The Failure of Tolerance
Tolerance is the current battle cry for any person or group seeking acceptance from others who might be considered mainstream. It simply argues that we need to welcome each others’ differences and not cast off those who are different from us. And on that initial level, tolerance is certainly a great social attribute. We indeed should welcome those who are different.
But healthy tolerance has its limits, and those limits are being pushed today in our society. The cry for tolerance has shifted from protecting those with God-given differences (say, ethnicity) to those with made-made choices (say, morality). That is a horse of a different color. Moral absolutes still exist, and tolerance should not be extended to cover those who would choose to redefine what morality is.
Morality cannot be negotiable. Even a cursory study of history shows that when a culture starts tweaking what is and isn’t considered immoral, that society has set its own course for decline and even extinction. And we are only harming ourselves if we think that our culture is any different.
Look at our staggering numbers of murder, rape, incest, teen violence, child abuse, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, children born out wedlock, abortion and divorce, and show me how we have benefited from our own experimenting with historical and biblical mores.
Consider the debate today about the acceptance of same-sex orientations and gay marriage. I concede that those who genuinely struggle with same-sex attractions have a very difficult path to walk in society. In many ways they have been failed by the one institution that is best suited to love and serve them–the Church. I’ve talked to way too many gay men and women who have written off God simply because of how they have been treated by his Church. That is indeed the Church’s sin and we will be held accountable for it.
But just because a group suffers at the hands of culture and even the Church does not mean that their own definition of morality needs to be accepted. Persecution is not always proof that one’s cause is noble. And in the case of sexuality, there is no historical precedent for cultural success, cultural improvement or even beneficial cultural “evolution” when biblical standards are redefined.
Thus, as harsh as it may sound, to be tolerant in such cases is to be irresponsible.
And so, in response to the failing option of tolerance, I’d like to offer another alternative. It’s what the Bible simply calls Grace. Biblical Grace makes no effort to accept errant behaviors or to explain and justify them. Grace simply teaches that all humans are morally bankrupt–we lie, murder, hate, judge, lust, exalt ourselves over others and we call what is right “wrong” and what is wrong “right.” Grace makes no case or allowance for such sin. It simply offers forgiveness.
Grace does what tolerance cannot. Grace calls failed morality what it is without throwing any person under the bus. It offers not only forgiveness for moral failings, but also the hope of redemption, healing and freedom of addictive behaviors through Christ. Instead of accepting a person’s behavior as his or her God-given right and entitlement, it offers to transform that person entirely and to make him or her a new creation.
That’s a far better plan and one that the Church needs to get back to joyfully sharing.
The failure of tolerance is that it will inevitability lead to an “anything goes” mindset in society. The power of Grace is that it does for people and cultures what mere tolerance can never do. It changes them.
Want to know more about biblical Grace? Check out Ten Things Jesus Never Said.
