[From "Sinful Judgment vs Righteous Judgment"]

A persistent problem for new Christians is judging others. We look at someone[…]and develop snap judgments—often negative—from years of doing so out of habit as a non-Christian
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A concept you hear among the Orthodox is discernment, the ability to pick out the divine signal from the fleshly and demonic noise. One of the differences between us and the saints is that the latter know when a thought comes from God and when it doesn’t
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If judging others leads to sin, it’s not of God, and if judging others leads to virtue, it could be of God
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1. I go to the café[…]In walks in a woman who is wearing a bra for a top and minuscule shorts. Immediately the words “harlot” and “slut” come to mind[…]I consider how immodest I have been in my own life. This is sinful judgment
2. My friend arranges a blind date with a “devout Christian woman”[…]She arrives in yoga pants wearing thick makeup. I can see her commodious cleavage[…]I determine she is not suitable to be my wife[…]I used my knowledge and experience with secular women to make a determination
3. I visit a friend in a rough area of town in the middle of the day. There I noticed a large group of black males smoking marijuana and listening to loud music. Immediately the words “lazy” and “criminals” come to mind and I ponder at length about why black people have such difficulty being productive members of society[…]Then I realize that I have performed worse evils than all of those men combined[…]
4. I’m a single father[…]I decide to enroll him in a private school[…]I noticed a group of black boys bullying a white kid[…]I decide not to enroll my white-passing son at the school, and instead pick a school where I do not notice racial strife. Here I made a judgment call