Junction Presbyterian Women

Teaching for Presbyterian Women

by Brenda Murr

(February 10, 2021)

The teaching for this meeting was brought by myself, Brenda Murr, (The opinions expressed her are mine alone and may or may not be reflective of the views of others present) the topic was Christian Tolerance or just Tolerance because it is not a Christian obligation. Mostly because of our stand on abortion, (killing babies) and homosexuality, incest, and pedophilia, and other perversions which God calls an abomination. I am certainly not saying these are any worse than other sins like lying, adultery, stealing, killing, or any others, or that God does not forgive certain sins, absolutely not. The problem is, we are no longer allowed to call these sin. We are pressured to act as though we approve of these behaviors, thereby encouraging them. This is deceitful and a misrepresentation of the truth. This does not mean we hate these people or would in any way mistreat them, we are called to love the sinner but hate the sin. But are we being loving when we do not warn them of the consequences of their sin. Although the perceived absence of tolerance among Christians seems to be an issue for the world, the world grows less and less tolerant of Christians and more and more determined to silence any opposition to the deceit of calling evil, good and good, evil. What I found in my study was that most people believe that tolerance is the responsibility of the person with whom they have a difference of opinion, and not themselves, just saying. Which led me to the question, did God call Christians to be tolerant of sin and evil, and the answer is NO. I could find no place in the Bible where God called the Israelites or Believers to tolerate evil or sin, much less change the name of it to make it more acceptable. They were told to run from it. Before the hair starts standing up on the back of your neck, hear me out. We are not talking about the tolerance your grandma was talking about, “ live and let live” no today it means the exact opposite.

Robin Phillips, in a Salvo magazine article about influential philosopher Herbert Marcuse entitled, “ The Illusionist: How Herbert Marcuse convinced a generation that censorship is tolerance and other politically correct tricks.” The article illustrates how tolerance has been manipulated. He wrote: what they think you believe, your Christian convictions, they must fight to prevent you from even expressing, and you definitely should not be allowed to live them out.

Whereas under the old notion of tolerance, a man has to disagree with something in order to tolerate it, under the new meaning there must be no disagreement; rather, a person must actually accept all values and viewpoints as being equally legitimate (the obvious exception being that we must not tolerate the old notion of tolerance.)

But in contrast to tolerance, love is the key attribute of God, 1 John 4:8 says, “ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” John 3:16 tells us, “ For God so loved the that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus showed us what love looked like in the flesh. He did not “tolerate” the former prostitute Mary Magdalene or the self-righteous Rich Young Ruler, He loved them. He loved them enough to help them find transformation instead of leaving them in their sin. Moreover, because Jesus loved us, He died a painful death. Tolerance does not require one to endure the cross for others, only love does. Indeed love and tolerance are very different. Here are four reasons why.

Tolerance does not separate your doing from your being: With a tolerance world view your “doing” is your “being” Tolerance does not separate who you are from what you do. This is exactly opposite of what happens with love. In the case of love, we are called to see everyone, even our enemies, as created in the image of God, despite what they have done. A perfect example is Christ on the cross, Romans 5:8, But God demonstrated His love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ separated our doing from our being.

Tolerance does not require forgiveness, but love does: One of the most troubling aspects of the tolerance worldview is that does not tell us how to treat people who we believe, rightly or wrongly, hate us. Moreover, tolerance does not require forgiveness; a wronged person is not encouraged to give in, in a tolerance-based culture people seek retribution and revenge rather than restoration and reconciliation when someone violates their tolerance code of conduct.

Love on the other hand requires forgiveness. Because to love one must separate another’s doing from their being. So, when you are hurt or wronged, you must seek to forgive. In fact, the underlying principle behind Christ’s instructions in Matthew 18:22 Specifically, Peter asked how many times he was to forgive his brother or sister who had sinned against him. Peter thought 7 times was pretty good. But Christ responded “seventy time seven times” which meant that our forgiveness should be as boundless and abundant as God’s is for us. Loving people and tolerant people may act the same until they are wronged. The wronged person must have a valve to release the tensions, pressure, and frustrations of the situation, for the person who loves that valve is forgiveness, we can give it to God and move on trusting that God will work it out. The tolerant person has no such release, the end result being explosive, hateful, anger and manipulation. Not the result God is looking for.

Tolerance does not rejoice in truth, but love does: A tolerance culture promotes the notion that truth can be exclusive. No doubt, you have heard someone say that another person “shared their truth.” A person can have their own opinions, but they cannot have their own truth. It is true that truth is exclusive but only in the sense that there can be only one truth. But the truth is also inclusive, in that everyone can know it and rejoice in it. Tolerance on the other hand, rejects objective truth because rejecting someone’s “truth” is to be tolerant.” As a result, when you operate with a tolerance world view, instead of rejoicing with truth, you rejoice in a “narrative” that reflects how you feel or believe, whether it is true or not.

In 1 Corinthians 13, goes into detail to explain what love is and what it is not. First, love is patient and kind. In other words, love is compassionate. Second, love rejoices with the truth. In short, love is compassion and truth in balance. Therefore, compassion without truth is not love. As Christians who love, the actions we take and the words we must say need to promote and reflect the truth, even if it offends others. But we must share the truth compassionately-- that is, in a patient and kind manner, even if by speaking the truth we will make someone feel uncomfortable or if the other person rejects us. Love requires that we rejoice in truth, no matter the personal cost.

Tolerance seeks to imitate love: Let’s face it, no one wants to be tolerated. Imagine a marriage proposal where a man says he wants to marry a woman because his tolerance for her has grown and he wants to have children that they can tolerate together. Does that sound appealing? The fact is that we all long to be loved, and we were created by a loving God to give and receive love. However, increasingly in our culture, we are rejecting God as the ultimate source and sustainer of love. So we want the attributes and benefits of love, but without God, that is how we came up with tolerance. Tolerance is a secular imitation on love. So instead of saying “God is love” as the scripture teaches, in the tolerance world view, we say “Love is God”. So, we make an idol of and worship “love” instead of the God who created love. Truth says, you cannot have real love apart from God. Moreover, whenever we elevate anything, even a good thing like love, above God, it turns from being a virtue to a vice.

To truly value another person, especially someone with whom you strongly disagree, requires love. So, the answer to the question is, Christian are not called to be tolerant, we are called something more Christ like, we are called to love. Real love is from God. If you know not God, you know not love, for God is love.

Ezekiel 3:17-19: The prophet Ezekiel declared; “Son of man, I have made them a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore, hear the word of my mouth, and give them warning from me.”
“When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not the warning, nor speaks to warn the wicked from his wicked ways, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hands. (His blood is on your hands; God holds you responsible.) Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turns not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”