This really isn't anything new. I have been hearing for years about how people who follow Jesus are labeled as intolerant and that Christians need to be more tolerant of people who think, act and believe differently than they do.
What sparked my interest in this topic today was a group on Facebook. Someone posted a note regarding the intolerance of Christians. Intrigued by the heading, I read what the girl had to say and then I proceeded to read the banter between Christians and non-Christians in the comments section. The comments went on and on between professed tolerant people and supposed intolerant people.
Quite honestly, I think both parties were wrong!
That's because I don't think that tolerance is really the issue. I mean, how horrible is it to simply tolerate one another? For example, if someone were babysitting a 4 year old, they would not tolerate that 4 year old running onto a busy highway would they? If a blind person were about to walk off a cliff would we simply tolerate them doing so or would we choose to intervene? If a person believed that killing another human was a good thing to do would we simply tolerate their behavior because of their belief?
I have experienced tolerance myself and have come to the painful realization that I have been simply tolerating certain people in my life. Tolerance is not enough.
Ultimately, it comes down to love. See, it is not a question of tolerance versus intolerance. I think what the real question most people are really asking is "Why don't Christians seem to care about certain people like I do?" "Why don't Christians love them like I do?" I think this more accurately represents the underlying sentiment for most people when the question of tolerance is raised and that was the disturbing part of the Facebook banter. No one was speaking in love. Everyone was trying to be right or, at the minimum, not wrong.
All throughout scripture I find no evidence of Jesus teaching His followers that it is "ok" to tolerate each other. On several occasions He goes beyond tolerance and tells His followers to love each other and to love their enemies. Jesus had a record of loving "the unlikeable" people of His day- the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the adulterers, the diseased, the outcasts, the crippled, the beggars, the criminals- the list goes on and on.
In fact, there is one part of scripture that Jesus says love only the people that are easy to love... NO! He never says that! He never says to only love people who think and act and believe like we do. He says, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Did you catch that? The characteristics of someone who follows Jesus is based on love, not tolerance.
So the question remains, "Who then is my neighbor? Who do I need to love?"
The answer is everyone.
Jesus told a very famous story (called a parable) about this one day. A man was beaten within an inch of his life by a bunch of thieves. Two men of the same ethnicity (and very religious too) tolerated him laying on the ground about to die but the person who was considered to be an outcast in Jesus' day helped the half dead guy. What was Jesus' answer to who the neighbor was? The one who shows mercy (an act of compassion or love) was the better neighbor. Jesus concludes by saying, "Go and do likewise." (Read the whole thing here.)
Some of Jesus' last words to His followers was to go to ALL nations and tell them about this type of love; the love that Jesus demonstrated. The type of love that willing lays down its life for others and considers others needs above their own. A love that is not kept to oneself but is given away.
Let us who follow Jesus be known by our capacity to love.
What sparked my interest in this topic today was a group on Facebook. Someone posted a note regarding the intolerance of Christians. Intrigued by the heading, I read what the girl had to say and then I proceeded to read the banter between Christians and non-Christians in the comments section. The comments went on and on between professed tolerant people and supposed intolerant people.
Quite honestly, I think both parties were wrong!
That's because I don't think that tolerance is really the issue. I mean, how horrible is it to simply tolerate one another? For example, if someone were babysitting a 4 year old, they would not tolerate that 4 year old running onto a busy highway would they? If a blind person were about to walk off a cliff would we simply tolerate them doing so or would we choose to intervene? If a person believed that killing another human was a good thing to do would we simply tolerate their behavior because of their belief?
I have experienced tolerance myself and have come to the painful realization that I have been simply tolerating certain people in my life. Tolerance is not enough.
Ultimately, it comes down to love. See, it is not a question of tolerance versus intolerance. I think what the real question most people are really asking is "Why don't Christians seem to care about certain people like I do?" "Why don't Christians love them like I do?" I think this more accurately represents the underlying sentiment for most people when the question of tolerance is raised and that was the disturbing part of the Facebook banter. No one was speaking in love. Everyone was trying to be right or, at the minimum, not wrong.
All throughout scripture I find no evidence of Jesus teaching His followers that it is "ok" to tolerate each other. On several occasions He goes beyond tolerance and tells His followers to love each other and to love their enemies. Jesus had a record of loving "the unlikeable" people of His day- the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the adulterers, the diseased, the outcasts, the crippled, the beggars, the criminals- the list goes on and on.
In fact, there is one part of scripture that Jesus says love only the people that are easy to love... NO! He never says that! He never says to only love people who think and act and believe like we do. He says, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Did you catch that? The characteristics of someone who follows Jesus is based on love, not tolerance.
So the question remains, "Who then is my neighbor? Who do I need to love?"
The answer is everyone.
Jesus told a very famous story (called a parable) about this one day. A man was beaten within an inch of his life by a bunch of thieves. Two men of the same ethnicity (and very religious too) tolerated him laying on the ground about to die but the person who was considered to be an outcast in Jesus' day helped the half dead guy. What was Jesus' answer to who the neighbor was? The one who shows mercy (an act of compassion or love) was the better neighbor. Jesus concludes by saying, "Go and do likewise." (Read the whole thing here.)
Some of Jesus' last words to His followers was to go to ALL nations and tell them about this type of love; the love that Jesus demonstrated. The type of love that willing lays down its life for others and considers others needs above their own. A love that is not kept to oneself but is given away.
Let us who follow Jesus be known by our capacity to love.
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composed by
dave
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