I grew up in a society where tolerance was impressed upon us at school, in the media, and even in my Christian church. Over and over, it was drilled into us that we need to be more tolerant and accepting of each other’s differences. A tolerant world is a more peaceful world. You need to “go along” to “get along”. If you are not tolerant, you are not a good Christian.
You have what you tolerate!
In 2018, a bakery in Colorado was sued by a gay couple for refusing to make them a wedding cake. The baker refused their request based on his religious beliefs. Even though the couple found another baker to make them a cake, they wanted to punish this baker for refusing them. The irony is that the gay couple were intolerant of the baker’s religious beliefs but expected the baker to be tolerant of their lifestyle. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court saw the hypocrisy of the situation and ruled in favor of the baker. By the way, the Colorado Supreme Court originally sided with the gay couple. You have what you tolerate Colorado!
The media pushed the Black Lives Matter agenda to the extent if you were not tolerant of their movement then you were a racist. You were labeled a racist if you didn’t support the idea that destroying property, burning American flags, and committing various violent acts against civilians and law enforcement was justified. You were ridiculed if you countered Black Lives Matter with “All Lives Matter”. But isn’t that true, God created all life so all lives must matter, right? By the way, how many black business owners lost their stores during the “mostly peaceful” looting and burning protest’s of the BLM rioters? How many black lives were actually improved other than the self-acknowledged Marxist leaders of BLM?
The most recent Memorial Day weekend, it was reported over 200 plus teenagers and young men were wreaking havoc riding dirt bikes illegally on Baltimore City streets and sidewalks. In response to the ongoing lawlessness, the mayor stated that Baltimore’s citizens (taxpayers) should be more accepting of the “biker culture.” The mayor urged residents to show greater tolerance rather than expecting him to enforce the law against these troublemakers. Respectfully, Baltimore’s citizens got what they tolerate!
Tolerance is not a Biblical Value.
Love is a Biblical Value.
Don’t transpose or confuse the two!
In John 8: 3-11, we learn a beautiful story of the difference between tolerance and love. A woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus for judgment while He was teaching in the temple. Adultery was a capital offense that required stoning to death. Interestingly, the Jewish authorities only brought the woman before Jesus and not the man who was complicit in the act. Their intent was to trick Jesus into making a comment contrary to Roman or Jewish law that they could use to entrap Him. In lieu of responding quickly, Jesus paused by stooping down to write on the ground with his finger. After a few moments Jesus responded with:
“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.
Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
- Did Jesus tolerate the Jewish leaders accusations? No, He did not.
- Did Jesus condemn them for their hypocrisy? No, He did not.
- With love and truthful words, Jesus convicted them of their deceitful endeavor.
What about the adulterous woman?
When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
- Did Jesus tolerate her adultery? No, He did not.
- Did Jesus rebuke her? No, He did not.
- With love, Jesus forgave her and challenged her to sin no more.
I believe many well-meaning Christians confuse tolerance with love. Jesus calls us to love one another with patience, understanding and compassion. Jesus loves sinners but He does not love their sin nor does He tolerate it. We are to love the light in each other but we are not to compromise and accept each other’s darkness too. In my humble opinion, tolerance is one of the devil’s favorite and effective tools in his repertoire. He uses the word tolerance to take advantage of Christians who are not well versed in Scripture. Tolerance is not a Biblical value. Love is a Biblical value. Tolerance is a word used to control, shame, and mold people to the darkness of this world. The intended purpose of this world is to form us into “tolerant” citizens.
- Be tolerant of people who are gender confused and accept their mental illness as normal.
- Be tolerant to allow men to compete in women’s sports and enter your daughter’s locker rooms.
- Be tolerant to allow drag queens to read to your children.
- Be tolerant to allow people to steal up to a certain dollar amount before they are held accountable.
- Be tolerant to allow LGBTQ parades with men and women exposing their private parts in public.
- Be tolerant to those who were not raised “privileged” to loot and burn your stores.
- Be tolerant of the woman’s right to make choices for her body even if that means ending her unborn’s life.
Tolerance is the road to hell.
Believers cannot be part of this world.
The darkness of this world
is not compatible with God’s world.
Case in point…we all have family, neighbors or friends who are gay. This world is very intent on tolerance being shown to the LGBTQ community. This world’s agenda is contrary to God’s word. The Bible does not mince words on the matter… For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.- Romans 1:26-27 (ESV)
So do we stone gay people or throw them off the roof as in some cultures? Of course not! God is the final judge. Our response to the gay community should be the same as Jesus’ response to the Jewish leaders and the the adulterous woman, we are to love them and be truthful. We are not called to tolerate their way of life or accept it. We are also not to condemn them. We are not called to tolerate their darkness. We are called to love them and urge them lovingly towards His light.
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