Christian Tolerance

Tolerance is a word that gets tossed around a lot these days. To evangelical Christians, it sometimes seems it gets tossed at us more than it does at anyone else. Typically from folks upset at us for holding positions based on a literal reading and understanding of the Bible.

I looked up tolerance in the American Heritage Dictionary. There were several definitions, but the first one was the one relevant to this issue. "The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others."

As evangelicals, we get labeled as intolerant because we don't agree with others. But nowhere is the word "agree," or any similar word, in the definition of tolerance.

Evangelicals recognize there are points of view other than their own. And they respect the rights of people to take those other points of view. While we may try to persuade people of the Biblical truths, no evangelical wants to coerce them to accept those truths. Freedom of Religion is not merely a political right, it is a Biblical right.

We believe the Bible describes a God of love and forgiveness, else none of us would be free from the threat of eternal damnation. We also see where the Bible describes a God of justice and responsibility who will hold all of us, evangelical or not, accountable for our beliefs and choices. But we neither have nor want that responsibility for ourselves.

We further believe that as a part of God's loving nature, His commandments are given to us not to keep us from enjoying life, but to help us enjoy it more fully and more safely. So while we won't try to make anyone believe as we do, we certainly feel justified, Biblically and politically, in taking part in the governmental process and supporting laws and policies that provide a moral support for society.

On the subject of forgiveness, we believe the Bible teaches that when a person seeks forgiveness and turns from their sin, God forgives them. When they give reasonable evidence they have done so, the church also forgives. On the other hand, when a person engages openly in behavior the Bible describes as sinful – claiming such behavior as acceptable, they can hardly claim they are seeking forgiveness. That situation is compounded if they also demand the church endorse their behavior.

This public acceptance of sin requires a response from the church, lest we compromise our own beliefs and our responsibilities to God, our children and each other.

The particular response varies from church to church, of course. But typically it comes in one or more of three forms – separation from the church, public denouncement of the activity or behavior in question and/or support for laws against the egregious behavior.

None of this is anything we enjoy. We take such action only when there is no choice and only with great reluctance. But we are commanded by God in the Bible to take the stand we do.

You see, it's not just those outside the church whose actions we're afraid of, it's us, too. We, all of us, need structure around us that helps us to live to our best, rather than our worst. One role of religion is to help provide that structure.

So tolerant, yes. We can be, and we want to be, tolerant. But our agreement is reserved for those things with which, to the best of our understanding, the Bible pronounces itself in agreement.

Matthew 19:16-22, Luke 16:19-26, John 8:31-36, II Chronicles 7:13-15, I Corinthians 5