Faith Vs. Tolerance

Religion is, by nature, divisive. Faith is absolute, leaving no room for compromise.

As a Christian, I am naturally set up in opposition to Islam.

My belief in the Bible compels me to view homosexuality as sinful.

But juxtapose this with the fact that I love people, and naturally am quite tolerant.

I have many friends of varying faiths, orientations and beliefs.

My greatest wish (in true Canadian fashion) is that we could all just get along with each other.

Is there a Biblical standard of tolerance?

I think there is.

Toronto just wrapped up a fairly successful pride weekend. Celebrities, politicians, even the Prime Minister were there to participate and share a message of love and acceptance to a community that often feels slighted and judged. To no surprise, the Christian church was nowhere to be found to express the same sentiments. After all, the biblical standard for sexuality is male to female, in a marriage union. Doesn’t really fit in a festival of expressing individual sexual freedom.

This week, millions of Muslims worldwide completed a month of fasting and focus on Allah as Ramadan ended, and feasts and parties took over as Eid was celebrated in homes, restaurants and community centres. A collective showing of faith and prayer that puts the Christian church to shame should be acknowledge to some degree by evangelicals. Yet most churches trudge on without even a mention.

Jesus was spending his last minutes with his friends before he would be arrested, and he told them that he was giving them a new commandment. He said that that if we love people, the way He had demonstrated love for us, people would recognize us as his followers (John 13:34-35).

Consider:

A group of religious protestors centered out a prostitute and asked Jesus permission to stone her. He called for mercy and love. (Luke8:1-11)

Both Jesus and Peter reached out to Roman officials in order that they would find forgiveness. These were the same Romans who ruled over the Jews, and were typically not trusted nor respected.  (Luke 7, Acts 10)

In both of these instances, Love won out.

Not what Jesus would find morally “good”.

Not the faith and culture that was “Godly”.

Love won.

The tolerant middle ground for faith is found in love. None of us has ever lived a life “worthy” of the love and sacrifice Jesus demonstrated for us. At some point, a Christian believer understands his or her need for Christ and forgiveness. On that day, we begin a daily faith journey and progressively becoming more and more like the person God created us to be. We learn to love more. We learn to live more like Jesus.

Intolerance comes from a place that thinks people who don’t follow Jesus, should act more like Jesus.

There is no prerequisite of personal righteousness for grace.

Today I am proud of my church (PORTICO) for opening up its doors for a group of Muslim’s so they can celebrate Eid. We haven’t “lost our way”; I think we’ve actually found our way.

My prayer is that the people I meet today won’t have any question about my faith. They will know I follow Christ because of the love they experience.