Pioneer Christian Monthly - August, 1996

Toleration: Virtue Or Sin
William McKay

News Item: May 25,1996-At a "March For Jesus" rally held in London, Ontario, Rev. Miguel Sanchez of the London Gospel Temple prayed that God would deliver the people of Saudi Arabia from the 'darkness and deception of the spirit of Islam.' There was an immediate outcry of racism and intolerance from the Muslim Community, the secular society, and from many Christians. The minister involved offered a written apology and then gave a public apology to those who were offended. The local Muslim community organized a 'March for Tolerance" rally the following week, which was attended by both Muslims and Christians.

News Item: June 7, 1996-A Southam News/Angus Reid poll, completed June 2, 1996, reports that more Canadians have grown more comfortable with the notion of same-sex marriages (55% think gays and lesbians should be entitled to spousal benefits; 49% think that homosexual couples should be allowed to legally marry; and 42% think that homosexual couples should be allowed to legally adopt children). This is compared to a 1993 poll which stated that 43% of Canadians were in favour of allowing homosexual marriages. Darrell Bricker, senior vice-president of the Angus Reid Group, stated that 'I think the more Canadians hear about same-sex marriage, the more legitimate is seems to them.'

Opinion Article: June 10, 1996-Mara Burton, a Grade 12 student at Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton, wrote an article for the London Free Press. In this article she expressed her views as to why she no longer attends church. Her feeling is that over the years, the acceptance of controversial issues and tolerance levels in society have changed in her view; churches need to keep up with these changes and be more tolerant to avoid discriminating against parts of society.

News Item: June 1996-At the recent General Synod meeting, the delegates discussed a document called 'A Formula Of Agreement.' This is a document that, if approved, will move the RCA into full communion with three other denomination: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Church of Christ. The United Church of Christ openly condones homosexual behaviour as well as ordaining homosexual persons as ministers. Also under discussion is the situation surrounding a minister from the RCA, Rev. Richard Rhem, who advocates that there are many different avenues of salvation and not just through Christ alone. The Canadian delegates spoke out against both of these issues.

In all of these articles there is a central theme, and that theme is TOLERATION. Toleration is an interesting concept. We can tolerate people, things, or even ideas. W. Somerset Maugham, a 20th century British author, was once quoted as saying, "Tolerance is only another name for indifference." If we tolerate something, are we then just indifferent to it? Let's examine this concept of intolerance a little closer from a Christian perspective and ask ourselves the following questions: What does it mean to be tolerant? Who is telling us to be tolerant? Should we be tolerant? With whom should we be tolerant? With what should we be tolerant?

First of all, let us look at what the word "tolerate" means. Webster's New World Dictionary defines it as being from the Latin word 'tolerate" as "1) to allow, permit; 2) to recognize and respect (others' beliefs, practices, etc.) without necessarily agreeing; 3) to put up with, bear.'

In today's world, we are being constantly bombarded with the phrases that we must be tolerant of; we must accept changes because we do not want to offend anyone. We are told that we must be 'politically correct' in how we deal with any subject because we don't want to be considered intolerant. We don't want to be labeled anti-feminist, homophobic, anti-people, or worse yet, a racist. Society strongly dislikes labels with phobic" or 'anti" in them. It seems to be the catch-phrase to label people as being intolerant if their views are in contrast with humanity's view. The people of the world are telling us that we must be tolerant. We must be tolerant with all members of society, regardless of race, creed, colour, political affiliation, religious affiliation, etc. Humanity's excuse is that people may be wrong in what they do, but there are always worse things they could be doing.

Should we be tolerant, and with whom should we be tolerant? We should not tolerate any belief or practice that can lead us from God's standards. We can listen to people with different views, but we must not tolerate anything that causes us to sin. We must cast it aside. In Matthew 5: 29, Jesus tells us, 'If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.'

Society tells us that to be popular we must be open-minded or that we need to loosen up and not take things too seriously. But to be this open-minded means we must accept sin. Satan is at work here, and we must be very careful in our dealings with him. In his deceptions, Satan makes sin sound easier to accept by calling it "personal choices' or 'alternative life-styles." Using these phrases, sin doesn't seem too bad. Sin becomes tolerable. That is wrong thinking. A toleration of any sin lowers the standards of the church and compromises the witness of the church.

We must remember that God's approval is more important than society's approval. We need to be like the church in Ephesus, as described in Revelation 2: 2; 'I know your works, your labour, your patience, and you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars." We need to test these other views against Scripture to see if they are true. Only then can we accept or condemn.

In 2 Kings 10: 18 - 31, we read the story of Jehu and how he destroyed the worshippers of Baal. In this case, the people of Israel first tolerated and then incorporated this pagan worship into the fabric of their society. The r result was that they became apathetic toward God. God's punishment was to allow Israel to be broken up and then conquered. This is the path that we tread. If we allow sin to be tolerated, we accept sin. When sin is accepted, it then becomes incorporated into our lives. It becomes a part of us.

So then, how are we to deal with others and their differing views? We are to deal with them as Christ would deal with them. We must use God's Holy Word as our defense. We must respect people whose views differ from ours. We must not offend people with the use of racism, hatred, or discrimination. All through. the four gospels, we read many times of Jesus listening to people with different ideas and then correcting them and even rebuking them. In Matthew 4, we read of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Satan definitely offered different ideas to Jesus about what He should or should not believe. How did Jesus respond? Did He tell Satan. that "yes, you do have different ideas that are not quite right, but that is okay because you are entitled to your opinion and I don't want to offend you"? No. He did not! He answered Satan. with God's Holy Word. Three times Satan presented Jesus with the opportunity to sin, and three times Christ responded from the Scriptures. Twice Jesus tolerated Satan and his tempations, never giving in, and finally in verse 10, He commands Satan, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

In Matthew 5: 43 - 48, Jesus tells us that we are to love our enemies, but we are not to accept their sinful ways. In other words, love the person but hate the sin. We must love one another and treat each other with respect so that we do not set stumbling blocks in front of our neighbours. But we must not offend God with a toleration of, and then acceptance of, sin. We must be strong in our fight against sin and remember that our strength comes from the Lord. We are to trust in the Holy Spirit for our guidance. Jesus always treated His enemies with love, but He never gave in to their sinful ways. By doing this, we will show that Jesus is Lord in our lives and that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will devote ourselves to God's desires.

So, let's get back to the original question: 'Is toleration a virtue or a sin?" Let's test it against Scripture. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22: 36 - 40, when He is asked; 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

We must love God and His ways, first and foremost. We should not abide sin; we should not put up with sin; we should not tolerate sin.

Whenever we tolerate sin, toleration then becomes a sin!