on The Tension Between Love and Tolerance.

 

            Recently, someone I know wrote that God is the God of love and tolerance.  I must admit, I have been wrestling with that statement all week.  The more I wrestle with it, the more I find it disturbing that people, especially Christians, could view God as “tolerant.” 

Loving?  Most definitely, yes!  God is Love.  But tolerant?  I think that God’s Holy Word would object to that notion.

            There are so many examples from Scripture that explain to us just exactly how In-tolerant our Holy God is of all sin.  Take for instance Adam and Eve to begin with.  God banished them from the perfect life in the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed His command.  Would that suggest tolerance?  Or how about during Noah’s time [Genesis 6:5-7] when “the Lord God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.  So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds from the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”  Does that sound like tolerance?  Or how about the story of Lot in chapter 19, where the city of Sodom is destroyed because of their wickedness and sexual sin.  I find no tolerance for sin from God there.  These are just a few examples from one Book in the Bible among countless other examples from Scripture which show just how little tolerance God has for sin.

            And yet our God is loving.  Take any of those examples listed above and you will find the love of God shown to His people.  In the case of Adam and Eve, he gave them clothing, and the promise of salvation He would send, all in the midst of his punishment.  In the case of Noah, we are told that he found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  The Lord would preserve Noah and his family—8 souls in all, and establish a covenant with them.  With the tower of Babel, the Lord came down among them [v5], and though He did not approve of what they were doing, nevertheless He preserved their lives.  And with the city of Sodom, the angels who were sent there by God gave Lot warning so that he could get his family out before the Lord destroyed the city, and urged them to get up and leave. In all these ways, the Lord showed His love, and mercy, but in doing so did certainly NOT show tolerance for sin. 

            It would seem that some would confuse love and tolerance, and somehow mingle the two together in some kind of twisted conglomeration.  Perhaps they see God’s unprecedented patience as tolerance and/or acceptance of all that people do.  But again, Scripture is very clear about this—[1 Peter 3:8-9] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

            I would add to that thought, what need do we have of repentance if God, our Holy and Righteous God, is tolerant of everything?  With that way of thinking we suppose then that there is no sin, and thus no need for repentance, and thus no need for God, and especially no need for His Son Jesus Christ; who then apparently died in vain for we poor sinners (oops, I shouldn’t call us all that—it wouldn’t be politically correct).

            But how easy we have made it for ourselves to deny sin, to deny that we are sinners, reject the notion of repentance, reject God, and His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and accept all things as good.

            The fact is, our conscience—another gift from God—helps us to know the difference between what is right and wrong, but we have convinced ourselves that only part of what our conscience tells us is wrong is actually true.  We have decided that we know better than God what is good, right, and salutary—what we ought to be able to do, what we absolutely won’t do—what is best for ourselves but perhaps not for someone else.  This way, we do not have to concern ourselves with something as messy as sin—at least not until we come across something that REALLY gets us upset.  To many, it is those things that register as “sinful” or at least wrong, but all other things are ok, even if God has said repeatedly that they are not.

            I have actually found that most who are preaching tolerance tend to be some of the most IN-tolerant people.  I have also noticed in recent years that tolerance and the idea of love (the kind Jesus tells us to have for our neighbor) has become blended together.

            This results in an “if you are not tolerant of everything, than you are obviously a hater,” attitude.  This kind of an attitude has increasingly and disturbingly become more of the norm within American culture.

            It would be a travesty to preach and teach tolerance of alI things and to call that love. I don't think Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world--(thereby showing God's love for us and His hatred of sin)--just to have us go on sinning and be tolerant of sin.  Rather, I think it is extremely important then for us to be aware of the difference between love and tolerance.  I pray  also that we do not lose sight that there is such thing as sin, which manifests itself in our lives in many different ways.  And I hope that we would be led to repentance and would lead others to do the same so that the grace of Christ Jesus may abound in our lives through forgiveness, mercy, and love.

 

            Thank you for reading, and God bless you all!