Interesting. In many occasions Jesus was very critical of others. Would he be prepared to apply his own words to himself- "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). By what standards should we judge a man who constantly calls others " hypocrites", "fraud", " dog" " blind guides", insulting the person who invited him for dinner, disrupts normal trade by physically attacking traders and customers and teaching parables in which he calls to kill all those who don't follow him.

"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Luke 19:25-27 ( BTW, how that for the open-end war command?)

Shouldn't he first to cast out the beam out of his own eye?

And for the Dan Lacich's comment-he deliberately or by mistake evades the context of Jesus's teaching. From the Jesus's point of view we all sinners, we all have a beam in our eyes and therefore prohibited to pronounce judgment. In order to remove it we have to accept Jesus. Only then we will have a right to judge. This is a standard of measure which Matthew talks about. For the rest of us-Muslims, Hindus, Jews, atheists ,agnostics etc...judgement is hypocritical. Hence "Judge not, that ye be not judged"-Matthew 7:1. For if you dare, Jesus will judge you as he described in the parable above. Moreover, the vast majority of Christians also remain sinners-otherwise what is confession for? Therefore they also shouldn't judge. In short, Christianity effectively eliminated the concept of justice and , in Ayn Rand words, substituted it by mercy.

Dan Lacich says

What is possibly more amazing than the fact that so many people quote this verse and the concept of not judging, is that so many people could get the real meaning so completely wrong. This is especially true since the context makes it clear what Jesus meant by these words. When Jesus said that we should not judge unless we be judged also, he was not saying that we are to never judge if behavior is sin or not. What he was doing was giving us a caution to make sure that we are willing to be judged by the same standard of judgment. This verse is not a warning against judging an action. It is a warning against self deception and hypocrisy.

The way we know this is the same way that we usually know what the Bible teaches. We look at the context. The verse that immediately follow helps explain what Jesus was saying. 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 In other words, if you are going to say that what someone else is doing is wrong then you better be prepared to be judged by the same standard. If you don’t want your life to be scrutinized, then don’t judge others. If you can stand the scrutiny then go ahead. Think of Al Gore telling us that we need to cut down our energy use in order to save the planet and then finding out that he has three large homes and the carbon footprint of Godzilla. He needed to read this verse first.

Google is your friend. What Jesus was doing was cautioning us to make sure that we are willing to be judged by the same standards by which we judge others. In other words, “Judge, and be prepared to be judged.” Does that sound at all familiar?

Great reply.

"The precept: “Judge not, that ye be not judged” . . . is an abdication of moral responsibility: it is a moral blank check one gives to others in exchange for a moral blank check one expects for oneself.

There is no escape from the fact that men have to make choices; so long as men have to make choices, there is no escape from moral values; so long as moral values are at stake, no moral neutrality is possible. To abstain from condemning a torturer, is to become an accessory to the torture and murder of his victims.

The moral principle to adopt in this issue, is: “Judge, and be prepared to be judged.”

The opposite of moral neutrality is not a blind, arbitrary, self-righteous condemnation of any idea, action or person that does not fit one’s mood, one’s memorized slogans or one’s snap judgment of the moment. Indiscriminate tolerance and indiscriminate condemnation are not two opposites: they are two variants of the same evasion. To declare that “everybody is white” or “everybody is black” or “everybody is neither white nor black, but gray,” is not a moral judgment, but an escape from the responsibility of moral judgment.

To judge means: to evaluate a given concrete by reference to an abstract principle or standard. It is not an easy task; it is not a task that can be performed automatically by one’s feelings, “instincts” or hunches. It is a task that requires the most precise, the most exacting, the most ruthlessly objective and rational process of thought. It is fairly easy to grasp abstract moral principles; it can be very difficult to apply them to a given situation, particularly when it involves the moral character of another person. When one pronounces moral judgment, whether in praise or in blame, one must be prepared to answer “Why?” and to prove one’s case—to oneself and to any rational inquirer."

- Ayn Rand
The Virtue of Selfishness

To judge and being judged, in my opinion is an on-going process of both exercising reason and learning. And it is a great measure of such.