Ben Almand.

Friendly Religious Intolerance

Have you seen those bumper stickers? The ones that say “TOLERANCE” written using different religious symbols? They look like this…

 

However, is this any way to live as Christians? I’ve had my share of experiences with people referring to Christians as “close-minded”. I’ve had my share of experiences with Christians who give all the leeway in the world to homosexuals, to abortion, to Mormonism, to false doctrine. But why, for what? To not offend? 

Offensive, that’s something we should never strive to be. We should never strive to kill another human being, but we so in self-defense. Why is it not plausible to be offensive in defense of our religion? I’m sick of Christians, especially those in leadership positions tiptoeing around the feelings of those embracing sins. What’s the purpose? Cutting your losses? 

You don’t want to scare anyone anyway, because you can’t teach them about these other things if you offend them. 

Open your bibles, let’s take a journey.

Let me first turn your attention to 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, from The Message Translation. 

Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us, 

   I heard your call in the nick of time; 
   The day you needed me, I was there to help.
Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly … in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all. (2 Corinthians 6:2, The Message)

Listen to God’s word in The Message, everything spelled out so perfectly. Today is the day of Salvation, as the New International Version will tell us in the same passage, 2nd Corinthians 6:2. Let’s stop waiting. Let’s stop putting off the tough subjects. Let’s stop tiptoeing and making exceptions for that gay friend of ours. Let’s stop making exceptions for the girl who can’t afford the hospital bills for the pregnancy. 

As the church, the body of believers, we will openly condemn premarital sex. We will openly condemn murder, theft, and pornography. But what if there was an group of people out there, for the ethical treatment of thieves, sexual offenders, and murderers? Would we make excepts, an preach the gospel, minus the parts that make them turn away?

Turn your attention now to Galatians 1:6-12, I’ll use the message again.

I can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed. Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn’t bother being Christ’s slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn’t receive it through the traditions, and I wasn’t taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:6-12, The Message)

The applicability of these commands are chilling! Who are we to take away, and alter the gospel as it was taught to us? Who are we making exceptions for? Who are you speaking on behalf of? God? Wrong, even the angels who preach falsely, or hold back the full Word of God are cursed. 

Be honest with yourselves, if you’re alone, or in a tight-knit group of fellow believers, you’ll admit that homosexuality it wrong. Let’s face it, it is.

Leviticus 18:22 says it directly, it’s abhorrent. Do you know the definition of “abhorrent”? Dictionary.com describes it as “causing repugnance; detestable; loathsome: an abhorrent deed.”

 ”Don’t have sex with a man as one does with a woman. That is abhorrent. (Leviticus 18:22, The Message)

But you withhold it from your Wednesday night talk, or your Sunday morning sermon for fear of offending, for fear of a hate crime? 

While you’re sitting with your small group, you’ll admit that abortion is wrong under any circumstances. We can all agree that murder is a sin, I don’t have to post up a bible verse for that. But it brings tears to my eyes when that verse is coupled with Psalm 139:13-16.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; 

      you formed me in my mother’s womb. 
   I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! 
      Body and soul, I am marvelously made! 
      I worship in adoration—what a creation! 
   You know me inside and out, 
      you know every bone in my body; 
   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, 
      how I was sculpted from nothing into something. 
   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; 
      all the stages of my life were spread out before you, 
   The days of my life all prepared 
      before I’d even lived one day. (Psalm 139:13-16, The Message)

Why then, do we condone murder? Why do we alter the infallible, living breathing Word of God for our own cohorts? To make us Christians out to be something we’re not. 

Let me make my call to action very clear. God in no way expects us to be purposefully offensive. Colossians 4:5 spells it out fairly clear.

Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. (Colossians 4:5, The Message)

Every opportunity should be taken. Carefully, and graciously. Don’t spread hate speech on those embracing sin, but make them aware of it just as you would with pornography, self-mutilation, or stealing.

The consequences for Christian tough-love? It could be many. Heavy persecution, and even violence and death if you are in a hostile domestic situation, or a foreign country hostile to a religion different from theirs. 

Let me leave you with one last verse, to calm your rapidly beating heart, as it has calmed mine more than once. 1st Peter 4:12-19. This time, from the NIV.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (1st Peter 4:12-19, New International Version 2010)

This is all of my insight into this. Quit censoring yourself. Quit being a spiritual vigilante and taking God’s word into your own hands. You aren’t God. Speak as a vessel.

Friendly Religious Intolerance: Priority One.