her professors:

did not see much difference
between Hamas suicide bombers and American soldiers
who died fighting in World War II.
When I saw one or two students nodding in agreement,
I raised my hand. …. American soldiers, in uniform,
did not have a policy of specifically targeting civilians;
suicide bombers, who wear plainclothes, do.
The professor didn't call on me.
The people who did get a chance to speak
cited various provocations for terrorism;
not one of them questioned its morality.




If Americans don't start to judge
and punish evil instead of accepting all ideas
and beliefs as equal, we will become a nation
that welcomes same-sex marriage,
polygamy, pedophilia, incest, euthanasia,
and likely a host of moral aberrations
so bizarre they're still hidden
in the darkest reaches of the Internet.



I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say,

"you know we are not to judge people;

even the Bible says 'judge not lest you be judged'."

Americans had better start getting comfortable
with politically in-correct, non-humanistic forms
of making intelligent judgments on moral issues
because even if we don't make them, I'm concerned
there is Someone very willing
to hold our nation accountable
for what we allow.
And He doesn't respond well
to intimidation, name-calling, flawed logic,
or being quoted out of context.




By Brannon S. Howse
Distributed by www.worldviewweekend.com
Posted: 07/21/05

although I agree with the basic premise that the bible verse does not suggest that we not make judgement at all


I disagree that 'terrorists' are bad and evil people or that they are different from any other who takes lives we label as 'innocent'



soldiers take innocent lives, its called collateral damage
and though as humans we tend to see a difference in the strategy and equate it with a difference in morality

how often has our government made a strategic decision to attack a place where they had NO chance of making significant impact? probably very rarely. other militants make strategic decisions which will make an IMPACT, so they hit places of great symbolism to us, Its only a matter of differing strategy not differing morality,, in my opinion

killing is still killing, and I dont think Gods book seperates the value of lives as easily as we do(by uniform worn or position held)

Matthew 7:1-3
Judge not, that ye be not judged.


2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.


3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
==================================================

Tells us not to judge and with what judgement we judge others it will be measured back at us.

Our values as a nation are centered on the moral precepts of GOOD as opposed to evil. These laws are well defined in the Bible which MOST Americans at one time formed a consensus to abide by. We as a people owe our safety and well-being to the Word of God. Should we change laws and moral standards for the sake of people's lusts and cravings and for things unrightfully coveted? My family has made many deposits into this system: Love of God, family, and country. At the present time my loyalty is to the USA.

I cannot speak for another country's value system.

As for foreign and domestic terrorists I pray that we as a nation execute GOOD JUDGEMENT in dealing with these outbreaks; for the GOOD of the moral, law-abiding, peace-keeping citizens of THIS country.

well, evil and good are very subjective in modern times,,

in the bible,, sin is sin

Joshua 24:15 ESV
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”



it is my belief that the Lords people are all over the world, and not just in the US,,they call themself muslim , christian, jewish too as well as many other identifiers that they have chosen for themself

and I think people all over the world will do good deeds and bad ones, my loyalty is to 'good' , wherever I am or wherever I live good is something I pray for all citizens of the earth,,,

I believe our laws need to reflect what is good for our situation, our circumstances, our political and geographic realities but I think it is all too easy to point the finger at others while pretending to be undeserving of having fingers pointed back at us,,,

This is a excellent topic that is very miss understood and used by every Atheist and other anti Christian to insult Christians by telling them they are judging.


God and Jesus didn't forbid judging they encouraged it.Any time you are dealing with a good or bad person you have to judge them to determine if you should stay away or assoicate with them.If we truly were not to judge then we would never tell anyone they were a sinner,never tell anyone what they were doing was ungodly,unholy,or biblical wrong,we would embrace and assoicate with all people regardless if they were a serial killer,robber,rapist,etc.The bible clearly states on nearly every page what kind of people we should avoid and what kind of people we should associate with.


What Jesus was talking about is condeming a person with out knowing anything about them.Some good examples would be...calling a woman a prostitute simply because of the way she was dressed,calling someone a bum because they smell,assuming someone is a drunk because they are walking out of a bar etc.Another good example would be for a person to go to a court hearing and a judge saying he was guilty before the trial even started.This is the judgement Jesus was talking about.

Rightous judgement is never wrong.Judging people by their actions and their own admissions is not wrong.The bible tells us not to assoicate with murders,prostitues,socerrers,and unbelivers.So if someone tells me he is a Atheist or he or she practices witch craft.Then I am not wrong when I tell them I am not going to assoicate with them because they are a Atheist or practice witch craft.


Jesus said "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

"And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" (2 Thessalonians 3:14,15).


"He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 17:15)

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:11).

Leviticus 19:15. "You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. But in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor."


"Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?" (1 Corinthians 6:1-5).

"Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple" (Romans 16:17,18).


"But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us" (2 Thessalonians 3:6).