Tolerance is Judgment
Have you ever considered that? Tolerance is judgment. In order to tolerate another person’s point of view you must first disagree with it. If you agreed with their view, there would be nothing to tolerate-you would be in agreement. This makes for an interesting problem: If you judge someone to be wrong you may be branded as intolerant-but, to be tolerant, you first must think someone is wrong. Webster’s dictionary defines tolerance as a “willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.”
Most of the time disagreeing with someone is no big deal. However, it seems as though when people are discussing hot button issues like abortion, homosexuality, and religion “intolerant” gets thrown around a lot more. It is always interesting to me when a person who disagrees with me says that my view is intolerant-aren’t they judging me, and being intolerant, by saying my view is wrong? The accusation goes both ways. In our culture tolerance appears to be defined as needing to agree with another person’s point of view.
Inevitably, as believers, you will all find yourselves in conversations where someone is asking you about your faith and, moreover, controversial topics regarding your beliefs. I implore all of you to not shy away from these conversations-use them as a time to witness to others and share the hope we all have in Christ.
I have been reading a book called, Tactics, by Greg Koukl-a Christian apologist. He offers a suggestion when in situations where someone asks you about a controversial subject in which your belief may be deemed “intolerant.” He says to start your reply something like this, “That’s a personal question you asked and I’d love to answer it. But first I want to make sure this is a safe environment to offer my views. So let me ask you a question: Do you respect diverse points of view or will you condemn me for having convictions other than your own?” Saying something like that prior to your response disarms the other person. They are forced to be tolerant and not accuse you of being judgmental simply for rendering an opinion. This is especially helpful if the conversation is in a group setting because it will show that you are being genuine and it won’t allow the other person to make unfair accusations about your viewpoint. I recognize this won’t make all of you want to jump up and go engage others in controversial topics, but my hope is that it will give some of you more confidence to have spirited dialog with others-or, at the least, give you a starting point on how to answer a person when they ask you a tough question.
In light of what I have just shared consider today’s culture. The pact people make regarding tolerance is similar to saying I won’t tell you what you’re doing wrong if you won’t tell me what I’m doing wrong. Where does that get anyone? There is no personal growth and fostering of new ideas since nobody wants to be perceived as being outside of societal norms. If Christians operate in the “world” like that-what impact are they having?
As believers, it is important for us all to remember the love and grace Christ has shown us. We need to share that same grace and love to others who don’t believe as we do. Just because we may disagree with another person’s beliefs doesn’t mean we should treat them differently. In Mark 12:31 Christ says that aside from belief in Him, the second greatest thing we can do is to “love your neighbor as yourself”-He didn’t say love them only if they agree with you or love them only if they believe in the Bible-He said love them as you love yourself. That includes everyone we might not share the same opinion with. If we can engage more people in a loving manner then if/when disagreements come up our behavior will show that we still accept and value them as human beings. When we live out the kindness and love Christ has for us we are better positioned to accomplish more for His kingdom-people will see we practice what we preach. We may disagree, but we do so lovingly and respectfully. Too many Christians are viewed as judgmental-but by better articulating our views our sincerity can shine through. Through our words and acts of kindness we can truly demonstrate the love we share for others. In order to do this we have to get out there and talk to people and show them that Christians are different-they care about other people-even if they have a different point of view.