I am a devout Christian. This argument of your wife's is very common but very mistaken belief. There are a ton of scriptures that talk about how we should judge:
You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. -- Leviticus 19:15
These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. - Zechariah 8:16
Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. -- Matthew 7:2
And why do you not even judge by yourselves what is right? -- Luke 12:51
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. - John 7:24
But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. -- 1 Corinthians 11:31
For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. -- 1 Corinthians 5:3
In addition to these, there are a plethora of scriptures about rebuking wicked behavior, discerning right from wrong, executing justice and any number of other things that requires judgement.
Christians who take only this first part of scripture in Matthew 7 and extrapolate it out to mean we shouldn't judge are just young and immature in the faith and haven't spent enough time walking as a Christian or reading the Bible to understand it.
That depends on what you mean by "condemn". We don't have a right to condemn a man's soul for his sins against God, but we must certainly have the authority or right to condemn a person for the wrongs they've committed against others, otherwise justice couldn't be served at all in this life.
What would you call it when a man commits murder and is caught and punished by the authorities? Isn't this "condemnation" for committing murder? What about when Paul judges those in Corinth who are engaged in sexual sin? Isn't this condemnation?
That depends on what you mean by "condemn". We don't have a right to condemn a man's soul for his sins against God, but we must certainly have the authority or right to condemn a person for the wrongs they've committed against others, otherwise justice couldn't be served at all in this life.
Right exactly, thanks for pointing that out. Condemnation of the soul is the second death and eternal obliteration, not at all the same as legal sentencing
I am a devout Christian. This argument of your wife's is very common but very mistaken belief. There are a ton of scriptures that talk about how we should judge:
In addition to these, there are a plethora of scriptures about rebuking wicked behavior, discerning right from wrong, executing justice and any number of other things that requires judgement.
Christians who take only this first part of scripture in Matthew 7 and extrapolate it out to mean we shouldn't judge are just young and immature in the faith and haven't spent enough time walking as a Christian or reading the Bible to understand it.
Yes, "judge not" essentially means "condemn not."
If "judge not" meant "don't recognize other people's evil deeds" then we would have no way of telling right from wrong.
That depends on what you mean by "condemn". We don't have a right to condemn a man's soul for his sins against God, but we must certainly have the authority or right to condemn a person for the wrongs they've committed against others, otherwise justice couldn't be served at all in this life.
What would you call it when a man commits murder and is caught and punished by the authorities? Isn't this "condemnation" for committing murder? What about when Paul judges those in Corinth who are engaged in sexual sin? Isn't this condemnation?
Right exactly, thanks for pointing that out. Condemnation of the soul is the second death and eternal obliteration, not at all the same as legal sentencing