tolerance

Tolerance is defined by Merriam Webster as the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

The schools have indoctrinated students to accept beliefs and behaviors once thought morally wrong. A general increase is noted in tolerance of divorce, out of wedlock births, homosexuality, adultery, premarital sex, abortion, violence in the name of a cause and more.  91% of Christian teenagers have rejected absolute truth and 65% of Christian adults.  People embrace relativism.

Everything is right sometime and nothing is right every time.

What does this do? If we don’t believe in absolute truth? Christians become tasteless salt and lose our relevance. We are to be the preservative pushing back and delaying evil, and a light to the truth. Oprah Winfrey claims to be a Christian- she said, one of the biggest mistakes that Christians make- she said there are many diverse paths to what we call God. This violates the founder of our faith- John 14:6 “I am the truth and the light- no man comes to the father except by me.”

If the Hoover Dam is crumbling, why would we try to stop it or stand in front of it- if we don’t think it’s a bad thing?

Spiritual relativism – very little will stop evangelism if you believe everybody is already going to heaven? It is unthinkable to light a lamp and put it under a bushel.

True tolerance requires a foundation of absolute truth. Tolerance when correctly understood really is a virtue that should be embraced. Society

A Plea for Tolerance poem – and the historic understanding of tolerance is in Webster’s New World Dictionary.

“To allow something that you don’t agree with.”

A permitting or allowing something you disagree with, a point of view you disagree with and respecting the person you disagree with . It is a conduct for something you dislike or disagree with.

Today, the attitude has undergone a transformation. Now you are pseudo tolerant- you must agree that all views are equally valid choices. Cohabitaton or marriage are equally valid choices. Thats what pseudo tolerance is a belief that all things are ok.

Pseudo tolerance- the new perverted idea of tolerance is different than true tolerance.

1. It rejects the idea of absolute truth- a truth that is true in every circumstance. 7 x 8=56 is an absolute truth ( but on the other hand there are relative truths- like 72 degrees is the perfect temperature- that’s according to a person’s makeup Acts 5:29 reminds us that we should obey the law, but its not true all the time. The culture want to say that all behaviors are relative right or wrong. Were the perpetrators of 911 an evil act, the new way says, well…hm..hm….they might say no, if they were a muslim vs. a family member of a person who died. Instead of saying, Abortion is wrong, they say abortion is wrong for me
2. It rejects the point of view of others that differ with theirs. June 2006- National Science Academies- warned all teachers to avoid creationism or intelligent design to be taught in any educational setting outside religious classes. “If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to our way of life”. The intolerance of pseudo tolerant people reaches across all areas of culture. Christians have been pigionholed as narrow minded people. As Christians, we need to stand by our convictions.

True tolerance is based on a genuine concern for others- I respect your right to believe what you believe and behave the way you choose, but I care about you too much to not tell you the truth.

3. Pseudo tolerance will not separate the belief from the behavior. Equating the rejection of ideas to the hatred of people stifles all discussion.

We need to return to historic return to true tolerance,

1. requires making a judgement (disagreement and dislike makes a decision) Pseudo tolerance- says Math 7:1-5- do not judge lest you are not judged- to stand against same sex marriage or abortion or other issues.  Jesus is saying- if you see a fellow Christian involved in sin- do all you can to remove that speck in his eye- you need to help him out – before you try to help him – examine your own life. He is not saying we never make a judgement

2. Grounded in a genuine concern for other people

3 True tolerance allows for preferences.  To be accepting of others, we need to express our choices. Our constitution demands that we allow people to choose to worship any God they choose or no God- does not mean that the Govt cannot demonstrate a preference for Christianity. Pseudo tolerants want to prohibit nativity scenes etc- problem with that application is it is based on a false understanding of the words religion an establishment. It only meant Congress shall not establish a denomination- the Methodist church or a specific church that everyone must be a part of. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story- 1811 just 20 yrs after the constitution established and wrote a commentary to clarify the meaning of the 1st amendment( never in our wildest imagination was it meant to prostrate Christianity and elevate Islam or other religions above Christianity)- James Madison appointed him, Madison was the chief author of the constitution and opened the Bill of Rights.

4. I respect your right to believe what you choose but I love you too much to allow you to pursue behaviors that hurt others

We need tolerance that is willing to call evil/evil and good/good.