| Intolerance: A Lost Christian Virtue |
| Written by Daniel LaLond Jr. | |
| Monday, 25 August 2008 | |
|
Popular opinion in these early years of the twenty-first century has assailed our minds with "politically correct" sentiment. In keeping with this viewpoint a garbage man ought to be dubbed a "sanitation engineer" and a short person is not short he is "vertically challenged." Even the term thief might offend so we should adopt the more tolerant "ethically disoriented." This paradigm bares its true farcical colors when traffic signs are marked in Braille so the blind aren't offended!
Popular opinion in these early years of the twenty-first century has assailed our minds with "politically correct" sentiment. In keeping with this viewpoint a garbage man ought to be dubbed a "sanitation engineer" and a short person is not short he is "vertically challenged." Even the term thief might offend so we should adopt the more tolerant "ethically disoriented." This paradigm bares its true farcical colors when traffic signs are marked in Braille so the blind aren't offended! Politically correct extremes can even creep into the evangelical Christian church under the scriptural banner of "judge not lest ye be judged." That is, it's easy to think that Christian "love" excludes intolerance. Though no Christian should desire to flippantly judge, when we tolerate what God does not we have imbibed the culture we ought to affect. Many Christians oppose divergent moral behavior (at least in theory). In the name of "grace" or "mercy," however, these believers will tolerate doctrinal divergence. Though the apostle Jude admonished first century Christians to "contend earnestly for the faith" perhaps most of us prefer to comfort rather than to contend. In tune with Jude, however, Paul also implored the church to be intolerant toward doctrinal divergence: Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (Rom 16:17-18). Respected expositor James Strong writes that the term mark them as used in Romans 16:17 means "to take aim at." Now, could the apostle of grace and mercy, Paul, possibly intend to teach believers to "take aim at" leaders within the Christian church? Such a notion might seem offensive when viewed through today's politically correct, "tolerant" viewpoint. Paul, however, demonstrated that Christian intolerance can be a virtue in 2 Timothy 2:17 when he openly rebuked Hymenaeus and Philetus whose teaching "will spread like gangrene." How do you think a preacher in our "tolerant" culture would be received if he insisted that another Christian's teaching "will spread like gangrene?" If you are at all like me maybe you're tempted to believe that Paul's intolerance was only aimed at some fringe heretic. Please note, however, this example of Paul publicly criticizing the most preeminent leader of first century Christianity: When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs (Gal 2:14). Here, Paul withstood Peter openly because when prominent leaders are teaching what they ought not others are led astray. Open intolerance of doctrinal error is surely not politically correct, but it is scriptural. "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans," warned Jesus, "which thing I hate" (Rev 2:15). Because of this virtuous act of intolerance the church at Pergamum needed no guesswork to determine whose teaching to avoid. In stark opposition to the practices of modern Christianity where tolerance at the expense of doctrinal purity is considered a virtue. In scripture though, Jesus expects His church to exercise the virtue of intolerance toward errant teachers and their dangerous dogmas. By merely being tolerant of an errant teacher within the church at Thyatira the Christians there earned an open rebuke in the eternal record: But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols (Rev 2:20). As with the dangerous doctrines of Jezebel (and even Peter) which led first century Christians astray, accepted teachers within the Christian church today disseminate dangerous doctrines which minimize sin and its consequences. And in contrast to the tolerance of our age, the Christian virtue of intolerance is the order of the day as ministers with big names, big money and bigger platforms serve up theological swill to the servants of Christ. The Article Author: Read Daniel LaLond Jr.'s open letters to Chuck Swindoll and to Dr. Tony Evans. LaLond's book, The Lying Promise, tests popular, but erroneous doctrine inside the contemporary Christian church. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
