Tolerance

There are three destructive schools of thought prominent in our culture, This addresses the first: relativism, tolerance, and subjectivism. They will be addressed in three sequential Posts. Second, tolerance.

Tolerance is the new “virtue” in our society. Tolerance is now taught in schools and most of society demands tolerance.

For years The American College Dictionary defined tolerance as “the disposition to be patient toward those whose opinions or practices differ from our own…”  That is now known as negative tolerance. 

For years many have felt it proper to say, “I love you, but I disapprove of what you are doing and your beliefs.”

That is negative tolerance. That statement is now considered bigotry. 

Positive tolerance is defined as “every single individual’s beliefs, values, lifestyle, and truth claims are equal.”

To assert your opinion is right and another wrong is to be called prejudiced.

William Penn, founder of the state of Pennsylvania, said, “Right is right, though all be against it and wrong is wrong though all be for it.” Today he would be called prejudiced. 

Ask an advocate of tolerance if he is sure there are no absolutes and he will say, “Absolutely!”

Advocates of positive tolerance are tolerant of everything except the Christian belief that there are moral absolutes.

Tolerance has replaced the former virtue of justice.

Justice and what is called “positive tolerance” can not co-exist. Justice is the enemy of tolerance. Justice says there is a moral basis for discerning right from wrong. Positive tolerance says there is no such moral basis.

Secular journalist Rowland Netaway wrote of the present generation, “They don’t seem to know right from wrong.” Current teaching regarding positive tolerance is the reason.

Such value-free, morally neutral, education opens the door for sources in Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and even Nashville to bombard young minds with thousands of hours of sounds and images that glamorize immorality and mock Biblical values. 

King David asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” (Psalm 11: 3).

There are two distinct foundational models of truth:

#1. Truth is defined by God for everyone; it is objective and absolute.

#2. Truth is defined by the individual; it is subjective and situational.

Which is your standard for life? Christians can expect to be criticized and ostracized for advocating the first of these.

Resolve “…we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ.” (Ephesians 4: 15)