What does your Bible say about tolerance? Is God for it or against it? Are Christians demonstrating a maturity of love when they tolerate any lifestyle, behavior , or belief? Some Christian Denominations think so, touting the World’s mantra that if everybody would just permit and embrace all lifestyles, behaviors and beliefs as equally valid - then everyone would get along and the World would be at peace.
That’s the idea or concept behind the COEXIST bumper sticker, which you’ve probably seen somewhere along the way. Back in the year 2000, a Polish Graphic Designer, Piotr Mlodozeniec, created it by turning the letter C into a crescent moon symbolic of Islam, turning the x into the star of David symbolic of Judaism, and by changing the T into a latin cross symbolic of Christianity. A few years later another graphic designer named Jerry Jaspar, modified the other letters in the word COEXIST, putting a peace sign within the letter ‘o’, adding the male & female gender signs to the letter ‘e’, dotting the ‘i’ with a pentacle, symbolizing paganism and the Occult, and changing the ‘s’ into the yin-yang symbol of Chinese philosophy. A third version came out a few years later, coloring the word COEXIST with the colors of the rainbow to include the Gay community.
All this sounds very ‘high minded’ and conciliatory, but it ignores the fact that there is a God who has standards! And that He blesses those individuals and nations who practice His standards, and curses those individuals and nations who don’t.
So how is the word TOLERATE defined? Well dictionaries generally give two meanings: 1) To allow the existence or practice of, without prohibition or hindrance; and 2) To endure without repugnance, objection or condemnation. Most people have no problem with allowing the religious and social groups symbolized by the word COEXIST - to exist and practice their lifestyles, behaviors and beliefs. But it’s the second definition of the word TOLERATE that many people have a problem with, believing that no one should be forced to accept and condone ALL lifestyles, behaviors and beliefs as equally valid.
The book of Esther recounts an incidence in which the first definition of TOLERATE was ignored: “Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a certain people (the Jews) dispersed among all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them…” (ESTHER 3:8,9 NIV)
This was a decree of genocide! But Almighty God prevented it from happening, as we read in the rest of the book of Esther. Many such pogroms have been conducted against the Jewish people, including those in Russia and the Holocaust in Germany, but most recently by the terrorist group Hamas. But Christians and Armenians have also not been TOLERATED by some in the sense of the first definition: allowed to exist and practice their beliefs.
Your Bible lists many behaviors that God told Israel they should not allow to be practiced while He was in their midst: Sorcery (EXODUS 22:18); Adultery & Incest (LEVITICUS 20:10-14); Beastiality (EXODUS 22:19); kidnapping (EXODUS 21:16) Idolatry (EXODUS 22:20). Those who practiced such behaviors were to be put to death.
I imagine that if God Almighty decided to tabernacle in Washington D.C. or any other national capitol, these same behaviors would quickly be outlawed. But people who sinned in this manner would not be put to death, because we are no longer under the Administration of Death: “But if the Ministry of Death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the Ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?” (II CORINTHIANS 3:7,8)
Corporal and Capitol punishment have been a part of just about every government in history, bringing about order and civility among carnal people who need such strong deterrents, in order to avoid behavior that is destructive to themselves and society. But under the ‘Ministry of God’s Spirit,’ Christians are governed by God writing His laws in their hearts and minds (HEBREWS 10:1617) So unlike the Ministry of Death, conducted in ancient Israel, the Christian Church is given no such commands to put people to death for infractions of God’s Law.
However, the Church is told not to tolerate chronic sin in its midst. The Apostle Paul addressed the congregation at Corinth saying, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?” (I CORINTHIANS 5:1,2 NIV) So while the Church is to allow sinners to exist (not stone them), the Church is not to allow people to practice such sin incessantly - in their midst.
Christians individually, and the Church collectively, are not to accept, approve, or condone all lifestyles, behaviors and beliefs. Jesus Christ praised the congregation in Ephesus saying, ‘I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.” (REVELATION 2:2) In contrast, Jesus criticized the congregation in Thyratira, saying, “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads My servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.” (REVELATION 2:20)
The apostle Paul prayed for the Church at Philippi, saying, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent…” (PHILIPPIANS 1:9,10) As Christians we must approve in ourselves and others - only the things that are excellent from God’s point of view. For a broader persepective on the subject of TOLERANCE - watch our show by that title on our YOUTUBE channel titled: ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY.