1Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Note that we are to take the beam out of our eye first. We are to call sin sin, but not judge others if we are struggling with the same sin. For instance if I struggle with lust, I shouldn't say something to someone else who is doing the same.
But then the question is what does judge mean? Condemn? Discern?
One of the principles of understanding Scripture, from the Reformed view anyway, it to let Scripture interpret Scripture. It seems the below does a pretty good job of explaining the above. Helps me to quit worrying about what the lost folks who are not Christians are doing.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
(Though I'm quoting the above, I actually agree with everything you're saying)
I personally think that if not for the major bruhaha from the last time he said "Who am I to judge?", this would not be a matter of issue and would be seen as pretty much orthodox from any point of view. If a person repents from his/her sin, is converted, and his/her life is reformed, then we shouldn't keep beating on the person.
For me personally, when looking down on somebody who is struggling with sin*, I always consider the sins that I, personally, have been forgiven of...and that tends to make me a lot more merciful in my judgment.
* -- please note that the above statement applies to those who are struggling with sin; working on putting off the "old man" (cf Rom 6:6; Eph 4:4, etc.)...the statement does not include those who revel in their sin (cf Rom 1:32).
I'm personally humbled when I actually comprehended the passage "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23)
I think the biggest bone of contention is that he is talking about people who are trying. When I actually read his words, that's what I get. Sadly, the reprobate use a select subset of those words as justification and to confirm themselves in their sin.
Reminds me of the atheist who uses a part of Psalm 14:1 to assert that the Bible says there is no God.
Thanks, all, for the thoughtful responses. They are appreciated.