i am a christian and i understand it perfectly. the right to freedom of religion is only valid (in some opinions) if it is christian. christians do not like having their beliefs belittled and their freedom to worship as they believe restricted and yet so many of them demand that other belief systems be restricted and call them a “cult”, a “sham”, or deride them as not being a real religion. sounds an awful lot like what islam teaches.
Matthew 7:1-3
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
“...christians do not like having their beliefs belittled and their freedom to worship as they believe restricted and yet so many of them demand that other belief systems be restricted and call them a “cult”, a “sham”, or deride them as not being a real religion. sounds an awful lot like what islam teaches.”
Bears repeating.
You are taking Matthew 7 out of context. The word “judge” is used in various ways in our culture. It can mean to discern between right and wrong or it can mean to decide what punishment ought to be imposed on a criminal or it can mean to presume to know the heart of another.
The Bible tells us we are indeed supposed to judge. We are to judge fellow believers (elders are supposed to do this) (1 Corinthians 5:12;14:29). In the future we shall judge the whole World (see 1 Corinthians 6:2) and even Angels! (see 1 Corinthians 6:3). The Apostle Paul instructed the Elders of the church at Corinth to judge a man guilty because he was seen living with his father’s wife (his stepmother) and to turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh (death/illness).
Biblically, we are also called to judge between who is a Christian and who isn’t (see 1 Corinthians 5:10). This means we have to be able to decide if someone is by definition, at any given moment of time (not finally), on their way to hell or not! How do I know that?
2 Corinthians 6:14 tells us that we are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers in marriage. If we can’t judge between who is saved and who isn’t, then we can’t get married. Obviously judging or discerning takes time and effort but it must, and should, be done.
Man looks upon the outward appearance but God looks at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7). This means that we must judge others by what we “see” which is not the same as by “outward appearance”. What does the Scripture say about this? Deuteronomy 17:6;19:15, Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1 and Hebrews 10:28 all speak of judging according to what human beings have “seen”. It is the law of witnesses upon which our whole penal/judicial system is based.
We don’t dare judge according to what things look like but what actually exists. If someone fails to invite you to a gathering it is judging wrongfully to assume that their motives in their hearts were bad. It would be wrong to think they harbor hatred inside toward you, or that they didn’t invite you because they envied you, or some other unlovely motive.
Too often humans infringe on the divine prerogative of God by assuming they know what someone else is thinking and what motivates them. If you insist on putting a bad motive on them and treating them accordingly, you are violating “judge not lest you be judged. and are judging “before the time” (see1 Co.4:5) You must “judge not according to the appearance but with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
This doesn’t mean that we are left without a clue about what goes on inside of people. The murderers of the Christian martyrs of Columbine High School showed their malicious intent by their deeds and their words. We can look into their hearts only a little by what the witnesses said about them. These evil ones asked if the people believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and then shot them dead! We can properly judge that these two murderers were full of hate for Christians. “By their fruits ye shall know them” and the produce of their lives was rotten! Again, we can only tentatively draw these partial conclusions based upon testimony of “two or three witnesses.” God alone knows the full story.
God alone can finally, and with total authority, pronounce eternal damnation on a soul. We can only look upon the outward appearance and draw conclusions based on witnesses and the fruit of people’s lives.
Nobody should presume they know that they are 100% certain that anyone else is in hell. However, I would rationally draw the conclusion that Adolf Hitler and the two murderers in Columbine are tucked away in eternal torment because they killed others and themselves. 1 John 3:15 tells us that “no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” If their last fruit displayed on earth was to murder themselves then it is highly likely they are in the place of torments right now! I am 99% sure of this. It is only my fallible opinion and I could be wrong. God will decide finally at the Great White throne!