I’ve been thinking a lot about tolerance these days. What is tolerance? Who is to be tolerated? Is tolerance needed in today’s society? Should we as Christians be tolerant? Aristotle has said that tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. When I first heard this quote, I thought he was arguing for tolerance, but in fact he is saying that when our last virtue is tolerance, then in fact we have no virtues.
I believe we need to value each other, not just simply tolerate each other. I agree with Aristotle’s statement, that when tolerance is the last virtue in our society, we have lost all hope; our society is going to die. Instead when we value each other, when we truly seek to love and respect each other, that’s when the Kingdom of God is truly at work. That’s true Christianity at work.
A story was told to me about an old Jewish man who told a group of reporters that he no longer wanted to be tolerated. He can not stand to be tolerated. The reporters could not believe what they were hearing from his 80 year old Jewish man who had survived the holocaust. How can this man not want tolerance? What he was really saying, is that tolerance is hopeless. What he wanted was, is to be valued. He didn’t simply want people to tolerate his existence, he wanted them to value him as a human being and for all that he brings to this life. When we tolerate something or someone we are not applying any value to them, In fact we are saying that you have no value, you are simply something to be tolerated.
What we need to start doing is valuing each other regardless of our differences. I can still disagree with you, but still value you as a person. A few months ago Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA, was berated for her stance on same sex marriage after her appearance on the Miss USA pageant. Regardless on how you feel about same sex marriage, we really need to be civil and respect each other. Both sides on this issue have been guilty of some nasty mud slinging but these same people who urge everyone to be tolerant and open minded about gay marriage, were the same people who began to devalue her and were intolerant of her beliefs. This is what tolerance does. It devalues us. It makes us less human. It is not the way of Christ.
Jesus had ample opportunity to be tolerant. Some would say Jesus was tolerant but I disagree. I would argue that Jesus was intolerant of what he saw happening in his culture. He saw the value in humanity and wanted to redeem it. On one hand you had the religious leaders of his day making it almost impossible to follow God or His commands and on the other hand you had people who were hurting and living sinful lives. Jesus could have been tolerant and just let both sides continue as they were but he saw the value in people. He saw that tolerance is destructive and it needed to change.
There is a very famous story in the Gospel of John that records Jesus and his choice to either tolerate a sin or value the human being. John 8:1-11 shares about a group of men who have chased a woman caught in adultery through town and has brought her before Jesus. They were attempting to trap Jesus into doing or saying something contrary to what he had been teaching by asking what judgment Jesus would give to her. Jesus never says a word at first but simply begins to write something in the dirt and the accusers began demanding something be done and Jesus finally says, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” All of them began to leave, one by one, until Jesus was the only one left with her.
Many read this and speculate as to what Jesus was writing, where was the guy whom she was having this adulterous affair with? I believe Jesus was showing us what it truly means to value the person. I truly believe that this is where the concept of “love the sinner but hate the sin” was born. Jesus would later ask this woman. “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” She tells Jesus no one condemned her and Jesus then replied, “Neither do I, go and sin no more.”
Jesus shows us that we are to be intolerant of sin but we are to not cast stones either. Instead we are to value the person with out condemning them. So many times I have seen hurting people struggling in their sin only to be discarded, devalued, and derided in the name of Jesus because of the ignorance of what being intolerant means. Jesus loved and accepted this woman for who she was. He saw her worth and did not want her dignity to be destroyed. He saw her value and worth as a human being. He also saw her sin and told her, I love you, I value you, I see your significance, but this sin, this thing that you keep doing with men, this sin that keeps you from a relationship with God is making you ugly inside and I want you to be healthy and well. I desire so much more for your life and the only way for me to help you is for you to stop sinning. I can give you so much more then what you find in this sinful life you are living.
Of course the bible does not record all of this but just in last words to this woman, Jesus conveyed how much he valued and loved this woman in spite of what she had done. Jesus in his infinite wisdom saw that when value is a lot better then tolerance. Jesus saw that tolerance only leads our society to certain death and that respect, value and worth are the virtues of a healthy society.
Mykel Pickens
Lead Pastor
Axiom Community Church
