Everyone, Including You, Is an Intolerant Hypocrite

Last updated on: March 22, 2018 at 3:47 pm by Mark Driscoll

Everyone, Including You, Is an Intolerant Hypocrite 2018-03-22T15:47:45-04:00 Mark Driscoll

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

FLUNKING THE TOLERANCE TEST

It is easy to deny the existence of moral absolutes until we somehow get trampled—and then we are quick to cry out for justice. When we suffer grave harm no one has to convince us that some actions deserve not tolerance but punishment. Sexual assault victims, for example, never complain that their values or feelings were violated. They understand that an old fashioned word like evil better describes their pain.

The new tolerance seems like a wiser, kinder, and gentler way to do life in a world rife with extremism. It seems to value the underdog and give voice to the groups and individuals who have been silenced. But as an overarching ideology the new tolerance leads to anarchy and misery—the very things it seeks to halt. The new tolerance flunks the test of real life.

Everyone draws lines. We do not let drunk people drive. We do not let smokers light up in hospitals. We do not let sex offenders teach in elementary school. We do not let thirty-year-old men marry fifteen-year-old girls. We do not let people lacking eyesight join the military and shoot guns. We do not let illiterate people graduate from Harvard. Why? Because we know these things are wrong. So wrong that we deem them intolerable. Even as fallen and faulty people we are still image-bearers of God who recognize that complete tolerance is both impossible and harmful.

Many focus group participants sensed this. The harder they tried to consistently apply the new tolerance the more they realized the dangerous road they were hurdling down. They hedged their statements with provisions like “if no one gets hurt,” which is subjective verbiage anyone could use to excuse their own bad behavior, or “if they are consenting adults,” a stipulation that forces us to ask why we tolerate things from nineteen-year-olds that we do not with sixteen-year-olds. Is that not arbitrary and intolerant?

Christians are correct to resist feeling pressured to approve or celebrate things that go against their core beliefs. And that’s how the give-and-take of life works. No one expects vegetarians to help promote butcher shops or environmentalists to lose their voice cheering a monster truck rally. Sometimes our best response to charge of intolerance is to say, “Hey, wait a second, you say we’re intolerant? You’re intolerant too.”

Go back Continue Reading

Previous Post

March 16, 2018

Jesus Freaks are Intolerant Bigots

Next Post

March 29, 2018 God is Intolerant

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ask Pastor Mark Blog Daily Devotions Sermons Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 December 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Jesus do for Lazarus in Bethany?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Healed his blindness Fed him Turned him invisible Raised him from the dead