APP: There’s a ton of talk about tolerance today. It’s a hot topic on every campus, in the news, and in the courts. Tolerance is a frontline culture battle for those living alternative lifestyles, those working and living in the country illegally, and basically anyone who has a worldview that says whatever you believe and however you want to live has to be tolerated. The popular thought in our culture is that if you disagree with someone, that makes you intolerant. The problem is that most people don’t really understand what it means to tolerate something. To tolerate something—a belief or a point of view—means that you allow it to exist, even though you don’t agree with it or like it. If I were truly intolerant, I would try to silence other points of view and eliminate them. But just because I disagree with someone doesn’t mean I’m intolerant. What people who are pushing the tolerance agenda really want is to be helped and given special rights to live out their beliefs. It’s really not about tolerance; rather, it’s about truth. What are you doing to clear up the confusion?
“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.”
ACTS 10:28 NASB
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.”
MATTHEW 7:1 NLT
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.”
1 PETER 3:8–11 ESV
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.”
JOHN 8:6–7 MSG
He has been very kind and patient, waiting for you to change, but you think nothing of his kindness. Perhaps you do not understand that God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives.
ROMANS 2:4 NCV