Love and Tolerance are Different Things

"Your generation has been sold the bill of goods about tolerance. 'Tolerance is the highest ideal, the best way to live in peace.'  People are always saying it is our best defining characteristic." 

My boss was looking straight at me. He continued: 

"Is it? What about what Christ said, that we’re all evil? Jesus Christ didn't preach a mantra of tolerance toward sin. But he did say a whole lot about love. Our mistake is equating the two. Tolerance is NOT love. Love is sacrificial; love fights against anything that will harm the beloved; love is active, sometimes resulting in intervention; it is righteous and forgiving, and comes at personal cost.

Our country was founded on the very Christian idea that liberty is only possible when men are virtuous, as opposed to carnal, licentious, and indolent. Good and evil are realities, and virtue is virtue only when it moves from theory to practice. In my eyes, defending the freedoms enjoyed by American citizens, regardless of gender or race, is a virtue. And by "defending," I mean actively ensuring that no one abridges or abolishes these freedoms.

When Frank Gaffney investigates and reports that 80 percent of the mosques built in the U.S. are built with money from Saudi Arabia (Wahabbi Islam), as an American, I am concerned. I understand that Shari'a law is a revered cornerstone of their religion, but I am also aware that it is incompatible with our Constitution and the laws of our nation, which are firmly based in Biblical principles. When I ask for further information about what these mosques are teaching, or if they are fostering anti-American sentiments, I am not asking bigoted questions - I'm asking national security questions. I'm not adverse to the teachings of Muhammad because I hate Muslims, but rather because I love the liberty found in Christ and I want ALL men (and women) to have the opportunity to experience it.

In Matthew 5:43, Jesus commanded us to emulate his example: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor & hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."

On 9-11, what I was feeling was exactly hate. Throughout the hours and days that followed, I was praying, "Lord, take this hate away from me! Give me clear thinking, let me step up and do what needs to be done to defend this country- but let me not hate!"

Several years went by, and I came to work here at Smyrna Ministries. Day after day, I read incidents of persecution, Muslims killing Christians, and I thought, "Is this going to lead me back to hate?"

I wrestled with this, but then I realized that these Christians dying at the hands of their tormentors are free, and it is the Muslims who are enslaved in bondage.

When Jesus condemned sin and commanded love, he was only echoing what his Father in heaven had said centuries earlier: "Do not go about spreading slander among your people, and do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. Do not hate your brother in your heart...and do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself, for I AM the LORD" (Leviticus 19:16-18).

When it comes to love and tolerance, the world is competing for your loyalty. It wants you to sell out to their definition, and enter an ethical arena where everything is gray, and virtue can claim no superiority to vice. Hold fast to what Christ taught—he died to prove his point.

Remember: Tolerance is overrated. Love is not." 

Word.