Truth, Not Tolerance

Let’s commence this topic of “Truth v Tolerance” with a little background on what I like to call the “Offend Culture” (otherwise known as Cupcake Nation). Urban Dictionary defines Cupcake Nation as “College students needing ‘safe spaces,’ ‘comfort animals,’ and shelter from what is happening in the real world. They refuse to acknowledge any viewpoint that differs from their own.” (emphasis added) Ouch. Harsh. Welcome to present day America, folks. The Problem In an age where we are increasingly being impressed with the mindset that we need to be “tolerant,” the verity of what truth is and has always been, has deteriorated to the point that it is almost virtually nonexistent in most circles of life. Now, the epitome of what happens when truth is defunct has emerged and taken its place in full force. Throughout college campuses around the world to life at the office, ridiculousness in the form of “cupcakes,”––batches of “coddled, soft, and downright incorrigible,” persons have sprung up around us. They have infested and altered our daily life, the news we watch, and the societal norms that have been gradually shifting from bad to worse with the slow passage of time. Like a dispersed disease which spreads as fast as a flea can fly, this “lunacy” has seeped far and taken deep root within the minds of the naive, entrenching itself so far to be beyond any reasonable hope of restoration. From college students throwing temper tantrums when Ben Shapiro is asked to speak at their campus, to those who sue their pastor because he preached a sermon on love, albeit one that convicted and made them feel––wait for it––uncomfortable, this spawning infestation has begun to reshape life as we know it. “We’re all winners!” “Everybody gets a trophy!” “Don’t poke my bubble.” I mean, who hasn’t heard this ridiculous rhetoric before? We have grown up in a society that has been placing an increasing and ever-growing spotlight on such terms as “tolerance” and “social justice.” Day after day, this rhetoric is stuffed down our throats––whether that be via the news, our professors at school, or the cupcakes which make up our younger generation (which by the way, will end up being the people who will be in charge in the coming years––always something exciting to look forward to). However, as I hope to make adequately clear here, many of the people who go on tirades concerning tolerance of other viewpoints, are in reality, the people who are doing everything within their power to shut down opposing opinions––not at all ‘tolerating’ them. And whenever we get to talking about tolerance, Liberalism immediately comes to mind. Seriously, if I had a nickel for every time a liberal said something hypocritical, I’d be a millionaire. Seriously. The overarching goal of many radical leftists is to shut down opposing opinions and suppress any form of “critical thinking.” If one thinks about it, the way that they have gone about accomplishing this is quite ingenious. They have pushed to get as many children into the public schools as possible and thence into college, where the students are then indoctrinated out of the presence of the parents. These denouncers of truth then oppress those that have managed to resist or evade their foul ideology with the argument that we need to be “loving, open, and accepting,” and if you’re not, then you’re instantly branded as a “hater,” by the PC police. In establishing a similar point for his book, One Nation, renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson, brought to mind the incident wherein, “a few years ago, Lawrence Summers, then president of Harvard, mentioned that men and women might be wired differently. His comments drew a fierce attack from the PCP [Political Correctness Police] that may well have influenced his decision to resign his position.” The Leftists and Progressive Liberals (otherwise referred to as they) consistently present themselves as the loving and accepting people of the world. Conservatives, Christians and all the like, are “haters,” because our convictions happen to run in averse refutation to their ideology. In an excerpt from Kim Holmes’s book, The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left, the former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, asserts that: “For centuries, we have associated the word “liberal” with open-mindedness. Liberals were people who were supposed to be tolerant and fair and who wanted to give all sides a hearing. They cared about everyone, not just their own kind…[However,] all too often, people who call themselves progressive liberals are at the forefront of movements to shut down debates on college campuses and to restrict freedom of speech. They are eager to cut corners, bend the Constitution, make up laws through questionable court rulings, and generally abuse the rules and the Constitution in order to get their way.” “They establish “zero tolerance” regimes in schools where young boys are suspended for nibbling breakfast pastries into the shape of a gun. They are supposedly great haters of bigotry but sometimes speak of Christians in the most bigoted manner imaginable, as if Christians were no better than fascists.” There is a profound dearth in the realm of “argumentation.” In its place has been substituted leftist rhetoric and nothing else is socially acceptable any longer. We can no longer debate in many circles; that is to be “offensive,” in the very definition of the term itself; for by debating, you are in short, challenging and placing yourself at variance with the other side, which as I have stated earlier, makes you a “hater.” These diabolical rationalities have crept into the Church itself, and taken a firm hold there. Lines have been blurred between Biblical Christianity and the politicized, unscrupulous Christianity that has become so pervasive in our modern-day culture. In essence, what people call the “Church” is no longer the Church. Pastor and Bible Teacher, Dr. John MacArthur states the issue at hand very clearly: “Those who dare to take an unpopular stand, declare truth in a definitive way––or worst of all, express disagreement with someone else’s teaching––will inevitably be marked as troublesome. Compromise has become a virtue while devotion to truth has become offensive. “But many of the issues being compromised within the evangelical movement today are not questionable. Scripture speaks very clearly against homosexuality, for example. The Christian position on adultery is not at all vague. The question of whether a believer ought to marry an unbeliever is spelled out with perfect clarity. Scripture quite plainly forbids any Christian to take another Christin to court. Selfishness and pride are explicitly identified as sins. These are not gray areas. There is no room for compromise here. “Nevertheless, I constantly hear every one of those issues treated as a gray area––on Christian radio, on Christian television, and in Christian literature. People want all matters to be negotiable. And too many Christian leaders willingly oblige. They hesitate to speak with authority on matters where Scripture is plain. The lines of distinction between truth and error, wisdom and foolishness, church and world are being systematically obliterated by such means.” What more is there to be said? The Purpose In order to know how to combat such rhetoric, we need first to understand why our Enemy is playing his hand in this fashion. Dr. Ben Carson states it so much better than I ever could in One Nation (which I highly recommend): “Many well-meaning Americans have bought into the PC speech code, thinking that by being extra careful not to offend anyone, we will achieve unity. What they fail to realize is that this is a false unity that prevents us from talking about important issues and is a Far Left strategy to paralyze us while they change our nation. People have been led to become so sensitive that fault can be found in almost anything anyone says because somewhere, somehow, someone will be offended by it.” “…Open discussions of political and social issues are key to healthy unity. Society works very much like a marriage in the sense that open communication facilitates harmony. In almost all marriages that end in divorce, there is a serious breakdown in communication…” He goes on to further say that: “While most people buying into the PC code are well-meaning and just want to get along with everyone, the ones who bark and snarl the most are those on the Far Left who cultivate political correctness in order to forward their own agendas. In his famous book, Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky, an activist and organizer of the Far Left, makes it clear that leftists trying to effect change are to have no conversations with their opponents, because open discussion could lend credence to their opponents’ arguments and humanize them in the sight of the public. He argued that activists must demonize their opponents and get the larger society to recognize the activists as the ones who will deliver society from the demons.” The Solution: Truth, not Tolerance With that in mind, we can (at last) move on to a solution to all of this. In an age where we are told that tolerance will fix everything, we need to be staunch and stand for the truth. For, it is truth––not tolerance––that is the key to all of the world’s many problems. If one takes the time to examine what tolerance truly is, in time, you will come to find that is in fact, unloving. Let’s dig into this a bit deeper from a Biblical perspective. In tolerating sin (which is what we are being told to do), we are essentially condemning people to death. As Paul affirms in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Breaking even one commandment makes you utterly deserving of death, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Too many times do I hear from those around me that we should "be loving.” In short, what we’re being told is that because “Jesus wants us to love,” we are to excuse people’s sin and accept their sinful choices as who they are, on account of this “loving" mentality. The fundamental problem with this way of thinking is not what is said in the phrase “Jesus wants us to love,” but rather, it’s in what isn't said. Yes! Jesus called us to love those around us (John 13:34, 15:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 John 3:23, 4:7, 4:21); this command is permeated throughout Scripture. However, within all this talk of “love,” there is also issued a stern warning relating specifically to wrath. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life,” says John 3:36, “but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Romans 1:18 (among a host of others) further affirms that “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” This is “eternal wrath,” elucidates John MacArthur, "which the Bible calls hell, the lake of fire, perdition, where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched, and where the torment is everlasting and results in weeping and gnashing of teeth.” By demonstrating tolerance of other peoples’ sinful actions and shoving issues under the rug for the sake of ‘peace,’ we aren’t ‘loving’ at all: instead, we’re unloving. As Christians, we are called to hate the act, while showing compassion and mercy to those who commit the act (Jude 1:22-23). We are to show love to people by denouncing their sin and calling them to repentance, not embracing their sin in an effort not to hurt or offend them. Doing so is one of the highest forms of love there is. What better thing can we do than to lead them to Christ?? If we, out of the wellspring of these selfsame reasonings, refuse to call people out for their sin, then as stated earlier, we are essentially condemning them to an eternity in Hell. For, God is a righteous judge and none that sin shall go unpunished, save those that are covered by the saving blood of Jesus Christ. For those who might be having some difficulty following, a more literal example would be that of a mother and a child. Letting your child run about in the street because he/she may throw a fit if you deny them, may be tolerant, but it certainly isn’t loving. In actuality, that only goes to show that you could care less whether or not they are harmed. Truly loving your child would be ably demonstrated by you stepping up to bring an end to said child’s foolish actions and leading them from danger. To preserve our unity as a nation and to be true lights that “illuminate the lives of others,” we must strive to defend and uphold truth as much as possible. Tolerance is a Trojan horse sent to undermine the Truth, and if we don’t take a stand against this persuasion, it might very well lead to the fall of our country.