TOLERANCE

TOLERANCE.

Society is undergoing what may be the fastest, most ominous cultural change we’ve ever seen. It is happening so fast, the implications are mind-boggling. Even MORE frightening ... most Christ-followers seem to be unaware. We may very well wake up one day in a culture that is not only unreceptive, but openly hostile to the church and the Gospel.

The apostle Paul speaks about a form of Christian tolerance in I Corinthians 13 when he writes: ‘Love endures all things.’

Romans gives us the same principle of tolerance when it says: ‘Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you ... ’ (Romans 13:7)

This is the kind of tolerance most of us understand and embrace as compatible with Scripture because our understanding of tolerance has meant ‘respecting the rights of others, even those with whom you disagree and who are different from you.’

And I’ll buy that. But today, there is a new style of tolerance. It might sound like the traditional kind, but it isn't. The new style of tolerance is based on an un-Biblical belief that ‘truth is relative to the community in which a person participates.’ And since there are many communities, there are necessarily many different truths.

So ... if truth is created, not by God, but by communities and humans, and if all humans are 'created equal,' then the next logical step is that all truth is equal. All opinions are equal.’ This is the new style of tolerance - that not only does everyone have an equal right to his beliefs, all BELIEFS are equal. All VALUES are equal. All LIFESTYLES are equal. All TRUTH CLAIMS are equal.

But they’re not, are they? Do the values of the KU KLUX KLAN deserve equal respect with all other beliefs? What about the values of ORGANIZED CRIME ... or the values of OSAMA BIN LADEN? Do we equally respect the cultural custom of placing Thai and Filipino children as workers in the sex industry?

The Bible makes it clear that all values, beliefs, lifestyles and truth claims are not equal. It teaches that the God of the BIBLE is the ONE TRUE GOD -- that if something is not right in GOD’S sight, then it is WRONG.

Now ... follow this: In a society that regards all beliefs, all values, all lifestyles, all truth claims as equally valid, there can only be one universal virtue: TOLERANCE. And if TOLERANCE is the cardinal virtue, then there can only be ONE EVIL: INTOLERANCE.

Given all that, let's pray that we keep the love of Christ central to everything we do, so we can combat this new form of tolerance that threatens to assault everything we as believers hold dear. True, genuine, Christian love for everyone around us is our only hope.

And be blessed.