TOLERANCE?

By John Gipson

 

   If I read the signs of the times correctly, we consider tolerance to be the greatest sin imaginable.  Tolerance, on the other hand, has been exalted to the chief of all virtues.  And woe to that person who would speak out against any religion or claim that Christ is the only way to the Father.  Such intolerance!

   Forgive me if I have the sneaking suspicion that there are those who are willing to tolerate everything because they believenothing. If everything is innocuous, toleration is easy

   Apparently the only exception the tolerant are willing to make is intolerance to those whom they perceive to be intolerant.  In that case, no quarter will be given and toleration vanishes.

   But what if Caballero was right when he said, “Error tolerates, truth condemns.”?

   What if Jesus was speaking the truth when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but by me”? Where is your toleration now?

   Preachers would do well to heed the words of Elizabeth Achtemcier: “As preacher, your job is to preach the text, not apologize for it.”  And that goes for all of us who seek to share the gospel of Christ.

- John Gipson, Little Rock, Ark, via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur Church of Christ, Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and editor, may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com