To Be Continued: Tolerance

You shouldn’t hate!

As Christians, as a culture, and as a world we’ve tolerated a lot of things. Tolerance is defined as, “The ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with.”

Today’s To Be Continued post will cover several tolerance-related lies that the culture has directed at Christians. I also hope to provide a suggestion regarding how we should live in an overly tolerant (yet intolerant) culture.

How far is too far?

As the world spirals further into sin, where do we draw the line? I can, and have, tolerated stuff, but we can’t keep bending under pressure. Romans 12:2 tells us “Don’t copy the behaviours and customs of this world”. The dilemma is that I want to express Jesus’ love for all people without conforming to their ways. But this can be taken too far. All it takes is a small crack in the door, and suddenly the devil has a foothold.

You may have heard that the National Football League recently changed the message painted in its end zones from “End Racism” to “Choose Love”. The world works tirelessly to accept and please everyone. How do we deal with these situations as Christians? In a culture full of “love”, we sure experience a ton of hate over our views and values. (But I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, because Jesus did say “In this world you will have trouble.”)

Here are five statements you’ve probably heard regarding Christians.

1. Christians are hateful.

There is a worldwide bias against Christians and everything they stand for (so much so that the U.S.A. recently created a task force to address the anti-Christian bias in their nation). As the world’s largest religion, you’re bound to have enemies. Instead of being frustrated with those who oppose us, let’s remember this quote by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill:

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

By no means am I saying Christians are utterly innocent – there are many “Christ-followers” who do terrible things. Christians aren’t Jesus, they’re people trying to be like Jesus. However, I don’t think all the hate is warranted. The world accuses Christians of hating those who are different, such as the LGBTQ community. It seems we’re always hearing stories of Christians mistreating and hurting those who are different, despite what the Bible says about valuing all people.

However, I can’t say I’ve personally seen Christians taking part in such acts. So I did some research. I want to paraphrase a section of A Practical Guide to Culture by John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle.

Stonestreet is talking with a Christian teen who is trying to love his gay friends, but struggles because ‘Christians have treated gay people terribly.’ Stonestreet asks him, ‘You’ve grown up and have been active in the church, right? So that means you’ve observed Christians carefully every week…of your life… How many times have did you personally witness a Christian treating a gay person terribly?’ The youth thought for a little while before saying, ‘Actually, I’ve never seen it myself.’

Interesting.

I will never say Christians are perfect, and I know there are so-called Christians who have deluded views. That’s not what Jesus wants, and it doesn’t do justice to the majority of Christians who love as Jesus commanded.

News doesn’t tell the whole story. News often drastically overrepresents minorities and controversies. Would a story about the Christians who love as Jesus loved sell? No. Would a controversial story on a church that holds anti-LGBTQ rallies sell? Obviously. The world does not exist to sell the truth, the world exists to sell what people want to hear.

The only thing Jesus hated was sin and corruption.

2. Christians are narrow-minded.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV) says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” People mistakenly interpret the meaning of this passage as “To be a Christian and walk the narrow way you must discard all those who disagree with you.”

That’s not what the narrow road is. The narrow road is giving up the things of this world in exchange for greater, eternal riches in Heaven. Christians are future-minded, not narrow-minded. I don’t believe that God loves some people, or most people, but all people. That seems pretty wide-open. And the bonus – God also loves those the world doesn’t love. Such as Christians. Now who’s narrow-minded?

God’s narrow way is open for ALL people.

3. Christians don’t tolerate others.

I think what people mean when they say Christians don’t tolerate others is that we don’t agree with their actions. They have redefined the word tolerate. Remember that the definition of tolerance is “The ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with.”

This is what we are called to as believers; to realize the world is full of people with different views, morals, religions and so forth. We’re called to meet them where they are and show them the ways of Jesus via our words and actions. We are not called to coerce, condemn and belittle them into a better way of life, we are called to be like Jesus and compel them by word and deed to a way that produces life to the fullest.

We are asked as Christ followers to tolerate and love people, but not tolerate and love sin. God does not hate people, God hates sin. And as a holy God He cannot allow it in His presence. That’s why He went to such great lengths to make a way to atone for our sins forever through the death of Jesus on the cross.

As followers of God, we can’t tolerate the actions of those living in sin. This often labels Christians as “intolerant”. But we don’t hate people – as much as the media pushes this view – rather, we hate sin.

God tolerates people, He doesn’t tolerate sin.

4. Christians aren’t loving.

From a worldly POV, maybe we aren’t. But God calls us to a different kind of love. Sean McDowell beautifully defines this in his book, Chasing Love:

“Love is being committed to the objective good of another regardless of how they feel.”

I have a question for my younger audience (which includes myself). Ever questioned your parents’ rules? Ever wondered why a rule or curfew was put in place? Spoiler alert: it’s because parents love you objectively. Your parents love you regardless of what you subjectively think is best because they know what’s ultimately best.

The world doesn’t see love as God sees it. The world says love is doing whatever you want, whenever you want, regardless of how it affects others. God’s love says we should be committed to what He says is ultimately best. God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell, which is separation from Him forever. He wants them to live in eternal paradise with Him forever.

After all, 1 John 4:9 (NLT) declares, “God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.”

God gives us the highest standard – love all people.

5. Christianity contradicts itself.

I know I’ve covered this before, but Matthew 5:18 (NIV) says, “For truly I tell you, until Heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

If you doubt the claims of God, consider talking to a pastor or reading a book like The Case For Christ. There is no fault in God’s law, only in Christians’ actions. We will never achieve perfection on earth, but we will try and love as Jesus commands us to love.

The reality is that a culture of love and tolerance only extends as far as those who are willing to love and tolerate others. As soon as you act differently, you’re excluded. “Christians shouldn’t hate,” people say, all the while hating Christians. Does anyone see the contradiction in this?

God’s word is flawless; people are flawed.

How now shall we live?

Christians face hate in modern culture. The only solution is love. Hold up, didn’t you just say love is the problem with the world? The only way to beat false love and unjust hatred is with true love – God’s love. Righteous love hates sin and loves people. It tolerates human fault but works to overcome sin.

While God alone has the answers, He did give us this cool book called the Bible. If you want to know the truth, how to stand firm against a culture of pseudo-tolerance, and what right and wrong look like, check it out. You can only fight lies by first knowing the truth.

Romans 12:9 (NLT) tells us, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” Christians are not perfect, but I believe the world’s hatred is misplaced. Sin is what we must hate – not people. Instead, choose love – objective love – which looks out for the best regardless of what people think.

How do we live this out? I’ll leave you with the final line from Charles Colson’s book How Now Shall We Live? It says this…

“By embracing God’s truth…then having the courage to live it out in every walk of life.”