It may come to you as a surprise but there are those that consider me, and some of my friends and colleagues, to be intolerant. Now from my perspective this assessment is dead wrong for I am well aware of how many things, bad things too, that I tolerate in others and myself. I am of course especially tolerant of myself.
However, that sort of toleration (toleration of my own sin and shortcomings) does little to sway the opinion of those who consider me to be so very intolerant. For after all think of the list of things I simply cannot abide:
1. Abortion (for any reason).
2. Public education (in most instances).
3. Same sex “marriage”.
4. The “enlightenment”.
5. Promiscuity.
6. Adultery.
The list could, of course, be expanded.
Now the real question to ask, I think, is why I cannot tolerate the above for after all at least half the list involves activities and or ideas that are, more or less, “victimless”. So what business is it of mine what people do in the privacy of their homes? How can you be intolerant of things you are not involved in, or are not being asked to be involved in? Why even care?
The reason of course is that truly, there are no victimless crimes, nor can there be. For God in His wisdom has so constructed and ordained the world that every action, whether secret or public, touches everyone to a greater or lesser degree. Let’s take for example pornography (I know, I know it’s not on my list). What harm (some fair-minded fellow will ask) can possibly come from someone looking at pornography, especially in private.
The harm done though is there and it’s subtle (at least at first). For pornography teaches the person viewing it to consider people (in most cases women) as objects. Not as people but as things, things to be used (and even abused) as I want for my own personal gratification. Therefore, I cannot tolerate it, on Christian grounds and on humanitarian grounds as well (though there is little or no difference).
Now this has the interesting effect of turning the tables. For now, my so-called intolerance is truly seen as concern for the well-being of my fellow man. Moreover, those that tollerate are seen in a much different light.
The funny thing is that those that tolerate the sorts of things I have listed (things condemned by God) are actually the intolerant. Intolerant of life, of others well being and happiness and even, unbelievably, true freedom.
Interestingly its often the case that the most “tolerant” are the most tyrannical.
