Many times after making inferences about a person, I was admonished not to "judge" by some well-meaning figure of authority who would often follow up on this with "you don't know what they're going through." A variation of this is "don't judge a book by its cover." "You can't judge me" was a typical celebrity line.
Strangely, I can't even recall seeing discussion of this attitude on the internet. I'm not sure why since it was extremely prevalent not too long in the past, but if I had to guess, it's because it was a saying from the "colorblind" times. Obama and his ilk kicked off a new era in racial politics where it became permissible to judge white people for everything they did and said, so even a white lib can't really tell their kids "don't judge" when they are teaching them to constantly judge themselves for white attitudes like speaking clearly.
The notion of not judging comes from Jesus' words in Matthew 7, "Judge not, lest you should be judged." These words are taken at face value and ripped off in simplistic and tendentious ways, but the Bible is meant to be read as a whole, not quote mined, and the full meaning is closer to "don't judge superficially." GotQuestions has a great article on the topic. Indeed, Jesus also said, "Stop judging by mere appearances, but judge correctly."
So the Bible does indeed tell us that snap judgments are wrong. But it also calls on us to investigate, discern, and make more accurate judgments. Without the ability to do this human civilization, and worship of God, would cease to exist.
I'm not sure how many parents are still repeating "don't judge" to their kids, but instead of an easy (and frankly hypocritical) hit of virtue signaling, maybe it's better to explain to them that they should keep their cool and take the time to judge accurately. Sometimes a book is indeed different from its cover, but other times the cover is exactly what you need to know. Ignoring abundant evidence from reality is not practical or Biblical. Case in point.
I'm thinking maybe it is a translation problem in there, judge as in making an opinion and put a sentence on someone as in I judge you as a bad person and not worthy of respect. Makes more sense considering the theme of redemption.
I got more problems with "But I tell you not to resist an evil person." Where do you draw a line on resisting an evil person? Is genocide a step to far, are we allowed to resist it?
You have to understand the situation at the time to understand that verse. The Jews had been conquered by the Romans so Israel was essentially a state in the Roman Empire. The Zealots and several other Jewish paramilitary guerilla movements resisted this. Jesus told them that instead of reflexively and thoughtlessly striking at Romans - or a neighbor they were arguing with, or someone who owed them money - they should accept their situation and try to show godly love.
If the Jews had listened, they would not have rebelled for the final time circa AD 70. The empire's response destroyed Israel and scattered the Jewish people to the winds. Fulfilling a prophecy of Jesus, not a single stone of the Jerusalem temple was left upon another (the Wailing Wall is a retaining wall of the temple grounds, not part of the temple itself).
To summarize: if someone personally slights you, there are two choices. A, you try to accommodate him and make peace (others first). B, you take the territorial mindset and reject everything (me first). The traditional Jewish attitude is all into option B and that's why you see self-sabotaging, blind ethnic triumphalism.
Option B goes against ingrained human nature (selfishness) and is only possible through divine grace. When people talk about compassion, "humanity," and thoughtfulness, they are actually talking about the influence of God. We have seen what this principle looks like after attempting to excise God - leftism.
"If he asks for one cloak, give him two" is not a prescription to let people kill your son or let your country get invaded.
Honestly it seems to apply to having your country invaded and not resisting. It also seems to be in-line with the teaching of sacrifice, Jesus allowed himself to be captured and killed.
It is one of the things I've been struggling greatly
I talked to my pastor about this very subject but unfortunately there wasn’t much time. I can imagine Jesus wouldn’t want you to stand by while people are getting killed. I try to avoid violence as much as I can but I struggle with it too but I want to be obedient to the Lord
Turning the other cheek doesn't mean to let people walk all over you; it means "Come at me again bro, I can take it!" Look at the apostle Paul; he was imprisoned and tortured and near death...and despite all that he actually prayed to God to be even bolder in preaching the Word!
Meek means to endure injury with patience and without resentment. It doesn't mean to live life as a people-pleasing beta submissive like many might think.
I was thinking the same, it would contradict helping/ loving others. But even about the self, lets assume that you're the only one being harmed in the process. Where do you draw the line, do you allow someone to shoot you rather then shoot back in defense? If he shoots you once and you survive you allow him to shoot again?
If you get an answer from your pastor, let me know. I've been thinking to much on this point :))
Jesus allowed himself to be killed, and most of the disciples did as well, because that was what their missions commanded - the same way that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac.
As I mentioned in another comment, people misunderstand Jesus' teachings as a replacement for the Old Testament when it's actually a fuller explanation of it. So the basic application of the Ten Commandments found in the OT still hold in the NT. You can read about David's saga, as well as people like Gideon and Jehosephat, and see that self-defense is fully moral in God's eyes.
Jesus also alluded to self-defense when he told his disciples to buy swords for their journeys.