To say Tolerance is a high value in our culture would be to state the obvious. It would also be stating the obvious to say that Biblical Christians have had a strained relationship with Tolerance.

To give the benefit of the doubt, Tolerance may be the world’s best effort to achieve some sort of unity and community by attempting to create a culture in which all people are welcomed. Yet, upon close inspection, Tolerance really fails to meet such a demand.

Certainly, many Biblical Christians have become derisive of Tolerance and are quick to point out its failure. Christians often experience an uneven playing field when they seek to benefit from the tolerance of others; they are told they are not welcome because Biblical Christians are considered intolerant.

Ironically, what truly hampers Tolerance from creating the society it seeks is the behavior of the promoters of Tolerance itself. The ideal society could only exist if those in it were free from all bias and blind to all differences — most notably the differences that deep down offend. However, such offenses are a part of what it means to be human. Every individual has a limit; some behaviors and attitudes are intolerable, and rightly so.

While Tolerance should fight for the inclusion of all perspectives in the societal dialogue, the truth is the advocates of Tolerance feel that not all voices are worth being heard in contemporary society because some voices are more harsh and critical and may not build another’s self-esteem. Some voices adhere to strict standards of right and wrong, undercutting the goal of Tolerance, which is to erase any dividing line that would dare call some action wrong. A double standard exists here too, however, as advocates of Tolerance will call the person “wrong” who criticizes a lifestyle choice that leads to personal fulfillment and happiness. The only “wrong” thing in a society engineered for Tolerance is to be intolerant of the issues or thoughts held dear by the anointed class.

For a Biblical Christian, the guiding principles of Faith, Hope, and Love in I Corinthians 13 — the greatest of which being Love — are among many which are instructive on the issue of dealing with diversity. One reason Tolerance fails in the end is because attempts at Tolerance never address the real issue, the core of the matter — the selfishness within us that runs deeper than dressing up our external behavior. Forced compliance only leads to deep resentment and animosity among those who realize it is a charade. Tolerance is actually a standard to which nobody adheres, which makes hypocrites of its advocates. The result is relational damage and intense tribalism as like-minded folks who refuse to pretend to be tolerant find each other and start building communities.

But Scripture calls to us loudly with Faith, Hope and Love, at the conclusion of a chapter about how Love is expressed in relationships. We cannot have Faith without Hope, and we cannot have Hope without Love — foremost the Love of the Father for us. Christ told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as we would love ourselves (Mk. 12:29-31). Such loving of others cannot be done without the resurrected Christ living through us; and when it is done, people are transformed. True, Biblical love acts with love toward all people regardless of who they are or what they have done. Yet, such love does not preclude us from telling another person that his or her behavior is wrong according to God’s standard. Because all people are made in the image of God, we respect that image of God in others.

Tolerance is not the same as love or respect; it is simply enduring the existence of others. With Tolerance the selfishness within each of us remains untouched. Again, here the Gospel must intervene, and does. The man or woman with a heart regenerated in Christ is moved to love even those considered to be his or her enemies. With Tolerance we have behavior modification for a while, but true colors always bleed through in the end. The noble and honest thing to do is to be forthright: we all have biases that color our thinking. Another noble and honest thing to do is to realize that a Tolerant society cannot produce the types of people who make society better. A Tolerant society is not necessarily an intimate, strong and caring society. In reality, the Tolerant society often masks true feelings, prejudices and perspectives because society at large has deemed certain views as unacceptable. Such a large scale smothering of worldviews simply drives those opinions and deeply held emotions underground, inviting them to fester and give birth to something far more dangerous than a society where people are free to hold their views with great passion and interact with each other in the midst of often intense disagreements.

The way to achieve the type of society that grows and improves is to love Biblically. Ironically, Tolerance makes everybody the same: they become people who say they agree with a larger set of rules which, in actuality, says that there are no real rules. Whether or not people actually subscribe to the belief system of Tolerance, which says that any moral choice is a good one and happiness is a proper goal by whatever means necessary, Tolerance says the way for us all to get along is by stopping any sort of critical thinking we might be inclined to do. The result is a homogeneous society where we eliminate major differences. Interestingly enough, Jesus never made people homogenous; the disciples were men who were quite different from each other apart from the fact that they all followed Christ.

A society that moves beyond Tolerance to Love, particularly learning to love others with very significant differences, learns to truly value others and learns how to build a society in which real diversity exists. Love seeks a society in which — rather than just getting along and tolerating each other — people grapple with their own hearts. By so doing, we reckon with the fact that what prevents a diverse and healthy society is not that we are intolerant. Instead, it is our failure to love others that requires deeper change within all of us.

When we consider that it is nothing to do good in return to someone who does good to us, we see that the true test of whether one is Tolerant or Loving is how such a person acts towards others with whom the individual has significant differences. Christ said we shouldn’t just do good to those who are good to us; we need to do good to those who oppose us. He calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. To do such good can come only from Love, not from a Tolerance in which we bite our tongues rather than dare say something that could be construed as disapproving. Individuals who love do not value difference for its own sake in the name of Tolerance, but value others for a reason that is greater than either of the two individuals involved. This can only happen as we recognize the handprint of our Creator on every individual, regardless of other external differences, and seek to follow Christ — The One who perfectly loved His extremely bitter enemies even as they murdered Him.

***
James Cordrey, who lives near Philadelphia, simply won’t tolerate those who are intolerant of his intolerance.