Tolerance

Because of relativism, “tolerance” is another word that gets tossed around a lot in our culture. We’re told that we need to be more tolerant.

Being tolerant used to mean simply putting up with something that you disagreed with. But now because of relativism—and its teaching that there is no such thing as something that’s absolutely true for everyone—when people play the “be tolerant” card, they’re really implying that we should accept all beliefs as true.

But accepting all beliefs as true is impossible because different religions claim that contradictory things are true.

For instance, Christianity teaches that Jesus rose from the dead. Islam teaches that Jesus never died. How can both be true? They’re opposites. They contradict each other. Hindus believe that people’s souls live in cows. Muslims don’t believe that. Either people’s souls live in cows or they don’t. How can both be true? Islam teaches that Allah, the god of Islam, is unknowable and impersonal. But Scripture teaches that Yahweh, the God of Christianity, wants us to know Him on a personal level. How can both of those gods be the one, true, infinite, all-powerful God? It’s impossible.

Relativism is also behind the idea that all religions teach the same thing—that we ought to get along and love each other. But that simply isn’t true. The major world religions—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age—disagree about practically every major issue, including what God is like, the nature of man, sin, salvation, heaven, and hell. Those are extremely important issues!

Since Christianity is true, it’s actually unloving for Christians to suggest to anyone who holds opposing religious beliefs that their beliefs are true as well. Why? Because if they believe lies, it could cost them eternal life with the God who made them. Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6), and accepting His death on our behalf is the only way that our sins can be paid for. So acting as if someone else’s beliefs are true when they contradict that essential truth is very unloving.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to love and accept people. That doesn’t mean accepting their beliefs. We can respect the beliefs of others, but we also need to lovingly tell them the truth about Jesus. To not do so is very unloving.

But wait! Isn’t “Don’t judge” a biblical statement? Isn’t it a sin for us to judge other people? A lot of people use Matthew 7:1-5 as biblical backup for why we shouldn’t judge others. But that passage is about judging other people hypocritically. God’s Word actually instructs us judge ideas and beliefs. He wants us to judge, evaluate, and investigate ideas. He doesn’t want us to blindly accept lies. Read Matthew 7:15-23 and 1 John 4:1.

Visit www.ywspace.org and check out the Beliefs charts we made comparing the teachings of Christianity to the teachings of other religions—Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The major world religions teach very different things, so they can’t all be true. First and foremost, let’s love the people who ascribe to these beliefs, and as an act of love we can respect their beliefs, but we don’t have to act as if those beliefs are true.

[from YouthWalk e-Devo]