Tolerance Vs. Grace

People would say that "tolerance" is a fine Christian principle. Liberal churches teach tolerance under the guise of social justice. Is the concept of tolerance a Christian objective? Let's take a look!

On Tolerance:

"Tolerance", according to Meriam-Webster Dictionary is:

"Willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own." 

Many claim that Jesus showed tolerance. Did he? The key word in the definition is "willingness". Is it God's will that people have feelings, habits and beliefs which are different than his? Let's look at them one at a time.

Beliefs:

 "A feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true" (ibid).

This definition is wrong! "Belief" has little to do with "feelings". It is "being sure". A person is certain that God is true, for instance. If one doesn't believe that God is true, what does God think about that?

 Deuteronomy 6:15 "(For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth."

Does having a belief, other than the One True God, seem "tolerant"? Because God is jealous of other gods (beliefs) his anger will be kindled and he will destroy those who believe differently than in Him! On this issue God is most intolerant!

Habits:

Habits are a strong urge to engage in a behavior or imbibe in a substance. In Christian theology there are two types of habits: righteousness or sinfulness. If any person is not in harmony with God's directives, that person is sinful. Living in sin, is called "in the flesh". Sinful habits are developed to pleasure the "self", the god of whom God is jealous!  Righteous habits are developed to please God.

God is tolerant as long as a person loves him enough to develop righteous habits, although they fail in some aspects of their Christian life. (Forgiveness of a sin will be discussed later as "grace"). If the habit is in rebellion to God, God is not very tolerant!

Romans 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death;" 

For those who make a habit of sinning, and in total disregard for God's authority, the payment they will receive for their rebellion is death! We all shall die, but this is "soul death". It's a state where a sinner's body and soul is reunited to suffer together FOREVER. It's called "the second death".

 Revelation 20:14 "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

It seems to me that God is of utmost intolerant of those who fail to believe in and trust in him! It's a simple act to assure oneself of eternal life, but stubborn people refuse to submit themselves to the authority of God. They may even believe in God, but fail to trust and obey him! That's foolishness and God doesn't fool around! What hinders men from belief?

Mark 7:21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Fools fail to value their eternal soul over immediate gratification. Because their habits of "the flesh", (evil thoughts, adulteries, etc.) provide the gratification, as fools they defile themselves.  They become unclean in the eyes of God. As defiled people they suffer the second death! Again, God is intolerant to the utmost!

Feelings:

"Feelings" are an "awareness" manifested by emotional responses. For instance "self-love" is an inborn desire to protect the self. A breach in that protection evokes fear. Knowing security evokes a feeling of safety. On the other hand, "illicit love" is a feeling as well. It may be fornication, adultery, gluttony, etc.  People have feelings toward satisfying themselves. Adam and Eve were the first to seek pleasure, beauty and an appetite for high living (Epicurean desires) from the forbidden fruit. If the reader remembers, there was a punishment for the desire to have pleasurable feelings. Mankind lost their immortality and poverty ensued. Also, a power structure detrimental to women resulted.

Yes, God meted out punishment. He was not very tolerant of those two people who sought to enhance their feelings with forbidden fruits. Many of these feelings are an "abomination"; being disgusting to the Lord. Homosexuality is a sin leading to reprobateness, and as such those who practice same-sex pleasure, unless they repent, are damned to an eternal hell! That's not very tolerant of God is it?

On Grace:

"Grace" is another matter and is not to be confused with "tolerance", although most do just that!

"Unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification." (ibid)

It's unfortunate that simple words are defined by complicated terms. Simply put "God saves you even though you don't deserve it."  It's his gift to mankind to bail sinners out of their deserved peril!  Why? There is one reason: it's because of his love!

Early in this commentary I quoted the first part of a verse. Here is the "rest of the story":

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"For the wages of sin is death" shows God's lack of willingness to accept your feelings, habits and beliefs which are contrary to his system of things. That shows God as an "intolerant" God. However, "the gift of God is eternal life" is not "tolerance", but "grace"!  In spite of your feelings, habits and beliefs, if any person submits to Jesus Christ, they're given a gift. That gift is eternal life!

Now you might say "But what if my 'belief" is in another?" That's the one exception to grace. Belief MUST BE in Jesus Christ:

Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name (but Jesus) under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Other faiths call Christianity "intolerant" because of this one requirement. God is a jealous God, if you'll remember, and he insists that salvation is by his Son alone. That's the purpose of God in the flesh; to save people from their own god of pleasure; the flesh. In regard to belief, grace ends there. God will not tolerate unbelief nor belief in another god!

Conclusion:

The argument that Christianity must tolerate the actions and behaviors of people who are at odds with righteousness, is a lie straight from hell. Just look at at what Holy Scripture is for:

2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"

Some say it's silly to believe that scripture is God's divine word. Is God a liar? He claims it's his word! As his word, he tells us how to use it. We are to reprove, correct and instruct about what God's will is for us.

"Reprove" is when we criticize a persons feelings, habits and beliefs. In effect Christians are told that we are to not tolerate sinful actions and behaviors.

"Correction" is when people are wrong and we use the Word to set them straight. Society calls this intolerant of Christians. We are never to point out the wrongs of anyone! However, that's what God's word is for! That too, is very intolerant!

Even to" instruct" is called intolerant by the rules of the flesh. Training people to be righteous assumes that they are not righteous in the first place!

According to the world's conception of judging, we are intolerant if we do. However, how can we reprove, correct and instruct unless we have an opinion that the person needs change? It's not that we're not to judge; for that's society's miscall. We are not to judge harshly and we are not to condemn.

 Luke 6:37a "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:"

"Condemning" is harsh judgment. We are to reprove, correct and teach with the same love for the other as we have for ourselves!  God has already judged the sinner. Our job is to love them enough to reprove, correct and teach them. In fact by tolerating their behaviors and actions we condemn them to hell. That's pretty harsh and that's God's "intolerant" punishment.

Because he is a jealous God, God is most intolerant. However, he provides a way out to save people from their sin, and ultimately to save them from eternal death. It's "grace" because he loves us that much that he doesn't want us to suffer!

Don't buy the world's condemnation that Christians are intolerant. The best way to love a homosexual is to be intolerant of their behavior. You are to tell them that they're sinners and in need of salvation. Furthermore, salvation means changed lives! This "intolerance" goes for any type of sin.  The old adage "God hates the sin, but loves the sinner!" is the entire focus of God's love. The first part is "intolerance" and the second part is "grace".

What is that we are to do instead of being tolerant?

John 14:21 "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

Instead of tolerating sin, Christians are to point to obedience. That's how we show love to God and God will return the love which we show him. Scripture is all about "obedience", not "tolerance" and throughout the Bible, God wants one thing in return: our love!  Those who hang on to those forbidden fruits of pleasure are merely pleasuring their god: their "self". We are not to let people die the second death without telling them of God's grace. Do you now see the difference?