Being judgmental

From "The Judgment of Judging Those Who Judge" or "Bless Your Relativist Heart":

"Judge not lest ye be judged" is, perhaps, the most misused passage in all of scripture, and relativist love to throw it in the face of those who believe in objective truth as the end all be all accusation. Ironically, they miss the fact that their misguided scriptural attack presupposes a judgement on the person they intend to influence. "I'm going to judge you for what I perceive as you judging another" is the basic message of this tactic. It is logically flawed, and a tad hypocritical. What saddens me most is when self-proclaimed Christians emit this jargon, because it is a blatent act of ripping scripture from its context to use it for a personal agenda. The above passage occurs twice in scripture, once in Matthew 7:1-2 and again in Luke 6:37. However, in both accounts it is immediately followed by the discourse about removing the plank from one's own eye. Nevertheless, the key text is the last line. The Matthean text and Lucan texts are almost identical, reading, "you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Jesus commands judging the self prior to judging others. Removing the plank is not the end act. Rather, the judging (and correcting) of self is in both passages a prerequiste to two other acts - judging the presence of a speck in another person's eye and then removing that speck. If Jesus truly meant we are to never judge anything by saying "judge not lest ye be judged", then he was indeed a very confused man, because he refutes that notion a few lines later, encouraging others to remove the speck from another's eye after his own plank has been dislodged. Judging the actions and thoughts of others is not forbidden by Jesus - what is forbidden is the laxity of not judging the self first. In fact, he elswhere tells his disciples to shake the dust from their feet in judgment as "a testimony against" any who do not receive them. (Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5) He even tells the apostles to judge the worthiness of the homes they enter and to recall their peace from a home if it is found unworthy. (Matt 10:12-13)Finally, he authorizes them to bind and loose in heaven by binding and loosing upon earth, an activity quite impossible without some level of judgment. (Matt 18:18) So, yes, Jesus did stress love but not a love devoid of judgement. Indeed, it seems quite impossible to authentically love someone and not judge whether or not they are following truth. On the contrary, if one does not invest critical thought toward the actions and beliefs of another, it seems they, in actuality, care little for that person's true wellbeing.