Ok when did Tolerance become the greatest moral virtue?

[roymckenzie]

I have read the beatitudes the 10 commandments and no where in either of them do they speak of tolerance.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Main Entry: tol•er•ance
Pronunciation: 'tä-l&-r&n(t)s, 'täl-r&n(t)s
Function: noun
1 : capacity to endure pain or hardship : ENDURANCE, FORTITUDE, STAMINA
2 a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own b : the act of allowing something : TOLERATION
3 : the allowable deviation from a standard; especially : the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece
4 a (1) : the capacity of the body to endure or become less responsive to a substance (as a drug) or a physiological insult with repeated use or exposure <an addict’s increasing tolerance for a drug> (2) : relative capacity of an organism to grow or thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor b : the maximum amount of a pesticide residue that may lawfully remain on or in food

Is it Christian

 

[Steve_Andersen]

Someone said something about loving your neighbor as yourself and doing unto others etc.

What could have made us think that it was somehow Christian?

 

[BLB_Oregon]

roymckenzie:

I have read the beatitudes the 10 commandments and no where in either of them do they speak of tolerance.

Is it Christian

“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing will be poured into your lap. For the measure which you measure will in return be measured out to you…Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye’, when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:37-38, 41-42

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is the law and the prophets. Matt. 7:12

Read also the pardon of the sinful woman, Luke 7:36-50.
John has the stories about the woman about to be stoned for adultery, the woman at the well… there is a pattern in the way Jesus deals with those who are in sin. Contrast this to how “tolerant” he is of the behavior of the Pharisees, who think it is their primary job to decide who is and is not worthy to be around the “holy.” Likewise, the Pharisees and Sadducees spend a great deal of their time in petty battles intended to make someone right and someone else wrong. Jesus had more patience for adultery and prostitution than for that kind of behavior!

As for the beautitudes, consider
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Blessed are the meek
Blessed are the merciful
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Those four all apply when you respond to someone with whom you do not agree… even someone whom you know to be wrong.

Notice he does not fail to name sin for what it is. But the way in which he does it is utterly different than the way in which the Pharisees had been doing it.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not… rude… not quick-tempered… It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (From 1 Cor 13)

So yes, there is a tolerance that is not only Christian but which is the very bedrock of Christianity.

 

[roymckenzie]

Your post was beautiful.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not… rude… not quick-tempered… It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (From 1 Cor 13)

So yes, there is a tolerance that is not only Christian but which is the very bedrock of Christianity.

I took a little cut of what you said, I hope you don’t mind.

Where it says “It bears all things**, believes all things, hopes all things, **endures all things” do you think the author by the direction of the Holy Spirit intended us to believe God the Father and Satan are the same. Because if you believe all things that is a thing. I don’t think that is the intent, what do you think?

I think that tolerance is being confused with Love, Love I would agree is the very bedrock of Christianity. The acceptance of something that is harmful, the acceptance of something that is sinful is not of the natural law. In fact, I would argue that acceptance of an intrinsic evil is against natural law and there for against Gods law.

The way I read tolerance, tolerance is not turning the other cheek, but if I read it correctly it is learning to thrive off a potential evil. How do you read it?
Mathew 18:15-17:

15
11 "If your brother 12 sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
16
13 If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
17
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. 14 If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

How does that square with what you wrote, we know no part of the Bible when read in context contradict any other part of the Bible in context.

 

[puzzleannie]

It’s in the same version of the Bible that says blessed are those who celebrate diversity for they shall have split personalities.

 

[roymckenzie]

puzzleannie:

It’s in the same version of the Bible that says blessed are those who celebrate diversity for they shall have split personalities.

:banghead: :banghead:

I am not sure where that is in the Bible but you make me laugh.

:banghead: :banghead:

 

[BLB_Oregon]

roymckenzie:

Where it says “It bears all things**, believes all things, hopes all things, **endures all things” do you think the author by the direction of the Holy Spirit intended us to believe God the Father and Satan are the same. Because if you believe all things that is a thing. I don’t think that is the intent, what do you think?

I think that tolerance is being confused with Love, Love I would agree is the very bedrock of Christianity. The acceptance of something that is harmful, the acceptance of something that is sinful is not of the natural law. In fact, I would argue that acceptance of an intrinsic evil is against natural law and there for against Gods law.

The way I read tolerance, tolerance is not turning the other cheek, but if I read it correctly it is learning to thrive off a potential evil. How do you read it?

How does that square with what you wrote, we know no part of the Bible when read in context contradict any other part of the Bible in context.

By believes all things, I think that means love rejects nothing that is true. You don’t have to read much of St. Paul to realize that he was not an advocate of moral relativism! Rather, Love trusts God even when it might appear that evil is prevailing. Love trusts that being patient, kind, not rude, and so on will prevail, so Love is faithful, even, as Mother Theresa said, when it might not appear to be successful. It does not say, “Okay, I’ve tried your way, Lord, and it just doesn’t cut it in this old world. You didn’t mean me, you didn’t mean these times.”

That is where I think Christian tolerance differs from what is widely understood today as tolerance. As I said… Jesus never failed to name sin for what it was. He told the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more.” He neither stoned her nor exonerated her. Secular “tolerance” confuses forgiveness and mercy with exoneration. They are not the same thing. “Judge not” does not mean judging things to be right that used to be wrong and vice versa… that is still judging. (You have no doubt noticed that secular “tolerance” includes plenty of condemnation.) It does not even mean judging all things to be good and nothing to be evil.

For a lot of people, though, that’s the best they can do. They can’t love the evildoer because they can’t hold the idea of love and the idea of a person cooperating with evil both at the same time. They can only re-define what evil is and what it is not.

The only way that love can be done is to live in the realization that every bit of good in oneself is pure gift, that one really does have nothing to offer to God, that we can’t accept unity with God without accepting the idea that God perfects us by filling our empty nothingness with Himself. That is a constant struggle, to remember that we bring nothing to the table and so have no room for anything but gratitude and a desire to extend the mercy shown to us on to others. That is a constant struggle.

 

[Exporter]

puzzleannie:

It’s in the same version of the Bible that says blessed are those who celebrate diversity for they shall have split personalities.

---

Thank You puzzleannie, I had not laughed all day. Then I thought:

Which comes first? Those with split personalities shall celebrate diversity.

How does the entertainer MICHAEL JACKSON fit into this subject?

 

[WhiteDove]

puzzleannie:

It’s in the same version of the Bible that says blessed are those who celebrate diversity for they shall have split personalities.

LOL!!!

 

[Daeron]

When ?
Right after US companies begun to do business with Islamic military regimes in the 1950’s
Steve Andersen:

Someone said something about loving your neighbor as yourself and doing unto others etc.

Do undo others as you would have done to yourself

indeed that’s the Christian version which does not support Islamic terrorism or mass murder of Christians.
Would not even support their construction of a garbage trip in front of the Jewish western wall, nor the construction of a huge building upon the temple mount.

Tolerance can be a means to ask Christians turn their back upon fellow Christians being slaughtered. But the Lords words can not.

 

[roymckenzie]

From the definition of tolerance it seems to me to mean to embrace that which is against a person’s best interest.

• sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own*

I have 3 grown boys, when they were young I would never tolerate any of my boys violating the commandment that says honor your mother and father. As they grew into teenagers I would never tolerate them violating the 1st or 2nd commandments. I don’t think it is Christian love to allow my boys to commit an intrinsic evil. I don’t believe it is Christian love to stand by and watch my brother commit an intrinsic evil and do nothing. I believe what Christian love requires is that when my boys commit an evil I do something to correct the evil. I believe that Christian love requires me to correct my brother if he were to be committing an intrinsic evil. If I tolerated the evil I would be committing a sin.

 

[Daeron]

roymckenzie:

I have 3 grown boys, . . . I don’t think it is Christian love to allow my boys to commit an intrinsic evil. I don’t believe it is Christian love to stand by and watch my brother commit an intrinsic evil and do nothing. I believe what Christian love requires is that when my boys commit an evil I do something to correct the evil. . . . If I tolerated the evil I would be committing a sin.

Wonderfull everyday example.
I believe anyone who loves their family will be the first to kick them in the pants if they do something evil.

I also believe people who love their country, should now review what their nations companies are doing overseas. Not only to stop any evils , but to prevent the blow-back which their actions will create for the nation.